“I hope so, at any rate,” said Harry, thoughtfully.  “I should like to fill an honorable position, and do some work by which I might be known in after years.”

“Why not?  The boys and young men of to-day are hereafter to fill the highest positions in the community and State.  Why may not the lot fall to you?”

“I will try, at any rate, to qualify myself.  Then if responsibilities come, I will try to discharge them.”

The conversation was here interrupted by the entrance of Mr. Anderson, the editor of the “Gazette.”  He was not as well or strong as when we first made his acquaintance.  Then he seemed robust enough, but now he was thinner, and moved with slower gait.  It was not easy to say what had undermined his strength, for he had had no severe fit of sickness; but certainly he was in appearance several years older than when Harry entered the office.

“How do you feel this morning, Mr. Anderson?” asked Ferguson.

“I feel weak and languid, and indisposed to exertion of any kind.”

“You need some change.”

“That is precisely what I have thought myself.  The doctor advises change of scene, and this very morning I had a letter from a brother in Wisconsin, asking me to come out and visit him.”

“I have no doubt it would do you good.”

“So it would.  But how can I go?  I can’t take the paper with me,” said Mr. Andersen, rather despondently.

“No; but you can leave Harry to edit it in your absence.”

“Mr. Ferguson!” exclaimed Harry, startled by the proposition.

“Harry as editor!” repeated Mr. Anderson.

“Yes; why not?  He is a practised writer.  For more than two years he has written for two Boston papers.”

“But he is so young.  How old are you, Harry?” asked the editor.

“Nineteen to-day, sir.”

“Nineteen.  That’s very young for an editor.”

“Very true; but, after all, it isn’t so much the age as the qualifications, is it, Mr. Anderson?”

“True,” said the editor, meditatively.  “Harry, do you think you could edit the paper for two or three months?”

“I think I could,” said Harry, with modest confidence.  His heart beat high at the thought of the important position which was likely to be opened to him; and plans of what he would do to make the paper interesting already began to be formed in his mind.

“It never occurred to me before, but I really think you could,” said the editor, “and that would remove every obstacle to my going.  By the way, Harry, you would have to find a new boarding-place, for Mrs. Anderson would accompany me, and we should shut up the house.”

“Perhaps Ferguson would take me in?” said Harry.

“I should be glad to do so; but I don’t know that my humble fare would be good enough for an editor.”

Harry smiled.  “I won’t put on airs,” he said, “till my commission is made out.”