rate salary.

Before this time James had removed his mother into a pleasant house,
for which he paid a rent of four hundred dollars; his salary was eight
hundred, but he deceived his mother by telling her it was fifteen
hundred. Every comfort that she needed was fully supplied, and she was
beginning to feel that, after a long and painful struggle with the
world, her happier days had come.

James was at his desk when the letter was received by Mr. Carman. He
looked at his employer and saw him change countenance suddenly. He
read it over twice, and James saw that the contents produced
disturbance. Mr. Carman glanced towards the desk, and their eyes met;
it was only for a moment, but the look that James received made his
heart stop beating.

There was something about the movements of Mr. Carman for the rest of
the day that troubled the young man. It was plain to him that
suspicion had been aroused by that letter. Oh, how bitterly now did he
repent, in dread of discovery and punishment, the evil of which he had
been guilty! Exposure would disgrace and ruin him, and bow the head of
his widowed mother even to the grave.

"You are not well this evening," said Mrs. Lewis, as she looked at her
son's changed face across the table, and noticed that he did not eat.

"My head aches."

"Perhaps a rest will make you feel better."

"I'll lie down on the sofa in the parlor for a short time."

Mrs. Lewis followed him into the parlor in a little while, and,
sitting down on the sofa on which he was lying, placed her hand upon
his head. Ah, it would take more than the loving pressure of a
mother's hand to ease the pain from which he was suffering. The touch
of that pure hand increased the pain to agony.

"Do you feel better?" asked Mrs. Lewis. She had remained some time
with her hand on his forehead.

"Not much," he replied, and rising as he spoke, he added, "I think a
walk in the open air will do me good."

"Don't go out, James," said Mrs. Lewis, a troubled feeling coming into
her heart.

"I'll walk only a few squares." And James went from the parlor and
passed into the street.

"There is something more than headache the matter with him," thought
Mrs. Lewis.

For half an hour James walked without any purpose in his mind beyond
the escape from the presence of his mother. At last his walk brought
him near Mr. Carman's store, and at passing he was surprised at seeing
a light within.

"What can this mean?" he asked himself