much."

"What matters how much?" asked Harry.

"Why, I want to pay you."

"You needn't mind that."

"The fact is, I have only three dollars just now; and I promised to go
out to ride with a fellow next Sunday. So, you see, if I pay you, I
shall not have enough left to foot the bills."

Harry looked at his visitor with astonishment; he did not know what to
make of him. Was he in earnest? Would a son of Joseph Flint go out to
ride--on Sunday, too--while his mother and his brothers and sisters
were on the very brink of starvation? Our hero had some strange,
old-fashioned notions of his own. For instance, he considered it a
son's duty to take care of his mother, even if he were obliged to
forego the Sunday ride; that he ought to do all he could for his
brothers and sisters, even if he had to go without stewed oysters,
stay away from the theatre, and perhaps wear a little coarser cloth on
his back. If Harry was unreasonable in his views, my young reader will
remember that he was brought up in the country, where young America is
not quite so "fast" as in the city.

"I didn't ask you to pay me," continued Harry.

"I know that; but, you see, I suppose I ought to pay you. The old man
don't take much care of the family."

Harry wanted to say that the young man did not appear to do much
better; but he was disposed to be as civil as the circumstances would
permit.

"You needn't pay me."

"Oh, yes, I shall pay you; but if you can wait till the first of next
month, I should like it."

"I can wait. Do you live out?"

"Live out? What do you mean by that? I am a clerk in a store
downtown," replied Edward, with offended dignity.

"Oh, are you? Do they pay you well?"

"Pretty fair; I get five dollars a week."

"Five dollars a week! Thunder! I should think you did get paid pretty
well!" exclaimed Harry, astonished at the vastness of the sum for a
week's work.

"Fair salary," added Edward, complacently. "What are you doing here?"

"I work in the stable and about the house."

"That's mean business," said Mr. Flint, turning up his nose.

"It does very well."

"How much do you get?"

"Six dollars a month and perquisites."

"How much are the perquisites?"

"From one to two dollars a month."

"Humph! I wonder you stay here."

"It is as well as I can do."

"No, it isn't; why don't you go into a store? We want a boy in our
store."

"Do you?"

"We do."

"How much do you pay?"

"We pay from two to four dol