dvance the sixty dollars, to pay Squire Lee."

"No, sir; you have done enough in that way. I have given my note for
the money."

"Whew;" said Mr. Butler.

"And I shall soon earn enough to pay it."

"No doubt of it. You are a lad of courage and energy, and you will
succeed in every thing you undertake."

"I shall want you to trust me for a stock of books on the strength of
old acquaintance," continued Bobby, who had now grown quite bold, and
felt as much at home in the midst of the costly furniture, as he did in
the "living room" of the old black house.

"You shall have all the books you want."

"I will pay for them as soon as I return. The truth is, Mr. Bayard, I
mean to be independent. I didn't want to take that thirty-five
dollars, though I don't know what Mr. Hardhand would have done to us,
if I hadn't."

"Ellen said I ought to have given you a hundred, and I think so myself."

"I am glad you didn't. Too much money makes us fat and lazy."

Mr. Bayard laughed at the easy self-possession of the lad--at his big
talk; though, big as it was, it meant something. When he proposed to
go to the store, he told Bobby he had better stay at the house and rest
himself.

"No, sir; I want to start out to-morrow, and I must get ready to-day."

"You had better put it off till the next day; you will feel more like
it then."

"Now or never," replied Bobby. "That is my motto, sir. If we have any
thing to do, now is always the best time to do it. Dr. Franklin says,
'Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to day.'"

"Right, Robert! you shall have your own way. I wish my clerks would
adopt some of Dr. Franklin's wise saws. I should be a great deal
better off in the course of a year if they would."

CHAPTER IX.

IN WHICH BOBBY OPENS VARIOUS ACCOUNTS, AND WINS HIS FIRST VICTORY.

"Now, Bobby, I understand your plan," said Mr. Bayard, when they
reached the store; "but the details must be settled. Where do you
intend to go?"

"I hardly know, sir. I suppose I can sell books almost any where."

"Very true; but in some places much better than in others."

Mr. Bayard mentioned a large town about eighteen miles from the city,
in which he thought a good trade might be carried on, and Bobby at once
decided to adopt the suggestion.

"You can make this place your head quarters for the week; if books do
not sell well right in the village, why, you can go out a little way,
for the country in the vicinit