d."

"I don't think he would find it easy to get it away from me," said
Gilbert, with the confidence of youth.

"You are too confident, Gilbert. You are but a boy, and he is a strong
man. Besides, he will want to take it in his hands."

"Would you not advise me to carry it then, sir?"

"Not the original. Can you not make a copy of the paper?"

"But I am to call at three."

"You will have time enough. It is not long."

"Then I shall be obliged to neglect my duties here."

"Oh! as to that, in a matter of such importance, I will readily excuse
you. You can go home at once, and get to work."

"Thank you, sir."

Gilbert lost no time in availing himself of the permission accorded to
him. Reaching his boarding-house--the same one to which the reader has
already been introduced--he took the important paper from its secure
resting-place in his trunk, and, seating himself at the table, began to
copy it rapidly. When he first entered Mr. Ferguson's establishment, he
could scarcely write at all; but he knew how important a good
handwriting was, to one who aspired to be a business man, and he
therefore soon commenced taking lessons. Now he was master of a
handsome hand. Jacob, too, was a good writer, with a handwriting quite
similar to his, so that, without any great effort, he succeeded in
producing a document very nearly resembling the original.

"Now, Uncle James, I am ready to meet you," he said to himself, with
satisfaction, as he compared the two papers, and then carefully laid
away the first in its old place of concealment. "You are welcome to
destroy this, if you think it will do you any good."

It was still early, for the paper was not long, and Gilbert decided to
go back to the store, and resume his duties until it should be time to
start for the Burnet House.

"Where have you been, Gilbert?" asked Maurice Walton, crossly.

"I have been home--to my boarding-house."

"I shouldn't think Mr. Ferguson would like your leaving his business to
run home in the middle of the fore-noon."

"He advised me to go."

"I suppose you pretended to have a headache, or something of that
kind," said Maurice, with a sneer.

"No, I didn't. I was never better in my life."

"What did you go for, then?"

"It seems to me you are very curious, Maurice," said Gilbert,
good-naturedly. "If you must know, I went home on a little private
business of my own."

"Very important, I suppose."

"Yes, it was important."

"Mr. Fergu