Whether it was luck or business aptitude, or
energy, or the politeness with which he treated all his customers, I
cannot say- but to the surprise of no one more than himself, he went
ahead faster than he had anticipated, even in his wildest dreams,
and by Easter was established in a strong position as the owner of a
business which was bringing him in between four and five hundred a
year, and which he understood how to extend.
CHAPTER LXXIII
ELLEN and he got on capitally, all the better, perhaps, because
the disparity between them was so great, that neither did Ellen want
to be elevated, nor did Ernest want to elevate her. He was very fond
of her, and very kind to her; they had interests which they could
serve in common; they had antecedents with a good part of which each
was familiar; they had each of them excellent tempers, and this was
enough. Ellen did not seem jealous at Ernest's preferring to sit the
greater part of his time after the day's work was done in the first
floor front where I occasionally visited him. She might have come
and sat with him if she had liked, but, somehow or other, she
generally found enough to occupy her down below.
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