“Perhaps I might,” said Herbert, quietly, “if I couldn’t have got anything better to do.”

“It’s a very genteel occupation,” sneered Tom.

“I don’t think it is,” said Herbert, “but it’s an honest one.”

“You may have to take it yet.”

“Perhaps so.  So may you.”

“Do you mean to insult me?” demanded Tom, haughtily, his face flushing.

“I only said to you the same thing you said to me.  If it’s an insult on one side, it is on the other.”

“You seem to forget that our circumstances are very different,” said Tom.

“They are just now, so far as money goes.  I get a larger salary than you.”

Tom was very much incensed at this remark, being aggrieved by the fact that Herbert received more than he.

“I didn’t mean that,” said he.  “Of course, if Mr. Godfrey chooses to give away money in charity, it is none of my business.  I don’t need any charity”

“Mr. Godfrey pays me for my services,” said Herbert.  “If he pays me too liberally now, I hope to make it up to him afterward.”

“You seemed to be very intimate with Julia Godfrey last evening,” said Tom, unpleasantly.

“I found her very pleasant.”

“Yes; she is very kind to take notice of you.”

“I suppose the notice you have taken of me this morning is meant in kindness,” said Herbert, thinking his cousin very disagreeable.

“Yes, of course, being in the same counting-room, I think it right to take some notice of you,” said Tom, condescendingly.

“I am very much obliged to you,” said Herbert, sarcastically.

“But there’s one piece of advice I should like to give you,” proceeded Tom.

“What is that?” inquired Herbert, looking his cousin in the face.

“Don’t feel too much set up by Julia Godfrey’s notice.  She only took notice of you out of pity, and to encourage you.  If you had been in her own position in society—­”

“Like you, for instance!”

“Yes, like me,” said Tom, complacently, “she would have been more ceremonious.  I thought I would just mention it to you, Mason, or you might not understand it.”

It was only natural that Herbert should be provoked by this elaborate humiliation suggested by Tom, and his cousin’s offensive assumption of superiority.  This led him to a retort in kind.

“I suppose that is the reason she took so little notice of you,” he said.

Tom was nettled at this statement of a fact, but he answered in an off-hand manner, “Oh, Julia and I are old friends.  I’ve danced with her frequently at dancing school.”

Herbert happened to remember what Julia had said of his cousin, and was rather amused at this assumption of intimacy.

“I am much obliged to you for your information,” said Herbert, “though I am rather surprised that you should take so great an interest in my affairs.”

“Oh, you’re new in the city, and I know all the ropes,” said Tom.  “I thought I might as well give you a friendly hint.”