in this lore, which makes them so fearfully and
wonderfully wise. Thus it is easy for man to deceive his brother man,
but not his sister woman. Again, most of us are glad to take everybody
on his own statements; there are, or may be, we are all ready to
acknowledge, with sorrow for erring humanity, somewhere else in the
world, such things as pretending, swindling, acting a part, and
cheating, but they do not and cannot belong to our own world. Mr.
James, the assistant, very well knew that Mr. Emblem's grandson had
already, though still young, as bad a record as could be desired by
any; that he had been turned out of one situation after another; that
his grandfather had long since refused to help him any more; that he
was always to be found in the Broad Path which leadeth to destruction.
When he had money he ran down that path as fast as his legs could
carry him; when he had none, he only walked and wished he could run.
But he never left it, and never wished to leave it. Knowing all this,
the man accepted and believed every word of Joe's story. James
believed it, because he hoped it. He listened respectfully to Joe's
declamation on the meanness of trade, and then he rubbed his hands,
and said humbly that he ventured to hope, when the sale of the
business came on, Mr. Joseph would let him have a chance.

"You?" asked Joe. "I never thought of you. But why not? Why not, I
say? Why not you as well as anybody else?"

"Nobody but me, Mr. Joseph, knows what the business is, and how it
might be improved; and I could make arrangements for paying by regular
instalments."

"Well, we'll talk about it when the time comes. I won't forget.
Sailors, you know, can't be expected to understand the value of shops.
Say, James, what does the commodore do all day?"

"Sits in there and adds up his investments."

"Always doing that--eh? Always adding 'em up? Ah, and you've never got
a chance of looking over his shoulder, I suppose?"

"Never."

"You may find that chance, one of these days. I should like to know,
if only for curiosity, what they are and where they are. He sits in
there and adds 'em up. Yes--I've seen him at it. There must be
thousands by this time."

"Thousands," said the assistant, in the belief that the more you add
up a sum the larger it grows.

Joe walked into the back shop and tried the safe.

"Where are the keys?" he asked.

"Always in his pocket or on the table before him. He don't leave them
about."

"Or y