THE HEALTH OF THE JUNIOR PARTNER.
"I call for a bumper!" said Lawrence Newt, when the fruit was placed upon
the table.
The glasses were filled, and the host glanced around his table. He did
not rise, but he said:
"Ladies and gentlemen, commercial honesty is not impossible, but it is
rare. I do not say that merchants are worse than other people; I only say
that their temptations are as great, and that an honest man--a man
perfectly honest every how and every where--is a wonder. Whatever an
honest man does is a benefit to all the rest of us. If he become a
lawyer, justice is more secure; if a doctor, quackery is in danger; if
a clergyman, the devil trembles; if a shoemaker, we don't wear rotten
leather; if a merchant, we get thirty-six inches to the yard. I have been
long in business. I have met many honest merchants. But I know that 'tis
hard for a merchant to be honest in New York. Will you show me the place
where 'tis easy? When we are all honest because honesty is the best
policy, then we are all ruined, because that is no honesty at all. Why
should a man make a million of dollars and lose his manhood? He dies when
he has won them, and what are the chances that he can win his manhood
again in the next world as easily as he has won the dollars in this?
For he can't carry his dollars with him. Any firm, therefore, that gets
an honest man into it gets an accession of the most available capital in
the world. This little feast is to celebrate the fact that my firm has
been so enriched. I invite you to drink the health of Gabriel Bennet,
junior partner of the firm of Lawrence Newt & Co.!"
There was a moment of perfect silence. Then every body looked at Gabriel
except his mother, whose eyes were so full of tears that she could see
nothing. Gabriel himself was entirely surprised. He had had no hint from
Lawrence Newt of this good fortune. He had worked faithfully, constantly,
and intelligently--honestly, of course--that was all Gabriel knew about
his position. He had been for some time confidential clerk, so that he
was fully cognizant of the state of the business, and knew how prosperous
it was. And yet, in this moment of delight and astonishment, he had but
one feeling, which seemed entirely alien and inadequate to the occasion,
for it was merely the hope that now he might be a regular visitor at the
house of Boniface Newt.
Hope Wayne's eye had hung upon Lawrence Newt, during the little speech he
had made, so intently, that Arthur Merlin's merriment had been entirely
checked. He found himself curiously out of spirits. Until that moment,
and especially after the little conversation between Hope and Gabriel,
in which Abel Newt's name had been mentioned, Arthur had thought it, upon
the whole, the pleasantest little dinner he had ever known. He was not of
the same opinion now.
Edward Wynne and Ellen Bennet showed entire satisfaction with the dinner,
and especially with Lawrence Newt's toast. And when the first hum of
applause and pleasure had ceased, Edward cried out lustily,
"A speech from the junior partner! A speech! a speech!"
There was a general call. Gabriel could not help rising, and blushing,
and bowing, and stuttering, and sitting down again, amidst tempestuous
applause, without the slightest coherent idea of what he had said, except
that he was very happy, and very glad, and very sure, and very, etc.,
etc.
But he did not care a song for what he had said, nor for the applause
that greeted it, when he saw certain blue eyes glistening, and a soft
shyness upon certain cheeks and lips, as if they had themselves been
speaking, and had been saying--what was palpably, undeniably,
conspicuously true--that they were very happy, and very glad, and very
sure, and very, etc., etc. Very, indeed!