Daniel considered that.

“If you deliberately destroy one, we’ll discuss it,” he said.

“If a tool breaks during ordinary work, that’s my responsibility as the shop owner.”

Peter looked at the page as though it were a rare gift.

“And I can keep a copy?”

“You should,” Daniel said.

Caleb made two copies and handed one to the apprentice.

Later that week Peter returned to Harlan’s shop accompanied by an older cousin, carrying a written request for the unpaid wages.

Harlan denied owing the full amount and shouted that apprentices were ungrateful.

Peter’s cousin remained calm and asked to see the original arrangement.

There was none.

When Harlan threatened to throw them out, a neighboring merchant emerged and offered to testify that Peter had worked through the six weeks in question.

The dispute did not end that morning.

Peter eventually accepted a partial payment after seeking advice from a local magistrate, and he decided that the remaining money was not worth returning to Harlan’s control.

Caleb did not praise the settlement as justice.

It was a compromise made by a young man who had to weigh the cost of pursuing every dollar against the need to keep earning a living.

But Peter had made that decision himself, after hearing his choices.

One evening Peter showed Caleb the coins he had received.

“It’s less than he owed,” he said.

“I know.”

“I keep thinking I should have demanded all of it.”

“You can think that and still have made the best decision available to you,” Caleb replied.

Peter looked toward the shop window.

“Did you ever have to choose between money and being safe?”

Caleb was quiet for a long time.

“I spent years being told safety wasn’t mine to choose,” he said.

“That’s different from what happened to you.”

“But you know what it’s like when somebody can punish you for speaking.”

“Yes.”

Peter took a breath.

“I don’t want to become that kind of boss someday.”

Caleb glanced at the new written agreement hanging beside the workbench.

“Then begin with what you owe people,” he said.

“And remember that an agreement isn’t fair just because the stronger person wrote it.”

The lesson carried into their next commission, a set of shelves for a schoolroom.

Peter measured the boards while Caleb checked the corners.

When one shelf came out crooked, Peter looked ready to apologize for a failure that would cost him his job.

Caleb placed the level across the wood.