"
"Did you not tell me that you intended forming a partnership with young
Conway?"
"Yes--but before I had done so, I heard that Sprague, who is as well
connected as Conway, and a great deal more industrious, would go into
business with me on less exacting terms. He has been associated with me
for some time. He does all the drudgery of the business, and is content
with one-eighth of the profits for five years."
"Those are low terms--with talent and connection too, I should think he
could have done better."
"Why, you see his connections were of little use to him while he was
alone, for he was so desperately poor that they did not like to
acknowledge him, but I knew as soon as he began to rise they would all
notice him, and so it has proved. I have no doubt I shall gain through
them more than the thousand dollars a-year which Sprague will draw,
while I shall be saved every thing that is really disagreeable or
laborious in my practice; and you give two thousand dollars a-year, and
are to have your daughter married to a gentleman who leaves all the
business on your hands--which of us, do you think, has attended most
successfully to the main chance?"
"According to my views of the main chance, it is not to be determined by
such data--but even in your own view we may have a very different
account to render nine years hence?"
"Ah, well! Ten years from the day that Latimer passed we will compare
notes.
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