not very complicated. According to his own reckoning, he was the
chief person in the employ of Messrs. Sands & Co., wholesale and
retail dry good Washington Street; one who had rendered immense
service to the firm, and one without whom the firm could not
possibly get along a single day; in short, a sort of Atlas, on
whose broad shoulders the vast world of the Messrs. Sands & Co.'s
affairs rested. But according to the reckoning of the firm, and
the general understanding of people, Master Simon was a boy in
the store, whose duty it was to make fires, sweep out, and carry
bundles, and, in consideration of the fact that he boarded
himself to receive two dollars and a half a week for his
services. There was a vast difference between Master Simon
Sneed's estimate of Masters Simon Sneed, and the Messrs. Sands &
Co.'s idea of Master Simon Sneed.

But I beg my young friends not to let anything I have written
create a prejudice against him, for he was really a very
kind-hearted young man, and under certain circumstances would
have gone a great way to oblige a friend. He had always been
exceedingly well disposed towards Katy; perhaps it was because
the simple-hearted little girl used to be so much astonished when
he told her about his mercantile relations with the firm of Sands
& Co.; and how he managed all their business for them after the
store was closed at night, and before the front door was unlocked
in the morning; how he went to the bank after immense sums of
money; and how the firm would have to give up business if he
should die, or be obliged to leave them. Katy believed that
Master Simon was a great man, and she wondered how his long, slim
arms could accomplish so much labor, and how his small head could
hold such a heap of magnificent ideas. But Master Simon,