48 fred the Apprentice.

‘What price was offered you?’

‘Whatever I should like to ask,’

‘And you refused ?’

‘Yes, sir.

‘Without hesitation ?’

‘To hesitate would have been infamous.’

“Your hand, Fred,’ said Mr. Kartmann, hold-
ing out his own to the young workman, ‘You
have a noble heart. I am acquainted with the
minutest details of this affair. I have acted very
imprudently, my young friend, as any one less
honest than you are might have done me im-
miense injury—more injury than I like to think
of. I thank you for your straightforward, up-
right conduct. You are now no longer a lad;
from all the reports I have received from your
teachers, and from what I have observed myself,
you ought not to remain an overseer any longer.
[From to-morrow you shall come and live in my
house ; you shall have a seat at my table, and
continue to study with my sons. You shall also
receive the usual pay of the situation you are
to fill’

On the morrow Fred quitted Mrs. Ridler’s
house. In bidding adieu to the kind-hearted
old woman he could not help feeling a good