"Nonsense!" said Mr. Francis. "Nothing of the kind. Send him here directly."
"The old gentleman wants to speak to you," said Jeduthun, coming into the loft. "Now, keep up a good heart, and let him have it all his own way. I knew he'd feel better after dinner. Law bless you, he thinks he's a great man, but I can read him just like a book. There! Don't keep him waiting, whatever you do."
Eben hastened down stairs, and entered the office with a beating heart.
"Come here, Fairchild," said Mr. Francis. "So you thought I meant to dismiss you, did you?"
"Yes, sir, I thought so."
"Not at all, not at all, my boy. You should not be so hasty. What made you take me up in that way?"
"I thought you told me to go, sir, and you thought it was so foolish in Mr. Antis to hire me—"
"So I did think so," said Mr. Francis, "but it don't always follow that because a man has done a foolish thing, that the next thing is to undo it. Your father, for instance, did a foolish thing in endorsing for Furness, but it was better for him to pay his obligations, like the honourable man he was, even though he lost all he had, than to sneak out of paying his just debts, as Furness himself did. Don't you think so?"
"Yes, indeed, sir," said Eben, heartily. "I always thought so."
"Then you thought right," returned Mr. Francis, in a still more friendly tone. "So you see, I think it wasn't very wise in Mr. Antis to put so much responsibility on such a young boy, but it doesn't follow that he would be right to turn you off the first time you did anything wrong."