"
"I need no references," the old man said; "your work speaks for
itself as to your skill, and your face for your character. But I
can offer you nothing fit for you. With such a genius as you have
for setting up animals, you ought to be able to earn a good income.
Not one man in a thousand can make a dead animal look like a live
one. You have the knack or the art."
"I shall be very content with anything you can give me," Frank said;
"for the present I only ask to earn my living. If later on I can,
as you say, do more, all the better."
The old man stood for some time thinking, and presently said, "I
do but little except in live stock. When I had my daughter with me
I did a good deal of stuffing, for there is a considerable trade
hereabout. The sailors bring home skins of foreign birds, and want
them stuffed and put in cases, as presents for their wives and
sweethearts. You work fast as well as skillfully. I have known men
who would take a fortnight to do such a group as that, and then it
would be a failure. It will be quite a new branch for my trade. I
do not know how it will act yet, but to begin with I will give you
twelve shillings a week, and a room upstairs.
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