Part 4 (1/2)
”Well,” he said, after a pause, ”if I agree to do this, what will you pay me?”
”What will I pay you?”
”Yes, will you pay me ten dollars a week--the same as I got at Hanbury & Deane's?”
”Ten dollars a week!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Ebenezer, ”I don't get any more than that myself.”
”I guess there's a little mistake in your calculations, father,” said Eben, significantly. ”If you don't make at least forty dollars a week, including the post office, then I am mistaken.”
”So you are--ridiculously mistaken!” said his father, sharply. ”What you presume is entirely out of the question. You forget that you will be getting your board, and Tom Tripp only received a dollar and a half a week without board.”
”Is that all you pay to Herbert Carr?”
”I pay him a leetle more,” admitted Ebenezer.
”What will you give me?”
”I'll give you your board and clothes,” said Ebenezer, ”and that seems to be more than you made in Boston.”
”Are you in earnest?” asked Eben, in genuine dismay.
”Certainly. It isn't a bad offer, either.”
”Do you suppose a young man like me can get along without money?”
”You ought to get along without money for the next two years, after the sums you've wasted in Boston. It will cripple me to pay your bills,” and the storekeeper groaned at the thought of the inroads the payment would make on his bank account.
”You're poorer than I thought, if seventy-five dollars will cripple you,” said Eben, who knew his father's circ.u.mstances too well to be moved by this representation.
”I shall be in the poorhouse before many years if I undertake to pay all your bills, Eben.”
After all, this was not, perhaps, an exaggeration, for a spendthrift son can get through a great deal of money.
”I can't get along without money, father,” said Eben, decidedly. ”How can I buy cigars, let alone other things?”
”I don't want you to smoke cigars. You'll be a great deal better off without them,” said his father, sharply.
”I understand; it's necessary to my health,” said Eben, rather absurdly.
”You won't smoke at my expense,” said Ebenezer, decidedly. ”I don't smoke myself, and I never knew any good come of it.”
”All the same, I must have some money. What will people say about a young man of my age not having a cent in his pocket? They think my father is very mean.”
”I'll allow you fifty cents a week,” said Mr. Graham, after a pause.
”That won't do! You seem to think I am only six or seven years old!”
Finally, after considerable haggling, Mr. Graham agreed to pay his son a dollar and a half a week, in cash, besides board and clothes. He reflected that he should be obliged to board and clothe his son at any rate, and should save a dollar and a half from Herbert's wages.