Five years have elapsed since Frank Pridore celebrated his
twenty-first birth-night. Peleg Brown was first clerk in the extensive
store of Pridore & Co. Mr. Pridore had treated him with
distant, but marked respect ever since the night on which his
judgment was so nicely exercised for the reputation of the heir
apparent to the Pridore station and importance. But there were
now no occasions for the exercise of nice discrimination on this

[figure description] Page 175.[end figure description]

subject. Frank Pridore was a genteel sot, and he was so regarded
in the village generally; not that a man can be genteel
and be a sot—but Frank Pridore's sottishness was genteel compared
with that of many drinking men in the village. He was
never seen drunk in the streets—he was never engaged in
drunken brawls—his father kept the strictest watch upon bim.

Little Brown's mother had been in the land of Spirits two
years. Peleg had, through life, loved his mother with that
child-like fondness which ever regards MOTHER the dearest of
names, and he mourned her deeply.

The first clerk in the store of Pridore & Co. knew well that
for at least three years the capital of the firm had not been augmented,
and he well knew also that in the last year it had very
materially decreased, and he believed that something of this state
of affairs was owing to the insidious influences of the “siren foe,”
that had saddened his earlier years and embittered, for life, the
recollections of his childhood.

At the beginning of the sixth year of little Brown's clerkship
he was engaged to take an inventory of the “stock in trade” of
Pridore & Co. When the work was completed to the satisfaction
of his employers, he was informed that it was the intention
of the junior partner of the firm to retire, and that he was desirous
of finding some person who would purchase his interest.
On the evening after Peleg learned this fact, he called at the
Pridore mansion and begged an hour's conversation with the
proprietor.

Supposing that something important in reference to business,
was to be communicated, Mr. Pridore promptly invited little
Brown to his private room. When they had talked together
on general matters for a few moments, Mr. Pridore said:—

“You have, something important to communicate, I understand.”

[figure description] Page 176.[end figure description]

“I am informed,” replied Peleg, “that Mr. Hanks is desirous
of finding some one who will purchase his interest in the
store.”

“Such is “the fact,” said Mr. Pridore, “and I wish that I
knew of some man acquainted with our business who could take
his place since it is forbidden me to give it to my son, for whom
I had intended it. Pridore & Son, I should have rejoiced to see
that name in gilt letters over the door of our store, but—but, it is
past. I speak freely to you, sir. You respect my feelings.”

“For that reason I have called upon you. I have had
some intention of making Mr. Hanks a proposition, and before
doing so, I wished to consult you,” replied Peleg.

“You,” exclaimed Mr. Pridore. “You, make Mr. Hanks
a proposition. Where in the name of Heaven did you get
money enough to talk of buying an interest in the business of
Pridore and company?”

“When my mother died the cottage and lot was mine, sir,
I sold them for fifteen hundred dollars. I invested the money
in property on the Creek, which has more than doubled in value—
and besides, sir, I have saved nearly two thousand dollars
out of my wages since I have been in your employ.”

“Yes! yes!” said Mr. Pridore. “I had forgotten. You
have been a saving boy—but I'll think of this. It is unexpected.
I'll see Mr. Hanks. Leave me now.”

When Peleg was gone, Mr. Pridore had sorrowful reflections.
He reviewed his life. He thought of the time when he
and John Brown, Peleg's father, drank wine together—he
thought of Peleg the little wood-sawyer—of John Brown's awful
death—then he thought of his own habits, and the gradual encroachments
upon his independence, of the love for what had
made his boy—whom he had regarded in his youth with so
much pride—a reproach to his family—and when he thought of

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his boy, then Peleg the drunkard's son came up in contrast,
and with that contrast, a source of most poignant reproach, haunting
him, he threw himself upon a couch, and conjured to himself
the remarks of his correspondents in business, when they
learned that little Brown was the junior partner of the firm of
Pridore & Co.

The “fates” had decreed. Peleg Brown took Mr. Hank's
place in the firm of Pridore & Co. He and Jane Pridore had
been distant acquaintances during the whole period of his clerkship,
but as he was now a frequent visitor at the Pridore mansion,
on terms that were humiliating to neither party, the intimate
friendship of youth was renewed between the little wood-sawyer
and the little girl whose kind heart had secured him a
situation of trust and profit.

Peleg had been a partner but a few months, when Frank
Pridore was one morning found dead in his bed. He had been
intoxicated for several days. The physicians gave the “cause”
of his death, and it was announced in the newspapers:

“Died.—Frank Pridore, aged twenty-seven years, only son
of H. Pridore, Esq., of the firm of Pridore & Co., of apoplexy,
on the—day of—.”

Mr. Pridore was a changed man after this death. He
knew that the physicians were guilty of a professional libel
when they said his son had died of “apoplexy.” Wine was
banished from his table—the flush left his cheek—he became
melancholy—absent-minded. The business of the firm of Pridore
and Co., devolved mainly on little Brown. He discharged
his duties with excellent judgment, and the credit of the firm
was re-established. Mr. Pridore treated Peleg not only with
kindness, but with deference.

When the mother and sister of Frank Pridore had left off
mourning apparel in memory of the “early lost,” and Jane

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Pridore again went into company, Peleg Brown was her constant
attendant.

One evening they walked across the Common towards the
site of the cottage in which Jane first saw Peleg's mother. A
handsome mansion stood in the place of the cottage: it was the
property of Peleg Brown. Jane and Peleg entered this mansion.
Jane admired the style in which it was furnished; she
complimented Peleg warmly upon his taste, and Peleg said
to her:

“To-morrow it will be our home, and your father and
mother will live with us. Come—I will show you their apartments.”

The little wood-sawer and the rich merchant's daughter
had been married nearly three months.

Mr. Pridore put all of his property into the hands of his
son-in-law, and Peleg purchased the interest of the second
member of the firm; and if Mr. Pridore did not see the name
of Pridore & Son, over the door of the store, he saw that of
“Pridore & Brown,” and he felt that Peleg was a son to him.

The little wood-sawer—frugal, industrious and temperate—
was the wealthy husband of the girl who spoke kindly to him
in his severe Christmas labor. Now, he was the support and
protection of him who had warned his children to shun the
society of the drunkard's son; and the youth who, at a father's
prompting, had ridiculed his simple desires—taunted him with
his early misfortunes—and abused him as an enemy to socia
habits, because he would not join in a “spree”—had met a
drunkard's reward in that sphere where none know the right,
and “still the wrong pursue.”

p487-182

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