tion. Of course, he was a general favorite. Every one spoke
well of him, and few hesitated to give his ears the benefit of their
good opinion. I was first introduced to him when he was in the
neighborhood of twenty-two years of age. Peyton was then a clerk in
the receipt of six hundred dollars a year. He grasped my hand with an
air of frankness and sincerity, that at once installed him in my good
opinion. A little pleasure excursion was upon the tapis, and he
insisted on my joining it. I readily consented. There were five of us,
and the expense to each, if borne mutually, would have been something
like one dollar. Peyton managed everything, even to paying the bills;
and when I offered to pay him my proportion, he said:--

"No, no!"--pushing back my hand--"nonsense!"

"Yes; but I must insist upon meeting my share of the expense."

"Not a word more. The bill's settled, and you needn't trouble your
head about it," was his reply; and he seemed half offended when I
still urged upon him to take my portion of the cost.

"What a fine, generous fellow Peyton is!" said one of the party to me,
as we met the next day.

"Did he also refuse to let you share in the expense of our excursion?"
I asked.

"After what he said to you, I was afraid of offending him by proposing
to do so."

"He certainly is generous--but, I think, to a fault, if I saw a fair
specimen of his generosity yesterday."

"We should be just, as well as generous."

"I never heard that he was not just."

"Nor I. But I think he was not just to himself. And I believe it will
be found to appear in the end, that, if we are not just to ourselves,
we will, somewhere in life, prove unjust to others. I think that his
salary is not over twelve dollars a week. If he bore the whole expense
of our pleasure excursion, it cost him within a fraction of half his
earnings for a week. Had we all shared alike, it would not have been a
serious matter to any of us."

"Oh! as to that, it is no very serious matter to him. He will never
think of it."

"But, if he does so very frequently, he may _feel_ it sooner or
later," I replied.

"I'm sure I don't know anything about that," was returned. "He is a
generous fellow, and I cannot but like him. Indeed, every one likes
him."

Some days afterwards I fell in with Peyton again, and, in order to
retaliate a little, invited him to go and get some refreshments with
me. He consented. When I put my hand in my pocket to pay for them,