"Oh, surely, not so far as that!" Mrs. Witherspoon exclaimed.
"It won"t take long, mother."
"No, but it"s so far; and I should think that you"ve had enough of that country."
"I"ve never been in Mexico."
"Oh, well, all those countries down there are just the same, and I should think that when you have seen one your first impression is that you don"t want to see another."
"They are restful at any rate," he replied.
"But can"t you rest nearer home?"
"I could, but I have made up my mind to go with this excursion. I"ll not be gone long."
"When are you going to start?"
"To-morrow evening."
"So soon as that?"
"Yes; I--I didn"t decide until to-day."
"I don"t like to have you go so far, but you know best, I suppose. Are you going out this evening?" she asked.
"No."
"Well, I wish to have a talk with you alone. Come to my sitting-room."
"With pleasure," he answered.
He thought that he knew the subject upon which she had chosen to talk; he saw that she was worried over Miss Drury; but when he had gone into her room and taken a seat beside her, he was surprised that she began to speak of Witherspoon"s health.
"I know," she said, "that he is getting stronger, but he needs one great stimulus--he needs you. Please don"t look at me that way." She took his hand, and it was limp in her warm grasp. "You know that I"ve always taken your part."
"Yes, mother, G.o.d bless you."
"And you know that I wouldn"t advise you against your own interest--you know, my son, that I love you."
His hand closed upon hers, and his eyes, which for a moment had been cold and rebellious, now were warm with the light of affection and obedience.
"I will do what you ask," he said.
"G.o.d bless you, my son."
She arose, and hastening to the door, called: "George! oh, George!"
Witherspoon answered, and a moment later he came into the room.
"George, our son will take his proper place."
Henry got up, and the merchant caught him by the hand. "You don"t know how strong this makes me!" He rubbed his eyes and continued: "This is the first time I have seen you in your true light. You are a strong man--you are not easily influenced. Sit down; I want to look at you.
Yes, you are a strong man, and you will be stronger. I will buy the Colton interest--the Witherspoons shall be known everywhere. To-morrow we will make the arrangements."
"I start for Mexico to-morrow."
"Yes, but you"ll not be gone long. The trip will be good for you. Let me have a chair," he said. "Thank you," he added, when a chair had been placed for him. "I am quite beside myself--I see things in a new light." He sat down, reached over and took Henry"s hands; he shoved himself back and looked at the young man. "Age is coming on, but I"ll see myself reproduced."
"But not supplanted," Henry said.
"No, not until the time comes. But the time must come. Ah, after this life, what then? To be remembered. But what serves this purpose? A perpetuation of our interests. After you, your son--the man dies, but the name lives. No one of any sensibility can look calmly on the extinction of his name."
He arose with a new ease, and with a vigor that had long been absent from his step, paced up and down the room. "You will not find it a sacrifice, my son; it will become a fascination. It is not the love of money, but the consciousness of force. The lion enjoys his own strength, but the hare is frightened at his own weakness and runs when no danger is near. Small tradesmen may be ignorant, but a large merchant must be wise, for his wisdom has made him large. Trade is the realization of logic, and success is the fruit of philosophy. People wonder at the achievements of a man whom they take to be ignorant; but that man has a secret intelligence somewhere; and if they could discover it they would imitate him. Don"t you permit yourself to feel that any mental force is too high for business. The statesman is but a business man. Behind the great general is the nation"s backbone, and that backbone is a financier. Let me see, what time is it?" He looked at his watch. "Come, we will all go to the theater."
Witherspoon drove Henry to the railway station the next evening, and during the drive he talked almost ceaselessly. He complimented Henry upon the wise slowness with which he had made up his mind; there was always too much of impulse in a quick decision. He pointed his whip at a house and said: "A lonely old man lives there; he has built up a fortune, but his name will be buried with him." He spoke of his religious views. There must be a hereafter, but in the future state strength must rule; it was the order of the universe, the will of nature, the decree of eternity. He talked of the books that he had read, and then he turned to business. In a commercial transaction there must be no sentiment; financial credit must be guarded as a sacred honor. Every debt must be paid; every cent due must be extracted. It might cause distress, but distress was an inheritance of life.
To this talk the young man listened vaguely; he said neither yes nor no, and his silence was taken for close attention.
When they arrived at the station, Witherspoon got out of the buggy and with Henry walked up and down the concrete floor along the iron fence.
It was here that the stranger had wonderingly gazed at the crowd as he held up young Henry"s chain.
"Are you going through New Orleans?"
"Yes; will be there one day."
"You are pretty well acquainted in that town, I suppose."
"With the streets," Henry answered.
"I wish I could go with you, but I can"t. Next year perhaps I can get away oftener."
"Yes, if you have cause to place confidence in me."
"I have the confidence now; all that remains for you to do is to become acquainted with the details of your new position."
"And there the trouble may lie."
"You underrate yourself. A man who can pick up an education can with a teacher learn to do almost anything."
"But when I was a boy there was a pleasure in a lesson because I felt that I was stealing it."
The merchant laughed and drew Henry closer to him. "If we may believe the envious, the quality of theft may not be lacking in your future work," he said.
After a short silence Henry remarked: "You say that I am to perpetuate your name."
"Yes, surely."
"I suppose, then, that you claim the right to direct me in my selection of a wife."