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Page 2
The young man, Edward Claire, did not make a reply for nearly a
minute. Something in the words of Mr. Jasper had fixed his thought,
and left him, for a brief space of time, absorbed in his own
reflections.
Lifting, at length, his eyes, which had been resting on the floor, he
said--
"Our profit on to-day's sales must reach very nearly fifty dollars."
"Just that sum, if I have made a right estimate," replied Jasper; "and
that is what I call a fair day's business."
While he was yet speaking, a lad entered the store, and laid upon the
counter a small sealed package, bearing the superscription, "Leonard
Jasper, Esq." The merchant cut the red tape with which it was tied,
broke the seal, and opening the package, took therefrom several
papers, over which he ran his eyes hurriedly; his clerk, as he did so,
turning away.
"What's this?" muttered Jasper to himself, not at first clearly
comprehending the nature of the business to which the communication
related. "Executor! To what? Oh! ah! Estate of Ruben Elder. Humph!
What possessed him to trouble me with this business? I've no time to
play executor to an estate, the whole proceeds of which would hardly
fill my trousers' pocket. He was a thriftless fellow at best, and
never could more than keep his head out of water. His debts will
swallow up every thing, of course, saving my commissions, which I
would gladly throw in to be rid of this business."
With this, Jasper tossed the papers into his desk, and, taking up his
hat, said to his clerk--"You may shut the store, Edward. Before you
leave, see that every thing is made safe."
The merchant than retired, and wended his way homeward.
Edward Claire seemed in no hurry to follow this example. His first
act was to close the window-shutters and door--turning the key in the
latter, and remaining inside.
Entirely alone, and hidden from observation, the young man seated
himself, and let his thoughts, which seemed to be active on some
subject, take their own way. He was soon entirely absorbed.
Whatever were his thoughts, one thing would have been apparent to
an observer--they did not run in a quiet stream. Something disturbed
their current, for his brow was knit, his compressed lips had a
disturbed motion, and his hands moved about at times uneasily. At
length he arose, not hurriedly, but with a deliberate motion, threw
his arms behind him, and, bending forward, with his eyes cast down,
paced the length of the store two or three times, backward and
forward, slowly.
"Fifty dollars profit in one day," he at length said, half audibly.
"That will do, certainly. I'd be contented with a tenth part of the
sum. He's bound to get rich; that's plain. Fifty dollars in a single
day! Leonard Jasper, you're a shrewd one. I shall have to lay aside
some of my old-fashioned squeamishness, and take a few lessons from so
accomplished a teacher. But, he's a downright cheat!"
Some better thought had swept suddenly, in a gleam of light, across
the young man's mind, showing him the true nature of the principles
from which the merchant acted, and, for the moment, causing his whole
nature to revolt against them. But the light faded slowly; a state of
darkness and confusion followed, and then the old current of thought
moved on as before.
Slowly, and now with an attitude of deeper abstraction, moved the
young man backward and forward the entire length of the room, of which
he was the sole occupant. He _felt_ that he was alone, that no human
eye could note a single movement. Of the all-seeing Eye he thought
not--his spirit's evil counsellors, drawn intimately nigh to him
through inclinations to evil, kept that consciousness from his mind.
At length Claire turned to the desk upon which were the account-books
that had been used during the day, and commenced turning the leaves of
one of them in a way that showed only a half-formed purpose. There was
an impulse to something in his mind; an impulse not yet expressed in
any form of thought, though in the progress toward something definite.
"Fifty dollars a day!" he murmurs. Ah, that shows the direction of his
mind. He is still struggling in temptation, and with all his inherited
cupidities bearing him downward.
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