ROBERT'S HEROISM--CONCLUSION.
It took several days to straighten matters out around the Vernon
household, and so Robert's proposed visit home had to be deferred
until the middle of the week following.
Mrs. Vernon was truly grateful to the youth for all he had done, and
did not hesitate to declare that she was going to make him her
principal heir when she died.
"You did nobly, Robert," she said. "Your mother should be proud of
you. No woman could have a better son."
As Frederic Vernon had disappeared, the scandal was hushed up, the
detective paid off, and there the matter was allowed to drop. This was
a great relief to Dr. Rushwood, who had dreaded an exposure. But
exposure soon came through another so-styled patient, and the doctor
had to depart in a great hurry, which he did, leaving a great number
of unpaid bills behind him.
One day came a letter for Robert, which made him feel very sober. It
was from his mother.
"I wish you would come home and assist me in my
money affairs," wrote Mrs. Talbot. "Mr. Talbot had
asked me for more than I am willing to lend him,
and lately he has taken to drink and is making me
very miserable."
"The wretch!" muttered Robert, when he had finished the communication.
"What a pity mother ever threw herself away on such a man. I'll run
home this very afternoon," and receiving permission from Mrs. Vernon
he hurried up and caught the first train leaving after the lunch hour.
Robert had not been to Granville for a long time, and he felt rather
strange as he stepped off the train. No one was at the depot to
receive him, yet he met several people that he knew.
"Why if it aint Robert Frost!" cried Sam Jones, his old school chum.
"How are you getting along, Robert? But there's no need to ask, by the
nice clothes you are wearing."
"I am doing very well, Sam," replied our hero. "And how are you
faring?"
"Pretty good. I am learning the carpenter's trade."
"I see."
"Come home to stay?"
"No, just to see my mother."
Sam Jones' face fell a little.
"It's too bad she's having such a hard time of it, Robert--indeed it
is."
"So you know she is having a hard time?"
"Why, everybody in Granville knows it. Mr. Talbot is drinking like a
fish, and using up her money fast, too, so they say."
"It's a shame," muttered Robert. "It's a wonder mother didn't write
before."
"Going up to the house now?" continued Sam.
"Yes."
"You'll be in time for a jolly row. I just saw your step-father going
up there, and he was about half full."
"It's too bad, Sam. I'll have to do the best I can. I wish my mother
would come to Chicago and live with me."
The two boys separated, and our hero continued on his way to what had
once been his happy home.
The main street of Granville was a winding one, and after running away
from the railroad for a short distance, it crossed the tracks a second
time and then led up a hill, on the top of which was built the Frost
homestead.
As Robert approached the railroad he saw a familiar figure ahead of
him, reeling from side to side of the dusty roadway. The figure was
that of his step-father.
The sight filled him with disgust, and he did not know whether to stop
and speak to the man or pass him by unnoticed.
While he was deliberating James Talbot reeled down to the railroad
tracks, staggered, and fell headlong. He tried to rise, but the effort
seemed a failure, and then he sank down in a drunken stupor.
"He is too drunk to walk any further," thought Robert. "Oh, what a
beast he is making of himself! If he----"
Our hero broke off short, as the whistle of an approaching train
reached his quick ears. The afternoon express was coming--along the
very tracks upon which his step-father lay!
The boy's heart seemed to stop beating. The drunken man was
unconscious of his danger--he could not help himself. Supposing he was
left where he lay? There would be a rushing and crushing of heavy
wheels, and then all would be over, and this man, who was not fit to
live, would be removed from the Frost path forever!
This was the thought that came into Robert's mind, a thought born of
the Evil One himself. But then came another thought, as piercing as a
shaft of golden light, "Love your enemies." The boy dropped the valise
he was carrying and leaped forward madly.
"Get up! get up!" he yelled, as he caught the drunken man by the arm.
"Get up! The train is coming!"
"Whazzer mazzer!" hiccoughed James Talbot dreamily. "Lemme alone, I
shay!"
"Get off the railroad track!" went on Robert. "The train is coming!"
"Train!" repeated the drunkard. "I--hic--don't shee no train."
But now the whistle sounded louder than ever, and around the turn of
the hill appeared the locomotive of the express, speeding along at a
rate of fifty-five miles an hour. The sight caused Robert's heart to
thump loudly, while James Talbot gazed at the iron monster as though
transfixed with terror.
"We're lost!" he screamed hoarsely, and then straightened out and sank
back like one dead.
What happened in the next few seconds Robert could hardly tell in
detail. He had a hazy recollection of catching his step-father by the
leg and jerking him from the track and falling down on top of him. Man
and boy rolled into a dry ditch, and as they went down the express
thundered by, the engineer being unable to stop the heavy train short
of twice its own length. And when Robert came to his senses he was
lying on a grassy bank and Sam Jones and several others were bathing
him with water.
"My step-father--is he saved?" were the youth's first words.
"Yes, he was saved," answered one of the men. "But he seems to be
suffering from another stroke of paralysis."
Robert soon felt strong enough to get up, and asked for his valise,
which was handed over to him. His brave deed had been witnessed by Sam
Jones and a farmer who had been driving toward the railroad crossing.
Both of these explained to the crowd how our hero had risked his life
to save that of his intoxicated step-father.
A stretcher was procured and Mr. Talbot was placed upon this and
carried to his home. The whole lower portion of his body seemed to be
paralyzed and he spoke with great difficulty. Strange to say the shock
had completely sobered him.
It was a strange meeting between Mrs. Talbot and Robert. Tears were in
the eyes of the mother, tears which only her son understood. With
great care James Talbot was carried to a bed-chamber on the second
floor of the house and here made as comfortable as possible, while one
of the neighbors went off to summon a doctor.
"They tell me you risked your life to save him," whispered Mrs. Talbot
to Robert. "Oh, Robert, my boy! my only boy!" And she clasped him
about the neck and burst into a passionate fit of weeping.
When the doctor had made a careful examination he looked very grave.
"The shock is a heavy one, Mrs. Talbot," he said. "And coming on top
of that which he had some time ago, is likely to prove serious."
"Do you mean he will die?" she asked quickly.
"'While there is life there is hope,' that is all I can say," said the
physician, and then gave directions as to what should be done for the
sufferer.
In the morning James Talbot was no better, physically, although able
to talk a little. From his wife he learned what Robert had done for
him.
"He's a good boy," he whispered huskily. "A better boy than I am a
man."
"James, when you get well you must give up drinking," she replied.
"I won't get well, Sarah--I feel it. But I won't drink any more, I
promise you." And then she kissed him on the forehead. She had loved
him once, and now, when he lay helpless, she could not help but love
him again.
Two days later it was evident that the end was drawing near. Before
this came he asked for his wife and told her to bring Robert. When the
two were at his bedside he placed their hands one within the other.
"Robert, I'm going," he said slowly and painfully. "Will you forgive
the past?"
"I will," answered Robert. His emotion was such that he could scarcely
speak.
"And, Sarah, will you forgive me, too?" went on the dying man, turning
his yearning eyes toward his wife.
"Oh, James, James, there is nothing to forgive!" she wailed, and fell
on his bosom.
"I've done a good deal of wrong, and this is the end of it. Robert, be
a good boy and take care of your mother, for she is the best woman in
the world. I--I--wish--I had--been--better too. If I----"
James Talbot tried to say more, but could not. A spasm had seized him,
and when it was over the paralysis had touched his tongue, and his
speech was silenced forever. He died at sunset, and was buried on the
Sunday following, in the little Granville cemetery where Robert's
father rested.
The taking off of James Talbot made a great change in Robert's mother.
She became a deep-thinking, serious woman, and from that hour on her
heart and soul were wrapped up in her only child.
To get her away from the scene of her sorrows, Robert wrote to Mrs.
Vernon, and that lady promptly invited the widow to pay her a visit,
and this invitation was accepted. The two ladies soon became warm
friends, and it was decided that in the future Mrs. Talbot was to
spend her winters in Chicago, while each summer Mrs. Vernon and Robert
should come to Granville for an outing.
"Because, you see," said Mrs. Vernon, "we'll have to divide Robert
between us, since neither of us can very well give him up."
* * * * *
Several years have passed since the events recorded above took place.
Robert has gone through a college education, and, in connection with
Mr. Farley, manages all of Mrs. Vernon's business affairs for her. It
is well known that he will be the rich lady's principal heir when she
dies, but he openly declares that it is his hope she will live for
many a long year to come.
Robert frequently hears from Dick Marden and from his old fellow
clerk, Livingston Palmer. Through Marden Robert received a thousand
dollars with the compliments of Felix Amberton. Both the lumberman
and the miner are doing well. Livingston Palmer has mastered
stenography thoroughly and is now Mr. Farley's private clerk, at a
salary of thirty dollars per week. To use Palmer's own words, "this
beats clerking in a cut-rate ticket office or traveling with a
theatrical company all to pieces."
As yet Robert is unmarried. But he is a frequent visitor at the home
of Herman Wenrich, and rumor has it that some day he will make pretty
Nettie Wenrich his wife. He is interested in a number of business
ventures of his own, and is fast becoming rich, but no matter what
good luck may befall him, it is not likely that he will ever forget
the thrilling adventures through which he passed when he was
unconsciously _Falling in with Fortune_.
Transcriber notes
This ebook was produced by Shane McDonald. Images used in the HTML
version of this ebook were taken from the Internet Archive.
The following obvious typographic printer errors were changed. Page
numbers refer to the pages in the original printed version of the
book.
- Page 27, chapter 3: Added " to end of "Now give it to me.
- Page 33, chapter 3: Changed capitalized avenue in "Prairie Avenue"
- Page 34, chapter 3: Added , after "It is my new secretary"
- Page 48, chapter 5: Removed the second "the" in "the the"
- Page 62, chapter 7: Added missing . to last paragraph
- Page 75, chapter 9: Changed "Does she deed" to "Does she need"
- Page 78, chapter 9: Changed , to ? after "deserve such liberality"
- Page 79, chapter 9: Changed "whose attempt" to "whose attempts"
- Page 81, chapter 10: Added period to end of chapter title
- Page 89, chapter 11: Changed . to ? after "to know where she is"
- Page 94, chapter 11: Changed , to . after "on the street once
more"
- Page 108, chapter 13: Changed reached to reach after "silly rumor
ever"
- Page 113, chapter 14: Added d to end of "ejaculate"
- Page 120, chapter 15: Changed "Here him" to "Hear him"
- Page 126, chapter 15: Changed "But this time" to "By this time"
- Page 139, chapter 17: Changed "Nora's" to "Norah's"
- Page 150, chapter 18: Changed . to ? after "ask her yourself"
- Page 173, chapter 21: Changed ? to . after "I do"
- Page 195, chapter 23: Changed "set" to "sent" after "you have
been"
- Page 200, chapter 24: Changed "it's" to "its" after "per cent. of"
- Page 200, chapter 24: Added missing "you" after "I can give it to"
- Page 229, chapter 27: Changed ? to . after "For what you did for
him"
- Page 241, chapter 29: Added missing . after "Mrs"
- Page 254, chapter 30: Changed "keeeper" to "keeper"
- Page 256, chapter 31: Added missing period to end of second
paragraph
- Page 262, chapter 31: Added missing " at end of paragraph "That
will be good evidence"
- Page 281, chapter 33: Last paragraph before thought break, merged
sentences