"In relation to a clerk in our employ?"
"Yes. Mr. Benton."
"He used to work for your father?"
"Yes, sir. He was in father's employ rather more than a year."
"He stayed some time, then?"
"Yes; father didn't want to discharge him as he had a family."
"Very considerate on your father's part, certainly," said Mr. Wilson, in a peculiar tone, in which Julian did not detect the sarcasm.
"On the whole, your father did not find him satisfactory? What was the matter? Isn't he a good salesman?"
"Pretty fair," answered Julian. "Nothing alarming."