BILLY WINS
THE beautiful house and its contents vanished before their eyes. The
fire department arrived only in time to prevent the fire from spreading.
Yet Mr. Smith said that the timber that would otherwise have gone was
worth twenty times the value of the house, save for its sentiment. And
even that was not what it would have been for an older home; the family
treasures were at the town house.
It was enough, the magnate said, to receive into his arms when he raced
out from town, his loved ones safe, and except for shaken nerves,
unhurt.
It was not possible in the long trial that followed to find the “man at
the top.” The poor ignorant foreigners who had been inflamed against Mr.
Smith, and, while he slept, had entered his house and laid the train to
its destruction, paid the penalty; while the one who tried to blow up
the viaduct died from the tramp’s bullet. Billy’s evidence decided the
coroner’s jury, for none of them ever saw the tramp after that night.
The Tum-wah people could not be directly identified with the outrages,
but investigation proved enough to cause the revocation of their
franchise, and incidentally Alvin Short finished his career in stripes.
Billy was taken to the hospital where his injuries—except the broken
arm—were soon healed. Here Mr. Smith came and more than once poured out
his gratitude.
“This ends it, Billy. We’ll have no more nonsense about working till
you’ve taken aboard your tools, your equipment of education and travel.
It’s school now; you begin with the term. Hear?”
Billy smiled his thanks. Later, when he was on his feet, would be time
enough to explain that his life must be lived according to his own idea
of duty.
---------------------
A few days after the fire Mrs. Bennett was surprised to receive an
urgent call at the telephone in an unknown voice begging for an
immediate interview; and a little later an excited young woman was at
her door.
“I’m Erminie Fisher,” she explained. “I’ve come about Billy. How is he?”
“He’s doing well; will soon be out of the hospital.”
“And he won’t be crippled, scarred?”
“No. In a few weeks he will be quite recovered.” Mrs. Bennett could not
throw cordiality into her tone. Loyal as Billy had been to Erminie his
mother divined far more than he suspected of the part this girl had
played in his life.
“Oh, Mrs. Bennett, he’s the best boy in the world. He’s done so much for
me. I saw in the paper what a hero he was at the fire, and I came right
home. I—I—was so afraid I couldn’t clear up everything, but now that
I’ve seen Mumps—Sydney Bremmer—and heard a lot from him, I think I can.”
“Sit here, where it is cooler,” Mrs. Bennett invited, pushing a chair to
the open window. “Now tell me what you wish,—only that don’t distress
yourself.”
The kinder words and tone cheered Erminie. She told the story of her
acquaintance with Billy, of the picnic, of the attitude of the school
bully, of the letter, the money, and of her growing conviction that the
letter was a forgery, and the taking of the money a theft.
“And I came back to tell you, Mr. Wright, Professor Teal,—anybody who
can help tell the truth for Billy. I’ve been a fool, I know it now; but
Billy sha’n’t suffer another day for that.”
Mrs. Bennett took Erminie’s hands in her own. “You are a brave girl. It
has not been easy for you to do this, nor has it been easy for me to
look on helpless, and see Billy’s life so early burdened.”
“He could have put himself right any day if he had told on me.”
“How is it you dared come home, since your father was so—so angry—” Mrs.
Bennett hesitated.
“I would have dared anything. I had made up my mind to set Billy right,
no matter what happened to me. But my Uncle Henry fixed it. Anyway,
after what Mr. Short did to dad, he was glad I didn’t marry the man, and
dad’s as pleased as ma to have me home again.”
“You—wish Mr. Wright to know—what you’ve told me?”
“Yes, yes! I want Billy to be cleared of everything, to go back to Fifth
Avenue High respected as he deserves to be.”
“Yet if—if you do this it will be hard for you. It’s past, and a pity
for you to be exposed to censure when you were only the victim of
circumstances.”
“Mrs. Bennett, Billy never hesitated to bear censure for me; now it’s my
turn. Besides—” She stopped and for the first time showed embarrassment.
“I want you to know this,—Billy taught me some of the best things I
know; and I loved him—I love him still. But now I know that it is not
the kind of love a girl—a girl should have for the man she marries.
I—I’m not going back on Billy, Mrs. Bennett. It’s—it’s—”
Mrs. Bennett reached over and gently stroked her hair. “You need not
hesitate. I quite comprehend.”
Erminie caught her hand. “It’s perfectly lovely of you to say that. I’ve
been feeling so mean—untrue to Billy—even while I’ve been loving him all
the time. But I’ve met a—a man, a good man, much older than Billy,
and—and—”
“Yes, a man. Billy’s only a boy, but you are a woman.”
“It was Billy who set me to thinking. He told me many things you have
said, and I began to see that even if I had loved Billy as—in the right
way, it would have been wrong for us to marry.”
“That is over now. Look to the future, and—I hope you will be very
happy.”
“And may I bring Will—Mr. Harrington, to see you? He’s anxious to meet
you, and Billy—all the family. And I want him to before—before I change
my name.”
Mrs. Bennett made the girl happy by her sympathy. Erminie summoned
Sydney by telephone to meet them at Mr. Wright’s office, and there the
two told their story. Mr. Wright sent a command to Jim Barney that
brought him while they waited. He soon found his small knowledge of law
and trickery no match for the astute lawyer, and he was very glad to
accept immunity from prosecution on more than one charge by a full
confession of his misdeeds, and the payment to Billy of the money he had
induced Erminie to take.
When the interview was over Erminie and her lover went to the hospital,
where she saw Billy first alone.
Never had she seemed so dear and sweet to him as when she stood beside
him telling the story of what she had done for him. And when, after a
moment’s absence she brought her Cousin Will, looking so happy, and
proud of him, Billy felt his heart bound with a great joy, the joy of
freedom.
“Here’s the dearest man in the world, Billy, and the best, next to you.”
She looked sidewise at the well-made but rather short man beside her,
with a trace of her old coquetry lurking in voice and manner.
Billy shook the firm hand with his left one. “She has it twisted, Mr.
Harrington. You’re the best man; I’m—I’m just a kid.”
“I wonder she ever looked at a man, then,” the other returned
generously, waving his hands apart in recognition of the six feet of
muscle and vigor that surmounted even the background of a hospital cot.
Two weeks later the great day came; the day when the City of Green Hills
paid court to her young citizens; when the Scouts marched by the
reviewing stand, twelve hundred strong, and later performed their feats
of skill in the competition for honors; when the Young Citizens’ Clubs,
boys and girls, each club led by its own band, in song and speech
celebrated some great event in the history of their city, or prophesied
her future greatness.
Mr. Streeter told the multitude that this was but the beginning of a
campaign for the promotion of civic pride, a pride that should foster
art and beauty and civic honor, to the end that the City of Green Hills
should be known throughout the land as the best as well as the most
beautiful city in the world.
“These things will make it the greatest. Do you think when it is known
that this is the cleanest, the most beautiful, and the best governed
city in America, that any power can withhold people from coming here?
The American city that makes commercialism second to these three things
will in ten years outgrow all others. Humanity hungers for such civic
ideals and doesn’t know it.”
Then came the explanation of the flag competition and the announcement
of the winner. Billy thought the highest possible note of joy had been
sounded,—for his design had won.
There above them all, at the moment of Mr. Streeter’s announcement, the
banner was run up the tall pole and beneath the Stars and Stripes flung
out to the breeze, the official flag of the City of Green Hills.
Cheers upon cheers! And Billy was called. When he stepped to the
platform, his arm still in the sling, but otherwise rosy with health and
joy, the audience rose, and cheers from the men, and fluttering
handkerchiefs from the women, made Billy wonder if this was just plain
earth or some other more glorious planet.
After an almost imperceptible silence came the yell of his school, given
with a gusto that told him he had been reinstated in their favor.
He made his bow and a modest speech. In the crowd near the platform were
May Nell and Erminie. And as he finished, it was into May Nell’s eyes he
looked, and knew who held his heart.
The exercises were over, the crowd began to move. He went down and took
her hand. And at that moment came again a ringing cry, “What’s the
matter with Billy To-morrow? Billy To-morrow’s Billy To-day! He’s all
right! Rah, rah, rah, Billy!”
THE END
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOME OPINIONS OF MRS. CARR’S FIRST SUCCESS
-------
BILLY TO-MORROW
-------
“It is a powerful story, the scene of which is laid in California after
the great earthquake. It is admirably told, and makes a strong appeal to
all that is best in a young person’s nature.”—_Philadelphia Public
Ledger._
“A splendid story of a boy’s love and courage.”—_Hartford Courant._
“This is a good story of a California boy who learned lessons of
manliness and chivalry from a little refugee girl received by his mother
after the great fire. The boy reader may be trusted to enjoy it and
without having his pleasure spoiled by the suspicion of a moral.”—_The
Argonaut._
“All in all it is a splendid story for boys.”—_Education._
“Sarah Pratt Carr has invented a lovable young hero in her bright story,
‘Billy To-Morrow.’ So full of incident is the story that it will hold
the interest of boy and girl readers from the first chapter to the
last.”—_Des Moines Capital._
“The story is full of life and action and good sense.”—_Spokane
Spokesman-Review._
“Should appeal to every full-blooded youngster.”—_San Francisco
Bulletin._
-------
A. C. McCLURG & CO., PUBLISHERS
CHICAGO
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PRESS OPINIONS REGARDING MRS. CARR’S
Billy To-Morrow in Camp
“Here are a crowd of real boys in a delightful vacation camp. The
interest is sustained from the beginning to the end. The publishers
have done their part to make the book attractive, paper, type, binding
and illustrations are all of the best, and the picture of Billy on the
cover almost equals our ideal of him. Mrs. Carr is to be congratulated
on having given to American young people one of the best books which has
been written for them since the death of Miss Alcott and one which
places her in the very front rank of writers of juvenile fiction.”—_The
Week-End (Seattle)._
“A good, exciting, and wholesome story of a group of boys who ‘camp out’
on the shores of Puget Sound, and have lots of fun and some
troubles.”—_Cincinnati Times Star._
“It gives in an interesting style the adventures of a boy with a big
heart and unusual courage. The fascinations of camp life are well
portrayed. A good wholesome story for boys.”—_The United Presbyterian._
“A boy’s book, full of all the exciting incidents that belong to a
camping-out life by a group of bright lads who are bent on enjoyment of
the freedom of the woods. There are many things which would naturally
happen to a bright young lad in camp and which many bright young lads
not in camp will delight to read.”—_Journal of Education._
“A lively and vivacious story which will gladden any sort of boy.”—_The
Post Intelligencer (Seattle)._
“Here is a new hero in boy literature, though not entirely new, as this
is his second appearance between book covers. The popularity and success
of the earlier book, ‘Billy To-morrow,’ and its adoption as the title of
a series indicates that this manly, full-blooded, lovable young
character is to be with us some time. The story has much life, action,
and withal, good sense, and it carries the best sort of moral along with
an enjoyable story without the reader the least expecting it. ‘Billy’
has a promising career ahead of him.”—_The Normal Instructor._
“The story is a jolly one of outdoor camping experiences, with the boy’s
practical devices for comfort which young readers may find helpful for
similar occasions.”—_The Continent._
A. C. McCLURG & CO., PUBLISHERS
CHICAGO
------------------------------------------------------------------------
● Transcriber’s note:
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
○ Unpaired quotation marks were left as the author intended.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.