68 THE APPRENTICE. 



and told liim what I meant to do if he would trust me. 

 He would not ; ^ and after so downright a refusal you 

 cannot imagine the perturbed state of my mind. What 

 hurt me most was that he should have doubted my pro- 

 bity. I then went straight to Mr to see what he 



thought of me, for after the first shock was over I was 

 indifferent to what I might meet with. He was not 

 quite so direct with me, but what he said amounted to a 

 refusal too. Before evening I had paid them both, which 

 so reduced my slender finances that I could go nowhere, 

 and here without money or employment I could not well 

 stay. The friend who would have sympathized with me 

 was gone, and perhaps 'twas better that he was. The way 

 in which I have been treated could not but have hurt you. 



' Now that you have my worst news, I will tell you 



better. Colonel G sent for me to refresh the walls 



of his dining-room, and gave me 55. when I had done. 



Soon after I saw Mr , who asked me whether I was 



employed, and told me, on my replying in the negative, that 



his brother-in-law, Mr , had bought paint at London, 



and was looking out for some one to paint his house for 

 him by the day. I would do the work most readily, I 

 said, but as my old master had thought of getting it for 

 himself, I could not think of interfering. He assured 

 me, however, that that was out of the question, as it was 

 owing to the exorbitancy of my master's estimate that 

 Mr - - had procured the materials for himself. I accord- 

 ingly went and settled with Mr - - for the work at 3s. 

 per day. This will make a sad change, I am afraid, in 

 all I enjoyed of the favourable opinion of my master ; but 

 I can't help it/ 



Was there not a delicacy of honour in the reluctance 

 of the lad, whom starvation actually stared in the face, to 

 accept work which his old master had ' thought of 



