He is by no means their conception of the
merchant. Yet the world would be a vastly better place if its
business were often in the hands of such men. He will never make a
large fortune, no; but he will never fall into poverty. He sees
commerce from the human point of view, not as the brutal pitiless
struggle which justifies every form of ferocity and of low cunning.
I never knew him utter an ignoble thought about trade and
money-making. An English acquaintance asked me once, 'Is he a
gentleman?' I was obliged to laugh--delicious contrast between
what _he_ meant by a gentleman and all I see in Moncharmont."
"I picture him," said Irene, smiling, "and I picture the person who
made that inquiry."
Piers flashed a look of gratitude. He had, as yet, hardly glanced at
her; he durst not; his ordeal was to be gone through as became a
man. Her voice, at moments, touched him to a sense of faintness; he
saw her without turning his head; the wave of her dress beside him
was like a perfume, was like music; part of him yielded, languished,
part made splendid resistance.
"He is a lesson in civilisation. If trade is not to put an end to
human progress, it must be pursued in Moncharmont's spirit. It's
only returning to a better time; our man of business is a creation
of our century, and as bad a thing as it has produced. Commerce must
be humanised once more. We invented machinery, and it has enslaved
us--a rule of iron, the servile belief that money-making is an end
in itself, to be attained by hard selfishness.
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