prompt answer.

"Will you give me your name?" asked George.

Billy complied, and when he spoke of his native town, George repeated
it after him, saying, "I have some acquaintances who spend the summer
in Chicopee; but you probably have never known them."

Immediately Billy thought of the Lincolns, and now knew why the name
of Selden seemed so familiar. He had heard Jenny speak of Ida, and
felt certain that R.J. Selden was her father.

For a moment George regarded him intently, and then said, "We seldom
employ strangers without a recommendation; still I do not believe you
need any. My uncle is wanting a young man, but the work may hardly
suit you," he added, naming the duties he would be expected to
perform, which certainly were rather menial. Still, as the wages were
liberal, and he would have considerable leisure, Billy, for want of a
better, accepted the situation, and was immediately introduced to his
business. For some time he only saw George at a distance, but was told
by one of the clerks that he was just graduated at Yale, and was now a
junior partner in his uncle's establishment. "We all like him very
much," said the clerk, "he is so pleasant and kind, though a little
proud, I guess."

This was all that Billy knew of him until he had been in Mr. Selden's
employment nearly three weeks; then, as he was one day poring over a
volume of Horace which he had brought with him, George, who chanced to
pass by, looked over his shoulder, exclaiming, "Why, Bender, can you
read Latin? Really this is a novelty. Are you fond of books?"