We all sat for a few moments in silence, but then I took my share of the
conversation. I wish you could have seen the old man's face light up
little by little, as I showed him that to a person who understood the
politics and condition of the mercurial country with which he had
ignorantly attempted to trade, his condition was not near so bad as he
thought it; that though one port was blockaded, another was opened; that
though one revolution thwarted him, a few weeks would show another which
would favor him; that the goods which, as he saw, would be worthless at
the port to which he had sent them, would be valuable elsewhere; that
the vessels which would fail in securing the cargoes he had ordered
could secure others; that the very revolutions and wars which troubled
him would require in some instances large government purchases, perhaps
large contracts for freight, possibly even for passage,--his vessels
might be used for transports; that the very excitement of some
districts might be made to turn to our advantage; that, in short, there
were a thousand chances open to him which skilful agents could readily
improve. I reminded him that a quick run in a clipper schooner could
carry directions to half these skippers of his, to whom, with an
infatuation which I could not and cannot conceive, he had left no
discretion, and who indeed were to be pardoned if they could use none,
seeing the tumult as they did with only half an eye. I talked to him for
half an hour, and went into details to show that my plans were not
impracticable. The old gentleman grew brighter and brighter, and Julia,
as I saw, whenever I stole a glance across the room, felt happier and
happier. The poor girl had had a hard time since he had first heard this
news whispered the evening before.

His difficulties were not over, however; for when I talked to him of the
necessity of sending out one or two skilful agents immediately to take
the personal superintendence of his complicated affairs, the old man
sighed, and said he had no skilful agents to send.

With his customary suspicion, he had no partners, and had never
intrusted his clerks with any general insight into his business.
Besides, he considered them all, like his captains, blunder-headed to
the last degree. I believe it was an idea of Julia's, communicated to me
in an eager, entreating glance, which induced me to propose myself as
one of these confidential agents, and to be responsible for the other