He spoke as if this were a very large sum.
"I am not afraid to work, Mr. Tubbs, but I don't think I shall like the grocery business."
"Pooh, pooh! a boy like you doesn't know what he would like. How old are you?"
"Sixteen."
"Sixteen? Why, at sixteen I could lift a barrel of flour. I worked well, if I do say it myself. I only got two dollars a week in this very store, and now it's my own."
He looked around him with an air of pride. His highest ambition was realized in the possession of a grocery store.
"What do you say to that?"
"You have done well, Mr. Tubbs."
"Haven't I? And you can do as well. Why, in five years if your mother will advance a little money, I may give you an interest in the business."
Gerald did not reply. His heart was sore, and he felt that life had few attractions for him if it was to be passed here.