“If more men did so,” said Paul with a deep sigh; “if, while the great are possessed of their grandeur, they thought as much of its sources as when they are stripped of it, there would be a more just gradation of ranks than there is; there would be no starving paupers on the steps of a palace; there would be no excess in the highest or riot in the lowest classes of society. The worst faults of the extremes of society would be done away if those extremes were brought nearer together. If the rich were more thoughtful and the poor more clear-sighted, both might be surrounded with the luxuries most proper for them: the great man might have unreproached his assemblies of the learned and the gay, and the labourer might refresh himself with his newspaper or his flute when the task of the day is over, while the rose and the jessamine bloom beside his cottage door.—And now,” continued Paul, while his companions remained silent, “I have preached five sermons where I promised only one, so you will be glad if I wish you good day.” “Stay,” said Mr. Wallace, “you must give us our turn. Do you think you need no admonishing?” “I need it and I have it. My lot is my best admonition.” “I see no evil in your lot but what you inflict on yourself. Short rest and long toil, scanty food and warmth, solitude and care,—these are severe evils, but they are your own choice.” “They are, and therefore they are not evils to me. They are means to the attainment of my great end, and that end is—wealth.” His companions looked astonished at so bare-faced a confession. “What can you mean?” “How do you justify it?” “What, then, are the evils of your lot?” they asked impatiently. “One question at a time,” said Paul quietly. “I mean, that as all the good and all the evil of my life thus far have been connected with wealth, and as I am so made that I must have one great interest, it is natural that I should be passionately devoted to the pursuit of wealth. I mean that I am a miser.” “And how do you justify yourself for being a miser? For I suppose, as you are not ashamed to own it, you think you can justify it.”