"But did you _hever_! It's come upon me so sudden like.

And what'll Allchin say! Why, he'll think I'm having a game with him." To this point had Will Warburton brought himself, urged by conscience and fear.

Little by little, since the afternoon when he gazed at Boxon's closed shop, had this purpose grown in his mind, until he saw it as a possibility--a desirability--a fact.

By shopkeeping, he might hope to earn sufficient for supply of the guaranteed income to his mother and sister, and at the same time be no man's servant.

His acquaintance with Allchin enabled him to disregard his lack of grocery experience; with Allchin for an assistant, he would soon overcome initial difficulties.