"Poor boy! I suppose he doesn't like to tell me he is discharged," sighed the widow. "It will be a serious thing for us, for I don't know where else he will find work."
"O, something will turn up," said Mrs. Parker, who could bear the misfortunes of her neighbors very cheerfully. "But I must run home, or my dinner will be late."
The more Mrs. Manning thought of Mark's loss of employment, the more troubled she felt. Three dollars and a half a week was not a large sum, but it was more than half their income, and how they were to make it up she could not conjecture. Perhaps she could induce Mark to apologize to James, in which case the squire might be induced to take him back. While her mind was busy with such thoughts, Mark entered the house whistling. His mother was considerably surprised at this evidence of light-heartedness under the circumstances.
He entered the room where his mother was at work.
"Well, mother, is dinner almost ready?" he asked.
"It will be ready soon. But oh, Mark, what is this I hear about your being discharged from the shoe-shop?"
"It is all true, mother, but you needn't worry over it. We shall get along just as well."
"I don't see how. There is no other shop in the village."
"I have another job already, and a better one."
Mrs. Manning opened her eyes in astonishment.