The day after Bernard reached London he received at his old address a
letter bearing the familiar postmark of Doncaster. It will be remembered
that it was at Doncaster our story opened, and it was there that the
boarding-school of Professor Ezekiel Snowdon was located. Bernard’s face
lighted up with pleasure, for in the superscription he recognized the
handwriting of his friend Nat Barclay.
He tore open the envelope and read the letter quickly. It ran thus:
“Dear Bernard:
“I write this with great anxiety, for I don’t know if you are living or
dead. Yesterday I met Septimus Snowdon, who is the same disagreeable
bully as ever, and he said, ‘Well, I have some news for you about your
friend Bernard Brooks.’ I was rather surprised at this, for I didn’t
suppose you would be very likely to write to him. Still I asked, ‘Have
you heard from him?’ ‘No,’ he answered disdainfully. ‘I wouldn’t have
any correspondence with a fellow like him. But he isn’t likely to write
any more letters.’ ‘Why not?’ I asked. ‘Because he’s dead, that’s why,’
snapped Septimus, and I saw that he seemed pleased. ‘I don’t believe
it,’ I returned. ‘Where do you get your information?’ ‘You’ll have to
believe it,’ he said. ‘Pa received a letter from his guardian, Mr.
Cornelius McCracken, of New York, saying that his death had been
reported to him by the gentleman in whose company he went to Europe. I
believe he wrote that he had met with an accident in Marseilles.’ Now I
had a good deal of doubt about the correctness of this statement, for I
knew from your own letters that you parted with Professor Puffer in
London, and were not likely to be in Marseilles with him. I asked
Septimus some further questions, but he seemed to have no more
information.
“‘Well,’ said Septimus sneeringly, ‘are you going to put on mourning for
your great friend Bernard?’ ‘I might,’ I answered, ‘if I believed him to
be dead, but I don’t believe it.’
“‘You’ll never see him again,’ said Septimus positively.
“Now, Bernard, though I don’t believe the story, I am anxious, and if
you are alive I hope you will write me again and tell me. I won’t
believe it till I have your own authority. That sounds like a bull,
doesn’t it? But I’ll go on and write as if you were still alive. You may
wish to know something about the school. To the best of my belief it is
far from prosperous. There are very few scholars, and those don’t look
as if their parents or guardians paid much for them. Then the professor
himself is looking very shabby and seedy. I don’t believe he has had a
new coat for over a year. Septimus looks better. There is a pupil in the
school about his size, and I really believe that Septimus is wearing his
clothes. I hear that old Snowdon gave the boy a dollar and a half for
his best suit. The boy was glad to sell it in order to get a little
pocket money. I know how he spent a part of it. He went to the baker’s
in the village and bought a supply of cakes and doughnuts, of which he
stood in need, for I hear that the seminary table, never very good, is
now poorer than ever.
“When are you coming back to America? I long to see you. If you do come
you must be sure to come out to Doncaster and see
“Your affectionate friend,
“Nat Barclay.”
Bernard showed his letter to Mr. Cunningham.
“Would you like to go to America, Bernard?” he asked.
“I don’t want to leave you, sir.”
“But suppose I should go, too?”
“Then I should be delighted to go.”
“I cannot go while my uncle’s life is in doubt, but when I am released
from attendance upon him I shall have nothing to hinder me.”
That day week the uncle died. After the funeral Mr. Cunningham said,
“Well, Bernard, I have not forgotten the promise I made you. We will go
to the office of the Cunard steamers, and see whether we can engage
passage by the Etruria, which is the first one to sail.”
It was found that one of the best staterooms on the palatial steamer was
still disengaged. Walter Cunningham lost no time in securing it, and the
two embarked on the following Saturday.
There is no occasion to dwell upon the voyage. The weather was good, and
the Etruria made one of the quick passages for which she is famous.
When Bernard steamed into port, and saw the familiar roofs and spires of
the great American city, his heart thrilled within him, and he felt that
warm glow which the sight of home is apt to enkindle.