extend it, and it was only the liabilities he succeeded in extending; to

restrict it, and it was only the profits he managed to restrict. Nobody

had ever made money out of that concern except the capable Scot, who

retired (after his discharge) to the neighbourhood of Banff and built a

castle with his profits. The memory of this fallacious Caledonian Morris

would revile daily, as he sat in the private office opening his mail,

with old Joseph at another table, sullenly awaiting orders, or savagely

affixing signatures to he knew not what. And when the man of the heather

pushed cynicism so far as to send him the announcement of his second

marriage (to Davida, eldest daughter of the Revd. Alexander McCraw), it

was really supposed that Morris would have had a fit.

Business hours, in the Finsbury leather trade, had been cut to the

quick; even Morris's strong sense of duty to himself was not strong

enough to dally within those walls and under the shadow of that

bankruptcy; and presently the manager and the clerks would draw a long

breath, and compose themselves for another day of procrastination. Raw

Haste, on the authority of my Lord Tennyson, is half-sister to Delay;

but the Business Habits are certainly her uncles. Meanwhile, the leather

merchant would lead his living investment back to John Street like a

puppy dog; and, having there immured him in the hall, would depart for

the day on the quest of seal rings, the only passion of his life. Joseph

had more than the vanity of man, he had that of lecturers. He owned he

was in fault, although more sinned against (by the capable Scot) than

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