a determined young fellow, or I'm mistaken. Better keep him at work under
your own eye, and make the place too hot for him by degrees. Before long
you will catch him poaching with his dog, and if he is let off for a time
or two because of his youth, and goes at it again, we can make out a
pretty case of juvenile depravity, without any character from his
employer, you know; and so he will be sent out of the way, and boarded at
the expense of the country for a few years or so.'

'Well,' said the master, 'I'll try him once again. If he'd go out
quietly, nobody else has any claim upon the cottage; and I want to set to
work there quickly.'

So when Stephen entered the office with trembling limbs and a very pale
face under its dusky covering, it happened that he met with a very
different reception to what he expected. The master sat behind a small
counter, upon which lay Stephen's twelve shillings, the only little heap
of money left; and as he gathered them nervously into his hand, he
wondered if this would be the last time. But his master's face was not
more threatening than usual; and he muttered his 'Thank you, sir,' and
was turning away with a feeling of great relief, when Mr. Wyley's harsh
voice brought him back again, trembling more than ever.

'Have you thought any more of my offer, Fern?' he asked. 'I shouldn't
mind, as you are an orphan, and have two sisters depending upon you, if I
made the ten pounds into fifteen; and you may leave the money at interest
with me till you are older.'

'And I've been thinking, Stephen,' added Thomas Wyley, who sat at a high
desk checking the accounts, 'that, as you seem set against being
separated, instead of taking your grandfather into the House, I'd get him