"In the name of the Lord, what am I indebted to you for?" demanded
Jerome, now entirely out of patience, turning to the last of the
trio.
"I told yer vership vot time it vas, this morning."
"Well!" exclaimed the indignant man, "ask here what o'clock it is,
and you have got to pay for it."
He paid this last demand with a sixpence, regretting that he had
not commenced with sixpences instead of half-crowns.
Having cleared off all demands in the house, he started for the
railway station; but had scarcely reached the street, before he
was accosted by an old man with a broom in his hand, who, with an
exceedingly low bow, said,--
"I is here, yer lordship."
"I did not send for you; what is your business?" demanded Jerome.
"I is the man what opened your lordship's cab-door, when your
lordship came to the house on Monday last, and I know your honor
won't allow a poor man to starve."
Putting a sixpence in the old man's hand, Jerome once more started
for the depot. Having obtained letters of introduction to persons
in Manchester, he found no difficulty in getting a situation in a
large manufacturing house there. Although the salary was small,
yet the situation was a much better one than he had hoped to
obtain. His compensation as out-door clerk enabled him to employ a
man to teach him at night, and, by continued study and attention
to business, he was soon promoted.
After three years in his new home, Jerome was placed in a still
higher position, where his salary amounted to fifteen hundred
dollars a year.
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