He was mistaken. He little knew the man. His interview with my
uncle was a short one. The parties were already acquainted, though
not intimately. They knew each other as persons of standing in the
same community, and this made the opening of Mr. Edgerton's business
easy. I state the tenor of the interview as it came to my knowledge
afterward.
"Mr. Clifford," he said, "you have a nephew--a young gentleman,
who has been recently admitted to the bar--Mr. Edward Clifford."
The reply, with a look of wonder was necessarily affirmative.
"I have had much pleasure," continued the other, "in knowing him
for some time. He is an intimate of my eldest son, and from what
has met my eyes, sir, I should say, you are fortunate in having a
nephew of so much promise."
"Why, yes, sir, I believe he is a clever youth enough," was the
costive answer.
"He is more than that, sir. I regard him, indeed, as a most
astonishing young man. The very manner in which he has pursued his
studies while engaged in the harassing labors of a large wholesale
business house of this city--alone establishes this fact."
The cheeks of my uncle reddened. The last sentence of Mr. Edgerton
was unfortunate for his object. It conveyed a tacit reproof, which
the niggardly conscience of Mr. Clifford readily appropriated and,
perhaps, anticipated. He dreaded lest Mr. Edgerton knew all.
"You are probably aware, Mr. Edgcrton," he replied with equal
hesitancy and haste--"you have heard that Edward Clifford is an
orphan--that he has nothing, and it was therefore necessary that
he should learn to employ himself; though it was against my wish,
sir, that he went into a mercantile house."
There was something suppressed in this--a mean evasion--for he could
not easily have told Mr. Edgcrton, without a blush, that, instead
of the mercantile establishment, he would have made me a bricklayer's
hodman. But this, it seems, Edgerton had found out for himself. His
reply, however, was calculated to soothe the jealous apprehensions
of Mr. Clifford. He had an object in view, which he thought too
important to risk for the small pleasure of a passing sarcasm.
"Perhaps, it has happened for the best, Mr. Clifford. You were
right in requiring the young man to do for himself. Were I worth
millions, sir, I should still prefer that my son should learn that
lesson--that he should work out his own deliverance with the sweat
of his own brow."
"I agree with you, sir, perfectly," replied the other, with increased
complacency. "A boy learns to value his money as he should, only
when he has earned it for himself."
"Ah! it is not for this object simply," replied Mr. Edgerton,
"that I would have him acquire habits of industry; it is for the
moral results which such habits produce--the firmness, character,
consistency--the strength and independence--temperance, justice--all
of which arise, and almost only, from obedience to this law. But
it is clear that one can not do everything by himself, and this
young man, though he has gone on in a manner that might shame the
best of us, is still not so thoroughly independent as he fancies
himself. It will be some time before he will be able to realize
anything from his profession, and he will need some small assistance
in the meantime."