The
deacon was a persistent man in business,--"diligent in business" was
the deacon's own expression in justification of whatever neglect his
own wife might chance to charge him with,--but it seemed to some
business-men of the town, as well as to his own pastor, that the
deacon's diligence was overdoing itself, and that, in the language of
one of the store-keepers, he had picked up a great deal more than he
could carry. He was a director in a bank, agent for several insurance
companies, manager of a land-improvement company, general speculator in
real estate, and a man who had been charged with the care of a great
deal of property which had belonged to old acquaintances now deceased.
That he should be very busy was quite natural, but that his promises
sometimes failed of fulfilment was none the less annoying, and once in
a while unpleasant rumors were heard in the town about the deacon's
financial standing and about his manner of doing business. Still, Dr.
Guide did not drop Sam Kimper from his mind, and one day when he
chanced to be in the vicinity of Larry Highgetty's shop he opened the
door, bowed courteously to the figure at the bench, accepted a chair,
and sat for a moment wondering what he should say to the man whom he
was expected by the deacon to bring into his own church.
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