"That is well," said the broker, approvingly. "It shows that you have more good sense than most boys of your class. Now I have a proposition to make to you. How should you like to enter this office?"
"I should like it very much, sir."
"Better than being a newsboy?"
"Yes, sir; there aint any chance to rise in the paper business."
"And here, if you do your duty, there will be a chance to rise."
"Yes, sir, that's what I mean."
"Very well, I will tell you what I will do. You did me a signal service last night. You saved me from losing a large sum of money, and, what is worse, from serious personal injury. I want to do some thing for you in return. I think you are a smart boy, and, what is better, an honest and trustworthy boy. It so happens that my youngest clerk is in poor health, and is about to leave my employment. I will give you his place."
"Thank you, sir," said Rufus.
"As to salary I shall for the present give you the same you have been earning by selling papers,—that is, eight dollars a week. It is nearly double what I have been accustomed to pay, but that is of no consequence. Besides this, I will give you two hundred dollars to add to your fund in the savings-bank, increasing it to five hundred."
"You are very, very kind," said Rufus.