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diff --git a/25978-h/25978-h.htm b/25978-h/25978-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d8ed6f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/25978-h/25978-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4435 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 +Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> +<html lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + <meta content="pg2html (binary v0.18)" name="generator"> + <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of + Flip's “Islands of Providence”, by Annie Fellows Johnston + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; } + p { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { text-align: center; } + hr { width: 50%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; } + .foot { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 85%; } + .figure { margin: 5em 10% 5em 10%; text-indent: 0em; text-align: center; font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps; } + .fig { margin: 1em 10% 1em 10%; text-indent: 0em; text-align: center; font-size: 90%; font-variant: small-caps; } + + .toc { margin-left: 15%; font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 0em;} + center { padding: 0.8em;} + --> + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + /* color: gray; + background-color: inherit; */ + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .bbox {border: solid 2px; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + + .blockquot{margin-left: 4%; margin-right: 4%; text-align: justify;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .right {text-align: right;} + + .textright {margin-right: 10%; text-align: right;} + + .poem {margin-left: 30%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;} + .poem2 {margin-left: 25%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;} + .poem3 {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;} + .poem4 {margin-left: 55%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;} + .tdrp {text-align: right; padding-right: .75em;} /* right align cell with right padding */ + .tdlp {text-align: left; padding-left: .75em;} /* left align cell with left padding */ + + </style> + </head> +<body> + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Flip's "Islands of Providence", by Annie Fellows Johnston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Flip's "Islands of Providence" + +Author: Annie Fellows Johnston + +Illustrator: E. F. Bonsall + +Release Date: July 6, 2008 [EBook #25978] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLIP'S "ISLANDS OF PROVIDENCE" *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Dr. Graeme M. Handisides and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div style="height: 6em;"><br><br><br><br><br><br></div> +<h1> +FLIP'S "ISLANDS OF<br> +PROVIDENCE" +</h1> +<a name="Title-Page"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<img src="images/title-page.png" width="401" height="561" +alt="Flip's “Islands of Providence”" title=""> +<br> +</div> + + + + +<div class='bbox'> +<h3> +Works of +</h3> +<h2>Annie Fellows Johnston +</h2> +<center>———————</center> + +<h3> +The Little Colonel Series +</h3> +<center> +<small>(<i>Trade Mark, Reg. U. S. Pat. Of.</i>)</small><br> +Each one vol., large 12mo, cloth, illustrated +</center> +<center> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="The Little Colonel Series"> +<tr><td class ="tdlp" width="80%">The Little Colonel Stories</td><td class="tdrp" width="20%">$1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp" ><span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Containing in one volume the three stories, "The</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Little Colonel," "The Giant Scissors," and</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Two Little Knights of Kentucky.")</span><br></td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Little Colonel's House Party </td><td class="tdrp">1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Little Colonel's Holidays</td><td class="tdrp">1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Little Colonel's Hero</td><td class="tdrp">1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Little Colonel at Boarding-School </td><td class="tdrp">1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Little Colonel in Arizona </td><td class="tdrp">1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation</td><td class="tdrp">1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor</td><td class="tdrp">1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The above 8 vols., <i>boxed</i></span></td><td class="tdrp">12.00</td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<h3> +Illustrated Holiday Editions +</h3> +<center> +Each one vol., small quarto, cloth, illustrated, and printed +in color +</center> +<center> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="Illustrated Holiday Editions"> +<tr><td class ="tdlp" width="80%">The Little Colonel </td><td class="tdrp" width="20%">$1.25</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Giant Scissors </td><td class="tdrp">1.25</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">Two Little Knights of Kentucky </td><td class="tdrp">1.25</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp"> The above 3 vols., <i>boxed</i> </td><td class="tdrp">3.75</td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<h3> +Cosy Corner Series +</h3> +<center> +Each one vol., thin 12mo. cloth, illustrated +</center> +<center> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="Cosy Corner Series"> +<tr><td class ="tdlp" width="80%">The Little Colonel</td><td class="tdrp" width="20%">$.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Giant Scissors </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">Two Little Knights of Kentucky </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">Big Brother </td><td class="tdrp"> .50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">Ole Mammy's Torment</td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Story of Dago </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">Cicely </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">Aunt 'Liza's Hero</td><td class="tdrp"> .50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Quilt that Jack Built </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">Flip's "Islands of Providence" </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">Mildred's Inheritance</td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<h3> +Other Books +</h3> +<center> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="Other Books"> +<tr><td class ="tdlp" width="80%">Joel: A Boy of Galilee </td><td class="tdrp" width="20%">$1.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">In the Desert of Waiting </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">The Three Weavers </td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">Keeping Tryst</td><td class="tdrp">.50</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">Asa Holmes </td><td class="tdrp">1.00</td></tr> +<tr><td class ="tdlp">Songs Ysame (Poems, with Allison Fellows Bacon)</td><td class="tdrp">1.00</td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<center>———————</center> +<center><b> +L. C. PAGE & COMPANY<br> +200 Summer Street Boston, Mass. +</b></center> +</div> + + +<a name="image-0001"><!--IMG--></a> + +<div class="figure"> +<img src="images/illust-006.jpg" width="401" height="571" +alt="" title=""> +<br> +<span class="caption">"'ALEC,' HE SAID, PAUSING IN THE DOORWAY, 'WHAT'S A +GREEN GOODS MAN?'"<br> +(<i>See page <a href="#Page_75">75</a></i>)</span> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<a name="h2H_4_0001" id="h2H_4_0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"> </div> + +<h2> + Cosy Corner Series +</h2> +<a name="h2H_4_0002" id="h2H_4_0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"> </div> + +<h1> +FLIP'S "ISLANDS +<br> +OF PROVIDENCE" +</h1> +<center> +By +</center> + +<h2> +Annie Fellows Johnston +</h2> + +<center> +Author of "Asa Holmes," "The Little Colonel Stories,"<br> +"Big Brother," etc. +</center> +<center> +<i>Illustrated by</i><br> +E. F. Bonsall +</center> + +<center> +"<i>I know not where His islands lift</i><br> +<span style="margin-left: 0em;"><i>Their fronded palms in air;</i>"</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;">—<i>Whittier</i></span> +</center> +<center> +<i>Boston<br> +L.C. Page & Company<br> +Publishers</i> +</center> +<div style="height: 4em;"> </div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<center><i>Copyright, 1902</i><br> +<span class="smcap">By The Trustees of the Presbyterian Board<br> +of Publication and Sabbath-school Work</span><br> +<br> +<i>Copyright, 1903</i><br> +By <span class="smcap">L. C. Page & Company</span><br> +<small>(INCORPORATED)</small><br> +<i>All rights reserved</i><br> +</center> + + +<center> +Published August, 1903 +</center> +<center> +<i>Fourth Impression, February, 1907</i> +</center> +<center> +<font face="garamond, serif">Colonial Press</font><br> +<small>Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.<br> +Boston, Mass., U. S. A.</small> +</center> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="h2H_LIST" id="h2H_LIST"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +</h2> + +<center> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="List of Illustrations"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='center'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">'Alec,' he said, pausing in the doorway, +'what's a green goods man?'</span>" (<i>see page <a href="#Page_75">75</a></i>)</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0001"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">'You're bound to hear it sometime'</span>"</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0002">19</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"'<span class="smcap">The lord has certainly sent you, +Dick</span>'"</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0003">57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">He made several rapid calculations on +the back of the envelope</span>"</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0004">109</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">'It's the first money I ever earned in +my life,' she said, gleefully</span>"</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0005">117</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">His hand went up involuntarily toward +his hat</span>"</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0006">145</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">He blurted out his trouble in broken +sentences</span>"</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0007">161</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">'It was that unlucky gold coin'</span>"</td><td align='right'><a href="#image-0008">177</a></td></tr> +</table></center> + + +<a name="h2H_4_0004" id="h2H_4_0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;"><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> + +<h2> +FLIP'S "ISLANDS OF<br> +PROVIDENCE" +</h2> + +<a name="h2HCH0001" id="h2HCH0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 1em;"> </div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER I. +</h2> +<p> +Carefully locking the door of his +little gable bedroom, Alec Stoker put +down the cup of hot water he carried, +and peered into the mirror above his +wash-stand. Then, although he had come +up-stairs fully determined to attempt his +first shave, he stood irresolute, stroking +the almost imperceptible down on his +boyish lip and chin. +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +"It does make me look older, that's a +fact," he muttered to his reflection in the +glass. "Maybe I'd better not cut it off +until I've had my interview with the +agent. The older I look, the more likely +he'll be to trust me with a responsible +position. Still," he continued, surveying +himself critically, "I might make a more +favourable impression if I had that +'well-groomed' look the papers lay so +much stress on nowadays, and I could +mention in a careless, offhand way something +about having just shaved." +</p> +<p> +It was not yet dark out-of-doors, but +after a few minutes of further deliberation, +Alec pulled down the blind over his +window and lighted the lamp. Then, +opening a box that he took from his +bureau, he drew out his Grandfather +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +Macklin's razor and ivory-handled shaving-brush. +</p> +<p> +"I'm sure the old gentleman never +dreamed, when they made me his namesake, +that this was all of his property I +would fall heir to," he thought, bitterly. +</p> +<p> +The moody expression that settled on +his face at the thought had become almost +habitual in the last four weeks. +The happy-go-lucky boy of seventeen +seemed to have changed in that time to +a morose man. June had left him the +jolliest boy in the high school graduating +class. September found him a morbid +cynic. +</p> +<p> +It had been nine years since his mother, +just before her death, had brought him +back to the old home for her sister Eunice +to take care of—Alec and the little five-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>year-old Philippa and the baby Macklin. +Their Aunt Eunice had made a happy +home for them, and although she rarely +laughed herself, and her hair had whitened +long before its time, she had allowed +no part of her burdens to touch +their thoughtless young lives. It was +only lately that Alec had been aroused +to the fact that she had any burdens. +He was rehearsing them all now, as he +rubbed the lather over his chin, so busily +that he did not hear Philippa's light step +on the back stairs. Philippa could step +very lightly when she chose, despite the +fact that she was long and awkward, with +that temporary awkwardness of a growing +girl who finds it hard to adjust herself +and her skirts to her constantly increasing +height. +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>Alec almost dropped his brush as she +suddenly banged on his door. "Is that +you, Flip?" he called, although he knew +no one but Philippa ever beat such thundering +tattoos on his door. +</p> +<p> +"Yes! Let me in! I want to ask you +something." +</p> +<p> +He knew just how her sharp gray eyes +would scan him, and he hesitated an instant, +divided between a desire to let her +see him in the manly act of shaving himself +and the certain knowledge that she +would tease him if he did. +</p> +<p> +Finally he threw open the door and +turned to the glass in his most indifferent +manner, as if it were an every-day occurrence +with him. "Come in," he said; +"I'm only shaving. I'm going out this +evening." +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>If he had thought she would be impressed +by his lordly air, he was mistaken, +for, after one prolonged stare, she +threw herself on the bed, shrieking with +laughter. Long practice in bandying +words with her brother had made her +an expert tease. Usually they both enjoyed +such combats, but now, to her surprise, +he seemed indifferent to her most +provoking comments, and scraped away +at his chin in dignified silence. +</p> +<p> +"I believe you said you had something +to say to me, Philippa," he said presently, +in a stern tone that made her stare. +Never, except when he was very angry, +did he call her anything but Flip. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly sobered, she took her face +out of the pillows and peered at him +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>curiously, twisting one of the long plaits +of hair that hung over her shoulder. +</p> +<p> +"I have," she said. "I want to know +what's the matter with you. What has +come over you lately? You've been as +sullen as a brown bear for days and days. +I asked Aunt Eunice just now, while we +were washing the supper dishes, what +had changed you so. You used to be +whistling and joking whenever you came +near the house. Now you never open +your lips except to make some sarcastic +speech. +</p> +<p> +"She said that it was probably because +you were so disappointed about not getting +that position in the bank that you had +set your heart on, and she was afraid that +you were growing discouraged about +ever finding any position worth while +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>in this sleepy little village. She didn't +know that I saw it, but while she was +talking a tear splashed right down in the +dish-water, and I made up my mind that +it must be something lots worse than just +plain disappointment or discouragement, +and that I was going to ask you. Now, +you needn't snap your mouth shut that +way, like a clam. You've got to tell +me!" +</p> +<p> +"Aunt Eunice doesn't want you to +know," he said, turning away from the +glass, razor in hand, to look at her intently. +"But you're a big girl, Flip—nearly +as tall as she is, if you are only +fifteen. You're bound to hear it sometime, +and in my opinion it would be +better for you to hear it from me than +to have it knock you flat coming unexpectedly +from a stranger, as I heard it.'</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +</p> + +<a name="image-0002"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="fig"> +<img src="images/illust-019.jpg" width="450" height="553" +alt="" title=""> +<br> +<span class="caption">"'YOU'RE BOUND TO HEAR IT SOMETIME.'"</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span><br> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>"Tell me," she urged, her curiosity +aroused. +</p> +<p> +"Can you stand a pretty tough +knock?" +</p> +<p> +"As well as you," she answered, meeting +his gaze steadily, yet with a queer +kind of chill creeping over her at his +mysterious manner. +</p> +<p> +"Well, what do you suppose you and +Mack and I have been living on all these +years that we have been living with Aunt +Eunice?" +</p> +<p> +"Why—I—I don't know! Mother's +share of Grandfather Macklin's property, +I suppose. He divided it equally +between her and Aunt Eunice." +</p> +<p> +"Well, we just haven't!" Alec exclaimed. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +"That was spent before we +came here, and nearly all of Aunt Eunice's +share, too. She's been drawing +right out of the principal the last two +years so that she could keep us in school, +and there's hardly anything left but this +old house and the ground it stands on. +She never told me until this summer. +That's why I took the first job that +offered, and drove Murray's delivery +wagon till the regular driver was well. +It wasn't particularly good pay, but it +paid for my board and kept me from +feeling that I was a burden on Aunt Eunice. +</p> +<p> +"I was sure of getting that position in +the bank. One of the directors had as +good as promised it to me. While it +wouldn't have paid much at first, it +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>would have been an entering wedge, and +have put me in the direct line of promotion. +And you know that from the time +I was Macklin's age it has been my ambition +to be a banker like grandfather. +Since I failed to get that, nobody, not +even Aunt Eunice, knows how hard I've +tried to get into some steady, good-paying +job. I've been to every business man +in the village, and done everything a fellow +could do, seems to me, but in a little +place like this there's absolutely no opening +unless somebody dies. The good +places are already filled by reliable, middle-aged +men who have grown up in +them. There's no use trying any longer. +Every time I get my hopes up it's only +to have them dashed to pieces—shipwrecked, +you might say." +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>He paused a minute, ostensibly to give +his chin a fresh coating of lather, but in +reality to gather courage for the words he +found so difficult to say. In the silence, +Macklin's voice came floating up to them +from the porch below. Sitting on the +steps in the twilight, with his bare feet +doubled under him, he was reciting something +to his Aunt Eunice in a high, sturdy +voice. It came in shrilly through the +open window of Alec's room, where the +brown shade and overhanging muslin +curtains flapped back and forth in the +evening breeze. +</p> +<p> +Philippa smiled as she listened. He +was reciting a poem that Aunt Eunice +had taught each of them in turn, after +the Creed and the Commandments and +the Catechism. It was Whittier's hymn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>—"The Eternal Goodness." She had +paid them a penny a stanza for learning +it, and as there are twenty-two stanzas +in all, Philippa remembered how rich +she felt the day she dropped the last copper +down the chimney of her little red +savings-bank. +</p> +<p> +It had been seven years since Alec +learned it, but the words were as familiar +still as the letters of the alphabet. As +Macklin's high-pitched voice reached +them, Philippa joined in in a singsong +undertone, and even Alec found himself +unconsciously following the well-remembered +lines in his thought: +</p> +<div class='poem'> +"I know not where His islands lift<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their fronded palms in air;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">I only know I cannot drift</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beyond His love and care."</span><br> +</div> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>"There!" said Philippa, stopping +abruptly, "you were talking about shipwrecks. +According to that hymn, there's +always some island ready for you to be +washed up on. How do you know but +that you're going to land some place +where you'll be lots better off than if +you'd stayed here in Ridgeville?" +</p> +<p> +There was a contemptuous sneer on +Alec's face, not pleasant to see, as he +answered, roughly: "Bosh! That's all +right for people who can believe in such +things, but I'm past such Robinson Crusoe +fables." +</p> +<p> +"Why, Alec Stoker!" she cried, in +amazement, "do you mean to say that +you don't believe in Providence any +more?" There was a look of horror on +her face. +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>He shrugged his shoulders. "I've +come to think it's a case of every fellow +for himself; sink or swim—and if +you're not strong enough to push to shore, +it's drown and leave more room for the +rest." +</p> +<p> +"Alec Mack—lin Sto—ker!" was +all that Philippa could find breath to +say at first. Presently she exclaimed, "I +should think you'd be ashamed to talk so! +Any boy that had such a grand old grandfather +as you! He didn't have any better +chance than you in the beginning, and +had to struggle along for years. Look +what a place he made for himself in the +world!" +</p> +<p> +"That's all you know about it!" cried +Alec, his hand trembling with an emotion +he was trying hard to control. In that +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>instant the razor slipped, slightly cutting +his chin. +</p> +<p> +"Now!" he muttered, hastily tearing +a bit of paper from the margin of a newspaper +to stop the blood, and then rummaging +in the wash-stand drawer for a +piece of court-plaster. He was a long +time adjusting it to his satisfaction, for the +words he wanted to say would not take +shape. He knew what he had to tell her +would wound deeply, and he hesitated to +begin. When he faced her again, his +voice trembled with suppressed excitement. +He spoke rapidly: +</p> +<p> +"I may as well out with it. You want +to know why I didn't get that position in +the bank? It is because my father, J. +Stillwell Stoker, died behind the bars of +a penitentiary! I'm the son of a jailbird<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>—a +defaulter and a forger! That's why +the bank didn't want me. They'd had +their fingers burned with him, and didn't +want to risk another of that name. +Thought there might be something in +the blood, I suppose. That's where all +grandfather's property went, to pay it +back; all but this house and the little +Aunt Eunice kept for our support. And +that's why mother came back here with us +and died of a broken heart! Now do you +wonder that I can't believe in the eternal +goodness when it starts me out in life +handicapped like that? Do you blame +me when I say I am going to get out +of this town and go away to some place +where I'll not have my father's disgrace +thrown in my teeth every time I try to +do anything worth while? No wonder +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>I'm moody! No wonder I'm a pessimist +when I think of the legacy he's saddled +us with! Aunt Eunice thought she could +always shield us from the knowledge of +it, but she could no more do it than she +could hide fire!" +</p> +<p> +Philippa sat on the bed as if stunned +by the words flowing in such a vehement +rush from her brother's lips. She was +white and trembled. "O Alec," she +gasped, with a shudder, "it can't be +true!" Then, after a distressing silence, +she sobbed, "Does everybody know it?" +</p> +<p> +"Everybody in the village now, but +little Mack, and he'll have to be knocked +flat with the fact some day, I suppose, +just as we have been." +</p> +<p> +Philippa shivered and drew herself up +into a disconsolate bunch against the foot-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>board. "To think of the way I've prided +myself on our family!" she said, in a +husky voice. "I've actually bragged of +the Macklins and paraded the virtues of +my ancestors." +</p> +<p> +Alec made no answer. Down-stairs +the big kitchen clock slowly struck seven. +</p> +<p> +"I'll have to hurry," he remarked. +Catching up his blacking-brush, he began +polishing his shoes in nervous haste. +"It's later than I thought. I'm due at +the hotel in thirty minutes." +</p> +<p> +"At the hotel!" repeated Philippa, +wondering dully how he could take any +interest in anything more in life, knowing +all that had blighted their young lives. +</p> +<p> +"Yes; but don't you tell Aunt Eunice +until it's all settled. I promised to meet +a man there, who's been talking to me +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>about a position a thousand miles from +here. He's interested in a manufacturing +business. His firm has a scheme for +making money hand over fist. He didn't +tell me what it is, but he wants some +young fellow about my age to go into it. +'Somebody who can keep his mouth +shut,' he said, 'write a good letter, and +make a favourable impression on strangers +in introducing the goods.' Stumpy +Fisher introduced me to him last night, +and he gave me a hint of what he might +do if I suited. Seemed to think I was +just the man for the place. There's another +fellow after it, but he thought I'd +make a better impression on strangers, +and that is a great consideration in their +business. We're to settle it this evening, +as he has to leave on the nine o'clock +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>train. If we come to terms, he'll want +me to follow next week." +</p> +<p> +"Stumpy Fisher introduced you?" repeated +Philippa; "why, he—he's the +man that runs the Golconda, isn't he?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes," admitted Alec, inwardly resenting +the disapproval in her tone. +"They do gamble in there, I know, and +sometimes have a pretty tough row, but +Stumpy is as kind-hearted a man as there +is in the village." +</p> +<p> +Throwing the blacking-brush hastily +back into its box, Alec straightened himself +up and faced his sister, "There, +skip along now, Flip, like a good girl. I +have to dress. And don't say a word to +Aunt Eunice. I'll tell her myself." +</p> +<p> +Philippa rose slowly from the bed and +started toward the door. "I feel as if I +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>were in a horrible nightmare," she said. +"What you have just told me about our—him, +you know, and then your going +away to live. It's all so sudden and so +dreadful. O Alec, I can't stand it to have +you go!" +</p> +<p> +To his great surprise and confusion, +for Philippa had never been demonstrative +in her affection, she threw her arms +round his neck, and, dropping her head +on his shoulder, began sobbing violently. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, come now, Flip," he protested, +awkwardly patting the heavy braids of +hair swung over her shoulder; "I +wouldn't have told you if I'd thought +you'd take it so. I thought you had so +much grit that you'd stand by me and +back me up if Aunt Eunice objected. +We're not going to be separated for ever. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35]</a></span>From what the man told me of the business, +I'm sure that I can make enough in +a year or so to send for you. Then you +can come and keep house for me, and +we'll pay back every cent we've cost Aunt +Eunice, so she'll have something in her +old age. Oh, stop crying, like a good +girl, Flip! Don't make it any harder for +me than it already is. You don't want me +to be late, do you, and miss the best +chance of my life? Punctuality counts +for everything when a man's looking for +a reliable employee." +</p> +<p> +Without a word, but still sobbing, +Philippa rushed from the room. He +heard her going down the back stairs and +across the kitchen. When the outer door +closed behind her, he knew as well as if +he had seen her that she was running +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>down the orchard path to her old refuge +in the June-apple-tree. +</p> +<p> +"The stars ought to be out now," +thought Alec, a few minutes later, as he +slipped into his best coat. Pulling up the +shade, he peered out through the open +window. "There'll not be any to-night," +he added; "looks as if it would rain." +</p> +<p> +The wind was rising. It blew the muslin +curtains softly across his face. It had +driven Miss Eunice and Macklin from +the porch. Alec could hear their voices +in the sitting-room. Suddenly another +puff of wind blew the hall door shut, and +the cheerful sound was lost. +</p> +<p> +"It's certainly going to storm!" he +exclaimed, aloud. Raising his lamp for +one more scrutiny of himself in the little +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>mirror, he set it on his desk, while he +hunted in the closet for an umbrella. +</p> +<p> +When he reached the hotel, it was in +the deepest voice that he could summon +that he asked to be shown to Mr. Humphrey +Long's room. Then he blushed, +startled by its unfamiliar sound; it was so +deep. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Long was busy, he was told. He +had been closeted in his room for an hour +with a stranger who had taken supper +with him, and had left orders that Alec, +if he came, was not to be shown up till +the other man had gone. +</p> +<p> +Alec wandered from the office into the +parlour, walking round nervously while +he waited. Half an hour went by. He +watched the clock anxiously, than desperately. +The minutes were slipping by +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>so fast that he was afraid there would +be no time for his turn before the bus +started to the train. What if the other +man should be taken in his stead after all +Mr. Long's fair speeches! The thought +made him break into a cold perspiration. +He drummed nervously on the table beside +him with impatient fingers. +</p> +<p> +Presently, through his absorption, +came the consciousness that the bell in +the town hall was clanging the fire alarm. +It was an unusual sound in the quiet little +village. Noisy shouts in the next street +proclaimed that the volunteer fire brigade +was dragging out the hand-power +engine and hose reel. From all directions +came the sound of hurrying feet and +the cry of "Fire! fire!" +</p> +<p> +He rushed to the door and looked out. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>Half a mile toward the north, he judged +the distance to be, an angry glow was +spreading upward. It was in the direction +of his home. +</p> +<p> +"Where's the fire, Bob?" called a +voice across the street. +</p> +<p> +"The old Macklin house," was the answer, +tossed back over a man's shoulder +as he ran. Instantly there flashed into +Alec's mind the remembrance of the +muslin curtains flapping across his face, +and the lamp left near them on his desk. +Had he blown it out or not? He could +not remember. He tried to think as he +dashed up the street after the running +crowds. +</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> +<a name="h2HCH0002" id="h2HCH0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"> </div> +<h2> + CHAPTER II. +</h2> +<p> +There was no faster runner in the +village than Alec Stoker. In the last +two field-day contests he had carried off +the honours, and now he surpassed all +previous records in that mad dash from +the hotel to the burning house. +</p> +<p> +Swift as he was, however, the flames +were bursting from the windows of his +room by the time he reached the gate, and +curling up over the eaves with long, licking +tongues. It was as he had feared. +He had forgotten to put out the light, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +the curtains had blown over it, and, +fanned by the rising wind, the fire had +leaped from curtain to bed, from mosquito-bar +to wall, until the whole room +was in a blaze. +</p> +<p> +Shielded by the tall cedars in front of +the house, it had burned some time before +a passing neighbour discovered it. By +the time the alarm brought any response, +the upper story was full of stifling pine +smoke. The yard swarmed with neighbours +when Alec reached it. In and out +they ran, bumping precious old family +portraits against wash-tubs and coal-scuttles, +emptying bureau drawers into sheets, +and dumping books and dishes in a pile +in the orchard, in wildest confusion. +Everything was taken out of the lower +story. Even the carpets were ripped up +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>from the floors before the warning cry +came to stand back, that the roof was +about to fall in. The fire brigade turned +its attention to saving the barn, but that +was old, too, and burned like tinder, as +the breath of the approaching storm +fanned the flames higher and higher. +</p> +<p> +As Alec leaned back against the fence, +breathless and flushed from his frantic +exertions, Philippa came up to him, carrying +the parlour clock and her best hat. +</p> +<p> +"Come on," she said; "we've got to +get all these things under shelter before +the storm strikes us, or they'll be spoiled. +Mrs. Sears has offered us part of her +house. There are four empty rooms in +the west wing, and Aunt Eunice says that +we can't do any better than to take them +for awhile." +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>Again the neighbours came to the rescue, +and, spurred on by the warning +thunder, hurried the scattered household +goods into shelter. They were all piled +into one room in a hopeless tangle. +</p> +<p> +"We'll not attempt to straighten out +anything to-night," said Miss Eunice, +looking round wearily when the last sympathetic +neighbour had departed in time +to escape the breaking storm. She and +Philippa had accepted Mrs. Sears's offer +of her guest-chamber for the night. +Macklin had gone home with the minister's +son. Alec had had many invitations, +but he refused them all. With a morbid +feeling that because his carelessness +caused the fire he ought to do penance +and not allow himself to be comfortable, +he pulled a pillow and a mattress from +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>the pile of goods into the empty room +adjoining, and threw himself down on +that. +</p> +<p> +In the excitement of the scene through +which he had just passed, he had entirely +forgotten the engagement he had run +away from. Now, as he stretched himself +wearily out on the mattress, it flashed +across his mind that he had failed to keep +his appointment, and that the man had +gone. A groan of disappointment escaped +him. +</p> +<p> +"If I wasn't born to a dog's luck!" +he exclaimed, "to miss a position like +that just when we need it the most. +Goodness only knows what we are going +to do now. But I needn't say that. It's +a hard world, and there's no goodness +in it." +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>The next instant, he pulled the sheet +over his eyes to shut out the blinding +glare of lightning that lit up the empty +room. The crash of thunder that followed +seemed to his distorted fancy the +defiant challenge of all the powers of +darkness. All sorts of rebellious thoughts +flocked through the boy's mind, as he lay +there in the darkness of the empty room, +thinking bitterly of his thwarted plans. +Midnight always magnifies troubles, and +as he brooded over his disappointments +and railed at his fate, not only his past +wrongs loomed up to colossal size, but a +vague premonition of worse evil to come +began to weigh on him. It was nearly +morning before he dropped into a troubled +sleep. +</p> +<p> +Refreshed by a long night's rest and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>the tempting breakfast Mrs. Sears spread +for her three guests, Philippa soon recovered +her usual gay spirits. The news that +Alec had disclosed the night before, +which sent her stunned and heart-sick to +her retreat in the old apple-tree, had +faded into the background in the excitement +of the fire. She thought of it all +the time she was dressing, but the keenness +of her distress was not so overwhelming +as it had been. It was like some old +pain that had lost its worst sting in the +healing passage of time. +</p> +<p> +She was young enough to take a keen +pleasure in the novelty of the situation, +and ran up-stairs and down with hammer +and broom, laughing and joking +over the settlement of every picture and +piece of furniture with contagious good +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>humour. Alec could not understand it. +Even his Aunt Eunice was not as downcast +as he had pictured her in the night, +over the loss of her old home. With +patient, steady effort, she moved along, +bringing order out of confusion, and +when Philippa's fresh young voice up-stairs +broke out in the song that had come +to be regarded as the family hymn, she +joined in, at her work below, with a full, +strong alto: +</p> +<div class='poem'> +"Yet, in the maddening maze of things,<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"> Though tossed by storm and flood,</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">To one fixed trust my spirit clings:</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"> I know that God is good."</span><br> +</div> +<p> +"Jine in, Br'er Stoker," called Philippa, +laughingly waving her duster in +the doorway. "Why don't you sing?" +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> +<p> +Alec, who was prone on the floor, tacking +down a bedroom carpet, hammered +away without an answer. After waiting +a minute, she dropped down on the floor +beside him, upsetting a saucer full of +tacks as she did so. "Say, Alec," she +began, in a confidential tone, "what did +the man at the hotel say last night? Is +he going to take you?" +</p> +<p> +"Of course not," was the sulky reply. +"You didn't suppose I'd be lucky enough +for that, did you? I didn't even see him. +Another fellow was there ahead of me, +and the fire-alarm sounded while I +waited, and then it was all up. I couldn't +dally round waiting for an interview +when our home was burning, could I?" +</p> +<p> +"Maybe he left some word for you," +she suggested. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> +<p> +"No; I ran down to the hotel to inquire, +just as soon as I got the kitchen +stove set up this morning. He left on the +nine o'clock train last night, as he warned +me he would, and as I didn't come according +to my agreement, that's the last +he'll ever think of me. Such luck as +mine is, anyhow! It was my anxiety to +get the place that made me go off and +leave the lamp burning, and now I've +not only missed the last chance I'll ever +have, but I've been the means of burning +the roof off from over our heads. You +haven't any idea of the way I feel, Flip. +I'm desperate! It fairly sets my teeth on +edge to hear you go round singing of +'The Eternal Goodness' when I'm +knocked out every way I turn, no matter +how hard I try." +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>"But, Alec," she answered, between +taps of his noisy hammer, "it's foolish +of you to take it so to heart, and look +on nothing but the dark side. Of course, +it is dreadful to be burned out of house +and home, but it might have been lots +worse. All the down-stairs furniture was +saved, and the insurance company is going +to put us up a nice little cottage as +soon as possible. We were not without +a roof over our heads for one single hour. +Before the old one fell in, Mrs. Sears +offered these rooms, and already things +are beginning to look homelike. Mrs. +Sears was one of our 'islands.' +</p> +<p> +"There we were, you see. It was +black night, and we didn't know which +way to turn, but here were these empty +rooms, all nice and clean, waiting for +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>us. And it will be the same way about +your getting a place if you don't lose +faith and courage. You'll float along +awhile farther, and when you're least +expecting it, you'll come on your island +that's been waiting for you all the time." +</p> +<p> +"Oh, you don't know what you're talking +about, Flip," answered Alec, impatiently, +pounding away harder than ever. +"You make me tired." +</p> +<p> +"I do know what I'm talking about," +she retorted, scrambling to her feet; +"and I'll let you know, sir, my singing +doesn't set your teeth on edge half as bad +as your sour looks do mine. I wouldn't +be such a grumble-bug! You act like a +baby instead of a boy who prides himself +on being old enough to shave." +</p> +<p> +With this parting thrust, she flounced +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>out of the room, unmindful of what he +called after her, but she thought, guiltily, +as she ran, "Now I've done it! He'll be +furious all day; but I just had to! He +needed somebody to shake him up out +of himself, and I don't care!" +</p> +<p> +Nevertheless, she sang no more that +day, and a few tears dropped on her +books, as she made a place for them on +the shelves. All Alec's had been burned. +He had lost more than any of them, for +his was the only up-stairs room that was +occupied. Philippa loved her brother +too dearly not to suffer with him in all +his losses and disappointments. +</p> +<p> +It was a day of hard work for all of +them, but four energetic, determined +people can accomplish much, especially +when one is a ten-year-old boy, whose +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>sturdy legs can make countless trips up +and down stairs without tiring, and another +is an athletic young fellow with the +endurance of a man. +</p> +<p> +Late in the afternoon, Alec made a +final round of inspection. Up-stairs the +two bedrooms were in spotless order. +They were furnished even better than +those in the old house, for the library +rugs and curtains had found place there, +with some of the best pictures and ornaments. +Down-stairs Philippa was standing +in the centre of the room, about to +remove the cover and lamp from the +dining-room table. +</p> +<p> +"Now it is the parlour," she said, +gaily, waving her hand toward the old +piano, the bookcases, and the familiar +bric-à-brac on the mantel. "But shut +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>your eyes a minute, and—<i>abracadabra!</i> +it's the dining-room." As she spoke, she +whisked a white cloth on the old claw-footed +mahogany table, and, throwing +open a closet door, displayed the orderly +rows of china. +</p> +<p> +"We'll not have much for supper to-night, +but I'm bound it shall be set out +in style to celebrate our house-warming; +so, Mack, if you have any legs left to +toddle on, I wish you'd run out and get +me a handful of purple asters to put in +this glass bowl. I am glad that it wasn't +broken. Some kind but agitated friend +pitched it out of the window into the +geranium bed." +</p> +<p> +She rattled along gaily, with a furtive +side-glance at Alec. He had had nothing +to say to her since her outburst up-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>stairs, and now, ignoring her pleasantries, +he walked into the kitchen in his most +dignified manner. +</p> +<p> +"Is there anything more you want me +to do, Aunt Eunice?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +Finding that there was nothing just +then, he went out to the side porch opening +off the room which was to be used as +both dining-room and parlour. He had +hung the hammock there a little while +before, and he threw himself into it with +a sigh of relief. Swinging back and +forth in the shelter of the vines, the feeling +of comfort began to steal over him +that comes with the relaxation of tired +muscles. The rattle of dishes and aroma +of hot coffee coming out to him were +pleasantly suggestive to his healthy young +appetite. +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>He closed his eyes, not intending to go +to sleep, but the hammock stopped swinging +almost instantly, and he did not hear +the footsteps going past him a few minutes +later, nor his Aunt Eunice's surprised +cry of welcome as a tall, bearded +stranger knocked at the door. +</p> +<p> +The continuous murmur of voices +finally roused him, and he lay there +blinking and listening, trying to recognize +the deep bass voice that laughed and +talked so familiarly with his aunt. +</p> +<p> +"The Lord has certainly sent you, +Dick," Alec heard her say in a tremulous +tone, and then he knew instantly who had +come. +</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span><br></p> + +<a name="image-0003"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="fig"> +<img src="images/illust-057.jpg" width="574" height="450" +alt="" title=""> +<br> +<span class="caption">"'THE LORD HAS CERTAINLY SENT YOU, DICK.'"</span> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span><br></p> +<p> +All his life he had heard of Dick +Willis, one of the many boys his grandfather +had befriended and taken into the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>shelter of his home for awhile. Dick +had lived five years in the old house that +had just burned, when Eunice and Sally +Macklin were children; and all the +stories of their school days were full of +their foster-brother's mischievous sayings +and doings. +</p> +<p> +That the harum-scarum boy had given +place to this middle-aged, successful +business man, with the deep voice and +big whiskers, was hard for Alec to realize, +for in all Miss Eunice's reminiscences +he had kept the perennial prankishness +of youth. But now Alec, listening, +learned the changes that had taken +place since the man's last visit to his +home. He had thought every year that +he would come back for another visit, he +told Miss Eunice, but he had put it off +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>from season to season, hard pressed by +the demands of business, and now it was +too late for him to ever see the old homestead +again. He had seen an account of +the fire in a paper which he read on the +train on his way East, and he decided +to stop his journey long enough to run +over to the old place for a few hours, and +see if she did not need his help. He +wanted her to feel that he stood ready +to give it to the extent of his power, and +expected her to call upon him as freely +as if he were a real brother. +</p> +<p> +Then it was that Miss Eunice's tremulous +voice exclaimed again: "The Lord +has certainly sent you, Dick! I have +been worried for weeks over Alec's future. +There is no outlook here in the +village for him. If you could only get +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>him a position somewhere—" She +paused, the tears in her eyes. Alec listened +breathlessly for his answer. +</p> +<p> +"Why didn't you write me before this, +Eunice? My business, travelling for a +wholesale shoe house, takes me over a +wide territory and gives me a large acquaintance. +I am sure that I can get him +into something or other very soon. You +know that I would do anything for +Sally's boy, and when you add to that the +fact that he is Alexander Macklin's +grandson, and I owe everything I am +under heaven to that man, you may know +that I'd leave no stone unturned to repay +a little of his kindness to me." +</p> +<p> +Alec's heart gave a great throb of hope. +The good cheer of the hearty voice inspired +him with a courage he had not felt +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>in weeks. There was a patter of bare feet +down the garden path, and, peering out +between the vines, Alec saw one of the +neighbour's boys coming in with a big +dish covered carefully with a napkin. +</p> +<p> +"It's fried chicken," announced the +boy, with a grin, as Alec went down the +step to meet him. "Mother said to eat it +while it was hot. She knew you all +would be too tired to cook much to-night." +</p> +<p> +Without waiting to hear Alec's thanks, +he scampered down the path again and +squeezed through the gap in the fence +made by a missing picket. Alec carried +the dish round the house to the kitchen, +where Philippa was putting the finishing +touches to the supper, in her aunt's stead. +</p> +<p> +"Did you know that Uncle Dick has +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>come?" she asked, joyfully. "Oh, how +good of Mrs. Pine to send the chicken! +We didn't have anything for supper but +coffee and rolls and eggs. He's certainly +bringing good things in his wake. How +delicious that chicken does smell! Let's +take it as a good omen, Alec, a forerunner +of better days. He'll surely get you +out of your slough of despond." +</p> +<p> +"Who, Flip? The chicken or Uncle +Dick?" asked Alec, in his old jesting way, +giving one of her long braids a tweak +as he passed. A heavy load seemed +to lift itself from Philippa's heart at this +sign of Alec's return to his merry old self. +All during supper she kept glancing at +him, for, absorbed in their guest's interesting +reminiscences, he seemed to have +forgotten the grievances he had brooded +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>over so long, and laughed and joked as +he had not done for weeks. +</p> +<p> +To their great regret, Uncle Dick had +to leave that night. Alec walked to the +station with him, feeling that he was being +subjected to a very close cross-examination +as to his capabilities and preferences. +The train was late, and as they +sat in the waiting-room, the man fell into +a profound silence, his hands thrust into +his pockets and his brows drawn together +in deep thought. +</p> +<p> +Finally he said: "You want to be a +banker, like your grandfather. Well, I +can't manage that, my boy. My influence +doesn't lie in that direction. The best I +can do is to get you in with the firm +that manufactures all the shoes I sell. It +is a big concern. The general manager +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>of the factory at Salesbury is a good +friend of mine, and I happen to know he +is on the lookout for a reliable young +fellow to put in training as his assistant. +He is constantly giving somebody a trial, +but nobody measures up to his requirements. +Whoever takes it must go through +a regular apprenticeship in the factory +and learn the business from the ground +up. According to his ideas, you'd not be +fitted until you'd tried your hand at every +piece of machinery in the factory, and +knew how to turn out a pair of shoes from +the raw leather. The wages will be +small at first. Some of the duties are +disagreeable, many of the requirements +exacting, but promotion is rapid, and +probably by the end of the year you'd +be in the office, learning to take an over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>sight +of the different departments; that +is, if you had proved there was good stuff +in you. If money is what you are after, +this opening is better a thousand times +than anything the village bank could give +you in years, and in my opinion it's just +as respectable a calling to handle leather +as lucre. You'll have to work and work +hard." +</p> +<p> +"I don't mind how hard the work is," +answered Alec. "I hate to give up the +one thing that has been my ambition all +my life, but I have come to the point +where I'd do anything honest to get a +place somewhere out of this town. I'd +even scrub floors. You don't know what +I've been through this summer, Uncle +Dick. Of course, you know about my +father?" +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>He asked the question with such bitterness +of tone that his listener scanned his +face intently, then sympathetically. +</p> +<p> +"Well, I must get away from that," +Alec continued. "It's an awful handicap. +The thought of it made me desperate +at times. If they should hear +about him in Salesbury and turn me +down on his account—well, I'd just give +up! I couldn't stand any more than I +have already suffered on his account." +</p> +<p> +There was no answer for a minute, +then the deep voice answered, cheerily: +"Alec, your grandmother Macklin once +told me that when she was a very small +child she went to visit her grandmother; +quite a remote ancestor of yours that +would be, wouldn't it? For some reason, +she was put to sleep in a trundle-bed +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>in the old lady's room, and along late in +the night she was awakened by a very +earnest voice. She sat up in the little +trundle-bed to listen, and there was the +old saint on her knees, praying for—now, +what do you suppose? For 'all her +posterity to the latest generation!' She +said she didn't understand then what the +words meant, but years afterward, when +she held her first baby in her arms, they +came back to her with a feeling of awe, +to think that prayers uttered for him, +long years before he was born, were still +working to his blessing. +</p> +<p> +"It is the same with you, Alec. Evil +influences were set afloat by your father's +crime that will undoubtedly work against +you many a time, but you must remember +all the good that lies on the other hand +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>to counteract them. Even your great-great-grandmother's +prayers must count +for something in your behalf. I remember +that Alexander Macklin planted an +apple orchard after he was eighty years +old. He never lived to gather even its +first harvest, but you have been enjoying +it all your life. He did a thousand unrecorded +kindnesses that brought him no +returns seemingly, but 'bread cast upon +the waters' does come back after many +days, my boy, every time. And you will +be eating the results of that scattering all +your life. The little that I may be able +to do for you will only be the result of +kindness he showed me, and which I +could not repay, but am glad now to pass +it on to his grandson. Don't grow bitter +because of your father, and say that fate +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>has handicapped you. That admission of +itself will sap your courage and go far +toward defeating you. Say, instead, +'<i>The Eternal Goodness</i> will more than +compensate for the evil that this one +man has wrought me.' Then go on, +trusting in that, and win in spite of everything. +The harder the struggle the more +praise to the victor, you know." +</p> +<p> +The whistle of the approaching train +brought his little sermon to a close, and, +seizing his satchel, he started hurriedly +to the door. "I'll see the manager in a +few days," he continued, hurriedly. "I +have only a few stops to make this time +on my way to Salesbury. Probably I'll +have something definite to write you the +last of the week. Good-bye and good +luck to you!" He shook hands heartily, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>swung himself up on the platform, and +disappeared into the car. +</p> +<p> +Philippa was waiting in the hammock +with a shawl over her head when Alec +returned. The moonlight nights were +chilly, but she could not bear to go inside +until she heard the result of their +conversation. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, Alec," she exclaimed, as he came +up wide awake and glowing from his +walk and his hopeful interview, "wasn't +it just like a lovely story to have the traditional +uncle drop down long enough to +restore the family fortunes and then disappear +again?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, you're a good prophet," he +laughed. "I drifted on to my island +when I least expected it, and in the middle +of my darkest night. Salesbury is +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>four hundred miles from here, Flip, and +we sha'n't see each other often, so if it +will be any comfort to you, you may say, +'I told you so,' three times a day, from +now on until I leave." + +</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" > +<a name="h2HCH0003" id="h2HCH0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"> </div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> + +<h2> + CHAPTER III. +</h2> +<p> +Philippa, coming home from school +one afternoon, late in September, loitered +at the gate for a few more words with the +girls who had walked that far with her. +Sometimes the little group lingered there +until nearly sundown, between the laburnum +bushes and hollyhocks of the old +garden, but to-day, Alec's impatient +whistle from an upper window signalled +her. He waved a letter toward her, calling, +excitedly, "It's come, Flip! It's +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +come! I'm to start in the morning. I'm +packing my trunk now." +</p> +<p> +With a hurried good-bye to the girls at +the gate, Philippa rushed up the stairs to +her brother's room. The bureau drawers +had all been emptied on the bed, and +every chair was full. +</p> +<p> +"Here's some things that need buttons," +he announced, as she came in. +"Aunt Eunice is pressing my best suit, +and Mack has gone down-town after the +shoes that I left to be half-soled. I'll +have to rush, for the letter says to come at +once. I didn't suppose they'd be in such +a hurry. They're hustlers, I guess." +</p> +<p> +His haste was so contagious that Philippa +ran into the next room for her sewing-basket, +without waiting to take off +her hat, and sitting down on the floor +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +beside the window began to sew on buttons +as fast as she asked questions. She +always had plenty to say to Alec, and now +that the time for conversation was limited +to a few short hours, she could not talk +fast enough. +</p> +<p> +Presently the click of the gate made +her look out. "Here comes Mack," she +said. "Your shoes are wrapped in a +newspaper, and he's so busy reading +something on it that he doesn't know +where he is going. Look out, snail!" +she called; "you'll bump into the house +in a minute if you are not careful!" +</p> +<p> +The boy came slowly up the stairs still +spelling out the paragraph that interested +him. +</p> +<p> +"Alec," he said, pausing in the doorway, +"what's a green goods man? This +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +says that a gang of 'em were arrested in +New York. The detectives traced them +by a letter one of them left here in Ridgeville +at the hotel. Think of that! Jonas +Clark is the man's real name, alias +H-u-m-p-h," he spelled, "Humphrey (I +guess it is) Long." +</p> +<p> +Alec snatched the knotty bundle and +glanced at the paragraph so eagerly that +Philippa looked at him in surprise. She +was still more surprised to see a deep +flush spread over his face, as he tore the +newspaper off the shoes and glanced at +the date. Then he dropped it on the bed +and began to fumble for something in +the bottom of his trunk, saying, carelessly, +"Oh, green goods men are just fellows +who rope people in to buy counterfeit +money. Here, Mack, you'll not have a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +chance to run many more errands for me. +Trot down to Aunt Eunice with these +neckties, please, and ask her to press them +for me while she's in the business." +</p> +<p> +As soon as Mack disappeared, Alec +caught up the paper again. "Flip," he +said, in an impressive voice, after his +second reading, "do you remember the +night of the fire I was to meet a man at +the hotel and make the final arrangement +with him for taking a position he had +offered me?" +</p> +<p> +Philippa nodded. +</p> +<p> +"Well, that is the man; Humphrey +Long. Think of what I have escaped. +From what he said about his sure scheme +for making money and making it easy, I +know now that is what he meant; but I +never suspected such a thing then. He +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +was the smoothest talker I ever saw, and +was as gentlemanly and well dressed as +the minister. And such a way as he had! +He could almost make a body believe +that black was white. Suppose I had +gone off with him. Whillikens! but I +would be in hot water now! Everybody +would have said, 'Only a chip off the +old block. Just what might have been +expected with such a father.'" +</p> +<p> +"But, Alec, you wouldn't have gone +after he had told you what his business +was!" Philippa exclaimed, in a horrified +tone. "You know that you wouldn't." +</p> +<p> +"No," he answered, slowly, "but I +think now that he intended to keep me +in the dark till he got me just where he +wanted me, in too deep to inform on +them. And I was so desperate for a job +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +away from here that I would have accepted +his offer with very few questions. +Don't you see, my very ignorance of his +schemes would have made me a better +decoy in some cases than if I had not been +such an innocent young duck. Of course, +Stumpy Fisher told him all about me," +he added, after a moment's thought. +"He might have counted on my being +enough like my father to take kindly to +his crookedness." +</p> +<p> +"How queerly things work out!" said +Philippa. "If you had had your own +way, you'd have been off with that man +and probably in jail with him now. But +the fire stopped you. And if it hadn't +been for the fire, Uncle Dick never +would have been aroused to the necessity +of leaving his business long enough to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +make us a visit, and if it hadn't been for +the visit you never would have had this +position in Salesbury." +</p> +<p> +"That's so," Alec assented, gravely. +"It's a whole chain of those islands that +you and Aunt Eunice are always singing +about. I'll make a map of them some +day and name each one: 'Fire Island,' +'Isle of Uncle Dick,' etc. Then I'll +name the whole group after you: 'Flip's +Providence Islands,' or something like +that." +</p> +<p> +Then the subject was dropped, as +Macklin came clattering back up the +stairs. +</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p> +If the history of Alec's experiences +during the next few weeks could have +been written, it would have differed little +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +from that of thousands of boys who +yearly leave farm and village to push +their way into the already overcrowded +cities. Eager and hopeful, his ambition +placed no limit to the success he meant +to achieve. That he might fall short of +the goal he set for himself never once +entered his thoughts. He knew the conditions +requisite to success, and felt an +honest pride in the consciousness that he +could meet them. He had a strong, +healthy body, a thorough education so +far as the high school could take him, +good habits, and high ideals. +</p> +<p> +As the train whirled him on toward +Salesbury, he felt that at last he was placing +himself in line with the long list of +illustrious men who had begun life as +poor boys and ended it as the benefactors +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +of mankind. And he felt that he had a +distinct advantage over Franklin and +some of his ilk, for he faced his future +with far more than a loaf of bread under +his arm. Forward in the baggage-car +his grandfather's old leather trunk held +ample provision for his present, and an +assured position awaited him. +</p> +<p> +Salesbury was not a large city, but it +seemed a crowded metropolis to Alec's +eyes, accustomed to the quiet life of the +little inland village. But it was not as +a gaping backwoodsman he viewed its +sights. If he had never seen a trolley-car +before, he had carefully studied the +power that propels one. The whir and +clang, the rush of automobiles, the pounding +of machinery in the great factory all +seemed familiar, because they were a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +part of the world he had learned to know +in his extensive reading. Keenly alive +to new impressions, he was so interested +in everything that went on round him +that he had little time to be lonesome at +first. +</p> +<p> +He stayed only a few days at the hotel. +Anxious to repay his Aunt Eunice as +soon as possible the money she had spent +in replenishing his wardrobe after the +fire, and defraying his travelling expenses, +he took a room in a lodging-house, +and his meals at a cheap restaurant. +In that way he was able to save +nearly twice as much each week toward +cancelling his indebtedness. +</p> +<p> +The letters he wrote home were re-read +many times. They were so bright and +cheerful and full of interesting descrip<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>tions. +He didn't like the work in the +factory, but he liked the manager, and +with the determination to make his apprenticeship +as short as possible and gain +a place in the office, he pegged away with +a faithfulness and energy that he felt sure +must bring a speedy reward. +</p> +<p> +Not till the cold November nights +came did Miss Eunice detect a little note +of homesickness creeping into his letters. +She would not have wondered could she +have looked in on him while he wrote, +buttoned up in his overcoat and with his +hat on. His chilly little bedroom, with +its dim lamp and worn matting, was a +dismal contrast to the cheerful home +where he had always spent his winter +evenings. Then she noticed that there +was nearly always some reference to the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +restaurant fare, some longing expressed +for one more taste of her cooking—the +good cream gravy, the mince turnovers, +the crisp doughnuts that had been his +favourite dishes at home. +</p> +<p> +Once he wrote to Philippa: +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +"Think of it, Flip! I don't know a +single girl in town. Excepting my landlady, +I haven't spoken to a woman since +I pulled out of the depot at Ridgeville +two months ago. It seems so strange to +know only the factory fellows, when at +home I was acquainted with everybody. +The manager, Mr. Windom, has a pretty +daughter whom I'd give a good deal to +know. She drives down to the office with +him sometimes, and I see her at church. +She looks something like your chum, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +Nordic Gray, laughing sort of eyes, and +soft, light hair, and a saucy little nose +like your own." +</p> +</div> +<p> +Later, in a reply to a question from +Miss Eunice, he wrote: +</p> +<div class="blockquot"><p> +"No, I haven't put in my church letter +yet. I took it with me every Sunday +for awhile, but I can't get screwed up to +the point, somehow. People here are so +stand-offish with strangers. I've gone +pretty regularly, but nobody has spoken +to me yet. I suppose they think that a +gawky country boy doesn't belong in such +a fashionable congregation. The minister +doesn't come down after service to +shake hands with people, as Doctor +Meldrum does at home. They have a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +Christian Endeavour Society that I think +might be nice if there was any way of +breaking the ice to get into it. The +young people seem to have the best kind +of times among themselves, but they don't +seem to care for anybody that hasn't the +inside track in their exclusive little circle." +</p> +</div> +<p> +Then the letters grew shorter. "He +had no time to write during the day," he +explained. At night he was either so +tired that he went to bed as soon as he +had his supper, or some of the boys that +worked where he did came round for +him to go out with them. He had been +to the library several times, and to a free +band-concert. When he was out of debt, +he intended to get a season lecture course<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +ticket and go to other entertainments once +in awhile to keep from getting the blues. +</p> +<p> +He did not mention some of the other +places to which he had gone with the +boys. It would only worry his Aunt Eunice, +he thought. Probably she wouldn't +think it was any harm if she lived in +the city. People in little places were apt +to be narrow-minded, he told himself. +He could feel that his own opinions were +broadening every day. +</p> +<p> +He wrote to Macklin on Thanksgiving +Day, saying that he intended to make the +most of his holiday and skate all the +afternoon. He was glad that he had +brought his skates, for the ice was in fine +condition. That was the last letter home +for two weeks. +</p> +<p> +While Miss Eunice worried, and Phi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>lippa +haunted the post-office, he was lying +ill in his cheerless little bedroom, on +the top floor of the cheap lodging-house. +He had skated not only Thanksgiving +afternoon, but again at night when the ice +was illuminated by bonfires and lanterns. +There was a danger-signal posted farther +down where the ice was thin. He had +avoided it all the afternoon, but intent +on cutting some fancy figure one of the +boys had taught him, he did not notice +how near he was to the dangerous spot +until he heard a cracking noise all round +him, and it was too late to save himself +from a plunge into the icy water. +</p> +<p> +Although he was helped out immediately, +and ran every step of the way to his +room, he was shaking with a chill when +he reached it. All the covering he could +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +pile on the bed did not stop the chattering +of his teeth as he lay shivering between +the cold sheets. In the morning he was +burning with fever. There was such a +sharp pain in his lungs that he could not +draw a full breath. +</p> +<p> +He tried to get up and dress, but the +attempt made him so weak and dizzy +that he could only stagger back to bed +and lie there in a sort of stupor. It was +not quite clear to him who brought a +doctor, but one came in the course of the +morning and left two kinds of little pellets +and a glass of water on the chair +beside his bed. He was to take two pink +pellets every hour and one white one +every two hours, he was told. +</p> +<p> +There was no clock in the room, and +he had no watch, but the engine-house +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +bell in the next block clanged the alarm +regularly. +</p> +<p> +The responsibility of giving himself +his own medicine kept him from dropping +asleep as he longed to do. He +would doze for a few minutes and start +up, fearing that he had let the time go +by, or that he had taken a double dose, +or that he had confused directions. Was +it two pink ones or two white ones, or one +hour or two hours? He said it over and +over with every variation possible. The +confusion was maddening. +</p> +<p> +The pain in his lungs grew worse. He +was burning with thirst, but there was no +more water in the glass. He looked +round the room with feverish, aching +eyes, that suddenly filled with hot tears. +If he could only be back in his own room +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +at home, with Aunt Eunice to care for +him, and Flip to make him comfortable, +how good it would seem! He was tasting +to the dregs the misery of being ill, +all alone among strangers. +</p> +<p> +Toward evening the woman who kept +the lodging-house sent a little coloured +boy up to ask if he wanted anything. A +pitcher of water was all that Alec asked +for. That being supplied, the boy shut +the door and clattered down the hall, +whistling. The night seemed endless. +Hour after hour he started up shuddering, +as the bell's loud clang awakened +him, not knowing what it was that startled +him. In his feverish hallucinations +he thought he was continually breaking +through the ice into a sea of burning +water. He kept clutching at the pillows, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +thinking they were islands that he was +for ever drifting past and could never +reach. +</p> +<p> +When morning came at last, and the +doctor made his second visit, he found +Alec delirious and the medicine still on +the chair beside the bed. With one +glance round the cheerless room, he +shrugged his shoulders and went out for +help. +</p> +<p> +When Alec next noticed his surroundings +with eyes that were once more clear +and rational, he saw that the dingy little +grate had been opened and a bright fire +was burning in it. The clothing he had +left on the floor in a heap had been put +away. The window shade no longer +hung askew. He looked round half-expecting +to see his Aunt Eunice or Flip, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +and wondered if he had been so ill that +some one had sent for them. Then his +glance fell on a grizzled old man with +a wooden leg, dozing in a rocking-chair +by the fire. +</p> +<p> +"Old Jimmy Scott!" Alec said to +himself after a moment's puzzled scrutiny, +in which he racked his brain to +recall where he had seen the face before. +Finally he remembered. One of +the boys had pointed him out as an old +soldier who had taken to nursing when +he could no longer fight. He held no +diploma from any training-school for +nurses, he was uncouth and rough in +many ways, but his varied experiences +had made him a valuable assistant to the +doctor, whom he called his general, and +obeyed with military exactness. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +</p> +<p> +As Alec stirred on his pillow, the old +soldier looked up, and then hobbled over +to the bed as quietly as his wooden leg +would allow. He bent over him, felt his +pulse, and then said, cheerfully, "All +right, buddy, guess it's time now for rations." +Taking a covered cup from the +hob on the grate, he deftly put a spoonful +of hot beef tea to Alec's lips. +</p> +<p> +"You had a pretty close call, young +man," he said, in response to Alec's attempt +to question him. "A leetle more +and it would have been double pneumonia. +But you're about out of the +woods now. We'll soon have you on your +feet." Giving his patient a few more +spoonfuls, he drew the covers gently in +place, saying, "Now don't you talk any +more. Turn over and go to sleep." +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +</p> +<p> +Weak, yet thrilled with a delightful +sense of comfort and freedom from pain, +Alec obeyed unquestioningly. True, a +thought did trail teasingly across his +mind for a moment, a dim wonder as to +where the money was to come from to +pay for the expensive luxuries of nurse +and doctor and medicines and fire, but +it faded presently, and instead his Aunt +Eunice's old song took its place: +</p> +<div class='poem'> +"I know not where His islands lift<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their fronded palms in air;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">I only know I cannot drift</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beyond—beyond—beyond—"</span><br> +</div> +<p> +He groped languidly for the final +words, but could not recall them. +"Never mind," he thought, drowsily; +"I've got as far as old Jimmy Scott, and +that's a big enough island for this trip." +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +A most comfortable stopping-place old +Jimmy proved to be. +</p> +<p> +Considerate as a woman of his patient's +comfort, cheerful, tireless, and prompt as +a minute-gun in carrying out the doctor's +instructions, it was not long before he had +Alec sitting up for a little while each day. +With such an old philosopher to keep +him company, and entertained by the old +veteran's endless fund of anecdote, Alec +enjoyed those few days of convalescence +more than he could have believed possible. +</p> +<p> +"It isn't such a bad sort of world, after +all," he remarked one morning, the day +after the minister had called. "It is +strange what a difference knowing persons +makes in the way you feel toward +them. The minister was as cordial and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +friendly as Doctor Meldrum used to be +in Ridgeville. Wonder how he found +out about me? I didn't know he'd ever +heard of me or noticed me in the congregation." +</p> +<p> +Old Jimmy made no reply, although he +longed to say: "He came because I sent +for him, buddy, as people ought to do. +They are quick enough to send for a doctor +when their bodies are sick, but when +they are out of sorts either physically or +mentally they never think of letting their +minister know. They hang back and feel +hurt if he doesn't come, just as if he could +tell by intuition or a sort of sixth sense +that he's needed. How can a D. D. be +expected to know when you want him, +any more than an M. D.?" +</p> +<p> +That afternoon as Alec sat propped up +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +by the window for a little while, looking +down on the snowy street, there was a +knock at the door. Old Jimmy, answering +it, came back with a florist's box addressed, +"Mr. Alec Stoker, with best +wishes and sympathy of the Grace +Church Christian Endeavour Society." +Inside was a fragrant bunch of hothouse +roses. +</p> +<p> +Alec held them up in amazement. +"Why should they have sent them to +me?" he cried. There was no Endeavour +society in Ridgeville, and he did not +understand its methods. +</p> +<p> +"The flower committee sends 'em to +all the sick people in the congregation," +explained Jimmy. "Posies and piety +always sorter go together, seems like. +Pretty, ain't they? But they ain't half +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +so pretty as the young ladies that brought +'em." +</p> +<p> +"Young ladies!" gasped Alec, looking +toward the door. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, the flower committee itself, I +suppose. I didn't know two of them. +But one of them you ought to know, +buddy, seeing as it's the daughter of your +boss. Thomas Windom's daughter—Avery, +I believe they call her." +</p> +<p> +Alec's heart gave a thump. Avery +Windom was the pretty girl he had written +to Flip about; the one whom he had +wanted of all others to know; and she +had climbed to his door, had left the +roses; it seemed too strange to be true. +</p> +<p> +He leaned toward the window and +looked down. Yes, there she went with +her friends, fluttering along the snowy +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +street. He could see the gleam of her +soft, light hair under her velvet hat. Her +cheeks were flushed with her walk in the +cold. He leaned eagerly nearer the window +as she fluttered along, farther and +farther down the street, until she was lost +in the crowd. Then he lay back in the +chair with a sigh. It seemed so long +since he had lived in a world where there +were bright, friendly girls like Flip. +The sight of these who had been so near +made him homesick for the old friends of +his school days, and he began to talk to +old Jimmy about his sister and the good +times they used to have together. +</p> +<p> +"I wonder which one wrote this card," +he thought, as he slipped it out of the +box. "I am sure she did. The handwriting +is so light and graceful, just like +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +her. So her name is Avery. I might +have known it would be different from +other girls'. Avery! Avery!" he repeated +softly, while old Jimmy stumped +out into the hall for some water in which +to put the roses. "It's a pretty name. I +wonder if I'll ever know her well enough +to call her that." +</p> +<p> +"Time to get back into bed now," said +old Jimmy, coming in with the pitcher. +He placed the roses in it on a stand beside +the bed. "Mustn't overdo matters." +</p> +<p> +"No, indeed," said Alec, with a new +note of determination in his voice which +did not escape old Jimmy. "I've got to +get well in a hurry now, and go back to +work." Then he settled himself on his +pillow, and lay smiling happily at the +roses. +</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="h2HCH0004" id="h2HCH0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"> </div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> + +<h2> + CHAPTER IV. +</h2> +<p> +If the calendar over Alec's mantel +could have told the history of the next +few weeks, it would have been the record +of a hard struggle with homesickness and +discouragement. There was a heavy +black cross drawn through the date of +his return to work. He had come in +that night when it was over weighed +down with the fact that his wages had +been stopped in his absence, and that it +would take a long time to pay the debts +incurred during his illness. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +</p> +<p> +There was a zigzag line struck twice +across the calendar below that date. +"That much goes for the doctor!" he +exclaimed, fiercely checking off the time +with a stubby pencil. "And that much +to old Jimmy, and that much for fire and +extras. It'll take way into the new year +to get straightened out. Luckily I am +nearly through with my debt to Aunt +Eunice." +</p> +<p> +Later there was a tiny star drawn in +the corner of one date. It marked the +Sabbath evening he had gone to the +Christian Endeavour praise service and +heard Avery Windom sing. He had +been introduced to half a dozen of the +boys and girls, and been invited to come +again, and had gone back to his calendar +to count the nights until the next meeting. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +Ever since he had left home, he had +longed with a longing that was like hunger +for the companionship of young people +such as he had known at home. +There was a blur over one of the dates, +the little square that marked the twenty-fifth +of December. It was a red-letter +day on the calendar, but in Alec's bare +little room a holiday that dragged its +dismal length out toward dark, like a +dull ache. +</p> +<p> +The box that had been sent him from +home failed to reach him till the next +day. Standing with his hands in his +pockets, looking out over the snowy roofs +of the city, he recalled all the merry +Christmas days at home, since the first +time he and Flip had hung up their +stockings beside their grandfather's wide +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +chimney-seat. This was the first time +he had ever missed following the old +custom. The city seemed overflowing +with the joy and good-will of the Yuletide, +yet none of it was for him. He had +never felt so utterly left out and alone in +all his life. +</p> +<p> +Despite his seventeen years, there was +an ache in his throat that he could not +drive back, and when he laid down the +calendar he had been mechanically examining, +although he whistled bravely, +there was a telltale blur on the page. +</p> +<p> +But there came a day when he tore off +the leaf that was crossed with the double +black lines meaning debt and worry, and +began a fresh sheet which seemed to +promise better days. A change of work +came the first of February, and a slight +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +advance in wages. The manager, who +had kept a keen eye on him, was beginning +to think that at last he had found +a boy who was worth training, and that +if he proved as efficient in every stage +of his apprenticeship as he had in the +first, he would soon have the capable assistant +that he had long been in search +of. +</p> +<p> +Alec's notification of his promotion +was in the envelope which held his check +for the last week in January. He did +not see it until he stepped into the bank +to have the check cashed, and in his delight +and surprise he could scarcely refrain +from turning a handspring. +</p> +<p> +So many people were ahead of him +that he had to stand several minutes +awaiting his turn at the little barred win<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>dow. +In that time he made several rapid +calculations on the back of the envelope. +</p> +<a name="image-0004"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="fig"> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> +<img src="images/illust-109.jpg" width="421" height="561" +alt="" title=""> +<br> +<span class="caption"> +"HE MADE SEVERAL RAPID CALCULATIONS ON THE +BACK OF THE ENVELOPE."</span> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span><br></p> +<p> +"Can you give me five dollars of that +in gold?" he asked of the cashier when +his turn finally came. With a nod of +assent, the cashier counted out several +small bills, and laid a shining five-dollar +gold piece on top. Alec seized it eagerly +and, thrusting the bills into his pocket, +walked out with the coin in his hand. +</p> +<p> +Long ago he had decided how to spend +his first surplus five dollars if it came in +time. It should go as a happy surprise +to Flip on her sixteenth birthday. It had +come in time. Her birthday was on the +twenty-first of the month. At first he +thought he could not wait three long +weeks before sending it. He wanted her +to have the pleasure and surprise of rec<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>eiving +it at once; and he wanted the +thrill of feeling that he was man enough +not only to be self-supporting, but to help +care for his sister. +</p> +<p> +He wrapped the coin in a bit of tissue-paper, +torn from the shaving-case Flip +had sent him in the delayed Christmas +box. Then he carefully put it in the +inner pocket of the old wallet he carried. +But scarcely a night passed between that +time and the twentieth that he did not +take a peep at the coin, and then count +the days on his calendar. +</p> +<p> +Ever since the night of the praise service, +when he first heard Avery Windom +sing, he had been a regular attendant at +the Christian Endeavour meetings. It +was like a bit of home to sit there in the +midst of the young people, singing the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +familiar old hymns, and he sang them so +heartily and entered into the exercises of +the meeting with such zest that he soon +lost the feeling that he was only a stranger +within the gates. +</p> +<p> +There were some, it is true, who were +only coolly polite to him, thinking of his +position, an unknown boy working in the +shoe factory as a common labourer. He +felt the chill of their manner keenly, and +he knew why he was so pointedly ignored. +It was not a deeply spiritual +society. Only a few of the members were +really consecrated Christians. There +were more socials and concerts and literary +evenings than devotional meetings. +Most of the members belonged to old, +wealthy families, and had always been +accustomed to leisure and pocket-money. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +Alec soon realized the bounds that were +set to his social privileges. He might +take a prominent part in the meetings, +even be asked to lead on occasions, be put +on committees, be assigned many tasks in +connection with suppers and festivals, but +outside of his church relationship he +was never noticed. No hospitable home +swung open its doors for him. +</p> +<p> +Only one who has lived in a country +place, which knows no class distinctions, +where character is all that counts, and +where the butcher and baker may be +bidden any day, in simple village fashion, +to banquet with the judge, only such an +one can understand the feeling of a boy +in Alec's position. He wondered sometimes, +with a sudden sinking of the heart, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +what would be the result if they knew +about his father. +</p> +<p> +He never looked at Avery Windom +without thinking of it. He used to watch +her in church, sitting up between her +aristocratic father and mother, sweet and +refined, like a dainty white flower. He +wondered if her slim-gloved hand would +ever be held out to him again in greeting, +as it had been on several occasions, if she +knew that he was the son of a criminal. +</p> +<p> +Then he wondered what she would +think if she knew that the touch of that +little hand in his had been like the saving +touch of a guardian angel. Once, urged +on by one of the factory boys, an almost +overwhelming temptation had seized +him, but the remembrance that if he +yielded he would never again be fit to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +take her hand made him thrust his into +his pockets and turn away toward home +with a shrug of the shoulders. +</p> +<p> +Avery, as ignorant of the influence she +was exerting as a lily is of the fragrance +it sheds, went serenely on in her gentle, +high-bred way. Alec held no larger +place in her thoughts than any other of +the employees in her father's factory. +</p> +<p> +"Flip would call her one of my islands," +he said to himself one night, as +he parted on the corner from a crowd of +boys who were begging him to go with +them for a little game of cards and a lark +afterward. "No telling where I would +have drifted if it hadn't been for her. +It's no easy matter to keep straight when +you're all alone in a city as big and tough +as this." +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +On his way home, he stopped at the +library for a book he had heard her mention. +He had overheard her quoting a +line from Sir Galahad, and although he +knew the story well of the maiden knight +"whose strength was as the strength of +ten because his heart was pure," it took +on a new meaning because she had +praised it. He learned the entire poem +by heart, and the inspiration of the lines +as he bent over his work in the factory +gave him many an uplift that left him +more nearly the man whom he imagined +Avery's ideal to be. +</p> +<p> +One other date was marked on the calendar +with a star before Flip's birthday +came round. It was the night of the literary +contest at the high school, when +Avery's essay took the prize. Alec had +manœuvred for a week to get a ticket, +and finally procured one from the head +bookkeeper at the factory, whose sister +taught in the high school. +</p> +<p> +He lingered a little while after the +contest in the outskirts of the crowd that +flocked up to congratulate Avery. She +came out to the carriage on her father's +arm, with a fleecy evening cloak wrapped +round her, and he saw the prize. She +held it out a moment in her bare, white +hand to some one who stood near Alec. +It was a bright five-dollar gold piece. +</p> +<a name="image-0005"><!--IMG--></a> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span><br></p> +<div class="fig"> +<img src="images/illust-117.jpg" width="357" height="561" +alt="" title=""> +<br> +<span class="caption"> +""'IT'S THE FIRST MONEY I EVER EARNED IN MY +LIFE,' SHE SAID, GLEEFULLY."</span> +</div> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span><br> +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +"It's the first money I ever earned in +my life," she said, gleefully, including +Alec in her smile, so that he felt that the +remark was addressed to him. "It is so +precious I shall have to put it under a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +glass case. Maybe I can never earn another +one." +</p> +<p> +In his room once more, Alec took out +his little gold coin, and, looking at it, +thought he could understand just how +proud Avery must feel of hers. +</p> +<p> +The next time he saw her it was at +a Christian Endeavour meeting. Ralph +Bently was with her, a gentlemanly, elegant +boy in appearance, but Alec knew +the reputation he had among the young +fellows who knew him best, and it made +him set his teeth together hard to see him +with a girl as pure and refined as Avery. +</p> +<p> +"He isn't fit," he thought. "He +shouldn't speak to Flip if I could prevent +it, and even if he is Avery's cousin +and such a young boy, Mr. Windom +oughtn't to let him into the house." +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +For several weeks, at every meeting, +the president had made an especial appeal +for larger contributions. A large, +expensive organ was being built for the +church. The Christian Endeavour Society +had pledged themselves to pay five +hundred dollars of the amount due on +it, but part of the sum was still lacking, +even after all the socials and fairs that +had been given to raise the amount. The +president urged each member to add a +little to his previous subscription, even +at the cost of much self-denial. +</p> +<p> +Alec had been asked to assume the duty +of regularly passing one of the collection +boxes at the Sunday night services. He +had done this so often in the Sunday +school at home that he felt no embarrassment +in doing so now, except when he +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +reached the row of chairs where Avery +and her cousin sat. He sneezed just as +he extended the long-handled collection +box toward them, and flushed hotly for +having called every one's attention to +himself by the loud noise. +</p> +<p> +The other collector, having finished +first, placed his box on the secretary's +little stand and went back to his seat. As +Alec came forward, the president asked +him in a low tone to count the money, and +be ready to report the amount after the +singing of the last hymn. +</p> +<p> +Turning his back to the audience, Alec +emptied both boxes into the seat of the +big pulpit chair standing next to the president's. +The two chairs were old Gothic +ones, recently retired from the church +pulpit to make room for new furniture. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +There were a number of pennies in the +lot, and during the singing he counted +them carefully several times, in order to +be sure that he had made no mistake. +</p> +<p> +The hymn was a short one. It came to +an end as Alec laid several little piles of +coin on the table at the secretary's elbow. +</p> +<p> +"Four dollars and ninety-six cents, did +you say?" repeated the president, leaning +over to catch the report Alec gave +in an undertone. "Four dollars and +ninety-six cents," he announced aloud. +"Really we must do better than that." +</p> +<p> +Alec saw Avery and Ralph exchange +surprised glances. The president went +on repeating his former explanations of +their financial difficulties. Alec, still +watching, saw Ralph Bently make a +move to rise, and Avery's hand was laid +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +detainingly on his arm. She was whispering +and shaking her head; but Ralph +was not to be deterred by any remonstrance. +He was on his feet, exclaiming: +</p> +<p> +"Mr. President, pardon the interruption. +There is some mistake in that report! +The collection should amount to +far more than four dollars and ninety-six +cents. Miss Windom alone gave more +than that. I saw her drop a five-dollar +gold piece into the box." +</p> +<p> +Avery blushed furiously at being called +into public notice in such a manner by +her impetuous young cousin. Every +drop of blood seemed to leave Alec's face +for an instant, and then rushed back until +it burned a fiery crimson. He was indignant +that Ralph Bently should have been +so wanting in courtesy as to proclaim in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +public the amount of his cousin's donation, +the cherished gold piece she had +won at the prize contest. And he was +deeply mortified to think that he could +have made a mistake in counting it. He +wondered if he could have been such a +fool as to have mistaken the coin for a +new penny. What would Avery think of +him? +</p> +<p> +He turned toward the table, evidently +disturbed, and counted the money again. +Then he shook his head. +</p> +<p> +"You can see for yourself," he said; +"four dollars and ninety-six cents!" +</p> +<p> +The president picked up both boxes, +and, turning them upside down over the +table, shook them energetically. The +secretary shoved back the chair in which +the money had been counted, gave it a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +tip that would have dislodged any coin +left on its smooth plush seat, and peered +anxiously round on the floor. +</p> +<p> +"Don't give it another thought, Mr. +Stoker, please don't!" exclaimed Avery, +going up to him when her attention was +called to his worried expression. "I'm +sure it has rolled off into some corner +and the janitor will find it when he +sweeps. I'll speak to him about it. Anyhow, +it is too small a matter to make such +a fuss over. I never should have told +Ralph what it was if he hadn't teased me +about what I had tied up in the corner +of my handkerchief." Then she passed +on with a smile. +</p> +<p> +Alec lingered to help collect the hymn-books, +and when he passed into the vesti<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>bule +he heard voices on the outer steps. +One of them sounded like Ralph Bently's. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, maybe so!" it exclaimed, with a +disagreeable little laugh; "but it's queer +how money will stick to some people's +fingers." +</p> +<p> +Alec, who was in the act of opening +the door to go from the prayer-meeting +room into the auditorium of the church +for the evening service, paused an instant. +He was overwhelmed by the sudden conviction +that he was the person meant. +</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<a name="h2HCH0005" id="h2HCH0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"> </div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p> + +<h2> + CHAPTER V. +</h2> +<p> +The next day at noon, after a hurried +lunch at the restaurant, Alec stopped at +the post-office on his way back to the factory. +He wanted to add a few lines to +the birthday letter which he had written +Philippa the night before. He wrote +them standing at the public desk; then, +drawing the old wallet from his pocket, +he took out the long-cherished gold coin +from its wrapping of tissue-paper and +dropped it into the envelope. +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +"I'm afraid it isn't safe to send it that +way," he said to himself, balancing the +letter on two fingers. "It is so heavy +that any one could guess what's in it, and +it might wear through. I did want her +to have it in gold, but I suppose it will +be more sensible to send a postal order." +</p> +<p> +After a moment's deliberation, he +turned to the window beside the desk, +and asked for a money-order blank. +Some one came in while he was filling +it out, but he was so absorbed in his occupation +that he did not look up until he +turned to push the slip and the money +through the window bars toward the +clerk. Then he saw that it was Ralph +Bently who stood behind him, flipping a +postal order in his fingers, impatient to +have it cashed. They exchanged careless +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +nods, and Alec, sealing his letter, +dropped it into the box and hurried back +to his work. As the outer door swung +shut, Bently leaned his arms on the window +ledge and spoke to the clerk, who +was an intimate friend of his. +</p> +<p> +"Say, Billy," he exclaimed, "let me +see that coin that Stoker paid you just +now, will you? Push it out here a minute." +</p> +<p> +"What's up?" inquired the clerk, as +he complied with the request. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to +look at the date." As he examined it, he +gave a long whistle. "Whe-ew! It's the +same. Curious coincidence, I must say! +This young brother takes up a collection +Sunday night. Avery drops in her five-dollar +gold piece that she got as a prize, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +you know. Collector turns his back on +the meeting to count the money, hands in +a report of only four dollars and ninety-six +cents. Vows he never saw the gold +in the box. A thorough search of the +room fails to bring it to light. Nobody +can imagine how it disappeared. The +next morning he has a coin of the same +date to dispose of." +</p> +<p> +"Who is the fellow, anyway?" asked +the clerk. +</p> +<p> +"That's just it! Who is he? Nobody +knows. He came here from some little +place back in the country several months +ago, and went to work in the Downs & +Company shoe factory." +</p> +<p> +"If that's the case, why don't you ask +your uncle about him? He's both the +company and the manager in the firm, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +isn't he? He'd know whether the fellow +was to be trusted or not." +</p> +<p> +"I intend to," was the answer; "and +say, Billy, if you don't mind, I'll take +that coin. Here's its equivalent." +</p> +<p> +He pushed a rustling new bank-note +toward his friend. "See me play Sherlock +Holmes now. I always did think +I'd make a good detective." +</p> +<p> +"Look out," was the warning reply. +"You have only a slim bit of circumstantial +evidence, and it would be hard +on the boy to start such a tale if there +were no truth in it." +</p> +<p> +With the coin in his pocket, Ralph +sauntered down to his uncle's office. It +was some time before the busy man could +spare time to listen to him. +</p> +<p> +"Well," he said at last, looking up, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +pen in hand, "what can I do for you this +morning, Ralph?" He had always +taken a special interest in his sister's only +son, and now smiled kindly as he approached. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, nothing, thank you, uncle. I +just dropped in to ask you about one of +the employees in the factory. Who is +this Alec Stoker, and where did he come +from?" +</p> +<p> +The manager's brow contracted an instant +in thought. The factory was a large +one, and the roll of employees long. +</p> +<p> +"Stoker! Stoker!" he repeated. Then +his face cleared. "Ah! He is the nephew +of the best salesman we have on the road. +Came well recommended from a little +town called Ridgeville, I believe. He +seems to be a faithful, energetic boy, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +has already pushed up to one promotion." +</p> +<p> +"Did any one recommend him besides +his uncle?" asked Ralph, meaningly. +</p> +<p> +"No, that was sufficient. But you evidently +have a reason for these inquiries. +Do you know anything about him?" +</p> +<p> +"No, only—" he shrugged his shoulders. +"Something happened last night +that put me on my guard. Didn't Avery +tell you?" +</p> +<p> +At the mention of his daughter's name +in connection with Ralph's insinuations, +Mr. Windom was instantly alert. He +laid down his pen. "No, tell me!" he +demanded. +</p> +<p> +In as few words as possible, Ralph told +of the disappearance of Avery's money +from the collection box, and the discov<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>ery +he had made at the post-office. When +he had finished, Mr. Windom shook his +head gravely. +</p> +<p> +"You are making a very serious +charge, Ralph," he said, "and on very +slight provocation. At sixteen one is apt +to jump at hasty conclusions. Take the +advice of sober sixty, my boy. It is a +remarkable coincidence, I admit, but +even the common law regards a man as +innocent until he is proved guilty, and +surely a society that stands for all that +the Christian Endeavour does would not +fall below the common law in its sense +of justice. I'm surprised that its members +should be so quick to whisper suspicion +and point the accusing finger." +</p> +<p> +"Oh, I'm not a member!" Ralph exclaimed, +hastily. "I am perfectly free +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +to say what I think. Somehow I've never +liked the fellow from the start. He takes +so much on himself, and seems to want +to push himself in where he doesn't belong." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Windom, swinging round in his +revolving chair toward his desk, picked +up his pen again. "Stoker is all right +so far as I know," he said. "It would be +a very small thing to let a personal dislike +influence you in this." +</p> +<p> +He spoke sternly. Adjusting his eyeglasses, +he pulled some papers toward +him, and Ralph, feeling that he desired +the conversation to close, backed out of +the office with a hasty good day. His face +flushed at his uncle's implied rebuke, and +he resolved that if there was any possible +way, he would prove that his suspicion +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +was right. He stopped at the post-office +on his way home, to speak to the clerk +again. +</p> +<p> +"Billy," he said, in a confidential tone, +"do a favour for me. Just drop a line to +the postmaster at that address, will you, +and ask him to tell you what he knows +about a former resident of that place—one +Alec Stoker? I'm hot on his track +now, and I'm going to trace this thing +out if it takes all the year." +</p> +<p> +"Found out anything?" asked the +clerk. +</p> +<p> +"Ask me later," Ralph answered, with +a knowing look. "It's a detective's policy +to keep mum." +</p> +<p> +So the poison of suspicion began its +work. In a few days, the answer came +to the clerk's letter. Alec Stoker was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +O. K. so far as the postmaster of Ridgeville +knew. His grandfather had been +one of the most highly respected citizens +of the place, but—then followed an account +of Alec's father. This the self-appointed +young detective seized eagerly. +</p> +<p> +"Humph! Thought there was bad +blood somewhere!" he exclaimed. He +took the report to his uncle, who read it +gravely, and dismissed him with a short +lecture on the cruelty of repeating such +stories to the intentional hurt of a fellow +creature. Stung to anger by this additional +reproof, Ralph was more determined +than before to prove that his suspicions +were correct. He carried the +letter to the president of the society, urging +investigation. +</p> +<p> +"No!" was the determined answer; +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +"better lose a thousand times that amount +than accuse him falsely. Because his +father was dishonest is no proof that he +is a thief. Drop it, Bently. Don't put a +stumbling-block in the poor fellow's way +by spreading such insinuations as that. +He seems one of the most earnest and +sincere members we ever had in the society." +</p> +<p> +With a muttered reply about wolves in +sheep's clothing, Ralph took his letter to +the treasurer and secretary. Meeting the +same response from them, he talked the +matter over with some of the members, +who were more willing to listen than the +others, and less conscientious about repeating +their surmises. So the poison +spread and the story grew. It came to +Alec's ears at last. There is always some +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +thoughtless talebearer ready to gather up +the arrows of gossip and thrust them into +the quivering heart of the victim. +</p> +<p> +Then the matter dropped so far as +the society was concerned. Alec simply +stayed away. Some there were who +never noticed his absence. Some were +confirmed in their suspicions by it. +Ralph Bently declared that it was proof +enough for him that Stoker felt guilty. +If nothing was the matter, why should +he have dropped out so suddenly when +he had pretended all along to be so interested +in the services and had taken +such an active part in them? +</p> +<p> +The president, noting his absence, +promised himself to look him up sometime, +but such promises, never finding +definite dates, are never fulfilled. The +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +member of the visiting committee who +had called on Alec during his illness, and +was really interested in him, started to +call again. Something interrupted him, +however, and he eased his conscience, +which kept whispering that it was his +duty to go, by sending him one of the +printed invitations they always sent to +strangers, cordially urging a regular attendance +at the meetings. +</p> +<p> +Then the society went selfishly on in its +old channels, unmindful of the young life +set adrift again in a sea of doubt and discouragement, +with no hand held out to +draw it back from the peril of shipwreck. +The despairing mood that had settled +down on Alec during the summer seized +him again. He would work doggedly on +during the day, thinking of Flip and his +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +Aunt Eunice, and feeling that for their +sakes he must stick bravely at it. There +was no other position open to him. But +it was almost intolerable staying in a +town where people not only knew of his +father's disgrace, but pointed accusing +fingers at him. His sensitiveness on the +subject made him grow more and more +morbid. He brooded over it until he +imagined that every one who happened +to glance steadily in his direction must +be saying, inwardly, "Like father, like +son." +</p> +<p> +He knew that Ralph Bently had gone +to Mr. Windom with his information. +The talebearer had given him an exaggerated +account of the interview. He +felt that there was no longer any use for +him to hope the manager would ever +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +raise him to the position of his trusted +assistant, no matter how thoroughly he +might learn the details of the business. +For that reason he studied the newspapers +for the advertisements of help +wanted. He intended to make a change +at the first opportunity. +</p> +<p> +Once, crossing a street, he met the +Windom carriage coming toward him. +Avery, fair and gracious beside her +mother, was bowing to an acquaintance. +He started forward eagerly. He had +not seen her since the last night he attended +church, but the picture of her +pure, sweet face, upturned like a white +flower as she listened to the service, had +been with him ever since. It had come +before him many an evening when, with +head bowed on his hands, he had leaned +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +over the little table in his room, gazing +intently into vacancy; it had laid a detaining +hand on him when he would +have flung out of the house in his desperation, +in search of some diversion to +keep him from brooding over his fate. +</p> +<p> +Now they were almost face to face. +Forgetting everything but his pleasure in +seeing her once more, and remembering +her smiling greetings in the past, his hand +went up involuntarily toward his hat; +but he stopped half-way, for, turning +toward her mother just then, she called +her attention to something on the other +side of the street. +</p> +<a name="image-0006"><!--IMG--></a> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span><br></p> +<div class="fig"> +<img src="images/illust-145.jpg" width="420" height="561" +alt="" title=""> +<br> +<span class="caption"> +"HIS HAND WENT UP INVOLUNTARILY TOWARD HIS +HAT."</span> +</div> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span><br> +"Just what I might have expected!" +muttered Alec, thinking she purposely +avoided him. His teeth were set and his +face white with mortification. But in +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +his heart he had not expected it. He +had taken a vague comfort in the thought +that she would believe in his innocence, +no matter who else doubted. She had +insisted so kindly on his never giving the +lost money another thought. +</p> +<p> +If there had been only one accusation +to deny, he could have gone to her with +that, he thought. He would have compelled +her to believe his innocence by the +very force of his earnestness. But the +knowledge of the accusation against his +father silenced him. +</p> +<p> +"Hello! You nearly knocked me +down, Stoker. Where are you going?" +It was one of the factory boys who asked +the question, and Alec, hurrying down +the street with unseeing eyes, became +suddenly aware that he had run against +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +some one who had caught him by the +arm, and was laughingly shaking him to +make him answer. "Where are you going?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, I don't know, and I don't care," +was the reckless answer. +</p> +<p> +"All right, come along if you want +good company," was the joking reply, +and the other boy, slipping his arm in +Alec's, turned his steps to a corner where +a jolly crowd were waiting for him to +join them. +</p> +<p> +After that there were no more lonely +evenings for Alec, when he sat with +bowed head beside his table, staring into +vacancy. He should have had another +promotion in March. Alec felt that he +was proficient enough to be advanced, +and he told himself bitterly that the rea<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>son +he was not was because the manager +mistrusted him. +</p> +<p> +It was true that the manager did distrust +him. Not on account of the suspicions +which Ralph Bently had sowed +broadcast, but because, made doubly +watchful by the hint, he discovered how +Alec was spending his evenings. Although +the work in the factory was done +as well as ever, he knew that no one could +keep the company and late hours that +Alec did and not fall short of the high +standard he had set for the one who was +ultimately to become his assistant. +</p> +<p> +The months slipped slowly by. Philippa +wrote that the garden was gay with +spring crocuses and snowdrops; then that +Ridgeville had never been such a bower +of roses as it was that June. But to Alec +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +the months were marked only by his little +winnings and little losings. +</p> +<p> +There came a time in the early autumn +when Alec crept up the creaking +stairs to his room, haggard and pale in the +gray light of the breaking dawn. He had +been out all night and lost not only all the +money he had put away in the bank, the +savings of seven endless months, but he +was in debt for a greater sum than all his +next month's salary would amount to. +</p> +<p> +Heavy-eyed and dizzy from the long +hours spent in the close little gambling +den, reeking with stifling tobacco smoke, +Alec dragged himself to his room. After +he had closed the door, he stood leaning +with his back against it for a moment. +He was facing two pictures that gazed +at him from the mantel: One was the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +patient, wistful face of his Aunt Eunice; +the other was Philippa's, looking straight +out at him with such honest, sincere eyes, +such eager questioning, that he could not +meet their clear gaze. He strode across +the room and turned both faces to the +wall. Then, without undressing, he +threw himself on the bed with a groan. +</p> +<p> +He was late reaching the factory that +morning, for he fell asleep at once into +a sleep of exhaustion, so deep that the +usual sounds did not arouse him. As it +was his first offence, the foreman passed +it by in silence; but, faint from lack of +food (there had been no time for breakfast), +worn by the excitement and high +nervous tension of the night before, he +was in no condition to do his work. He +made one mistake after another, until, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +made more nervous by repeated accidents +both to the material and machinery he +was handling, he made a blunder too serious +to pass without a report to the manager. +It involved the loss of considerable +money to the company. +</p> +<p> +"You'll be lucky if that mistake doesn't +give you your walking papers," said the +foreman. "You'll hear from it at the +end of the month." +</p> +<p> +If there had been only himself to consider, +Alec would have welcomed his dismissal, +but there was Flip and his Aunt +Eunice. How they believed in him! +How proud they were of him! Not for +worlds would he have them know how +far he had fallen short of their ideal of +him. So for their sakes he waited in +feverish anxiety to know the result. +</p> +<a name="h2HCH0006" id="h2HCH0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<div style="height: 4em;"> </div> +<h2> + CHAPTER VI. +</h2> +<p> +It was a rainy Sunday afternoon. A +few lumps of coal burned in the dingy +grate in Alec's room. He had slept for +several hours, had finished reading his +last library book, and now, as he clasped +his hands behind his head, yawning lazily, +he remembered that he had not written +home for two weeks. Letter-writing +had become a dreaded task now. What +was there to tell them of himself that he +cared for them to know? Only that he +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +worked from seven until six, ate, slept, +and rose to work again with the dreary +monotony of a machine. +</p> +<p> +For seven months he had not been inside +a church door. The only people he +met now were the workmen at the factory +and the boys with whom he spent +his evenings. He could not mention +them. Long ago he had exhausted his +descriptions of the city. There was nothing +for him to write but that he was well +and busy, and to fill up the pages with +questions about the people at home. It +taxed his ingenuity sometimes to evade +Flip's straightforward questions, and he +often thought that his letters had an insincere +ring. +</p> +<p> +"I wonder what they are doing at +home now!" he exclaimed, looking +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +thoughtfully into the coals. "It's just +a year ago to-day that I left. I can't +imagine them living in the new house. +It's always the old sitting-room I see +when I think of them. Mack is probably +down on the hearth-rug, popping corn or +roasting apples, and Flip's curled up in +the chimney-seat, telling him stories. +And Aunt Eunice—I know what she's +doing; what she always does Sunday +evening just at this time, when the twilight +begins to fall. She has gone into +her room and shut the door and knelt +down by the big red rocking-chair that +we used to be rocked to sleep in. And +she's praying for us this very minute, and +doesn't know that the dust is half an inch +thick on my Bible, and that a prayer +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +hasn't passed my lips since last February. +Dear old Aunt Eunice!" +</p> +<p> +An ache clutched his throat as he +thought of her, and a tender mood, such +as he had not known for weeks, rushed +warm across him. One after another the +old scenes rose up before him, until an +overwhelming longing to see the well-known +faces made the homesick tears +start to his eyes. +</p> +<p> +The twilight shadows deepened in the +room, but, lost in the rush of tender memories, +he forgot everything save the pictures +that seemed to rise before him out +of the glowing embers in the grate. In +the midst of his reverie, there was a noise +on the stairs—a familiar noise, although +he had not heard it for months, a tread +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +and a double tap, as if a foot and two +canes were coming up the steps. +</p> +<p> +"Old Jimmy Scott!" thought Alec, +looking round as if awakening from a +dream and discovering that the room was +nearly dark; he stirred the fire until it +burst into cheerful flames. +</p> +<p> +"Well!" he exclaimed, cordially, +throwing open the door in answer to +old Jimmy's knock, "of all people! Did +you rain down? Here I sat in the +dumps, feeling that I hadn't a friend in +the town. Come in! Come in!" +</p> +<p> +He pulled a chair hospitably toward +the grate for his guest, and put another +lump of coal on the fire. +</p> +<p> +"Knew you'd be surprised to see me +a day like this," said the old soldier, +thrusting his foot toward the blaze; +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +but I've been intending to look you +up for some time. Kind o' had a drawing +in this direction. Thinks I, when I +felt it, wonder if he's sick and needs me. +When I have feelings like that, I usually +pay attention to 'em." +</p> +<p> +They talked of various things for the +next quarter of an hour; of the weather, +the new city hall, the approaching elections; +but they were both ill at ease. It +seemed to Alec that the old man's heart +was not in the conversation; that he was +only trying to pave the way to some other +topic. Finally a pause fell between them. +Alec rose to put another lump of coal on +the fire, and old Jimmy, looking round +the room, noticed the two photographs +on the mantel with their faces turned to +the wall. He knew well enough whose +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +pictures they were. During Alec's convalescence +he had studied them many a +time while he listened to the homesick +boy's enthusiastic description of his sister +and the aunt who had been like a +mother to him. +</p> +<p> +As Alec took his chair again, he saw +the old man's surprised glance at the pictures. +Then their eyes met. Alec flushed +guiltily. +</p> +<p> +"Something's wrong, boy," said old +Jimmy, tenderly. "I knew it. That's +why I felt moved to come. Seemed as +if the Lord put it in my heart that I must. +There's special services going on at Grace +Church this week. Something in the +evangelist's sermon this morning made +me feel that I'd got to speak to somebody +before nightfall—stir up somebody to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +a better life—or I'd be held accountable. +Then all of a sudden I began to +think of you, so I came up to ask if you +wouldn't go to hear him to-night. But +I see now that it's more than an invitation +to church you need. You're in trouble, +or you never would have done that." +He nodded toward the pictures. "What +is it?" +</p> +<p> +Alec hesitated a minute, and old +Jimmy, reaching over, laid a sympathetic +hand on his shoulder. Something in the +friendly touch brought a swift rush of +tears to Alec's eyes. He was so homesick +and lonely, and it seemed so good to have +some one to talk with who was really interested +in him. Dropping his face in his +hands and leaning forward with his elbows +on his knees, he blurted out his +trouble in broken sentences. +</p> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span><br> +</p> +<a name="image-0007"><!--IMG--></a> + +<div class="fig"> +<img src="images/illust-161.jpg" width="450" height="544" +alt="" title=""> +<br> +<span class="caption">"HE BLURTED OUT HIS TROUBLE IN BROKEN +SENTENCES."</span> +</div> + + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span><br> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +He told the whole story, beginning +with the missing coin; Ralph Bently's +insinuations and subsequent endeavour +to fasten suspicion on him; the disclosure +of his father's disgrace; the gossip +that had caused him to drop out of the +society and church, where he felt that he +was no longer wanted. Finally the habits +he had fallen into, and the money he had +lost, and the foreman's prophecy of his +discharge from the factory at the end +of the month. +</p> +<p> +"I tried to do right," he said in conclusion. +"I had tried all my life. I +joined the church when I was no older +than Mack, and I lived just as straight +as I knew how. But after that—when +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +every one cut me—it didn't seem as if +it was any use. I just lost faith in everything +and gave up trying. I used to believe +in Aunt Eunice's idea of the eternal +goodness. It made me feel so safe, somehow, +to think that, no matter what happened, +we could never— +</p> +<div class='poem'> +"'Drift beyond His love and care.'<br> +</div> +<p> +That He had set islands for us to come +across at every turn. You know. You +remember that little map I made when I +was getting well. One of the islands was +named for you, and one was the Isle of +Roses, because those flowers the Christian +Endeavour society sent seemed to +put new courage into me, and led to the +acquaintances and friendships that helped +me so much while I had them. +</p> +<p> +"But I've lost that feeling now. I'm +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +cut loose from everything, and you don't +know how terribly adrift I feel. I'm just +whirled along from day to day, till I've +almost come to the place it tells about +in Job, where there's nothing left to do +but 'curse God and die.'" +</p> +<p> +As he paused, old Jimmy's voice broke +in with hearty cheerfulness, "Why, bless +you, my boy, you're all in a fog. And +do you know the reason? You haven't +the right Pilot aboard any more. +</p> +<p> +"The 'islands' are all round you, just +the same, put there on purpose for you, +but you let the devil get his hand at the +wheel, and he keeps you steered away +from 'em. You say you stopped praying? +That very moment he got aboard and +took possession. You quit trusting the +Lord the instant you got into deep water. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +</p> +<p> +"You made a mistake when you let +anybody's gossip run you out of the +church or the society. You ought to have +stayed and lived it down! That's the +only thing for you to do now; go back +and begin again and make people believe +in your innocence. It will be hard for +you, and powerfully awkward, for you +have more than your share of pride and +sensitiveness, but it's the only manly thing +to do." +</p> +<p> +"Oh, I <i>couldn't</i> go back!" groaned +Alec. "I believe I'd rather die first. +If it had only been what they said about +me, I might have done it, but I couldn't +face what they'd continually be thinking +about my father. I could never live that +down." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, you can! If you'll only put +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +yourself entirely in the Lord's hands, +He'll furnish the strength for you to do +whatever is right. You've come to a +crisis, Alec Stoker. You've got to fight +it out right now, which is to have control +of the rest of your life, God or the devil." +</p> +<p> +There was a long silence. Presently, +in a voice choked with emotion, the old +man said, "Kneel down, son; I want to +pray with you." Together they knelt in +the darkening room. +</p> +<p> +For a long time after old Jimmy took +his leave, Alec sat gazing into the flickering +fire, as the room grew dimmer and +dimmer. Then, urged on by some impulse +almost beyond his control, he +slipped on his overcoat and hurried out +into the street. When he reached the +vestibule at the side door of the church, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +he stood a moment with his hand on the +latch. His courage had suddenly failed +him. He would go back home and wait +until another time, he told himself. The +service must be nearly over. +</p> +<p> +But just then some one struck a few +soft chords on the piano, and a full, clear +voice began to sing. It was Avery's +voice, and she sang with all the pleading +earnestness of a prayer: +</p> +<div class='poem'> +"Jesus, Saviour, pilot me<br> +<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">Over life's tempestuous sea!</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">Unknown waves before me roll,</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">Hiding rock and treacherous shoal;</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">Chart and compass come from thee:</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">Jesus, Saviour, pilot me."</span><br> +</div> +<p> +Out in the darkness, the storm-tossed, +homesick boy stood listening, till his +whole soul seemed to go out in that one +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +cry, "Jesus, Saviour, pilot me!" It was +a complete surrender of self, and as he +whispered the words a peace that he had +never known before, a great peace he +could not understand, seemed to fold him +safe in its keeping. +</p> +<p> +As the last words of the song died +away, he opened the door and walked in. +If there was surprise on the faces of +many, he did not see it. If it was a departure +from the usual custom, he never +stopped to consider it. The evangelist +who had charge of the service stood for a +final word of exhortation, asking if there +were not many who could make that song +their own, and offer it as a prayer of consecration. +</p> +<p> +It was never quite clear to Alec afterward +just what he said then. But as he +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +told of the struggle he had just been +through, and in broken sentences made a +public confession of his faith, eyes grew +dim, and hearts already touched by the +song were strangely thrilled and stirred. +Afterward the members came crowding +round him with a warm welcome, and he +carried away with him the remembrance +of many a hearty hand-clasp. One of +them was Mr. Windom's. He rarely attended +the young people's meetings, and +to-night had come only to hear his daughter +sing. If he had had any misgivings +as to the boy's sincerity of purpose before, +every doubt was cleared away as he +listened to his manly confession of faith, +and looked into his happy face, almost +transformed with the hope that illuminated +it. +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +It was Thanksgiving Day. Alec, home +on his first vacation, stood in front of the +open fire, watching Philippa set the table +for their little feast. He had talked late +the night before, and told of the many +changes that had taken place during the +last two months. He was in the office +now, and his salary had been raised sufficiently +to enable him to take a room in +a comfortable boarding-house. Since his +conversion, Mr. Windom had taken several +occasions to show Alec that he +trusted him implicitly. +</p> +<p> +Radiant in her joy at having her +brother home again, Philippa kept breaking +into little snatches of song whenever +there was a pause in the conversation. +She thought she had never known such +a happy Thanksgiving. +</p> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +"How nice and homelike it all is!" +Alec exclaimed, sniffing the savoury +odours that rushed in from the kitchen, +of turkey and mince turnovers, whenever +Aunt Eunice opened the oven door. +"And how good it seems to hear you +singing like that, Flip!" +</p> +<p> +"Do you remember the day you told +me that it set your teeth on edge to hear +me singing that hymn?" asked Philippa, +laughingly. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, but that was because I was all +out of tune myself. Everything is different +now. Since I've given up trying to +do my own piloting, it seems to me that +I come across one of His 'islands' nearly +every day." As he spoke, Macklin came +running up on the porch, stamping the +snow from his feet, and burst into the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +house, his cheeks as red as winter +apples. +</p> +<p> +"Here's a letter for you, Alec!" he +cried. "Where's my hammer, Flip? I +want to crack some of those nuts we gathered +on purpose for to-day." +</p> +<p> +She brought him the hammer, and +he hurried away. Alec was turning +the dainty blue envelope over in his +hands. +</p> +<p> +The address was written in the same +hand as the card which had come nearly +a year ago with the Christian Endeavour +roses. He tore open the envelope, +glanced at the monogram, then down the +page, and turned to Philippa with a +long-drawn whistle. "I wish you'd +listen to this!" he exclaimed. +</p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +"<span class="smcap">Dear Mr. Stoker</span>:—I am writing +this in the hope that it will reach you on +Thanksgiving Day. You have suffered +so much on account of that miserable +gold piece of mine, it is only fair that you +should have this explanation at once. +</p> +<p> +"This afternoon Miss Cornish and I +went to the church to practise a new song +that I am to sing at the Thanksgiving +service. She was to play my accompaniments. +The side door of the church was +open, for the florist was decorating the +altar, so we did not need to use the minister's +latch-key, which we had borrowed +for the occasion. We practised for some +time, and then sat and talked until it +was almost dark. When we started home, +we found to our dismay that the janitor, +thinking we had gone, had double-locked +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +the door for the night with his big key. +Our little latch-key was then of no use. +</p> +<p> +"We called and pounded until we +were desperate. I had an engagement +for dinner, and could not afford to lose +any time. Finally we went into the +prayer-meeting room, and found that we +could open one of the panes in the great +stained-glass window at the side. Miss +Cornish climbed up on one of those old +pulpit chairs that the officers use, and +said that if she could lean out through +the pane, she would call to the first one +who passed, and ask him to bring the janitor +to our release. +</p> +<p> +"But some way, in climbing, Miss Cornish +caught her high heel in the plush +with which the seat is upholstered. The +goods is frayed and old. The chair +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +tipped, and they both came to the floor +with a bang. Just as I sprang to catch +her, something bright and round rolled +out of the chair toward me and dropped +right at my feet. +</p> +<p> +"It was that unlucky gold coin, which +must have slipped under the plush in +some way when you counted the money +on it that night. +</p> + +<p> +"It was so late when we were finally +rescued that I could not keep my dinner +engagement. I am glad for one reason; +it gives me time to write this now. I +know that it will make your Thanksgiving +brighter to know this, and I am sure +that it is needless for me to say that I +never for an instant connected the disappearance +of the coin with you in any way. +I regret extremely the silly gossip that +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +wounded you so sorely, and want to tell +you how much I respect the manly way +in which you have since met and answered +it. +</p> +<p> +"Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving +with your family, I am +</p> +<div class='right'> +<span style="margin-right: 4em;">"Sincerely your friend,</span><br> +"<span class="smcap">Avery Windom</span>."<br> +</div> +</div> + +<a name="image-0008"><!--IMG--></a> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span><br></p> +<div class="fig"> +<img src="images/illust-177.jpg" width="486" height="561" +alt="" title=""> +<br> +<span class="caption">"IT WAS THAT UNLUCKY GOLD COIN."</span> +</div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span><br> +Philippa, watching his face as he read, +came up to him when he had finished, +and put a hand on each shoulder. +</p> +<p> +"Alec," she said, with the straightforwardness +of sixteen, "that means a lot to +you, doesn't it, that she should write that +she is 'sincerely your friend'?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes," he answered, honestly; "a very +great deal." +</p> +<p> +"Do you suppose it would stand in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +way, sometime, when you are older, you +know, and have made a place for yourself +in the world, her knowing about—about +father?" +</p> +<p> +"I don't know, Flip," he answered, +slowly; "I've often wondered about +that." +</p> +<p> +Through the open door came Aunt +Eunice's voice, singing jubilantly: +</p> +<div class='poem'> +"I know not what the future hath<br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"> Of marvel or surprise,</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 0.4em;">Assured alone that life and death</span><br> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"> His mercy underlies."</span><br> +</div> +<p> +"How that old hymn answers everything!" +Alec said, softly. "No matter +what lies ahead, it's all right now. God's +at the helm, little sister! I shall find all +the 'islands' he has set for me." +</p> +<center> +THE END. +</center> + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Flip's "Islands of Providence", by +Annie Fellows Johnston + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLIP'S "ISLANDS OF PROVIDENCE" *** + +***** This file should be named 25978-h.htm or 25978-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/9/7/25978/ + +Produced by David Garcia, Dr. Graeme M. 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