to stay jest as you are; but, as I was sayin', you're to a
consid'able extent independent. You hain't no speciul ties to keep ye,
an' you ought anyway, as I said before, to be doin' better for yourself
than jest drawin' pay in a country bank."

One of the most impressive morals drawn from the fairy tales of our
childhood, and indeed from the literature and experience of our later
periods of life, is that the fulfilment of wishes is often attended by
the most unwelcome results. There had been a great many times when to
our friend the possibility of being able to bid farewell to Homeville
had seemed the most desirable of things, but confronted with the idea as
a reality--for what other construction could he put upon David's words
except that they amounted practically to a dismissal, though a most kind
one?--he found himself simply in dismay.

"I suppose," he said after a few moments, "that by 'taking down your
sign' you mean going out of business--"

"Figger o' speech," explained David.

"--and your determination is not only a great surprise to me, but
grieves me very much. I am very sorry to hear it--more sorry than I can
tell you. As you remind me, if I leave Homeville I shall not go almost
penniless as I came, but I shall leave with great regret, and,
indeed--Ah, well--" he broke off with a wave of his hands.

"What was you goin' to say?" asked David, after a moment, his eyes on
the horizon.

"I can't say very much more," replied the young man, "than that I am
very sorry. There have been times," he added, "as you may understand,
when I have been restless and discouraged for a while, particularly at
first; but I can see now that, on the whole, I have been far from
unhappy here. Your house has grown to be more a real home than any I
have ever known, and you and your sister are like my own people. What
you say, that I ought not to look forward to spending my life behind
the counter of a village bank on a salary, may be true; but I am not, at
present at least, a very ambitious person, nor, I am afraid, a very
clever one in the way of getting on in the world; and the idea of
breaking out for myself, even if that were all to be considered, is not
a cheerful one. I am afraid all this sounds rather selfish to you, when,
as I can see, you have deferred your plans for my sake, and after all
else that you have done for me."

"I guess I sha'n't lay it up agin ye," said David quietly.

They drove along in silence for a wh