“You write a good, plain hand, and that is all that is required. Do you accept?”
“I shall be very glad to,” answered Tom, with a sigh of relief. “I’m tired of doing nothing.”
“Then report at father’s study to-morrow morning at nine o’clock.”
Tom promised to do so.
It must be admitted that our hero did not find his employment very interesting. The Rev. Mr. Julian’s sermons were of a dogmatic character, and though he was a most excellent man, his pulpit discourses were undeniably dry. Yet Tom felt a degree of satisfaction in feeling that he was again earning something toward the support of his mother, and he felt especially glad when one morning, on the way to the parsonage, he encountered Rupert Simpson.
Rupert smiled superciliously.
“You don’t find it very easy to get work, I see,” said Rupert.
“How do you see it?”
“You have plenty of leisure to walk about now.”
“That is true. I don’t work as many hours as I did in your father’s shop,” returned Tom.