ceiving that the dog
was at the length of his tether, he seemed to enjoy his situation, and
stood smiling at the furious animal, and lifting his basket with both
hands above his head, nodded to him, as if to say, "Well, old boy, you'd
like to eat me, wouldn't you?"

Mr. Spires, who sat near his counting-house window at his books, was
struck with the bold and handsome bearing of the boy, and said to a
clerk:

"What boy is that?"

"It is Jenny Deg's," was the answer.

"Ha! that boy! Zounds! how boys do grow! Why that's the child that Jenny
Deg was carrying when she came to Stockington: and what a strong,
handsome, bright-looking fellow he is now!"

As the boy was returning, Mr. Spires called him to the counting-house
door, and put some questions to him as to what he was doing and learning,
and so on.

Simon, taking off his cap with much respect, answered in such a clear and
Modest way, and with a voice that had so much feeling and natural music
in it, that the worthy manufacturer was greatly taken with him.

"That's no Deg," said he, when he again entered the counting-house, "not
a bit of it. He's all Goodrick, or whatever his mother's name was, every
inch of him."

The consequence of that interview was, that Simon Deg was very soon after
Perched on a stool in Mr. Spires's counting-house, where he continued
till he was twenty-two. Mr. Spires had no son, only a single daughter;
and such were Simon Deg's talents, attention to business, and genial
disposition, that at that age Mr. Spires gave him a share in the concern.
He was himself now getting less fond of exertion than he had been, and
placed the most implicit reliance on Simon's judgment and general
management. Yet no two men could be more unlike in their opinions beyond
the circle of trade. Mr. Spires was a staunch tory of the staunch old
school. He was for Church and King, and for things remaining forever as
they had been. Simon, on the other hand, had liberal and reforming
notions. He was for the improvement of the people, and their admission to
many privileges. Mr. Spires was therefore liked by the leading men of the
place, and disliked by the people. Simon's estimation was precisely in
the opposite direction. But this did not disturb their friendship; it
required another disturbing cause--and that came.

Simon Deg and the daughter of Mr. Spires grew attached to each other; and
as the father had thought Simon worthy of becoming a partner in the
business,