"I suppose you speak French like a native by this time, eh?"
"Not quite that, sir. I know about fifty words, and I've got along famously. Fifty words are quite enough to go from one end of the country to the other with: a smile and a shrug go such a long way with the French."
"I think you had better not cross till to-morrow morning," says Mr. Kelvin. "You can then take over with you some papers for Mr. Bray. We dine at six, and you must dine with us to-day."
Pod stammers out something--he hardly knows what--and colours up to the roots of his hair. Dine with the governor! What will they say at Pembridge when he tells them? He feels himself grow an inch taller in two minutes. After a few kind words from Mrs. Kelvin, he is dismissed till six o'clock.
Pod's trip to Paris is accounted for by the fact of his employer having made him a present of a twenty-pound note and a week's holiday. Ten pounds out of the twenty Pod has given to his mother. With the remaining ten, and some previous savings, he has enjoyed himself for a week in Paris.
"You don't mean to say, Matthew, that that boy has been to Paris all alone?"
"Consider his age. Consider the temptations of such a place."
"Oh, I would trust Piper anywhere. He's got the head of a man of thirty on those boy's shoulders of his."
"He seems a shrewd boy, certainly. You appear to have taken a quite uncommon interest in him of late, Matthew."
"Yes, I do feel a great interest in him. It is not often I take a fancy, but I've taken a fancy to Piper, and I mean to put him in the way of making his fortune."
"By having him articled to a first-class legal firm, and afterwards by purchasing a partnership for him, or else by setting him up on his own account."
"But that will cost a great deal of money."
"Not so much, perhaps, as you imagine. But whatever the cost may be, I have made up my mind to do it, and do it I will."
Mrs. Kelvin knows nothing of the great service which Pod Piper has rendered her son. She does not know that but for Pod's shrewd thoughtfulness and presence of mind she might perhaps no longer have had a son. But Matthew Kelvin knows, and does not forget.
"But if you want to have young Piper articled, why not article him to yourself, Matthew?"
