"I have heard of you, Sir." And Salmon might have added, "I have envied you!"
"Well, Mrs. Phimley has recently opened a young ladies' school, which has succeeded beyond all our expectations."
"I congratulate you sincerely!"
"But it is found that the two schools are more than we can attend to. I propose to give up one. Now, if you choose to take the boys' school off my hands, I will make over my entire interest in it to you. Perhaps you may know the character the school sustains. We have, as pupils, sons of the Honorable Henry Clay, William Wirt, Southard, and other eminent men. The income amounts to something like eight hundred a year. You can go in next Monday, if you like."
Thus suddenly the door, so long mysteriously closed, flew open wide, "on golden hinges turning." What Salmon saw within was heaven. He was dazzled. He was almost stunned with happiness. His lips quivered, his voice failed him as he spoke.
"Mr. Plumley, this is—you are—too kind!"
"You accept?"
"Most gratefully!"
The young man was regaining possession of himself. He grasped the other's hand.
"You do not know what this is to me, Sir! You cannot know from what you have saved me! Providence has surely sent you to me! I cannot thank you now; but some day—perhaps—it may be in my power to do you a service."