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Page 69
'Why, Hiram, is it you? Glad to see you!'--so his greeting ran. 'Didn't
know you ever went out Sunday evenings except to church. Take a
segar--oh, you don't smoke. It's deuced lonesome here without the folks.
Must try and get off for a week or two myself. Why didn't I think to ask
you to come and stay with me? Well, we will have some light on the
occasion, and a cup of tea.' And he rose to ring the bell.
'Not just yet, if you please,' said Hiram, checking the other. 'I want
to have some conversation with you, and I need your advice. I am in
trouble.'
By a singular coincidence, these were the very words which Mr. Tenant
employed when he went to consult his friend Dr. Chellis. As Hiram
differed totally from Mr. Tenant, so did the drygoods jobbing merchant
from the Doctor. Both were first-rate advisers in their way: the Doctor
in a humane and noble sort, after his kind; the merchant in a shrewd,
adroit, quick-witted, fertile manner, after his kind.
Mr. Bennett and Hiram both sat on the sofa, even as the Doctor and Mr.
Tenant had sat together. It was quite dark, as I have said, and this
gave Hiram a certain advantage in telling his story, for he dreaded his
cousin's scrutinizing glance.
Mr. Bennett was much alarmed at Hiram's announcement. 'In trouble?' What
could that mean but financial disaster?
'I was afraid he would speculate too much,' said Mr. Bennett to himself;
'but how could he have got such a blow as this? I saw him the day after
his return, and he said everything had gone well in his absence.'
He settled himself, however, resolutely to hear the worst, and, to his
praise be it spoken, fully determined to do what he could to aid the
young man in his difficulties.
Hiram was brief in his communication. When he chose, he could go as
straight to the point as any one. He did not attempt to gloss over his
story, but put his cousin in possession of the facts pretty much as the
reader understands them.
It is doubtful if Mr. Bennett was much relieved by the communication.
Indeed, I think he would have preferred to have some pecuniary tangle
out of which to extricate his cousin. In fact, it was impossible for him
to suppress a feeling of contempt, not to say disgust, at Hiram's
conduct. For, worldly minded as he was, It was what he never would have
been guilty of. Indeed, it so happened that Mr. Bennett had actually
married his wife under circumstances quite similar, three months after
her father's failure, and one month after his death; so that where be
expected a fortune, he had taken a portionless wife and her widowed
mother. What is more, he did it cheerfully, and was, as he used to say,
the happiest fellow in the world in consequence. It would have been
singular, therefore, if while hearing Hiram's story he had not recurred
to his own history. In indulging his contempt for him, he unconsciously
practised an innocent self-flattery.
He did not immediately reply after Hiram concluded, but waited for this
feeling to subside, and for the old worldly leaven to work again.
'A nice mess you're in,' he said, at length, 'and all from not seeking
my advice in time. Do you know, Hiram, you made a great mistake in
giving up that girl? I'm not talking of any matter of affection or
sentiment or happiness, or about violating pledges and promises. That is
your own affair, and I've nothing to do with it. I have often told you
that you have much to learn yet, and here is a tremendous blunder to
prove it. The connection would have been as good as a hundred thousand
dollars cash capital, if the girl hadn't a cent. That clique is a
powerful one, and they all hang together. Mark my words: they won't let
the old man go under, and it would have been a fortune to you to have
stood by him. You've taken a country view of this business, Hiram. There
every man tries to pull his neighbor down. Here, we try to build one
another up.'
'You are doubtless correct,' replied Hiram, 'but the mischief is done,
and I want you to help me remedy it. If you can't aid me, nobody can.'
Mr. Bennett was not insensible to the compliment.
'Certainly, certainly,' he answered, 'you know you can count on me. I
have always told you that you could, and I meant what I said. But you
must permit me to point out your mistakes, and I tell you you should
have asked my advice in this affair.'
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