doing
something, the relief to the previous daily anxiety and almost despair,
raised his spirits. It was only when he thought of the public opinion of
his little world, of some other occupation more befitting his education,
of the vast change from his late life of ease and luxury to this of
daily labor with a clerk's pay, that he had hours of revolt and cursed
his luck.

No, Jack's battle was not won in a day, or a week, or a year. And before
it was won he needed more help than his own somewhat irresolute will
could give. It is the impression of his biographer that he would have
failed in the end if he had been married to a frivolous and selfish
woman.

Mr. Fletcher was known as a very strict man of business, and as little
else. But he was a good judge of character, and under his notions of
discipline and of industry he was a kindly man, as his clerks, who
feared his sharp oversight, knew. And besides, he had made a compact
with Edith, for whom he had something more than family affection, and he
watched Jack's efforts to adjust himself to the new life with sympathy.
If it was an experiment for Jack, it was also an experiment for him,
the result of which gave him some anxiety. The situation was not a
very heroic one, but a life is often decided for good or ill by as
insignificant a matter as Jack's ability to persevere in learning about
the twine and cordage trade. This was a day of trial, and the element
of uncertainty in it kept both Mr. Fletcher and Jack from writing of the
new arrangement to Edith, for fear that only disappointment to her would
be the ultimate result. Jack's brief notes to her were therefore, as
usual, indefinite, but with the hint that he was beginning to see a way
out of his embarrassment.

After the passage of a couple of weeks, during which Mr. Fletcher
had been quietly studying his new clerk, he suddenly said to him, one
Saturday morning, after they had looked over and estimated the orders
by the day's mail, "Jack, I think you'd better let up a little, and run
down and see Edith."

"Oh!" said Jack, a little startled by the proposal, but recovering
himself; "I didn't suppose the business could spare me."

"I didn't mean a vacation, but run down for over Sunday. It must be
lovely there, and the change will make you as keen as a brier for
business. It always does me. Stay over Monday if the weather is good.
I have to be away myself the week after." As Jack hesitated and did not
reply, Mr. F