"Four dollars a week."
"Is that about the usual price for boys employed as you are?"
"Most shoe bosses pay more. The squire pays low wages all round."
"Then why don't the men go elsewhere?"
"Because they live here, and it is better to work cheaper here than to move. Some have gone away."
"Well, keep up your courage, Bert, and the time will come when you will be earning twelve dollars a week like your rich old uncle. If the office were only in Lakeville, so that I could board with your mother——"
"Well, Mary, I shan't have to open a cigar store in Lakeville," remarked Uncle Jacob, as his niece entered the room.
Mrs. Barton looked an inquiry, and Bert exclaimed: "Uncle Jacob has secured a clerkship in New York at twelve dollars a week."
"I am really glad!" said Mrs. Barton, with beaming face.