Oliver Optic

“ MR. Fitzherbert Wittleworth walked slowly and nervously from his home to the banking-house in State Street. The situation was just as far from pleasant as it could be. He did not wish to deprive the family of the necessaries of life, which were purchased with his meagre salary, on the one hand, and it was almost impossible to endure the tyranny of Mr. Checkynshaw on the other hand. To a young man with so high an opinion of himself as the banker's clerk entertained, the greatest privation to which he could be subjected was a want of appreciation of his personal character and valuable services. ”

“ He had noticed Maggie and Leo at the house of the banker; but everything seemed like a dream.
"Maggie," said he, as he looked around the familiar apartment, and saw her lying on the lounge.
She sprang to her feet, and went to him, glad to hear the sound of his voice, but fearful that the call might be the prelude of another attack. He smiled as she approached him, and made an effort to extend his right hand to her; but he could not move it.
"Father!" exclaimed the fond girl, as she bent over him and kissed his pale face, now slightly flushed with fever. ”

“ Is your sister at home?" asked Fitz, in his usual patronizing tones.
"She is," replied Leo, rather coldly, for he could not see what Fitz wanted with his sister.
"I should like to see her," added Fitz, loftily, as though his presence at the house of the barber was a condescension which Leo ought to appreciate.
"My father is sick, and Maggie is busy taking care of him," replied Leo, who felt that he was now the guardian of his sister, and he did not want any young men "hanging round," especially such young men as Mr. Wittleworth. ”

“ Fitz did not come down till breakfast time the next morning. He lay in his warm bed, building castles in the air, and thinking what a great man he should be when the block of stores and its revenues were reclaimed from the grasp of Mr. Checkynshaw. He thought it quite possible that he could then go into a barber's shop and be shaved without any one having the impudence to laugh at him. ”

“ Checkynshaw spoke to me about you. He wishes to see you at half past two o'clock."
"Mr. Checkynshaw!" exclaimed Leo, wondering what the head of the well-known banking house could want with an individual so insignificant as himself.
"He wants a boy."
"Does he want me?"
"I suppose he does."
"But, father, I shall lose my medal if I leave school now," added Leo.
"You must not leave now; but you can see Mr. Checkynshaw, and explain the matter to him. He is a great man, and when you want a place, he may be able to help you." ”

“ Fitz was deep. The banker was anxious. It meant something. Fitz thought he knew what it meant.
"On the whole, I think I will not return," replied he, deliberately.
"Are you crazy, Fitz?" groaned Mrs. Wittleworth, in despair.
"Never a more sane man walked the earth. Mr. Checkynshaw knows what he is about; I know what I am about."
"We shall both starve, Fitz!" cried his mother.
"On the contrary, mother, we shall soon be in possession of that block of stores, with an income of five or six thousand a year," added Fitz, complacently. ”

“ He was thinking of an improvement on the improvement, when the stampede of the mice deranged his ideas; but they gave him a new one.
White mice were beautiful little creatures. Their fur was so very white, their eyes so very pink, and their paws so very cunning, that everybody liked to see them. Even the magnificent Mr. Checkynshaw had deigned to regard them with some attention, and had condescended to say that his daughter Elinora would be delighted to see them. Then the houses, and the gymnastic apparatus which Leo attached to them, rendered them tenfold more interesting. ”

“ I must go to the shop sooner than that."
"You must be very patient, mon père."
"I will be patient, Maggie; but I must go to the shop soon."
"Don't think of the shop yet."
"My poor children! What will become of you? I have no money. I must work, or you will starve, and be turned out of the house because the rent is not paid. Indeed I must go to the shop, Maggie."
"But you cannot. You are not able to lift your right arm at all, and you are so weak you could not stand up. Do be patient, and not think at all of the shop." ”

“ The banker rubbed his hands, and looked as though he meant business; and Mrs. Wittleworth actually trembled with fear lest some new calamity was about to be heaped upon the pile of misfortunes that already weighed her down. Mr. Checkynshaw had never before darkened her doors. Though she had once been a welcome guest within his drawing-rooms, she had long since been discarded, and cast out, and forgotten. When the poor woman, worse than a widow, pleaded before him for the means of living, he had given her son a place in his office, at a salary of five dollars a week. ”

“ Something must be done which would produce fifteen, or at least ten, dollars a week. It was no use to think it couldn't be done; it must be done. It looked like a species of lunacy on his part to flatter himself that it was possible to make even more than a journeyman mechanic's wages.
Leo had in his busy brain half a dozen crude plans of simple machines. Often, when he saw people at work, he tried to think how the labor might be done by machinery. As he sat in the kitchen, where Maggie was sewing or preparing the dinner, he was devising a way to perform the task with wood and iron. ”

“ His views and opinions had come to be appreciated; they had risen where the froth on the beer rises, to the top of the mug. To use his mother's homely but expressive saying, "you couldn't touch Fitz with a ten-foot pole."
"Ellen," said Mr. Checkynshaw, solemnly, "it did seem to me that I had done my whole duty to you, when, three months ago, I placed you out of the reach of want for the rest of your lifetime. I confess my grief and surprise, after what I have done for you, that this suit should be brought against me." ”

“ Checkynshaw," protested the barber, taking the hand involuntarily, rather than because he was interested in the act.
"You love truth and justice; you have the reputation of loving truth and justice, all over the world—you have. You are a noble-minded man," continued Fitz, eloquently. "Now you can see what Checkynshaw is, and now you can see what I am."
"Don't be foolish, Fitz!" interposed Mrs. Wittleworth. ”

“ The doctor came; but the banker was out of the reach of human aid, though he survived a day and a half. Maggie watched over him, as she had over André; but vain was her care, and vain were her hopes. Her father died. A few days later a long funeral procession left the house, and Mr. Checkynshaw was borne to his last resting-place at Mount Auburn. Mrs. Checkynshaw was bewildered and overwhelmed; Elinora was so nervous that she required an attendant constantly; and Maggie had little time to weep herself, so devoted was she to the wants of others. ”

“ Trust in God, Leo," said Maggie, impressively. "I will not worry any more, and you must not."
"I will trust in God; but God expects me to do something more than that. He helps those who help themselves. I am going to do something!" exclaimed he, springing to his feet. "Make or Break, I'm going to do my duty; I'm going to do my whole duty."
"What are you going to do, Leo?"
"I don't know yet; but, make or break, I'm going to do something. It's no use for me to work for Mr. Checkynshaw at five dollars a week, when it will cost us fifteen dollars a week to get along. ”

“ If the man in Court Street could sell a pair of white mice for fifty cents, and a beggarly tin box with a whirligig for a dollar, making the establishment and its occupants cost a dollar and a half, why would not one of his splendid palaces, with two or three pairs of mice in it, bring three, or even five dollars? ”

“ MON PERE.
Maggie's ideas of apoplexy or paralysis were not very definite, and she only understood that something very terrible had happened to her foster-father, whom she loved as though he had been her real parent. Leo was hardly less affected, though, being a boy, his susceptibility was not so keen. His first feeling was one of indignation that the banker had not told him before of the misfortune which had overtaken the family. ”

“ Checkynshaw, if you like; I shall not," replied Fitz, as he was familiarly called, though the brief appellative always galled him, and the way to reach his heart was to call him Mr. Wittleworth.
"If you get turned off, what will become of us? Your father isn't good for anything, and what both of us can earn is hardly enough to keep us from starving," answered the poor woman, whose spirit had long before been broken by poverty, disappointment, and sorrow. ”

“ Fitz assured his father and mother that the banker could not produce his daughter, and that the case would not come to trial. If they were only firm and decided with him, Mr. Checkynshaw would give up the block of stores, and pay over the back rents. He must do so, or his reputation would be blasted forever. He must stand before the world as a knave and a swindler, unless he did full and ample justice to the widow (who had a husband) , and the orphan (who had a father and mother) ; for Mr. Wittleworth, when he waxed eloquent, had a habit of confounding terms. ”

“ MR. WITTLEWORTH GETS SHAVED.
"Next gentleman!" said André Maggimore, one of the journeyman barbers in the extensive shaving saloon of Cutts & Stropmore, which was situated near the Plutonian temples of State Street, in the city of Boston.
"Next gentleman!" repeated André, in tones as soft and feminine as those of a woman, when no one responded to his summons.
"My turn?" asked a spare young man of sixteen, throwing down the Post, with a languid air, and rising to his feet. ”

“ My mother is the rightful heir to a block of stores in this city, which the greed of avarice withholds from her. Me and father have taken up the matter. We have been foully wronged;" and Mr. Wittleworth threshed his arm, and waxed eloquent. "The heel of injustice has been placed upon our necks. Mr. Choate, you are the people's advocate. Rising superior to all hopes of fee or reward, you raise your eloquent voice in behalf of the widow and the orphan. ”

“ Checkynshaw continued to walk back and forth, absorbed in thought.
"The key of the safe is not in the drawer, sir," replied the clerk.
The banker tried the safe door, and then felt in all his pockets. The safe was locked, but he had not the key. He went to the vault himself, but with no better success than the clerk had had.
"The puppy!" muttered the banker. "He has stolen that key!"
Mr. Checkynshaw's lips were compressed, and his teeth were set tight together. He paced the room more rapidly than before. ”

“ I advised father to retain Choate. He has not seen fit to do so. This shows that he don't understand the matter; that he does not comprehend the difficulty in fighting a man like Checkynshaw, who is both wealthy and influential. Choate can carry the case. Choate is a friend of mine—Choate is; and I am going to see to it that Choate don't stand in a false position before the country in this great case."
"You silly fellow! What are you going to do now?" demanded Mrs. Wittleworth.
"I'm going to see Choate," replied Fitz, putting on his cap. ”

“ She gave him her hand, and was awed by the impressive earnestness of his manner.
"Maggie, I'm going to do my duty now. I want to promise you that poor father shall never want for anything. I want to promise you that I will do all for him that a real son could do."
"Good, kind Leo! We will both do our whole duty."
Leo dropped her hand, and went down stairs into his workshop. The white mice were capering and gamboling about their palatial abodes, all unconscious that poor André had been stricken down. Leo gave them their suppers, and sat down on the work-bench. ”

“ You are not strong enough to do without your sleep."
"I am very strong, sir. I do all the work in the house myself. I know how to make gruel, and porridge, and beef tea, and soup; and mon père shall have everything nice."
The doctor smiled, and felt sure that no better nurse could be provided for the sick man.
"Where is your mother?" he asked. "Is she living?"
"I have no mother. Leo has no mother. We are not André's own children; but we love him just the same, and he loves us just the same." ”