should never be able to look him in the face again, after what has
happened between us. No--no--I must see _him_ safe."

On the next day, Grasper called in to see Layton. His face was
serious.

"Can I say a word to you alone?" he asked.

"Certainly," and the two men retired to a private part of the store.
Grasper had never felt so wretched in all his life. After two or
three efforts to speak, he at last found voice enough to say--

"Mr. Layton, I have very bad news to tell you. It is impossible for
me to go on any longer. I shall stop to-morrow, inevitably. I owe
you two thousand dollars in borrowed money and two thousand in
notes, making, in all, four thousand dollars. I don't wish _you_ to
lose any thing by me, and, to secure your borrowed money, I have
brought you good notes for two thousand dollars, which is the best I
can possibly do. For the other two thousand dollars, I want you to
come into my store, and take your choice of any thing there, which I
will sell you, and take my own notes back in payment. That is the
best I can possibly do for you, Mr. Layton, and it will be far
better, I fear, than I shall be able to do for any one else."

Layton was taken entirely by surprise.

"What you say astonishes me, Mr. Grasper; I thought you were doing a
very flourishing business?"

"And so I would have been, had I not ventured a little beyond my