“I wonder if I couldn’t make room for him here?” he at length said—­“He looks like a bright boy.  I know Mr.—­is highly pleased with him.  He spoke of getting four dollars a week.  That’s a good deal to give to a mere lad.  But, I suppose I might make him worth that to me.  And now I begin to think seriously about the matter, I believe I cannot keep a clear conscience and any longer remain indifferent to the welfare of my old friend’s widow and children.  I must look after them a little more closely than I have heretofore done.”

This resolution relieved the mind of Mr. Easy a good deal.

When Hiram left the counting room of the merchant, his spirits were crushed to the very earth.  He found his way back, how he hardly knew, to his place of business, and mechanically performed the tasks allotted him, until evening.

Then he returned home, reluctant to meet his mother, and yet anxious to relieve her state of suspense, even, if in doing so, he should dash a last hope from her heart.  When he came in Mrs. Mayberry lifted her eyes to his, inquiringly; but dropped them instantly—­she needed no words to tell her that he had suffered a bitter disappointment.

“You did not get the place?” she at length said, with forced composure.

“No—­It was taken this morning.  Mr. Easy promised to see about it.  But he didn’t do so.  When he went this afternoon, it was too late.”

Hiram said this with a trembling voice and lips that quivered.

“Thy will be done!” murmured the widow, lifting her eyes upwards.  “If these tender ones are to be taken from their mother’s fold, oh, do thou temper for them the piercing blast, and be their shelter amid the raging tempests.”

A tap at the door brought back the thoughts of Mrs. Mayberry.  A brief struggle with her feelings enabled her to overcome them in time to receive a visitor with composure.  It was the merchant.

“Mr. Easy!” she said in surprise.

“Mrs. Mayberry, how do you do!” There was some restraint and embarrassment in his manner.  He was conscious of having neglected the widow of his friend, before he came.  The humble condition in which he found her, quickened that consciousness into a sting.

“I am sorry, madam,” he said after he had become seated and made a few inquiries, “that I did not get the place for your son.  In fact, I am to blame in the matter.  But, I have been thinking since that he would suit me exactly, and if you have no objections, I will take him and pay him a salary of two hundred dollars for the first year.”

Mrs. Mayberry tried to reply, but her feelings were too much excited by this sudden and unlooked for proposal, to allow her to speak for some moments.  Even then her assent was made with tears glistening on her cheeks.

Arrangements were quickly made for the transfer of Hiram from the store where he had been engaged, to the counting room of Mr. Easy.  The salary he received was just enough to enable Mrs. Mayberry, with what she herself earned, to keep her little together, until Hiram, who proved a valuable assistant in Mr. Easy’s business, could command a larger salary, and render her more important hid.