"What can it be?" she asked.
"Old Anthony has hired me to do his errands."
"I am afraid, Mark, that will amount to very little."
"I am to receive five dollars a week."
"Do you really mean this? I thought he was very poor."
"Quite the contrary, mother, but we mustn't say that to others. Let people think he is poor. Here are five dollars which he has paid me for the last week, though I have worked in the shop, and done very little for it. Take it, mother, and use as you need it."
"Will this last, Mark?" asked his mother, almost incredulously.
"I think it will. The hermit seems to have taken a special fancy to me, and he says he can well afford to pay me this sum. I say, mother, suppose I invite him to take dinner with us next Sunday?"
"With all my heart, Mark. He seems to me like a good Providence who has come to our help at this juncture."
"Do you need anything at the store this afternoon?"