50 Fred the Apprentice.

clerk, but a friend of the family—the favourite
companion of his sons, the clever and worthy
competitor in their studies. The events that
remain to be told only served to strengthen this
confidence and affection, by showing to what
extent they were well founded.

For several months Mr. Kartmann had ap-
peared sad, and Fred, through whose hands the
business accounts passed, began to perceive a
certain amount of pecuniary embarrassment in
the affairs of his employer. The confidential
statements of Mr. Kartmann himself, the expres-
sions showing uneasiness of mind that escaped
him, the numerous applications from his creditors,
soon enlightened Fred, and convinced him that
all this did not arise from a temporary depres-
sion of trade, but from one of those changes in
the course of trade which so often swallow up
large fortunes. It was not long before Mr.
Kartmann himself dispelled Fred’s last doubts
about the matter. Hecame in one day at dinner-
time more low-spirited than usual. When the
meal was over, he asked his elder son and Fred
to accompany him to his office.

‘Before two months are over,’ said he to them
when in the office, ‘this establishment will no
longer be mine. After its sale I shall have