“Ah! what was it?”

“It is said that you thought him a little too close in his dealings, and left him on that account.  I hadn’t given you credit for quite so tender a conscience.  How was it, Edward?”

“I didn’t like his modes of doing business, and, therefore, left him.  So far you heard truly.”

“But what had you to do with his modes of doing business?”

“A great deal.  As one of his employees, I was expected to carry out his views.”

“And not being willing to do that, you left his service.”

“That is the simple story.”

“Excuse me, Edward, but I can’t help calling you a great fool.  Just see how you have stood in your own light.  But for this extra bit of virtue, for which no one thinks a whit the better of you, you might this day have been on the road to fortune, instead of Parker.”

“I would rather be in my own position than in his,” replied Claire firmly.

“You would!” His companion evinced surprise.  “He is in the sure road to wealth.”

“But not, I fear, in the way to happiness.”

“How can you say that, Edward?”

“No man, who, in the eager pursuit of money, so far forgets the rights of others as to trample on them, can be in the way to happiness.”

“Then you think he tramples on the rights of others?”

“I know but little, if any thing, about him,” replied Claire; “but this I do know, that unless Leonard Jasper be a different man from what he was five years ago, fair dealing between man and man is a virtue in a clerk that would in nowise recommend him to the position of an associate in business.  His partner must be shrewd, sharp, and unscrupulous—­a lover of money above every thing else—­a man determined to rise, no matter who is trampled down or destroyed in the ascent.”

“In business circles such men are by no means scarce.”

“I am aware of it.”

“And it is unhesitatingly affirmed by many whom I know, that, as the world now is, no really honest man can trade successfully.”

“That is more than I am ready to admit.”

“The sharpest and shrewdest get on the best.”

“Because it is easier to be sharp and shrewd than to be intelligent, persevering, industrious, patient, and self-denying.  The eagerness to get rich fast is the bane of trade.  I am quite ready to admit that no man can get rich at railroad speed, and not violate the law of doing as you would be done by.”

“Doing as you would be done by!  O dear!” said the friend; “you certainly don’t mean to bring that law down into the actual life of the world?”

“It would be a happier world for all of us if this law were universally obeyed.”

“That may be.  But, where all are selfish, how is it possible to act from an unselfish principle?”

“Do you approve of stealing?” said Claire, with some abruptness.

“Of course not,” was the half-indignant answer.