itude."

"'Time and I against any two,' says the Spanish proverb. I'll be bound
we will metamorphose him yet. Do you think the business at Hillsdale
is capable of much extension?"

"I am sure of it. It may easily be doubled, and safely. I will give
you my reasons for the opinion now, if you wish."

"Never mind for the present. It after all can make no difference in
what I am about to say. I have been looking at your balance-sheet, and
must say that, for a first year's business, you have done remarkably
well. You have made very few bad debts, the sales are large, and
profits satisfactory. You have the merchant in you, Thomas, and I must
try to secure you for us beyond the power of loss. How would you like
to become a member of the firm?"

"Sir," said Pownal, "your goodness overpowers me. No father could be
more generous. You will do with me as you please. But what say your
partners?"

"I have consulted with them, and they are of the same opinion as
myself, and desire your admission. I have drawn up the terms, which,
I hope, will please you, on this slip of paper, and that you may start
to a little better advantage, have directed a small sum to be carried
to your credit on the books, which you will also find jotted down on
the paper."

"How can I thank you, sir?" said Pownal, receiving the paper, and
preparing, without examining it, to place it in his pocket.

"But that is not like a merchant," exclaimed Mr. Pownal smiling, "to
accept of a contract without looking at it. Read it, Thomas, and see
if you wish to suggest any change."

"I am willing to trust my interests, my life, to you, sir, and it is
unnecessary. But it is your command and I obey you."

We must allow, that the thought of becoming at some time a member of
the firm, wherein he had received his mercantile education, had passed
before through the mind of Pownal, but the conditions upon which he
was now admitted were favorable beyond his most sanguine expectations.
The sum of money, too, carried to the credit of his account as a
capital, on which to commence, deserved a better name than that of
a small sum, which the opulent merchant had called it. Pownal saw
himself now at once elevated into a condition, not only to supply the
wants of his father and himself, but to warrant him to cherish hopes
for the success of other plans that lay very near his heart. As the
thought of Anne Bernard occurred to him, and he reflected upon the
goodness of his gener