should know where I am."

"Where you are, George?"

"Yes; on what ground I stand. Who I am before the world, and what
interest I represent. Is it the fact that I am the junior partner in
the house of Brown, Jones, and Robinson?"

"Why, George, of course you are."

"And is it the fact that by the deed of partnership drawn up between
us, I am entitled to receive one quarter of the proceeds of the
business?"

"No, George, no; not proceeds."

"What then?"

"Profits, George; one quarter of the profits."

"And what is my share for the year now over?"

"You have lived, George; you must always remember that. It is a great
thing in itself even to live out of a trade in these days. You have
lived; you must acknowledge that."

"Mr. Brown, I am not a greedy man, nor a suspicious man, nor an idle
man, nor a man of pleasure. But I am a man in love."

"And she shall be yours, George."

"Ay, sir, that is easily said. She shall be mine, and in order that
she may be mine, I must request to know what is accurately the state
of our account?"

"George," said Mr. Brown in a piteous accent, "you and I have always
been friends."

"But there are those who will do much for their enemies out of fear,
though they will do nothing for their friends out of love. Jones has
a regular income out of the business."

"Only forty shillings or so on every Saturday night; nothing more, on
my honour. And then they've babbies, you know, and they must live."

"By the terms of our partnership I am entitled to as much as he."

"But then, George, suppose that nobody is entitled to nothing!
Suppose there is no profits. We all must live, you know, but then
it's only hand to mouth; is it?"

How terrible was this statement as to the affairs of the firm,
coming, as it did, from the senior partner, who not more than twelve
months since entered the business with a sum of four thousand pounds
in hard cash! Robinson, whose natural spirit in such matters was
sanguine and buoyant, felt that even he was depressed. Had four
thousand pounds gone, and was there no profit? He knew well that the
stock on hand would not even pay the debts that were due. The shop
had always been full, and the men and women at the counter had always
been busy. The books had nominally been kept by himself; but who can
keep the books of a concern, if he be left in ignorance as to the
outgoings and incomings?

"That comes of attempting to do business on a basis of capital!" he