“It does, Edith.  I can see, as well as feel, that you are right.  But, the offer of a present good is a strong temptation.  I speak freely.”

“And I thank you for doing so.  Oh! never conceal from me your inmost thoughts.  You say that you can see as well as feel that I am right?”

“Yes; I freely acknowledge that.”

“Your reason approves what I have said?”

“Fully.”

“This tells you that it will be better for you in the end to accept of four hundred dollars from Mr. Melleville, than to remain with Mr. Jasper at six hundred and fifty?”

“It does, Edith.”

“Then, my husband, let the reason which God has given to you as a guide, direct you now in the right way.  Do not act under influence from me—­for then the act will not be freely your own—­but, as a truly rational, and, therefore, a wise man, choose now the way in which an enlightened reason tells you that you ought to walk.”

“I have chosen, Edith,” was the young man’s low, but firm reply.

“How?” The wife spoke with a sudden, trembling eagerness, and held her breath for an answer.

“I will leave my present place, and return to Mr. Melleville.”

“God be thanked!” came sobbing from the lips of Edith, as she threw herself in unrestrained joy upon the bosom of her husband.

CHAPTER VIII.

“I don’t just understand this,” said Jasper to himself, after the interview with his clerk described in another chapter.  “I thought him perfectly satisfied.  He didn’t say he was offered a higher salary.  Ah! guess I’ve got it now.  It’s only a bit of a ruse on his part to get me to increase his wages.  I didn’t think of this before.  Well, it has succeeded; and, in truth, he’s worth all I’ve offered him.  Shrewd, quick, and sharp; he’s a young man just to my mind.  Should he grow restless again, I must tempt him with the idea of a partnership at some future period.  If business goes on increasing, I shall want some one with me whom I can trust and depend on more fully than on a clerk.”

Thus, in the mind of Jasper, all was settled; and he was fully prepared, on the next morning, when he met Edward to hear from him that he would remain in his service.  A different decision took him altogether by surprise.

“Where are you going?” he asked.  Edward hesitated a moment ere replying.

“Back to Mr. Melleville’s.”

“To Melleville’s!  Will he give you more salary than I have agreed to pay?”

“No,” was the answer; “but I have reasons for wishing to accept the place he offers me.”

“Well, just as you please,” said Jasper, coldly.  “Every one must suit himself.”

And, with the air of a person offended, he turned himself from the young man.  Soon after he went out, and did not come back for two or three hours.  When he re-entered the store there was an angry flash in his eyes, which rested somewhat sternly upon Claire.