CHAPTER XXXV
HERBERT’S RETURN
Mrs. Carter was setting the table for her solitary supper. She had beenvery lonely since Herbert went away. The days seemed doubly long. Mostof all she missed him at mealtime. He kept her informed of all that wasgoing on in the village, and when there was no news to tell he talkedover their plans for the future. Life seemed very dull and monotonouswithout him. Yet the poor mother always wrote cheerfully, for she didnot want to damp his courage, or interfere with the plan of life he hadformed. She felt that there was nothing for him to do in Wrayburn, and,since she could not go to him, they must be content to live apart forthe present.
“I wish I could see my boy,” she sighed, as she poured out her solitarycup of tea, and tried to force down a few mouthfuls of toast. “Shall weever be able to live together again?”
There was a noise at the outer door, a quick step was heard, and Herbertrushed in, nearly upsetting the table in his impetuosity, as he embracedhis mother.
“Are you glad to see me, mother?” he asked.
“You don’t know how I have longed to see you!” was the heartfelt reply.
She did not ask what brought him home, nor care to ask just yet. She wastoo happy in having him back.
“You don’t ask for my news, mother,” said Herbert, after a pause.
“Is it good news?” she asked, wistfully.
“Suppose I should tell you that Mr. Cameron’s father has agreed to paytwo hundred dollars for father’s model!”
“Has he, really?” asked Mrs. Carter, her face lighting up.
“He has bought it, that is, half of it; but he is to pay more thanthat.”
“More than two hundred dollars, Herbert?”
“More than three hundred. What do you think of that?”
“Are you in earnest, Herbert?”
“Quite in earnest, mother; only it is better than a dream. You mustn’tbe too much excited, mother, when you hear the whole. I will only saythat we shan’t have to pinch any more, or lie awake thinking how to wardoff starvation.”
“And can we be together again, Herbert? You don’t know how lonely it iswithout you.”
“Poor mother! How lonesome it must have been! Yes; we can be togetheragain, if you think a thousand dollars a year will pay our expenses.”
“A thousand dollars a year!” exclaimed Mrs. Carter, thinking thatHerbert was bereft of his senses. “It can’t be that your father’sinvention is worth as much as that?”
“Mr. Cameron has offered that for half the invention, and I have agreedto sell to him. I supposed you would not object.”
“Object? I did not dream of getting one-tenth as much. It seems to melike a dream.”
“It is a happy dream, mother, and a true one. Father little thought whata handsome legacy he was leaving us when he left us that model.”
“How happy it would have made him had he known it before he died! Tellme how it all happened.”
So Herbert had to tell his mother about his fortunate meeting with Mr.Cameron, and what resulted from it.
“Mr. Cameron is a very honorable man,” he concluded, “for he mighteasily have offered one-quarter as much, and I should have agreed toit. Now, mother, let me tell you my plans for the future. In the firstplace, are you willing to leave Wrayburn?”
“I am willing to live anywhere if we are together.”
“Mr. Cameron proposed to me to accept a clerkship in his office, butfor the present, I told him, I wished to make up the deficiencies in myeducation. In the town where he lives there is a flourishing academy. Ipropose that we move there, and I spend the next two years in study. Weshall have a competent income, more than enough to support us, and so Ican afford the time.”
“I fully approve of your proposal, Herbert. We may sometime lose ourmoney, but a good education never.”
“I was sure you would agree with me.”
“Shall we have any difficulty in finding a house of suitable size?”
“I inquired about that. There is a very pretty cottage just vacated, notfar from the academy. I find we can have it at a moderate rent. I havealready got the refusal of it, and will write at once that we will hireit.”
“And what shall we do with this house?”
“We won’t sell it to Squire Leech at a sacrifice. That is one thingcertain. By the way, day after to-morrow is the day for paying theinterest.”
“Yes; I have been troubling myself about it.”
“There is no occasion; I have a hundred dollars in my pocket, given meon account by Mr. Cameron. So the squire is checkmated. But, mother, Ihave a favor to ask of you.”
“What is that?”
“For two days keep secret our good fortune.”
“Why, Herbert?”
“I want the squire to be deceived--to think the place is in his grasp,and realize that there is many a slip between the cup and the lip.”
“What shall I say to the neighbors if they ask why you have got home?”
“Say that I am not going back to New York--that I couldn’t earn enoughthere to save anything.”
“I will do as you think best, Herbert; but I am afraid that my joy atthe good news you have brought will betray me.”
“It will be attributed to your joy in having me back. We’ll keep thingssecret for a day or two--that’s all.”
After supper Herbert walked out. He was popular in the village, andreceived many cordial greetings. To the inevitable inquiries he repliedas he had suggested to his mother.
Presently he met James Leech. He smiled to himself as he saw Jamesadvancing to meet him, but assumed a sober, downcast look.
“Hello, Carter! Have you got back?” said James.
“Yes.”
“Got tired of New York?”
“I should like New York well enough, if I could make enough moneythere.”
“Then you’re not going back?” asked James, in a tone of satisfaction.
“Not at present.”
“I thought you’d be coming back,” said James, in a tone of triumph.
“What made you think so?”
“I knew you couldn’t get along there.”
“I supported myself while I was there.”
“But you didn’t make anything over?”
“No.”
“Then you might as well be back.”
“I don’t know. I am not sure of doing that in Wrayburn.”
“I don’t think I shall stay in Wrayburn long. Father talks of moving toNew York,” said James, in a burst of confidence. “What do you expect todo here?”
“Do you think your father would give me work?” asked Herbert, demurely.
“I don’t know. He might, if you agreed to sell the house.”
“We may, if we can get enough for it.”
“You’ll have to, anyway. You must be very poor.”
“We’ve got a little money.”
“Well, I’ll mention your case to father. I’m sorry for you, but I knewbeforehand you wouldn’t succeed in New York.”
Herbert smiled quietly as James walked away.
“He’ll be astonished when he hears the truth,” thought he.
CHAPTER XXXVI
CONCLUSION
James repeated to his father what Herbert had told him, and the squirejumped to the conclusion that Herbert and his mother were in his power,and must accede to his demand. He decided to take advantage of theirnecessities, and allow only three hundred dollars for the house.
He entered the little house with the air of a proprietor.
“I suppose you know my errand, Mrs. Carter,” he said pompously.
“I believe this is interest day,” returned the widow.
“Yes. I presume you have by this time seen the folly of holding on tothe place. You can’t afford it, and it is best to accept my offer.”
“My mother and I have thought it over, and decided to sell,” saidHerbert.
“I am glad you are so sensible,” observed Squire Leech, in a
tone ofsatisfaction. “I will give you three hundred dollars over and above themortgage.”
“You offered us fifty dollars more before.”
“Then is not now. You should have accepted my offer when I made it.”
“We have no idea of selling at that price,” said Herbert. “Our lowestprice is six hundred and fifty dollars over and above the mortgage.”
“Are you crazy?” ejaculated the squire, angrily.
“No; we have fixed upon that as a fair price,” said Herbert, coolly.
“You know you can’t get it.”
“Then we won’t sell.”
“Young man, I apprehend you do not understand how the matter stands. Youwill have to sell.”
“Why must we?”
“You can’t live on nothing.”
“Of course not.”
“You have made a failure in New York.”
“I made my expenses while I was there.”
“Then why didn’t you stay?”
“I wanted to do something for mother’s support.”
“You have altogether too high an idea of your own abilities.”
“I hope not, sir.”
“You influence your mother to her harm.”
“I don’t think so, Squire Leech.”
“But in this case you must yield. You can’t expect me to wait for mymoney.”
“Do you mean the interest?”
“Of course I do.”
“We shall not ask you to wait. I am ready to pay it.”
The squire stared in discomfiture while Herbert drew out the precise sumneeded to pay the interest.
“Where did you get that money?” he inquired, chop-fallen.
“Honestly, Squire Leech. Will you give me a receipt?”
The squire did so mechanically.
“I will give you the three hundred and fifty dollars,” he said; “but youmust accept it to-day, or it is withdrawn.”
“Neither to-day nor any other day will it be accepted, Squire Leech,” said Herbert, firmly. “If you choose to pay six hundred and fifty, wewill sell.”
“You must think I am crazy.”
“No, sir; it is a fair offer. If you don’t want to buy, we will makeanother offer. We will rent the house for ninety dollars a year. That isthe interest on fifteen hundred dollars at six per cent. I believe a manin your employ wishes to live here.”
“Where do you propose to live?” asked Squire Leech, in surprise.
“We are going to leave town.”
“Have you got a chance to work outside?”
“Yes; but I have declined to. I am going to school for two years--to anacademy.”
“But how are you going to live all this time?” inquired the squire, inamazement.
“I shall live on my income,” answered Herbert, smiling.
“Income! Have you had a legacy?”
“Yes.”
“From whom? I thought you only got a trunk of old clothes from youruncle.”
“My legacy comes from my father.”
“But he died poor.”
“He left behind him an invention, half of which we have sold for anincome of a thousand dollars a year.”
“A thousand a year!” ejaculated the squire.
“Yes. I have sold it to the father of Mr. Cameron, who employed me lastsummer. You see, there is no occasion for our selling the house.”
“You have been very fortunate,” said Squire Leech, soberly. “Icongratulate you both.”
“Thank you,” said Herbert, who privately thought their visitor lookedexcessively annoyed at their good fortune.
“I will see you about the house,” he said, as he rose to go.
“Well, the squire congratulated us,” said Herbert, after he went away;“but he didn’t look happy when he did so. I shouldn’t wonder if heaccepted our terms, now that he knows we needn’t sell.”
Herbert proved to be right. Two days later the squire offered sixhundred dollars over the mortgage for the place, and it was accepted.
“The place is worth more, mother,” he said; “but it will relieve us fromcare to sell it.”
James was even more annoyed than his father when he heard of Herbert’sgood fortune; but after his first annoyance he showed a disposition tobe friendly. It is the way of the world. Nothing makes us sought afterlike a little good fortune. James felt that, now Herbert was in aposition to live without work, he was a gentleman, and to be treatedaccordingly. Herbert received his overtures politely, but rated them attheir real value.
Two years slipped away.
Herbert has finished his course at the academy, and is about to enterthe manufactory as an office clerk. Mr. Cameron means to promote himas he merits, and I should not be at all surprised if our young friendeventually became junior partner. He and his mother have bought thehouse into which they moved, and have done not a little to convert itinto a tasteful home. The invention has proved all that Mr. Cameronhoped for it. It has been widely introduced, and Herbert realizes asmuch from his own half as Mr. Cameron agreed to pay for that which hepurchased. So his father’s invention has proved to be Herbert Carter’smost valuable legacy.
Squire Leech has been unfortunate. Too late he found, that Andrew Templehad deceived and defrauded him. All his large property, except a fewthousand dollars, has been swept away, and James, disappointed in hislofty hopes, last week applied to Herbert to use his influence to obtainhim a situation in Mr. Cameron’s establishment. There was no vacancythere, but our hero has found him a place in a dry-goods store inthe same town. Whether he will keep it remains to be seen. Times havechanged since James looked upon Herbert as far beneath him. Now heis glad to be acknowledged as his companion. If James profits by hisaltered circumstances, the loss of his father’s property may not proveso much of a misfortune after all, for wealth is far from being thegreatest earthly good. For our young friend Herbert we may confidentlyindulge in cheerful anticipations. He has undergone the discipline ofpoverty and privation, and prosperity is not likely to spoil him. Hehas done his duty under difficult circumstances, and now he reaps thereward.
THE END
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