Harry waited to hear what the old man had to say.
“How do you and my grandnephew hitch horses?” asked Uncle Obed.
“You mean how do we get along together?” asked Harry.
“Yes.”
“Well, we are not bosom friends. Philip thinks I am a poor, working
boy, and looks down on me accordingly.”
“It don’t do you a mite of harm to work. I had to work when I was a
boy, and I’ve done my share of work since I got to be a man.”
“I like to work,” said Harry. “I only wish I had the chance.”
“So there is no love lost between you and Philip?”
“No; he doesn’t suit me any better than I suit him. He’s got too high
notions for me.”
“He’s like his mother,” said Uncle Obed. “I reckon she and Philip ain’t
very glad to see me. It’s different with the colonel. He’s a nice man,
but he seems to be under his wife’s thumb.”
Harry did not reply. It was only what he expected, from what he knew of
Mrs. Ross and her son.
“I hope it won’t be unpleasant for you,” said he, in a tone of
sympathy.
“It’s a kind of disappointment,” the old man admitted. “I was hoping
Lucindy would be like her mother, and I could have a home with my own
folks the rest of my life.”
“Poor man,” thought Harry. “He’s old and destitute, and it must be a
trial for him to find himself so coldly received.”
“I wish,” he said, impulsively, “we were richer.”
“Why?” asked Uncle Obed.
“Because we’d offer you a home. But, unfortunately,” continued Harry,
with a sigh, “we don’t know how we are to pay our own expenses.”
The old man looked gratified.
“I wish you were my nephew, instead of Philip,” he said. “You’ve got a
good mother, I take it.”
“She’s one of the best mothers in the world,” said Harry, earnestly.
“I might have known it. Such boys as you always have good mothers.
Supposing I was able to pay my share of the expenses, do you think your
mother would give me a home?”
“I am sure she would,” said Harry, who could not help feeling interest
in the homely, but good-hearted, old man. “But I thought——” here he
hesitated.
“You thought I was destitute, didn’t you?” asked Uncle Obed, with a
smile.
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m thankful to Providence that I’m not. I’ve got enough to pay my way
for the few years that remain to me. My niece might treat me different
if she knew it, but I’d rather she’d think I was in need.”
“Shall I speak to my mother about your coming?” asked Harry.
“Yes; but I won’t come just yet. I want to see how Lucindy’ll act. She
wants to get rid of me, and she’ll be saying something soon. Like as
not, she’ll offer to pay my fare back to Illinoy,” and the shrewd old
man, who had hit the truth, laughed.
“Very well, sir, I’ll speak to mother. We’ve got a nice room that we’ve
kept for a spare chamber, where I’m sure you’d be comfortable.”
“I don’t much care now what Lucindy says or does,” said the old man,
cheerfully. “If Philip won’t have me for a great-uncle, I’ll have to
adopt you in his place, and I guess I’ll make a good exchange.”
“Thank you, sir. I shall try to treat you as a nephew ought.
Good-evening.”
“That’s a good boy,” said Uncle Obed to himself. “I wish he was my
nephew. Somehow, that stuck-up Philip, with his high-and-mighty airs,
doesn’t seem at all kin to me.”
Harry went home in excellent spirits. It would be of advantage to them
to have a boarder, as it would give them a steady, even if small,
income.
“I wonder what he’ll be able to pay?” he said to himself. “If he pays
as much as I used to get—four dollars a week—it’ll make us all right,
for I’m sure of earning as much as two dollars a week, even if I don’t
get a place.”
His mother brightened up, too, when Harry told her of the prospect that
opened up of making up for his lost wages. It was a timely help, and
both mother and son regarded it as such.