"Do as you please," said Mr. Heighington, carelessly. "I have no objection to raising his wages, if you think that he is worth it."
"I can't say anything about his being worth it, Mr. Frank," replied the conscientious old man. "He does not write nearly so well nor so quickly as he used to do. But I am sure that he needs it, and that you will never regret having done him this kindness."
"You would have made a capital beggar, Marshall," said Mr. Heighington, laughing. "Only you never ask anything for yourself."
"I want nothing, sir," was the reply, "the Lord be praised. He has given me all that I need."
The greater part of Peter Marshall's life had been spent in the small dark office where he then sat. Coming and going at all hours, and in all weathers; ever the first to come and the last to go, and devoting his best energies to the cause of his employer—"not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God." And even in this world the Lord rewarded him by putting it into the mind of old Mr. Heighington to leave him at his decease, which took place about a twelvemonth before our story commences, a small annuity in appreciation of his long and faithful services.
Peter Marshall was an old man himself now, and might have retired and lived comfortably enough in his humble way; but somehow he had grown used to the place, and had, besides, an old man's fancy, that "Master Frank," whom he had known from a child, would never be able to get on without him—a fancy which his young master was only too glad to encourage, and thus continue to avail himself of his advice and assistance, treating him rather as a friend than a servant.
It was believed by his fellow-clerks that Marshall had saved up a good round sum during his many years of service; the more especially as he was known to be a man of frugal habits, and without either kith or kin. And so he had, but it was in a savings bank with which they had, for the most part, very few dealings. The following inscription was written in shining characters over the door:
"He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will He pay him again."
Every time Marshall went to put in a deposit, a heavenly voice might be heard by the ear of faith saying—
"Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."