The Promissory Note Ernest Duncan swung himself off the platform of David White 's store and walked whistling up the street . Life seemed good to Ernest just then . Mr. White had given him a rise in salary that day , and had told him that he was satisfied with him . Mr. White was not easy to please in the matter of clerks , and it had been with fear and trembling that Ernest had gone into his store six months before . He had thought himself fortunate to secure such a chance . His father had died the preceding year , leaving nothing in the way of worldly goods except the house he had lived in . For several years before his death he had been unable to do much work , and the finances of the little family had dwindled steadily . After his father 's death Ernest , who had been going to school and expecting to go to college , found that he must go to work at once instead to support himself and his mother . If George Duncan had not left much of worldly wealth behind him , he at least bequeathed to his son the interest of a fine , upright character and a reputation for honesty and integrity . None knew this better than David White , and it was on this account that he took Ernest as his clerk , over the heads of several other applicants who seemed to have a stronger `` pull . '' `` I do n't know anything about you , Ernest , '' he said bluntly . `` You 're only sixteen , and you may not have an ounce of real grit or worth in you . But it will be a queer thing if your father 's son has n't . I knew him all his life . A better man never lived nor , before his accident , a smarter one . I 'll give his son a chance , anyhow . If you take after your dad you 'll get on all right . '' Ernest had not been in the store very long before Mr. White concluded , with a gratified chuckle , that he did take after his father . He was hard-working , conscientious , and obliging . Customers of all sorts , from the rough fishermen who came up from the harbour to the old Irishwomen from the back country roads , liked him .
Mr. XXXXX was satisfied .
Duncan Ernest Irishwomen White accident day harbour left right years