And delighted with the change that had come over his son he said that he
would have tried long ago to extend his business, if he had had
knowledge of the Greek language.

He spoke of Heliopolis, and proposed to Joseph that he should go there
and establish a mart for salt fish as soon as he had mastered all the
details of the trade, which would be soon: a very little application in
the counting-house would be enough for a clever fellow like Joseph.

As he said these words his eyes met Rachel's, and as soon as Joseph left
the room she asked him if he believed that Joseph would settle down to
the selling of salt fish: a question which was not agreeable to Dan, who
was at that moment settling himself into the conviction that Joseph had
begun to evince an aptitude for trade that he himself did not acquire
till many years older, causing him to flame up as might be expected
against his mother, telling her that her remarks were most mischievous,
whether she meant them or not. He hoped Joseph was not the young man
that she saw in him. Before he could say any more Joseph returned, and
linked his arm into his father's, and the twain went away together to
the counting-house, Dan enamoured of his son but just a little afraid
all the same that Joseph might weary of trade in the end, just as he had
wearied of learning. He was moved to speak his fear to Joseph, but on
consideration he resolved that no good could come of such confidences,
and on the evening of the first day in the counting-house he whispered
to Rachel that Joseph had taken to trade as a duck to the water, as the
saying is.

Day after day he watched his son's progress in administration, saying
nothing, waiting for the head clerk to endorse his opinion that there
were the makings of a first-rate man in Joseph. He was careful not to