“Then why not come to-morrow evening? You have our address.”
This suited the boy, and the matter was so arranged.
Then Mr. Nesbitt asked Dick about his prospects.
The lad gave him a brief outline of his past life at Cobham’s Corner and what he had done since he broke away from Silas Maslin.
The lawyer was impressed with the boy’s earnestness and business sagacity and determined to help him on the road to success.
“How would you like employment in my office?” he said. “I do not mean as a clerk. I think I can use you in a way that will develop your natural business talents. I have control of several extensive estates. A young man of your ability can be made useful to me in many ways, and the experience will be of great value to yourself. You are young. The world is before you. The obligations under which you have placed me by your attention to my only child under the most trying of circumstances make me desirous of interesting myself in your future career. Will you give me the opportunity of doing so?”
Dick was both surprised and pleased at the proposition, and he accepted it at once.
Mr. Nesbitt seemed gratified by the lad’s acquiescence, and he explained to Dick what his immediate duties would be.
“I should be glad if you will start in to-morrow,” he said, finally, and the boy was told to be at the office at half-past nine on the following morning.
That evening he and Joe went down on Water Street and had supper with Captain Beasley and his family on board the Minnehaha.