And it had been a
great trial: punishment had not been spared--with best results in
patience and purification; for so are our false steps turned back
to good by the evil to which they lead us. Turnbull was ready to
take every safe advantage to be gained from his partner's
comparative carelessness about money. He drew a larger proportion
of the profits than belonged to his share in the capital,
justifying himself on the ground that he had a much larger
family, did more of the business, and had to keep up the standing
of the firm. He made him pay more than was reasonable for the
small part of the house yielded from storage to the accommodation
of him, his daughter, and their servant, notwithstanding that, if
they had not lived there, some one must have been paid to do so.
Far more than this, careless of his partner's rights, and
insensible to his interests, he had for some time been risking
the whole affair by private speculations. After all, Marston was
the safer man of business, even from the worldly point of view.
Alone, it is true, he would hardly have made money, but he would
have got through, and would have left his daughter the means of
getting through also; for he would have left her in possession of
her own peace and the confidence of her friends, which will
always prove enough for those who confess themselves to be
strangers and pilgrims on the earth--those who regard it as a
grand staircase they have to climb, not a plain on which to build
their houses and plant their vineyards.
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