et he had not received the two dollars which had been promised him
for his two weeks' work, and another one was nearly due. If he could get
this money it might, with what he had saved again, suffice to pay his
railroad fare to Guilford; and if it would not, he resolved to accept
from the skeleton sufficient to make up the amount needed.

He naturally shrunk from the task; but the hope that he might possibly
succeed gave him the necessary amount of courage, and when he had gotten
his work done, on the third morning after he had lost his money, and Mr.
Lord appeared to be in an unusually good temper, he resolved to try the
plan.

It was just before the dinner hour. Trade had been unexceptionally good,
and Mr. Lord had even spoken in a pleasant tone to Toby when he told him
to fill up the lemonade pail with water, so that the stock might not be
disposed of too quickly and with too little profit.

Toby poured in quite as much water as he thought the already weak
mixture could receive and retain any flavor of lemon; and then, as his
employer motioned him to add more, he mixed another quart in, secretly
wondering what it would taste like.

"When you're mixin' lemonade for circus trade," said Mr. Lord, in such a
benign, fatherly tone that one would have found it difficult to believe
that he ever spoke harshly, "don't be afraid of water, for there's where
the profit comes in. Always have a piece of lemon-peel floatin' on the
top of every glass, an' it tastes just as good to people as if it cost
twice as much."

Toby could not agree exactly with that opinion, neither did he think it
wise to disagree, more especially since he was going to ask the very
great favor of being discharged; therefore he nodded his head gravely,
and began to stir up what it pleased Mr. Lord to call lemonade, so that
the last addition might be more thoroughly mixed with the others.

Two or three times he attempted to ask the favor which seemed such a
great one, and each time the words stuck in his throat, until it seemed
to him that he should never succeed in getting them out.

Finally, in his despair, he stammered out,

"Don't you think you could find another boy in this town, Mr. Lord?"

Mr. Lord moved round sideways, in order to bring his crooked eye to bear
squarely on Toby, and then there was a long interval of silence, during
which time the boy's color rapidly came and went, and his heart beat
very fast with suspense and fear.

"Well, wha