Very odd.
I can't understand it at all;" and Mr. Kennedy heaved a deep sigh.
"Did you ever explain to him the prospects that he would have in the
situation you propose for him?" inquired Mr. Grant.
"Can't say I ever did."
"Did you ever point out the probable end of a life spent in the
woods?"
"No."
"Nor suggest to him that the appointment to the office here would
only be temporary, and to see how he got on in it?"
"Certainly not."
"Then, my dear sir, I'm not surprised that Charley rebels. You have
left him to suppose that, once placed at the desk here, he is a
prisoner for life. But see, there he is," said Mr. Grant, pointing as
he spoke towards the subject of their conversation, who was passing
the window at the moment; "let me call him, and I feel certain that
he will listen to reason in a few minutes."
"Humph!" ejaculated Mr. Kennedy, "you may try."
In another minute Charley had been summoned, and was seated, cap in
hand, near the door.
"Charley, my boy," began Mr. Grant, standing with his back to the
fire, his feet pretty wide apart, and his coat-tails under his arms--
"Charley, my boy, your father has just been speaking of you. He is
very anxious that you should enter the service of the Hudson's Bay
Company; and as you are a clever boy and a good penman, we think that
you would be likely to get on if placed for a year or so in our
office here. I need scarcely point out to you, my boy, that in such a
position you would be sure to obtain more rapid promotion than if you
were placed in one of the distant outposts, where you would have very
little to do, and perhaps little to eat, and no one to converse with
except one or two men.
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