"Ah, Henry!" he said, in a tone frank enough, "did you not meet your father?" "Yes, sir," replied the youth; "I met him close to the door." "Did he say anything particular to you?" demanded Mr. Scriven. "No; he only asked where I was going," replied Henry, "and when I told him, he said 'Very well, go on.'" "Humph!" said Mr. Scriven. "Have you any business to speak about, my young friend? or is this merely a call?" "I can hardly call it business, sir," replied Henry, coming to the point at once; "but you were kind enough when last I saw you to talk about my becoming a merchant. I have been thinking over the matter since, and I have made up my mind to be one, if I can." "Have you spoken to your father on the subject?" asked Mr. Scriven. "No, sir," answered the lad in his usual candid manner; "I see he is very uneasy about something. I am afraid that I have been a great burden to him, and I want, if possible, to put myself in the way of relieving him rather than pressing upon him." Mr. Scriven gazed upon him with a look of some surprise, and then said, "And have you not spoken with him upon the subject at all?" "Not in the least," answered Henry: "I hope you do not think it wrong, for I wish only to do what is right. But as my father has not said a word to me about his affairs, and perhaps I may be found not to have abilities for what I desire to undertake, I thought it would be better not to say anything till I had tried, and then if I fail he would not be disappointed." "You are a singular boy, upon my word," said Mr. Scriven; "Do you propose, then, to go as a clerk upon trial?" "I do not know what steps I ought to take," replied Henry, "and that is the very subject upon which I came to ask your advice." Mr. Scriven mused for a moment, and then called for his head clerk. "Is young Hamilton likely to return to business soon?" he inquired, as soon as the clerk appeared. "I am afraid not, sir," replied the other: "they tell me he is in a deep decline."