“Very likely. Now you can go out and ask about my credit; and, if you are not gone more than half an hour, I shall be here when you come back. You are rather too late for dinner to-day; but you will be on hand for supper, for my father only stays during the middle of the day.” “I will not be gone more than fifteen minutes,” replied Wade, who felt that the inquiry was nothing but a mere form. “Very well: I will be here. I have to go into the kitchen, and lay out the meats for supper,” added Mr. Flinker. Wade left the restaurant with the feeling that his fortune was made. He was to have ten dollars a week; for that was what the proprietor had promised him in the course of the conversation at the employment office. It was the nicest and easiest sort of work he could think of, and was not at all like the drudgery he had been obliged to do on the farm of Obed Swikes. He had been unlucky a great many times; but now he was the luckiest fellow in the world. At the corner of the next street, he saw a large provision-store. It was not unlikely that Mr. Flinker bought his meat at this place. He went in. Business was dull at this time in the day. He had read the sign over the door; and he asked for Mr. Wangdon. “That’s my name,” replied the elderly man to whom he had put the question. “What can I do for you?” “Do you know Mr. Flinker?” “I do: he has been my neighbor for ten years.” “Is his credit good?” “Flinker’s? He pays cash for every thing, and don’t owe a dollar in the world,” replied Mr. Wangdon with enthusiasm. “Would you take his note for a thousand dollars?” asked Wade, putting the question as he had heard it done at home. “Yes, for ten or twenty thousand dollars, or any other sum that I could lend him, or sell goods for. He is better than half the banks. Why do you ask such a question?” “A gentleman asked me to make some inquiries about Mr. Flinker.” “He is worth more than a hundred thousand dollars, and has no debts. Every business-man about here will tell you the same thing,” replied Mr. Wangdon. “And he is one of the best and kindest men in the world.” Wade thought so too, though he was glad to have his own opinion of the keeper of the restaurant confirmed. “I am much obliged to you for telling me all this,” added Wade, as he left the provision-store. It would have been better for the boy from the country if he had told Mr. Wangdon more fully why he asked these questions; but he was satisfied. It was useless to ask anybody else about Mr. Flinker for the marketman had told him what all the business-people thought of the proprietor of the restaurant. He went back; and he had not been absent more than a quarter of an hour. As he entered the place, he saw Mr. Flinker talking to his father at the counter; but, as soon as he came in, the conversation was terminated, and the son took the new cashier into a retired part of the room. “I am all ready for business,” said Wade, with a cheerful smile upon his face.