Page:The Poor Rich Man, and the Rich Poor Man.djvu/78

70 any sort, the thought of you would have been a shield to me. Knowing you and Charlotte so well,and the memory of my excellent mother, have given me a reverence for female virtue—a belief in the power and beauty of goodness in a woman—and to this, Susan, love naturally follows—that pure love that is ordained by God to lead to the holy institution of marriage.—But what are my thoughts running to? Don't laugh at me, and I will go back to my business statements.

"When I began business I took lodgings at a carman's. He is a good friend of mine, and with him I could live at a small expense in a quiet family. I have avoided living or associating with those who had more means than I, for that leads to expense. I have never spent a shilling on superfluities, for which I have now much reason to be thankful; for, even if I had escaped that dreadful load, unpaid debts, I might, like many other young men, have acquired habits of expense on the credit of future gains. The gains may not come—the habits remain, like so many tormentors. When I was asked by a friend to go to an oyster-house, or the theatre, or the circus, or to take a bottle of porter, or drink a glass of whiskey, I declined. I knew, if I did it for my friend's sake this time, I might do it for my own the next. I had my treats—my pleasant thoughts of the time when I should have a table of my own, and faces round it that I loved. It is sure we can't have every thing in this world, and the thing is to make up our mind what we must have, and what we can do without. You can guess my must have.

"When I found Finley and I were going