"
"I am afraid you overrate me."
"No; I have observed you closely in the time we have been together,
and I have long felt that you are destined to rise from the ranks in
which I am content to remain. Haven't you ever felt so, yourself,
Harry?"
Harry's cheek flushed, and his eye lighted up.
"I won't deny that I have such thoughts sometimes," he said; "but it
may end in that."
"It often does end in that; but it is only where ambition is not
accompanied by faithful work. Now you are always at work. You are
doing what you can to help fortune, and the end will be that fortune
will help you."
"I hope so, at any rate," said Harry, thoughtfully. "I should like
to fill an honorable position, and do some work by which I might be
known in after years."
"Why not? The boys and young men of to-day are hereafter to fill the
highest positions in the community and State. Why may not the lot
fall to you?"
"I will try, at any rate, to qualify myself. Then if
responsibilities come, I will try to discharge them."
The conversation was here interrupted by the entrance of Mr.
Anderson, the editor of the "Gazette." He was not as well or strong
as when we first made his acquaintance. Then he seemed robust
enough, but now he was thinner, and moved with slower gait. It was
not easy to say what had undermined his strength, for he had had no
severe fit of sickness; but certainly he was in appearance several
years older than when Harry entered the office.
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