or four more accounts to settle, and the boat leaves in an hour.
Send me the bill by mail, and I will remit you the amount.
Good-by"--offering his hand--"I hope to see you again in the fall."

Paul took the extended hand of his customer, and shook it warmly. In
the next moment he was standing alone, his ledger open before him,
and his eye resting upon an account, the payment of which was of
some importance to him just at that time. Disappointed and
dissatisfied with himself, he closed the ledger heavily and left the
desk, instead of making out the account and mailing it. On the next
day, the want of just the amount of money he would have received
from his customer kept him on the street two hours. It was three
weeks before he made out the account and sent it on. A month
elapsed, but no remittance came. He dropped his customer a line, and
received for answer that when last in the city he had bought more
goods than he intended, and consequently paid away all his cash;
business had not yet begun to stir, and thus far what little he had
sold had been for credit, but that he hoped soon to make him a
remittance. The next news Paul had of his customer was that he had
failed.

It was said of him that when a young man he became quite enamoured
of a reigning belle, who to great beauty added many far more
essential prerequisites in a good wife, not the least of which in
the eye of Paul was a handsome fortune left her by a distant
relative. To this young lady he paid very marked attentions for some
time, but he did not stand alone in the number of her admirers.
Several others were as much interested in gaining her favourable
regard as he was.