Boy Broker; Or, Among the Kings of Wall Street

  CHAPTER XXX.

  IN A NEW HOME.

  Three weeks after the funeral Mrs. Flannery had sufficiently recoveredher strength so that she could safely be moved from the rooms she hadoccupied so long. Ray Goldwin had done much towards bringing about thissatisfactory result by her frequent visits and cheerful manner--alwayssaying and doing the right thing with admirable tact. She became muchinterested in the childless woman whose heart still bled unceasingly forher "poor Tom, poor Tom," as she murmured often to herself.

  At the funeral Ray had contrasted her own life with that of Herbert andBob. As she pondered over what these two humble boys, with so slendermeans, had done for the dying lad and his grief-stricken mother, shefelt how much she suffered by the comparison.

  The solemnity of the occasion and the glowing words of praise forthe two friends of the dead, spoken with such peculiar force by theminister, led her, as was natural, to overestimate their worth andto undervalue her own. With the same spirit, therefore, with whichshe admired Herbert and Bob for their acts, she condemned her owninactivity, and there in that little room beside the remains of thehumble newsboy she resolved that she would be something more than asociety girl as her life had hitherto been tending. She had learned avaluable lesson and given place to a purpose as noble as it was humane.

  MRS. FLANNERY AND THE TWO BOYS IN THEIR NEW HOME.]

  That she was carrying out this purpose her kind acts and words ofcomfort to Mrs. Flannery amply attested. She, however, was not alonethe source of comfort while on these missions of noble charity, for thesick woman gave her, unconsciously, to be sure, as she talked of HerbertRandolph, a taste of happiness of a finer and sweeter character than sheherself, poor woman, could ever hope again to feel. It was born of heroworship--a worship ripening into simple, childlike sentiment. I say heroworship, for such her thoughts of young Randolph and Bob Hunter werewhen she first realized how kind and generous they had been to him whonow lay dead, and to his helpless and heart broken mother.

  Such thoughts, however, to a young girl just verging upon the age ofwoman, and when the hero is a noble, manly boy like Randolph, are butthe buds of the more beautiful and fragrant flower which time is sure tobring forth.

  And this is the way that Ray came to find such pleasure in the simpletalk of Mrs. Flannery--talk that but for this magnetic interest musthave been unbearably dull to her young ears.

  Herbert and Bob, feeling that it would be better for the bereaved motherto get away from her present rooms where she was constantly reminded ofthe dead, leased a neat little flat in Harlem, to which she was moved,together with her furniture. Here they designed making a home forthemselves, inaugurating Mrs. Flannery as housekeeper. It seemed to themthat they could in no other way carry out so fully the wishes of theirdead friend. The housework would occupy her mind and keep her busy, andby their living thus together she would have with her the two friends inwhose care the deceased had placed her. Moreover each desired a betterhome than their cheerless attic room had been to them, and they feltthat they could now afford to spend more upon themselves.

  Thus the flat was taken and with Mrs. Flannery's furniture, a few newthings from the store and little fancy articles made and contributed byRay and her mother, the boys found themselves very happily situated intheir new home. Mrs. Flannery, too, while at her new duties, recoveredmore quickly than would seem possible from the terrible shock she hadsustained. In young Randolph and Bob Hunter she found all she could havedesired in sons of her own--found, as her poor dying boy had said, thatthey would look out for her, and could do more for her than he. And sheproved a good mother to them, studying their every want with gratitudeand affection.

  To Bob especially the comforts of his present life gave great happiness,and as the weeks rolled by he became more and more attached to his newhome, and spent all the spare time possible in study, being taught byHerbert.