“You are right there, sir.”

“I am glad you show signs of returning reason.  Well, Mr. Crabb, I have thought the matter over, and I have a proposal to make to you.”

“Very well, sir!”

“I do not wish to distress you by taking away your means of livelihood.”

“You are very considerate, sir.”

There was something in Mr. Crabb’s tone that Socrates did not understand.  It really seemed that he did not care whether he was taken back or not.  But, of course, this could not be.  It was absolutely necessary for him, poor as he was, that he should be reinstated.  So Mr. Smith proceeded.

“To cut the matter short, I am willing to take you back on two conditions.”

“May I ask you to name them?”

“The first is, that you shall apologize to my nephew for your unjustifiable attack upon him day before yesterday.”

“What is the other, Mr. Smith?”

“The other is, that hereafter you will not exceed the limits of your authority.”

“And you wish my answer?” asked the usher, raising his eyes, and looking fixedly at his employer.

“If you please, Mr. Crabb.”

“Then, sir, you shall have it.  Your proposal that I should apologize to that overgrown bully for restraining him in his savage treatment of a fellow-pupil is both ridiculous and insulting.”

“You forget yourself, Mr. Crabb,” said Socrates, gazing at the hitherto humble usher in stupefaction.

“As to promising not to do it again, you will understand that I shall make no such engagement.”

“Then, Mr. Crabb,” said Socrates, angrily, “I shall adhere to what I said the other day.  At the end of this week you must leave me.”

“Of course, sir, that is understood!”

“You haven’t another engagement, I take it,” said Mr. Smith, very much puzzled by the usher’s extraordinary independence.

“Yes, sir, I have.”

“Indeed!” said Socrates, amazed.  “Where do you go?” Then was Mr. Crabb’s time for triumph.

“I have received this morning an offer from the city of New York,” he said.

“From New York!  Is it in a school?”

“No, sir; I am to be private tutor in a family.”

“Indeed!  Do you receive as good pay as here?”

“As good!” echoed the usher.  “I am offered sixty dollars a month and board, with the possibility of a larger sum, in the event of extra service being demanded.”

Socrates Smith had never been more surprised.

This Mr. Crabb, whom he had considered to be under his thumb, as being wholly dependent upon him, was to receive a salary which he considered princely.

“How did you get this office?” he asked.

“Through my friend, Hector Roscoe,” answered the usher.

“Probably he is deceiving you.  It is ridiculous to offer you such a sum.”

“I am quite aware that you would never think of offering it, but, Mr. Smith, there are other employers more generous.”