'Indeed I must.'
'Why, what is the matter? If you say so, I will take you into partnership, though you are not one and twenty. Really, Hiram, don't leave us in this way.'
'I repeat, I am sorry to do so, but as I have no intention of living in Hampton, it is now time I should quit.'
'But what on earth am I to do without you?'
'Persevere in the course you are now pursuing. Stick honestly to good principles, Mr. Jessup, and you will continue to prosper.'
'Damn it, I know better,' exclaimed Jessup pettishly; 'I mean—I swear I don't know what I mean, [Hiram's cold blue eye was fixed calmly on him,] cussed if I do; but I say 'tan't honesty which has done the thing for me. No; old Smith is honest—so is his son; I respect both of them for being so, yes I do. You are honest, too, Hiram; straight as a shingle—have always found you so; but I can't tell why, yours seems another sort of honesty from Smith's honesty, and that's a fact.'
Benjamin Jessup had a dim perception of the truth, but the more he tried to explain, the more he floundered, till Hiram came to his relief and to his own also, for he did not greatly enjoy the comparison Jessup was attempting to institute.
'I think I understand you. The fact is, in the management of your business, I have endeavored to combine what tact and shrewdness I am master of with scrupulous fair dealing and integrity.'
'That's it, Hiram, now you've hit it, but it's the shrewdness that's done the work. Oh! I shall never get a man who can fill your place.'