A VISIT TO THE LAWYER.
Mrs. Rushton was braiding straw when Robert entered with his berries.
"Couldn't you sell your berries, Robert?" she asked.
"I haven't tried yet, mother."
"The berrying season won't last much longer," said his mother,
despondently.
"Don't borrow trouble, mother. I am sure we shall get along well."
"You feel more confidence than I do."
"I just met Halbert Davis in the street."
"Have you made up with him?"
"It is for him to make up with me."
"I am afraid you are too high-spirited, Robert. Did Halbert speak to
you?"
"Oh, yes," said Robert, laughing. "He takes a great interest in my
affairs. He predicts that we shall come to the poorhouse yet."
"He may be right."
"Now, mother, don't be so desponding. We've got enough money to pay our
expenses for more than a year, even if we both stop work."
"What can you mean, Robert?" said his mother, looking up in surprise.
"You must be crazy."
"Does that look like going to the poorhouse?" asked Robert, drawing out
his money.
Mrs. Rushton uttered an exclamation of surprise.
"Whose money is that, Robert?"
"Mine!"
"You haven't done anything wrong?"
"No, mother; I thought you knew me too well for that. I see you are
anxious to hear how I obtained it, so I'll tell you all about it."
He sat down, and in brief words told his mother the story of the train
and its peril, how he had rescued it, and, lastly, of the generous gift
which he had so unexpectedly received. The mother's heart was touched,
and she forgot all her forebodings.
"My son, I am proud of you," she said, her eyes moist. "You have done a
noble deed, and you deserve the reward. But what a risk you ran!"
"I know it, mother, but we won't think of that, now that it is over. How
much, money do you think I have here?"
"Two or three hundred dollars."
"Six hundred and thirty-five! So you see, mother, we needn't go to the
poorhouse just yet. Now, how much better off should I have been if I had
kept my place in the factory? It would have taken me more than two years
to earn as much money as this. But that isn't all. I have been the means
of saving a great many lives, for the train was sure to be thrown down
the embankment. I shall remember that all my life."
"We have reason to be grateful to Heaven that you have been the means of
doing so much good, Robert, while, at the same time, you have benefited
yourself."
"That is true, mother."
"I shall be afraid to have so much money in the house. If it were known,
we might be robbed."
"I will leave it with Mr. Paine until I get a chance to put it in a
savings bank. He has a safe in his office. At the same time I will carry
him some berries as a present. It won't be much, but I should like to do
it on account of his kindness about the boat. I will offer now to bear
the expense of its repair."
After washing his hands and adjusting his clothes a little, for Robert,
though no fop like Halbert, was not regardless of appearances,
especially as he thought Hester might see him, he set out for the
lawyer's office.
"Excuse my bringing in my berries," said Robert, as he entered the
office, "but I want to ask your acceptance of them."
Many persons, under the supposition that Robert was too poor to afford a
gift, would have declined it, or offered to pay for it, thinking they
were acting kindly and considerately. But Mr. Paine knew that Robert
would be mortified by such an offer, and he answered:
"Thank you, Robert; I will accept your gift with thanks on one
condition."
"What is it, Mr. Paine?" inquired our hero, a little puzzled.
"That you will take tea with us to-morrow evening, and help us do
justice to them."
"Thank you," said Robert, not a little pleased at the invitation, "but I
shouldn't like to leave my mother at home alone."
"Oh, we must have your mother, too. Hester will call this evening, and
invite her."
"Then," said Robert, "I can answer for myself, and I think for her, that
we should both be very happy to come."
The lawyer's social position made such an invitation particularly
gratifying to Robert. Besides, he was led to value it more on account of
the persistent efforts of Halbert to injure him in the general
estimation. Then, too, it was pleasant to think that he was to sit down
to the same table with Hester, as her father's guest, and to receive a
call from her at his own house. Nothing that Mr. Paine could have done
would have afforded him an equal amount of gratification.
"There is one other matter I wanted to speak to you about, Mr. Paine,"
he said. "Will you take care of some money for me until I get a chance
to deposit it in the savings bank?"
"Certainly, Robert," was the reply, but the lawyer's manner showed some
surprise. He knew the circumstances of the Rushtons, and he had not
supposed they had any money on hand. "How much is it?"
"Six hundred and thirty-five dollars," answered Robert, producing it.
"Will you count it, and see if it is all right?"
"Is this your money?" asked the lawyer, laying down his pen and gazing
at Robert in astonishment.
"Yes, sir," said Robert, enjoying his surprise. "I will tell you how I
got it."
So the story was told, with a modest reserve as to his own courage, but
still showing, without his intending it, how nobly he had behaved.
"Give me your hand, Robert," said Mr. Paine, cordially. "You have shown
yourself a hero. We shall be proud of your company to tea to-morrow
evening."
Robert flushed with gratification at the high compliment conveyed in
these words.
What did he care then for Halbert Davis and his petty malice! He had the
approval of his own conscience, the good opinion of those whom he most
respected and a provision against want sufficient to avert all present
anxiety.
"There is one thing more, Mr. Paine," he added. "It's about the boat
Will was kind enough to lend me."
"Have you seen the carpenter about repairing it?"
"Yes, sir, and he will attend to it as soon as he can spare the time.
But that was not what I wanted to say. I think I ought to bear the
expense of repairing it. I would have spoken about it at first, but then
I had no money, and didn't know when I should have any. Will you be kind
enough to take as much of my money as will be needed to pay Mr. Plane's
bill when it comes in?"
"Certainly not, Robert. It was not your fault that the boat was
injured."
"It wouldn't have happened if I had not borrowed it. It isn't right that
the expense should fall on you."
"Don't trouble yourself about that, Robert. I am able and willing to pay
it. It is very honorable in you to make the offer, and I like you the
better for having made it. Won't you need any of this money for present
expenses?"
"Perhaps I had better take the thirty-five dollars. Mother may be in
want of something."
Robert received back the sum named, and returned home, much pleased with
his interview.
About seven o'clock, sitting at the window of the little cottage, he saw
Hester Paine opening the front gate. He sprang to his feet and opened
the door.
"Good-evening, Robert," she said. "Is your mother at home?"
"Yes, Hester. Won't you come in?"
"Thank you, Robert. Father has been telling me what a hero you were, and
it made me feel proud that you were a friend of mine."
Robert's face lighted with pleasure.
"You compliment me more than I deserve," he answered, modestly; "but it
gives me great pleasure to know that you think well of me."
"I am sure that there is no boy in Millville that would have dared to do
such a thing. Good-evening, Mrs. Rushton. Are you not proud of your
son?"
"He is a good son to me," said Mrs. Rushton, with a glance of affection.
"It is such a splendid thing he did. He will be quite a hero. Indeed, he
is one already. I've got a New York paper giving an account of the
whole thing. I brought it over, thinking you might like to read it."
She displayed a copy of a great city daily, in which full justice was
done to Robert's bravery. Our hero listened with modest pleasure while
it was being read.
"I don't deserve all that," he said.
"You must let us judge of that," said Hester. "But I have come this
evening, Mrs. Rushton, to ask you to take tea with us to-morrow evening,
you and Robert. You will come, won't you?"
Mrs. Rushton was pleased with this mark of attention, and after a slight
demur, accepted.
I do not intend to give an account of the next evening, and how Robert,
in particular, enjoyed it. That can be imagined, as well as Halbert's
chagrin when he heard of the attention his rival was receiving in a
quarter where he himself so earnestly desired to stand well. I must pass
on to a communication received by Mrs. Rushton, a communication of a
very unexpected character, which had an important effect upon the
fortunes of our hero.