olored high again. "What! did he show you my note?"

"He did: and that has made me his friend. Shall I tell you the effect of
those words on me?"

"No; never mind. But I'm glad I put them in, if they did you any good."

"Any good? They made me a new man. I was defeated by the Trades: I was
broken-hearted: and I hated every body. Good Dr. Amboyne had set me work
to do; to save the lives of my fellow-creatures. But I couldn't; I hated
them so. The world had been too unjust to me, I could not return it good
for evil. My heart was full of rage and bitterness."

"That's a great pity--at your age. But really it is no wonder. Yes; you
have been cruelly used." And the water stood in Grace's eyes.

"Ay, but it is all over; those sweet words of yours made a man of me
again. They showed me you cared a little for me. Now I have found a
way to outwit the Trades. Now I'm on the road to fortune. I won't be a
workman this time next year. I'll be a master, and a thriving one."

"Ay, do, do. Beat them, defeat them; make them scream with envy. But I
am afraid you are too sanguine."

"No; I can do it, if you will only give me another word of hope to keep
me going; and oh, I need it, if you knew all."

Grace began to look uneasy. "Mr. Little, can you doubt that you have
my best wishes?" said she, guardedly, and much less warmly than she had
spoken just before.

"No, I don't doubt that; but what I fear is, that, when I have gained
the hard battle, and risen in the world, it will be too late. Too late."

Grace turned more and more uncomfortable.

"Oh, pray wait a few months, and see what I can do, before you--"

Will it be believed that Mr. Carden, who seldom came into this room at
all, must walk in just at this moment, and interrupt them. He was too
occupied with his own affairs, to pay much attention to their faces, or
perhaps he might have asked himself why the young man was so pale, and
his daughter so red.

"I heard you were here, Little, and I want to speak to you on a matter
of some importance."

Grace took this opportunity, and made her escape from the room promptly.

Henry, burning inwardly, had to listen politely to a matter he thought
pitiably unimportant compared with that which had been broken off. But
the "Gosshawk" had got him in its clutches; and was resolved to make
him a decoy duck. He was to open a new vein of Insurances. Workmen had
hitherto acted with great folly and imprudence in this respect, and he
was