laughed loudly. If he had the salary that she paid her negro
driver he would be lucky! And he had meant to marry her. He laughed
again and took his way homeward.

CHAPTER XIX

His mother was waiting to give George his breakfast. Whether he chose
to lie in bed until noon or to walk twenty miles at dawn, she smiled a
joyful approval. But neither the crisp toast, nor the fried chicken,
nor any of her funny stories, would penetrate the blackness of his
gloom.

"Oh, by the way!" she said; "here is a letter that came by last night's
mail. I forgot to give it to you."

He glanced at the envelope. "Great Heavens! It is life and death to
me, and you forget it to tell Jack's pert sayings!" He read the letter
and threw it down.

"What is it, George?" she asked humbly.

"Burnett & Hoyle offer me a place in their house."

"Mr. Hoyle is an old friend of mine. I wrote to him. What is the
salary, George?"

"Forty dollars a week. I could earn more as a coachman--for some rich
heiress."

"But George dear---- It would be a beginning. They are brokers, and
there are so many short cuts to fortune in that business! Do try it,
my son."

"Of course I'll try it. Do you think I'm a fool? It will keep me from
starving. But I want something else in life than to be kept from
starving, mother."

He stretched out his arms with a groan, and walked to the window. She
followed him with wretched, comprehending eyes. Why did not Lucy give
him her fortune? Any woman would be honored who could give George her
fortune.

"I always have heard that brokers know the short cuts to wealth," she
said calmly. "You go on the Street some day, and come back a
millionaire."

"That is a woman's idea of business. Instead, I will sit on a high
stool and drudge all day, and on Saturday get my wages, and after three
or four years I'll make a fight for ten dollars more a week, and thank
God if I get it. 'A short cut to fortune!'"

Mrs. Waldeaux carefully averted her eyes from him. "You may marry," she
said, "and it may happen that your wife also will have some little
income----"

"Mother! Look at me!" he interrupted her sternly. "I will never be
dependent on my wife, so help me God!"

"No, George, no! Of course not. Don't speak so loud. Only, I thought
if she had a small sum of her own, she would feel more comfortable,
that's all."

In spite of his ill temper George threw himself into his work with
zeal. After a