Horatio Alger

“ While you are away, he will do his utmost to make up to your father for his disappointment in you. That you may grow wise in time, and turn at length from the error of your ways, is the earnest hope of your stepmother,
Anastasia Crawford."
"It makes me sick to read such a letter as that, Gilbert," said Carl. "And to have that sneak and thief--as he turned out to be--Peter, set up as a model for me, is a little too much."
"I never knew there were such women in the world!" returned Gilbert. "I can understand your feelings perfectly, after my interview of yesterday." ”

“ She is scheming to have my father leave the lion's share of his property to her and Peter. I dare say she will succeed."
"Let us hope your father will live till you are a young man, at least, and better able to cope with her."
"I earnestly hope so."
"Your father is not an old man."
"He is fifty-one, but he is not strong. I believe he has liver complaint. At any rate, I know that when, at my stepmother's instigation, he applied to an insurance company to insure his life for her benefit, the application was rejected." ”