Jr. Horatio Alger

“ Forbush, who, with an agitation which she could not overcome, entered the presence of her long estranged and wealthy uncle.
“Rebecca!” exclaimed the old gentleman, rising, and showing some emotion as he saw the changes which fifteen years had made in the niece whom he had last met as a girl.
“Uncle Oliver! how kind you are to visit me!” cried Mrs. Forbush, the tears starting from her eyes.
“Kind! Nonsense! I have been very unkind to neglect you so long. But it wasn't all my fault. There were others who did all they could to keep us apart. You have lost your husband?” ”

“ Sam Crandon, everybody knew, was a bully. He treated boys who were larger and stronger than himself civilly, but was cruel and domineering over the poor and weak.
So far in his life, though they met often, Fred had avoided coming into contact with Sam, and Sam had seemed to feel just a little awe of him; for Mr. Sargent was one of the wealthiest leading men in town, and Sam, in spite of himself, found something in the handsome, gentlemanly boy that held him in check; but to-day Sam's father had just beaten him, and the boy was smarting from the blows. ”

“ I feel that I am not without friends.”
“I am a very poor one,” said Phil. “The fact is, I am in trouble myself. My income is only five dollars a week, and my expenses are beyond that. I don't know how I am going to keep up.”
“You may stay with me for three dollars a week, if you cannot pay four,” said Mrs. Forbush, forgetting her own troubles in her sympathy with our hero.
“No, Mrs. Forbush, you can't afford it. You need money as much as I do, and perhaps more; for you have more than yourself to support.”
“Yes, poor Julia!” sighed the mother. “She is born to a heritage of poverty. ”

“ Pitkin apprehensively.
“I have lived for ten years under your roof, and have had no communication, as you say, with Rebecca. I think it is only fair now that I should show her some attention. I have accordingly installed her as mistress of my house in Madison Avenue, and shall henceforth make my home with her.”
Mrs. Pitkin felt as if the earth was sinking under her feet. The hopes and schemes of so many years had come to naught, and her hated and dreaded cousin was to be constantly in the society of the rich uncle. ”

“ Pitkin, rising with dignity. “Since Uncle Oliver chooses to charge his own nephew with being a thief——”
“I beg pardon, Lavinia, I have not done so.”
“You might just as well,” said Lavinia Pitkin, tossing her head. “Come, Mr. Pitkin; come, my poor Lonny, we will go home. This is no place for you.”
“Good-evening, Lavinia,” said Mr. Carter calmly. “I shall be glad to see you whenever you feel like calling.”
“When you have discharged that boy, I may call again,” said Mrs. Pitkin spitefully.
“You will have to wait some time, then. I am quite capable of managing my own affairs.” ”

“ Two half-grown boys heard Phil pronounce the name of his companion, and they gazed awe-stricken at the famous man.
“That's Signor Orlando!” whispered one of the others.
“I know it,” was the reply.
“Such is fame,” said the Signor, in a pleased tone to Phil. “People point me out on the streets.”
“Very gratifying, no doubt,” said our hero, but it occurred to him that he would not care to be pointed out as a performer at Bowerman's. Signor Orlando, however, well-pleased with himself, didn't doubt that Phil was impressed by his popularity, and perhaps even envied it. ”

“ Forbush does not have many carriage-callers,” said Philip, smiling.
“Perhaps she will have more hereafter,” said Mr. Carter, “I ought not so long to have lost sight of her. I always liked Rebecca better than Lavinia, yet I let the latter prejudice me against her cousin, who is in disposition, education and sincerity her superior. You see, Philip, there are old fools in the world as well as young ones.”
“It is never too late to mend, Mr. Carter,” said Phil, smiling. ”

“ Brent and Jonas, who were sitting in the hotel parlor.
If Mr. Granville was agitated, the two conspirators were not wholly at their ease. There was a red spot on each of Mrs. Brent's cheeks—her way of expressing emotion—and Jonas was fidgeting about uneasily in his chair, staring about him curiously.
“Mind what I told you,” said his mother, in a low voice. “Remember to act like a boy who has suddenly been restored to his long-lost father. Everything depends on first impressions.” ”

“ Phil began to think that Mr. Carter's knowledge of the world was very remarkable. He began to wonder whether he could know anything more—could suspect the secret which Mrs. Brent had communicated to him. Should he speak of it? He decided at any rate to wait, for Mr. Carter, though kind, was a comparative stranger.
“Well,” continued the old gentleman, “I won't inquire too minutely into the circumstances. You don't look like a boy that would take such an important step as leaving home without a satisfactory reason. The next thing is to help you.” ”

“ Pitkin was doing his best to discredit him.
“It quite does credit to your imagination. By the way, boy, have you been in the habit of reading dime novels?”
“I never read one in my life, sir.”
“Then I think you would succeed in writing them. For a boy of sixteen, you certainly have a vivid imagination.”
“I quite agree with my husband,” said Mrs. Pitkin. “The boy's story is ridiculously improbable. I can't understand how he has the face to stand there and expect Uncle Oliver to swallow such rubbish.” ”

“ I dislike to move, but I don't dare to engage to pay such a rent. Fifty dollars a month will amount to——”
“Six hundred dollars a year!” said Julia, who was good at figures.
“And that seems a great sum to us.”
“It would be little enough to Mrs. Pitkin,” said Julia, who felt that lady's prosperity unjust, while her poor, patient mother had to struggle so hard for a scanty livelihood.
“Oh, yes; Lavinia is rolling in wealth,” sighed Mrs. Forbush. “I can't understand how Uncle Oliver can bestow his favors on so selfish a woman.” ”

“ Brent and Jonas, who, under false representations, have gained a foothold in the home of the Western millionaire.
Surely it is a great change for one brought up like Jonas to be the recognized heir and supposed son of so rich a man! It is a change, too, for his mother, who, though she dare not avow the relationship, is permitted to share the luxury of her son. Mrs. Brent has for her own use two of the best rooms in the mansion, and so far as money can bring happiness, she has every right to consider herself happy. ”

“ Forbush.
“Young gentleman!” repeated Alonzo, with a mocking laugh.
Philip looked at him sternly. He had his share of human nature, and it would have given him satisfaction to thrash the insolent young patrician, as Alonzo chose to consider himself.
“And what do you want here, young man?” asked Mrs. Pitkin in a frosty tone, addressing Phil of course.
“I wished to see Mr. Carter,” answered Phil.
“Really, Mr. Carter seems to be very much in request!” sneered Mrs. Pitkin. “No doubt he will be very much disappointed when he hears what he has lost. ”

“ What are you going to do first, mother?”
“We start for Philadelphia to-morrow. Your father is lying sick at the Continental Hotel.”
Jonas roared with delight at the manner in which his mother spoke of the sick stranger.
“Oh, it'll be fun, mother! Shall we live in Philadelphia?”
“I don't know. That will be as Mr. Granville thinks best.”
“Where are you going, mother? Are you going to live here?”
“Of course I shall be with you. I will make that a condition. I cannot be parted from my only boy.”
“But I shall be Mr. Granville's boy.” ”

“ There are some drawbacks.”
“What are they?”
“You have two enemies, or rather one, for the other does not count.”
“Is that enemy a man?”
“No, it is a woman.”
“My step-mother!” ejaculated Phil, with immediate conviction.
“You have guessed aright.”
“And who is the other?”
“A boy.”
“Jonas?”
“It is the son of the woman whom you call your step-mother.”
“What harm can they do me? I am not afraid of them,” said Phil, raising his head proudly.
“Do not be too confident! The meanest are capable of harm. Mrs. Brent does not like you because she is a mother.” ”

“ I dare say he was hungry, and uncomfortable from many other causes; but however this may have been, he felt in the mood for making trouble; for seeing somebody else unhappy beside himself. This prosperous, well-dressed boy, with his books under his arm, and his happy face, was the first person he had come across—and here then was his opportunity.
Fred saw him assume the attitude of a prize fighter and knew what it meant. Sam had a cut, red and swollen, across one cheek, and this helped to make his unpleasant face more ugly and lowering than usual. ”

“ I can think of no one.”
“They live in the city.”
“I know. It is Mrs. Pitkin, my employer's wife. Why should she dislike me?”
“There is an old man who likes you. That is the cause.”
“I see. She doesn't want him to be kind to any one out of the family.”
“That is all I have to tell you,” said the fortune-teller abruptly. “You can go.”
“You have told me strange things,” said Phil. “Will you tell me how it is you know so much about a stranger?”
“I have nothing more to tell you. You can go!” said the veiled lady impatiently. ”

“ There are very few boys of his age—sixteen—who do not like to travel in the cars. Limited as were his means, and uncertain as were his prospects, Phil felt not only cheerful, but actually buoyant, as every minute took him farther away from Planktown, and so nearer the city where he hoped to make a living at the outset, and perhaps his fortune in the end. ”

“ I had no idea that Mrs. Forbush was in the city. Is she—poor?”
“Yes, sir; she is having a hard struggle to maintain herself and her daughter.”
“And you board at her house?”
“Yes, sir.”
“How strangely things come about! She is as nearly related to me as Lavinia—Mrs. Pitkin.”
“She told me so.”
“She married against the wishes of her family, but I can see now that we were all unreasonably prejudiced against her. Lavinia, however, trumped up stories against her husband, which I am now led to believe were quite destitute of foundation, and did all she could to keep alive the feud. ”

“ At the furthest extremity there was a flat rock that seemed to have fallen from the cliff above in some former age. The cliffs around were about two hundred feet in height. They were perfectly bare, and intensely black. On their storm-riven summits not a sign of verdure appeared. Everything had the aspect of gloom, which was heightened by the mournful monotone of the sea waves as they dashed against the rock.
After the first feeling of awe had passed, Hubert ran forward, leaping from rock to rock, till he came to where the beach or floor of the fissure was gravelly. ”

“ You ought to know that his name is Philip.”
“I should say so!” broke in Jonas. “I ain't goin' to be called out of my name!”
“As to Dan,” proceeded Mrs. Brent. “I am willing to overlook his impertinence this time. I won't say a word to Mr. Granville, but he must be more careful hereafter.”
“I'm sure I'm obliged to you, ma'am,” said Aggie demurely.
When she was out of the room she nodded to herself triumphantly.
“Sure, I've got the old lady under me thumb, but divil a bit I know how. It's all in the word Jonas. When I want a favor, all I've got to do is to say that word. ”

“ I am private secretary to a rich man, and live in a fine brown-stone house on Madison Avenue.”
“Good for you, Phil! I knew you'd succeed.”
“Where is Mrs. Brent? Has anything been heard from her?”
“I don't think anybody in the village knows where she is—that is, except her cousin, who lives in your old house.”
“What is his name?”
“Hugh Raynor.”
“What sort of a man is he?”
“The people in the village don't like him. He lives alone, and I hear that he cooks for himself. He is not at all social, and no one feels very much acquainted with him.” ”

“ It requires a strong mind to withstand the allurements and temptations of prosperity, and Jonas is far from possessing a strong mind. He is, indeed, if I may be allowed the expression, a vulgar little snob, utterly selfish, and intent solely upon his own gratification. He has a love for drink, and against the protests of his mother and the positive command of Mr. Granville, indulges his taste whenever he thinks he can do so without fear of detection. To the servants he makes himself very offensive by assuming consequential airs and a lordly bearing, which excites their hearty dislike. ”

“ Come on!”
“What's your name?” asked Phil, who had become interested in his new acquaintance.
“The boys call me Ragged Dick.”
It was indeed the lively young bootblack whose history was afterward given in a volume which is probably familiar to many of my readers. At this time he was only a bootblack, and had not yet begun to feel the spur of that ambition which led to his subsequent prosperity.
“That's a queer name,” said Phil.
“I try to live up to it,” said Dick, with a comical glance at his ragged coat, which had originally been worn by a man six feet in height. ”

“ Pitkin took me on.”
Mr. Wilbur looked grave.
“It's a shame!” he commenced.
“What is a shame; that I should get five dollars a week?”
“No, but that I should only get a dollar a week more than an errand boy. I'm worth every cent of ten dollars a week, but the old man only gives me six. It hardly keeps me in gloves and cigars.” ”

“ He may have some plan of his own for you. At any rate, you had better consult him. He will call to-morrow. And now, let me pay you for my week's board.”
“No, Philip. I shall not want it with all this money, which I should not have received but for you.”
“A debt is a debt, Mrs. Forbush, and I prefer to pay it. I shall not be here to supper, as Mr. Carter is expecting me back to the Astor House. I shall probably come with him when he calls upon you to-morrow.”
On his return to the hotel, as he was walking on Broadway, Phil came face to face with Alonzo Pitkin. ”

“ I live on Madison Avenue. By the way, Wilbur, how is your lady-love?”
Mr. Wilbur looked radiant.
“I think I'm getting on,” he said. “I met her the other evening, and she smiled.”
“That is encouraging,” said Phil, as soberly as possible. “All things come to him who waits! That's what I had to write in my copy-book once.”
Phil was received by Mr. Pitkin with more graciousness than he expected. He felt that he must do what he could to placate Uncle Oliver, but he was more dangerous when friendly in his manner than when he was rude and impolite. ”

“ Perhaps, at some future time, I may finish this story; for the present let me say there is a new boy in Mr. Sargent's store, with rough, coarse face, voice and manners; everybody wonders at seeing him there; everybody prophesies future trouble; but nobody knows that this step up in Sam Crandon's life is Fred Sargent's revenge. ”

“ He prized a good reputation and the possession of an honorable name, and to be thought a thief would distress him exceedingly.
“What a fool I was to walk into such a trap!” he said to himself. “I might have known Mr. Carter would not be in such a neighborhood.”
Phil was too severe upon himself. I suspect that most of my boy readers, even those who account themselves sharp, might have been deceived as easily. The fact is, rogues are usually plausible, and they are so trained in deception that it is no reflection upon their victims that they allow themselves to be taken in. ”

“ So saying the man seized Phil, and then a struggle ensued, the boy defending himself as well as he could. He made a stouter resistance than the thief anticipated, and the latter became irritated with the amount of trouble he had to take it. I should be glad to report that Phil made a successful defense, but this was hardly to be expected. He was a strong boy, but he had to cope with a strong man, and though right was on his side, virtue in his case had to succumb to triumphant vice. ”