Ebenezer.
"It is very agreeable work, sir."
"But it stands to reason that you can't earn much that way. I wouldn't
give you twenty-five cents a week for such doings."
"Are you willing to pay me more than Mr. Melville does?" asked Herbert,
demurely, smiling to himself.
"How much does he pay you now?" asked Ebenezer, cautiously.
"Six dollars a week."
"Six dollars a week!" repeated the storekeeper, in incredulous
amazement. "Sho! you're joking!"
"You can ask Mr. Melville, sir."
Ebenezer regarded George Melville with an inquiring look.
"Yes, I pay Herbert six dollars a week," said he, smiling.
"Well, I never!" ejaculated Ebenezer. "That's the strangest thing I
ever heard. How in the name of conscience can a boy earn so much money
trampin' round?"
"Perhaps it would not be worth as much to anyone else," said Melville,
"but Herbert suits me, and I need cheerful company."
"You ain't goin' to keep him long at that figger, be you, Mr. Melville?"
asked Mr. Graham, bluntly.
"I think we shall be together a considerable time, Mr. Graham. If,
however, you should be willing to pay Herbert a larger salary, I might
feel it only just to release him from his engagement to me."
"Me pay more'n six dollars a week!" gasped Ebenezer. "I ain't quite
crazy. Why, it would take about all I get from the post office."
"You wouldn't expect me to take less than I can earn elsewhere, Mr.
Graham," said Herbert.
"No-o!" answered the storekeeper, slowly. He was evidently nonplused by
the absolute necessity of getting another clerk, and his inability to
think of a suitable person.
"If Tom Tripp was with me, I might work him into the business," said
Ebenezer, thoughtfully, "but he's bound out to a farmer."
An inspiration came to Herbert. He knew that his mother would be glad to
earn something, and there was little else to do in Wayneboro.
"I think," he said, "you might make an arrangement with my mother, to
make up and sort the mail, for a time, at least."
"Why, so I could; I didn't think of that," answered Ebenezer, relieved.
"Do you think she'd come over to-morrow mornin'?"
"If she can't, I will," said Herbert. "I don't meet Mr. Melville till
nine o'clock."
"So do! I'll expect you. I guess I'll come over and see your mother this
evenin', and see if I can't come to some arrangement with her."
It may be added that Mr. Graham did as proposed, and Mrs. Carr agreed
to render him the assistance he needed for th
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