Jr. Horatio Alger

“ It is, indeed, hard to be brought up to regard yourself as the heir of a great estate, and to make the discovery that you have been mistaken.”
“I don’t mind that so much, Mr. Roscoe,” said Hector, slowly. “It is the hardest thing to think of myself as having no claim upon one whom I have loved as a father—to think myself as a boy of unknown parentage. ”

“ Among those to whom this thought occurred, was Hector Roscoe, who was very far from conjecturing that all this long preamble was to introduce an attack upon him.
“But,” proceeded Socrates, after a pause, “I have this afternoon been painfully undeceived. I have learned, with inexpressible pain, that Smith Institute has received an ineffaceable stigma.”
“Old Sock is getting eloquent!” whispered Ben Platt.
“I have learned,” continued Socrates, with tragic intensity, “that I have nourished a viper in my bosom! I have learned that we have a thief among us!” ”

“ Larry Deane was a boy of about Hector’s age. He was a healthy-looking country lad, looking like many another farmer’s son, fresh from the country. He had not yet acquired that sharp, keen look which characterizes, in most cases, the New York boy who has spent all his life in the streets.
“I can answer both your questions with the same word, Master Hector,” said Larry, as a sober look swept over his broad, honest face.
“Don’t call me master, Larry. We are equals here. But what is that word?”
“That word is trouble,’” answered the bootblack. ”

“ He noticed, however, that his fellow pupils were not so fastidious.
When the last fragment of pie had disappeared, Mr. Smith again rang the hand bell.
“Boys,” he said, “we have now satisfied our appetites.”
“I haven’t,” thought Hector.
“We have once more experienced the bountiful goodness of Providence in supplying our material wants. As we sit down to our plain but wholesome diet, I wonder how many of us are sensible of our good fortune. I wonder how many of us think of the thousands of poor children, scattered about the world, who know not where to get their daily bread. ”

“ This was to be the occasion of bringing our hero into disgrace.
The boys assembled, most of them quite ignorant that anything exceptional was to occur. Hector himself, the person chiefly interested, was entirely unconscious that he was to be made “a shining mark” for the arrows of suspicion and obloquy. If he had noticed the peculiar and triumphantly malicious looks with which Jim Smith, the bully and tyrant, whom he had humiliated and deposed, regarded him, he might have been led to infer that some misfortune was in store for him. ”

“ Whether your father is to be my guardian or not, I don’t know; but there are limits to the power of a guardian, and I hope he won’t go too far.”
“Hear the boy talk!” said Guy, contemptuously.
“I wish to treat my uncle with becoming respect; but he is a newcomer here—I never saw him till three months since—and he has no right to come here, and take from me all my privileges. We can all live at peace together, and I hope we shall; but he must treat me well.”
“You are quite sure Roscoe Castle belongs to you, are you, Hector?” ”

“ Hector had seen the little fellow sitting by himself with a sad face, and he had gone up to him, and asked him in a pleasant tone some questions about himself and his home.
“So you have never been away from home before, Tommy,” he said.
“No, sir,” answered the boy, timidly.
“Don’t call me sir. I am only a boy like you. Call me Hector.”
“That is a strange name. I never heard it before.”
“No, it is not a common name. I suppose you don’t like school very much?”
“I never shall be happy here,” sighed Tommy. ”

“ It is hard upon me,” said Jim, pathetically, “as I was dependent upon my uncle. I have been driven forth into the cold world by my benefactor because your nephew prejudiced his mind against me.”
“I believe him, papa,” said Guy, who was only too glad to believe anything against Hector. “I have thought all along that Hector was guilty.”
“Is that your son?” asked the crafty Jim. “I wish he had come to the institute, instead of Hector. He is a boy that I couldn’t help liking.”
There are few who are altogether inaccessible to flattery. At any rate, Guy was not one of this small number. ”

“ Allan Roscoe sat at the breakfast table with Guy opposite him. Though Mr. Roscoe was not altogether free from anxiety since he had learned of Hector’s expedition to California, he had taught himself to believe that there was little chance of the boy’s ferreting out the imposition he had practiced upon him. He had been a poor and struggling man most of his life, having, when quite a young man, squandered his inheritance, and his present taste of affluence was most agreeable. ”

“ Usually he was quiet and orderly, but he had been excited by the insinuations of Guy, and he was impatient to know what he meant—if he meant anything.
Allan Roscoe looked up, and remarked, with slight sarcasm:
“This is not a bear garden, Hector. You appear to think you are on the playground, judging by your hasty motions.”
“I beg your pardon, uncle,” said Hector, who never took amiss a rebuke which he thought deserved. “I suppose I forgot myself, being excited. I beg your pardon.”
“What is the cause of your excitement?” asked Mr. Roscoe, surveying the boy keenly. ”

“ Crabb, I sympathize with you,” said Hector.
“Thank you, Hector. Of that I am sure.”
“Mr. Smith ought to pay you enough to clothe yourself neatly. He makes you work hard enough.”
“He pays me twenty dollars a month,” said the usher; “twenty dollars and my board.”
“Is that all?” asked Hector, in amazement. “Why, the girl in the kitchen earns nearly that.”
“To be sure,” answered the usher, bitterly; “but in Mr. Smith’s estimation, I stand very little higher. He does not value education, not possessing it himself. However, you may wonder why, even with this sum, I cannot dress better. ”

“ Smith,” said Ben Platt, in a spirited tone, “no one ever suspected me of dishonesty before.”
“Nor me,” said Wilkins.
“That’s neither here nor there,” said the principal, dogmatically. “It stands to reason that some one took the money. Money doesn’t generally walk off itself,” he added, with a sneer.
“I don’t dispute that,” said Ben; “but that does not prove that Wilkins or I had anything to do with it.”
“You were in the room with the money for half an hour, according to your own confession,” said Socrates. ”

“ Roscoe, awkwardly.
“Where there is smoke there is generally fire,” said Guy, spitefully.
“I understand you, Guy,” said Hector, half turning to look at the boy who had usurped his place. “I hope you won’t think it impolite if I say that I care nothing whatever for your opinion.”
“You put on as many airs as ever,” sneered Guy. “I should think you would be a little more humble in your changed position.”
“I have not changed, even if my position has,” answered Hector. “Money is nothing to be proud of.”
“I apprehend that the world judges differently,” said Allan Roscoe. ”

“ Secretly, his Uncle Socrates sympathized with him, and relished the thought that his nephew, who so strongly resembled him in mind and person, should be the undisputed boss—to use a word common in political circles—of the school. He discreetly ignored the conflicts which he knew took place, and if any luckless boy, the victim of Jim’s brutality, ventured to appeal to him, the boy soon found that he himself was arraigned, and not the one who had abused him. ”

“ The fielder at that point didn’t go so fast as Jim, who was pitcher, thought satisfactory, and he called out in a rough, brutal tone:
“If you don’t go quicker, Archer, I’ll kick you all round the field.”
Hector looked at Wilkins inquiringly.
“Does he mean that?” he asked.
“Yes, he does.”
“Does he ever make such a brute of himself?”
“Often.”
“And the boys allow it?”
“They can’t help it.”
“So, it seems, you have a tyrant of the school?”
“That’s just it.”
“Isn’t there any boy among you to teach the fellow better manners? You must be cowards to submit.” ”

“ Of the boarding school kept by Mr. Socrates Smith he had never heard, but felt that he would, at any rate, prefer to find himself amid new scenes. If the school were a good one, he meant to derive benefit from it, for he was fond of books and study, and thought school duties no task.
“I have carefully selected a school for you,” continued Allan Roscoe, “because I wish to follow out my poor brother’s wishes to the letter. A good education will fit you to maintain yourself, and attain a creditable station in life, which is very important, since you will have to carve your own future.” ”

“ A small, triangular wedge of dry bread was furnished with each portion of soup.
“We all begin to eat together. Don’t be in a hurry,” said Wilkins, in a low tone.
When all the boys were served, Socrates Smith, who sat in an armchair at the head of the table, said:
“Boys, we are now about to partake of the bounties of Providence, let me hope, with grateful hearts.”
He touched a hand bell, and the boys took up their soup spoons.
Hector put a spoonful gingerly into his mouth, and then, stopping short, looked at Wilkins. His face was evidently struggling not to express disgust. ”

“ Among those who watched the departure of the steamer was a person who escaped Hector’s notice, for he arrived just too late to bid good-by to an acquaintance who was a passenger on board.
This person was no other than Allan Roscoe.
When he recognized Hector’s face among the passengers he started in surprise and alarm.
“Hector Roscoe going to California!” he inwardly ejaculated. “What can be his object, and where did he raise money to go?”
Conscience whispered: “He has gone to ferret out the fraud which you have practiced upon him, and his mission is fraught with peril to you.” ”

“ Socrates Smith was staggered, for he had not expected this query from the accused.
“Who put it there?” he repeated.
“Yes, sir,” continued Hector, firmly. “If the matter is as you state it, some one has been mean enough to put the wallet into my pocket in order to implicate me in a theft.”
“Of course you put it there yourself, Roscoe. Your defense is very lame.”
Hector turned round to his fellow-scholars.
“Boys,” he said, “you have heard the charge that has been made against me. You know me pretty well by this time. Is there any one of you that believes it to be true?” ”

“ You are young and hopeful. I am too much inclined to despond. I have always been timid about the future. It is a matter of temperament.”
It was early in the afternoon when they reached New York. As they emerged from the depot a bright-faced boy came up eagerly and greeted them.
“How are you, Hector?” he said. “You see, I came to meet you. I have been longing to have you come.”
“I am just as glad to see you, Walter,” said Hector, heartily. “Mr. Crabb, here is your future pupil, Walter Boss.” ”

“ Somewhere in his Greek reader, Hector had met with a saying attributed to Pindar, that “boldness is the beginning of victory.” He felt that the time had now come for a decisive stroke. He did not content himself, therefore, with parrying, or simply repelling the blow of his antagonist, but he on his part assumed the offensive. He dealt his blows with bewildering rapidity, pressed upon Jim, skillfully evading the grasp of his long arms, and in a trice the champion measured his length upon the greensward. ”

“ Hector quietly ignored the question.
“Walter Boss and I have been very intimate, and I was invited to pay him a visit.”
“Does he know that you are a poor boy?” asked Guy.
“I have communicated to Mr. Ross what your father told me,” answered Hector, coldly. “He is a real friend, and it made no difference in his treatment of me. I hope to get a situation through his influence.”
“You are lucky to have such a man for a friend,” said Allan Roscoe, who would himself have liked to become acquainted with a man whose social position was so high. ”

“ At ten minutes past twelve, a red-armed servant girl made her appearance at the back door looking out on the playground, and rang a huge dinner bell. The boys dropped their games, and made what haste they could to the dining room.
“Now for a feast!” said Wilkins to Hector, significantly.
“Does Mr. Smith furnish good board?” asked Hector, for he felt the hunger of a healthy boy who had taken an early breakfast.
“Good grub?” said Wilkins, making a face. “Wait till you see. Old Sock isn’t going to ruin himself providing his pupils with the delicacies of the season.” ”

“ It so chanced that Ben Platt, one of Hector’s roommates, was in the closet, concealed from the view of anyone entering the room, yet so placed that he could see through the partially open door what wras passing in the room.
When he saw Jim Smith enter he was surprised, for he knew that that young man was not on visiting terms with the boy who had discomfited and humiliated him.
“What on earth can Jim want?” he asked himself.
He did not have long to wait for an answer though not a real one; but actions, as men have often heard, speak louder than words. ”