Gaut Gurley | Page 8

on very well together; for, however they might
disagree respecting the modes and means of acquisition, they were
always as one in regard to the great result each alike had in view, and
that was to make money and be rich. And, by a sort of tacit
understanding, falling into the departments of business best suited to
their different tastes and capacities, the quiet, cautious, calculating, and
systematic Arthur confined himself to the store, kept the books,
contrived the _ways and means_, and, in short, did the principal
head-work of the establishment; while Mark, being of a more stirring
turn, and, from his brisk bon homme manner and less scrupulous
disposition, better calculated for drumming up customers and securing
bargains for the store, did most of the outdoor business, riding about
the country, contracting for produce, securing barter deal, and making
himself, in all things, the runner and trumpeter of the company. At
night they usually met together to compare notes and report progress;
and they were never happier than when they sat down in their small
store-room, hemmed in and surrounded by casks of nails, quintals of
codfish, farming tools, etc., on one side, and narrow shelves of cheap
calicos, India cottons, and flaunting ribbons, on the other, and
recounted to each other the business and bargains of the day. Thus the
two, working on, like the spring and balance-wheel of some piece of
mechanism, in harmony together, soon placed themselves beyond all
fears of failure, and seemed happy and contented with their situation
and prospects.
This situation of affairs, however, was not destined to be of very long
continuance. Not long after finding themselves safely on the highway
to independence, they very naturally began to think of selecting, from
among the fair young customers of their store, the ones who might
make them eligible companions for life. And, as the wayward
love-fates would have it, they both secretly fixed their affections on one
and the same girl,--the pretty and sensible Alice Gregg, who, though a
plain farmer's daughter, was, to the vexation and envy of her numerous
rustic suitors, to be won by nothing short of one of the village
merchants. Alice was not long in discovering her advantage, nor in
deciding to avail herself of it, so far as to confine her election to one of
these, her two undeclared lovers. And, after balancing a while in her

mind the account between her judgment, which would have declared
for the reserved but sterling Arthur, and her fancy, which clamored
hard for the manly-looking and more social Mark, she finally yielded
the reins to the latter, and took measures accordingly. After this,
Arthur's taste in selecting a piece of goods did not, as before, seem to
be appreciated. Her handkerchief was never dropped where he had any
chance to pick it up; and she was never quite ready to go till Mark was
nearest at hand to help her into her wagon or side-saddle. By this
delicate system of female tactics, common with girls of more
pretensions than Alice, she effectually repressed the advances of the
one, and as effectually encouraged those of the other; and the result, as
she had anticipated, was a declaration from Mark, an acceptance on her
part, and a speedy marriage between them. Arthur's heart bled at the
event; but it bled inwardly; and he had at least the consolation of
believing that no one suspected the state of his feelings, except, perhaps,
Alice, and he was not unwilling that she should know them. He
therefore put the best face on the matter he could,--appeared wholly
unconcerned,--attended the wedding, and with forced gayety openly
wished the new married couple the happiness which he secretly wished
was his own. The tender passion had been a new thing to the
money-loving Arthur. By its elevating influences, he, who had looked
for enjoyment only in wealth, had been enabled to raise his vision to a
higher sphere of happiness. And thus to lose the bright glimpses, and be
thrown back to earth again, was, in reality, however he might disguise
the fact from others, a serious blow to his feelings, and one, indeed,
which soon mainly led to a movement on his part that gave a new turn
to his apparent destinies, and a no less one, probably, to those of his
then almost envied brother Mark. For, finding it impossible to feel his
former interest in business, in a place whose associations had become
painful to him, he secretly resolved to leave it as soon as he believed he
could do so without leading to any surmises respecting the true cause of
the change he contemplated. Accordingly, in a few months, he began to
suggest his own unfitness for making a profitable partner in country
trade,