y, and in time make money. I wish you liked a
profession; but as you don't, any clean, well-established business will
do.'

'What do you say to a railroad office?'

'I don't like it. A noisy, hurried kind of place, I know, with all sorts
of rough men about. I hope it isn't that, dear?'

'I could have it; but does book-keeping in a wholesale leather business
please you better?'

'No; you'll get round-shouldered writing at a tall desk; and they say,
once a book-keeper always a book-keeper.'

'How does a travelling agent suit your views?'

'Not at all; with all those dreadful accidents, and the exposure and bad
food as you go from place to place, you are sure to get killed or lose
your health.'

'I could be private secretary to a literary man; but the salary is
small, and may end any time.'

'That would be better, and more what I want. It isn't that I object to
honest work of any kind; but I don't want my son to spend his best years
grubbing for a little money in a dark office, or be knocked about in a
rough-and-tumble scramble to get on. I want to see you in some business
where your tastes and talents can be developed and made useful; where
you can go on rising, and in time put in your little fortune and be a
partner; so that your years of apprenticeship will not be wasted, but
fit you to take your place among the honourable men who make their
lives and work useful and respected. I talked it all over with your dear
father when you were a child; and if he had lived he would have shown
you what I mean, and helped you to be what he was.'

Mrs Meg wiped away a quiet tear as she spoke; for the memory of her
husband was a very tender one, and the education of his children had
been a sacred task to which she gave all her heart and life, and so
far she had done wonderfully well--as her good son and loving daughters
tried to prove. Demi's arm was round her now, as he said, in a voice so
like his father's that it was the sweetest music to her ear:

'Mother dear, I think I have got just what you want for me; and it shall
not be my fault if I don't become the man you hope to see me. Let me
tell you all about it. I didn't say anything till it was sure because it
would only worry you; but Aunt Jo and I have been on the look-out for it
some time, and now it has come. You know her publisher, Mr Tiber, is one
of the most successful men in the business; also generous, kind, and
the soul of honour--as his treatment of Aunty prov