Alger, Horatio | Driven from Home (1889)

“I might be more so. Is there a place vacant in your office?”

“No.” “And if there were, you might not recommend me, eh?”

“There is no need to speak of that. There is no vacancy.”

“Upon my word, I wish there were, as I am getting to the end of my tether. I may have money enough to last me four weeks longer, but no more.”

“I don't see how I can help you,” said Gibbon.

“How much salary does Mr. Jennings pay you?”

“A hundred dollars a month,” answered the bookkeeper, reluctantly.

“Not bad, in a cheap place like this.”

“It takes all I make to pay expenses.”

“I remember--you have a wife. I have no