"Not at all. I had to work twelve hours a day, and received but two dollars and a half a week."
"I am to have the munificent sum of three dollars. Evidently Mr. Tubbs thinks that very liberal. He tells me that by the time I am twenty-one I may be getting ten dollars a week, and if my stepmother will advance a thousand dollars he may sell me an interest in the business."
"What a shame!"
"That I should have an interest in the business?" asked Gerald, with a smile.
"No, but that a boy of your scholarship should tend in a grocery, and for such a sum. Why, I earn six dollars a week as a pegger."
"I should rather work in your shop than in the grocery."
"But there is no vacancy. That, too, would be unfit for you. Why, you know Latin and French, don't you?"
"I have studied them. If Mr. Tubbs has any Latin or French customers I may be able to wait on them."
"I am glad you can joke about it, Gerald."
"I don't feel much like joking, I assure you."