"I've spent it, somehow or other."

"It must have been somehow or other. I should think, or somehow
else," returned the employer, half seriously, and half playfully.
"But really, Jacob, you are a very thoughtless young man to waste
your money."

"I don't think I _waste_ my money," said Jacob.

"What, then, have you done with it?" asked the merchant.

"It costs me the whole amount of my salary to live."

The merchant shook his head.

"Then you live extravagantly for a young man of your age and
condition. How much do you pay for boarding?"

"Four dollars a week."

"Too much by from fifty cents to a dollar. But even paying that sum,
four more dollars per week ought to meet fully all your other
expenses, and leave you what would amount to nearly one hundred
dollars per annum to lay by. I saved nearly two hundred dollars a
year on a salary no larger than you receive."

"I should like very much to know how you did it. I can't save a
cent; in fact, I hardly ever have ten dollars in my pocket."