The old naturalist was less pleased at this change than
most men would have been in his position. He had got into a groove
and did not care to get out of it. He had no relatives or any one
dependent on him, and he had been well content to go on in a jog
trot way, just paying his expenses of shop and living. The extra
bustle and push worried rather than pleased him.
"I am an old man," he said to Frank one day, as after the shop was
closed they sat over their tea. "I have no motive in laying by
money, and had enough for my wants. I was influenced more by my
liking for your face and my appreciation of your talent, than by
any desire of increasing my business. I am taking now three times
as much as I did before. Now I should not mind, indeed, I should
be glad, if I thought that you would succeed me here as a son would
do. I would gladly take you into partnership with me, and you would
have the whole business after my death. But I know, my boy, that
it wouldn't do. I know that the time will come when you will not
be content with so dull a life here. You will either get an offer
from some West End house which would open higher prospects to you,
or you will be wandering away as a collector.
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