As soon as he left the cell of Ellis, the kidnapper of Willie Rossmore,
Wizard Will went directly home, for he was anxious about his mother.
But he was delighted to find her much better, though weak, and the iron
will of the unfortunate woman was doing much to build her up again,
after her determination not to give up and leave her children alone in
the world.
"Mother, Captain Daly has increased my pay to fifty dollars a month, so
we will move to a pleasant little cottage out on Long Island, which
belongs to him, and there is no rent to pay, and it is furnished, and
has five acres of land, with a fine garden, a cow, and a horse and
buggy.
"Then there are plenty of flowers, and chickens, and though the cottage
has but five rooms in it, it must be a lovely place, for the captain's
brother lived there until a few days ago, when he went West, and left it
to him," and Will's enthusiastic description of the little home got Mrs.
Raymond quite excited over it, while Pearl was wild with joy.
"And you say there is no rent to pay, Will?" asked his mother.
"The captain said he was just going to arrange with a man living near
there, to give him the use of the horse, cow and garden, to take care of
the place, while he'll give it to us if we go there to live, and he can
get me a pass on the railroad, so that will cost nothing, and it is not
half an hour's run to the station where our home is, so you must cheer
up, mother, for life is getting brighter for us."
"But are there any schools, my son?"
"Yes, mother! one only a hundred yards away, where Pearl can go; and the
captain is good enough to say I can have two hours each day to study
here in town, while he'll not put me on night work if it can be avoided,
and only on special detective service then."
"That is most kind of him, Will, and I must see him and thank him."
"And mother," proceeded Will, whose enthusiasm increased as he continued
to enumerate, "Captain Daly says I'll have a chance to earn special fees
if I am successful in my work, so that we need not stint ourselves in
living, and I suggested an idea to him that he was delighted with, and
said I might carry it out."
"What was that, my son?"
"Well, you know that I am pretty well acquainted with New York, and I
said I would like to form a league of 'Boy Detectives,' for I feel that
I could do a great deal of good with them, and he said he thought so
too, and I should be captain."
"Ah! my son, I fear you are taking a very heavy weight upon your young
shoulders."
"I can stand it, mother."
"You've always said, mother, that brother had an old head on young
shoulders; but he's got broad shoulders, too, and can stand it," Pearl
remarked in her quaint way, for she would wager her life upon her
brother being able to do anything that a man could accomplish.
"Well, Will, you are the bread-winner of our home now, and the head,
young as you are, and I will not be the one to put a straw in your way
against success, for you seem to have a real talent for detective work."
"Thank you, mother, and they have dubbed me, on the force, Wizard Will,
as they say I have done wonders as a Boy Detective."
"You have, indeed, my son, and in a few days I'll be able to move out to
the cottage, and you can then devote yourself wholly to your new
career;" and, with the firm resolve to bury her bitter past at once, and
forgetting self, to live wholly for her children, the noble, though
sorrow-haunted woman, improved steadily each day, and one pleasant
morning Captain Ryan Daly, the good-hearted officer, called for the trio
in a carriage and drove them out to the cottage, which he playfully
called Wizard Hall.
It was a charming little cottage, with large trees upon one side, a lawn
sloping down to an inlet of the Long Island Sound, a vegetable garden, a
stable, a meadow lot, in which an Alderney cow was grazing, a henery,
with a large number of choice fowls, and beds of flowers that at once
caught the eye of Pearl.
The place was in perfect condition, the garden flourishing, the house
well and completely furnished, and the store-room and cellar well
stocked, while the coal-bin and wood-shed were filled, the captain
remarking that his brother had been a most liberal provider, and telling
the story without a flush on his honest face, for he had placed all
there himself.
"I shall soon get well here, Captain Daly, and I know not how to thank
you for all your kindness," said Mrs. Raymond, the tears coming into her
beautiful eyes.
"It is a kindness for me, madam, to have the place occupied by good
tenants, and I must tell you that in yonder little cabin on the hill
lives an old negro and his wife, who will do odds and ends for you when
you need them for very small pay."
"Now, Wizard Will, I shall give you a week's leave to get settled in
your new home, and then you can set to work raising your League of Boy
Detectives, whom I shall put great faith in," and, promising to come out
and dine some Sunday with them, the noble-hearted police captain--whose
daily intercourse was with criminals, who was hourly amid desperate and
tragic scenes, whose will was iron, whose nature knew no fear, but who
had the heart of a woman for deeds of kindness--took his leave and
returned to the city, leaving the mother and her children to make
themselves perfectly at home in Wizard Hall.