caring what became of himself, he signed the deed of apprenticeship
which made him for five years the slave of the cloth merchant. Not
that the latter intended to be anything but kind, and he sincerely
believed that he was acting for the good of the boy in taking him
as his apprentice; but as Jack recovered his spirits and energy, he
absolutely loathed the trade to which he was bound. Had it not been
for Mistress Anthony and Alice he would have braved the heavy pains
and penalties which in those days befell disobedient apprentices,
and would have run away to sea; but their constant kindness, and
the fact that his mother with her dying breath had charged him
to regard her cousin as standing in her place, prevented him from
carrying the idea which he often formed into effect.

In the shop his life was wretched. He was not stupid, as his master
asserted; for indeed in other matters he was bright and clever,
and his father had been well pleased with the progress he made with
his studies; but, in the first place; he hated his work, and, in
the second, every shortcoming and mistake was magnified and made
the most of by the foreman, Andrew Carson. This man had long looked
to be taken into partnership, and finally to succeed his master,
seeing that the latter had no sons, and he conceived a violent
jealousy of Jack Stilwell, in whose presence, as a prime favorite
of Mistress Anthony and of her daughter, he thought he foresaw an
overthrow of his plans.

He was not long in effecting a breach between the boy and his
master--for Jack's carelessness and inattention gave him plenty of
opportunities--and Mr. Anthony ere long viewed the boy's errors
as acts of willful disobedience. This state of things lasted for two
years until the climax came, when, as Mr. Anthony had said to his