I've met with more than one heavy loss since I
saw you."
"Have you, indeed? I'm sorry for that. But a false card will turn up
now and then, you know. The game in the long run is sure."
"We're sure of nothing," replied Jasper, with considerable feeling.
"I wouldn't like to say that. Of course, all plans will not succeed;
for man's judgment is far from possessing the virtue of infallibility.
But human reason would be a poor endowment, did it not lead us, in
most cases, to right conclusions, if we are careful in our modes of
using this high faculty."
"The purpose of your visit to the East," said Jasper, who understood
perfectly the man with whom he was dealing, and, therefore, determined
to know at once the length and breadth of what he was expected to
do, "is, I presume, to enlist some capitalists here in a lead-mining
speculation?"
"My ideas do not extend quite that far," was Martin's answer. "Too
many cooks, you are aware, sometimes spoil the broth. To come to the
point at once, let me explain the purpose of my present journey to the
East."
"Well; I am all attention."
"My fur-trade business, as I wrote you a year ago, turned out
disastrously."
"Yes."
"After that, I opened a small store in one of the frontier towns, and
I did very well, all things considered.
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