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Two Boys and a Fortune

M >> Matthew White, Jr. >> Two Boys and a Fortune




"Where is he?" asked Rex.

"Lying down on the bed. He is utterly exhausted. I must go back to him
now," and Miles hurried off again.

CHAPTER XXXIV

REX RISES TO THE OCCASION

"It's wonderful. I never heard anything like it." This was Mrs. Fox's
exclamation when the four were left alone in the front room again.

"All the credit belongs to you, Mr. Pell," she went on, turning to
Sydney. "It was you thought of this way of doing things."

"Oh, he might have recognized him any other way just as quickly,"
returned Sydney. "And now some one must tell him about Mr. Tyler's
legacy," he added. "I want to get that off my mind."

"I guess he can't stand that to-night, Mr. Pell," returned the old
lady. "You'd better leave it till tomorrow. I'll keep Miles here with
him to-night-- there's room-- and then they can both go to see you
to-morrow."

"Yes, that will be the best way," Sydney agreed. "But I had hoped to
get it off my mind by this time. Come, boys."

"I trust I shall see you both again," said Mrs. Fox, as she shook
hands with the twins.

Then the three Pells went out and homeward. It was only nine o'clock.

"Mother ought to know, don't you think so, Syd?" said Roy.

"Yes, she must know to-night. But I don't see how I can tell her. I
don't see how I can. She trusts me so fully."

"Then let me tell her," suggested Roy.

"No, no. I must confess myself. I shall do it now as soon as we get
home. Then I can be ready to put myself in Mr. Darley's hands
to-morrow."

"Do you think he will-- will--" Rex began and came to a sudden stop.

"Send me to jail?" Syd finished for him. "He may. He has a right to do
it. I deserve to go. Oh, boys, I wonder how you can bear to be with
me."

"You did it for our sakes, Syd," responded Roy.

But Rex said nothing.

When they reached the house they found Eva and Jess in the parlor,
entertaining company.

"Come in, boys," Eva called as they passed the door.

Roy and Rex obeyed the summons, leaving Sydney to go up to Mrs. Pell
in the library.

They found Mr. Keeler to be the caller. Rex started when he saw who it
was.

"Why, where is Miles?" asked Jess.

"He stayed with his father," replied Rex.

"His father!" echoed both girls. "Why, has he found him?"

"Yes," answered Roy, "Syd found him. There's a story for you, Mr.
Keeler, a regular romance."

Rex began to look nervous. He feared that his escapade with Harrington
was about to be related. But Roy skillfully told the main points in
Miles's career without encroaching on this.

Mr. Keeler stayed until ten o'clock, and while they were talking and
laughing in the parlor, the twins were thinking of what was going on
in the room above.

When they went to kiss their mother good night they saw that she knew.
The girls exclaimed at once at sight of her face.

"You are ill," cried Eva.

"No, Eva," rejoined Mrs. Pell, "it is worse than illness."

The tears welled up in her eyes. She could say no more.

Sydney was not with her, neither was he in his room. The girls were
clamorous to know what was the matter.

"Tell them, Roy, I can't," Mrs. Pell at last found voice to say.

Rex could not stay to hear. And Roy never suffered as he did in the
few moments it took him to relate his foster brother's crime. It
seemed as though it were as cruel as to drive nails into the fair
flesh of the young girls. And yet they must know.

"How could he do it, how could he?" Eva murmured again and again.

"Perhaps he didn't," Jess suddenly exclaimed. "He's nothing to show
for it-- the second will, I mean. Perhaps there's something wrong with
his brain, and he only imagines there was one and he destroyed it."

But Roy shook his head. There was Ann to prove, if necessary, that she
had signed the other document.

For a long while they sat there. It seemed as if black despair had
settled upon them and there was no way out.

For years Mrs. Pell had leaned upon Sydney. In an emergency like the
present, he would be just the one to whom she would go for counsel.
And now-- he had failed her utterly.

"What did you say to him, mother?" asked Roy after a while. "Were--
were you kind to him?"

"I tried to be. I tried to remember that he had done all for our
sakes, but I feel like a ship without a rudder."

Roy left his seat near Eva and slipped into a chair next his mother,
who had bowed her head on the desk in front of her.

She had been writing a note to a charitable society of which she was a
member. The check she was to send them lay all signed, ready to be
inclosed.

"Moms," whispered Roy, using the pet name Rex had invented and
pressing one of his mother's hands tightly in his, "you have us. We
are growing fast. I am sure we shall get along."

"Bless you, my boy." His mother kissed him on the forehead, then
lifted her eyes reverently, as she added: "Yes, and I must not forget
that there is One who is always a friend to the needy. And now,
children, we must go to bed. To-morrow we will decide what to do."

Roy stopped at Rex's door, went in and found his brother tossing in
bed.

"Have you told the girls?" he asked.

"Yes."

"How did they take it?"

"Better than I expected they would."

"But what are we going to do, Roy?" Rex went on. "We can't stay here."

"No, of course not."

"But what will people say? Won't there be a terrible scandal?"

"You mustn't talk that way, Rex. Remember that you and I are the ones
mother must depend on now. If she sees us looking on the dark side
it'll make it so much the harder for her."

"That's it," returned Rex. "Life is something you must go ahead with.
You can't lay it down when you get tired. All right; I'll remember
what you say, Roy, but it's an awful come down."

Rex, however, "came up to the scratch," as he himself would have
expressed it, nobly the next day.

Nobody went to church, and about half past eleven the door bell rang
and "Mr. Darley and son" were announced.

Miles, as we shall continue to call him, sent up word to know if he
could come up to Rex's room.

"Do you know?" asked Reginald, as he met him in the doorway.

"Yes; Mr. Sydney came around to us this morning. I can't understand
it. But I don't want you to feel--"

Miles hesitated. It was very embarrassing for him to express just what
he wanted to say. Rex helped him out.

"I'm awfully glad for you, old fellow," he said heartily. "And I don't
want you to worry about us. We'll get along some way."

"But that won't do," Miles persisted. "If it hadn't been for you I
might have been a common tramp now and never found my father."

"And if it hadn't been for you I would probably have been dead long
ago," Rex retorted. "So you see we're quits."

"No, we're not, and I don't want that we should, till I give you what
I think you ought to have. Father says I may and--"

"Miles Harding-- Darley, I mean, if you do that I'll-- I'll never
speak to you again. There, take your choice-- quits or my friendship."

Rex's pride conquered. Miles was still his slave.

"I'll never say another word about it, Rex," he replied meekly, and
for the first time Reginald felt that he could face poverty bravely.

CHAPTER XXXV

A FISTIC ENCOUNTER

It is summer again, but in Batemans the town in which we now find our
friends, the Pells, this banner season of the year, does not deck
itself with all the attractions that caused it to be eagerly looked
forward to in Marley.

There are no creek, no hills, no trees, nothing but board walks, board
houses, board fences, and the "boarders we take," as Rex would
conclude the sentence. And these are the same in summer as they are in
winter, except that they are all hotter and more unpleasant than
ordinary.

Batemans is a far Western town. A friend of Mrs. Pell's was putting up
a hotel there at the time of her trouble. He had appealed to her for
some woman to run it.

"I don't want a man," he wrote. "There are too many men out here now.
I want somebody who will give home comforts which I want to make a
speciality of, in place of a bar."

Mrs. Pell considered it a providential opportunity. She replied
stating that she would take it herself if she could have her children
to help her. And they had gone out there in February.

Mr. Darley had been kindness itself. He not only refused to prosecute
Sydney, but wanted to settle a portion of his fortune on the Pells.

"You are fully entitled to this," he said. "It is through you that my
boy has been restored to me."

But Mrs. Pell was firm as Rex had been firm.

"It is enough that you allow us the time in which to make our plans,"
she returned.

Rex never murmured at the prospect of Batemans. Not even when the
dreary aspect of the place, with mud two feet deep in its streets,
first dawned upon him. He felt that he ought to rejoice rather that
his new lot was to be cast so far away from all his old friends.

There were no educational facilities in Batemans; at least none of
which the twins could avail themselves. Then they found plenty to do
in helping their mother.

Rex acted as clerk, made out the bills and received the guests; Roy
saw to the purchasing of supplies, and aided his brother in keeping
objectionable characters out of the house.

There were no amusements and no society except that which they
furnished themselves in the family circle, Roy often thought if he had
had this life to look forward to, his whole previous existence would
have been embittered. But now that he was living it, strength seemed
given him in some way to bear the burden.

Sydney had gone to England. They asked him to write and let them know
how he was getting along, but he would not promise.

Miles wrote regularly to Rex, even when the latter did not reply. He
and his father had moved into the handsome home next the Harringtons',
with Mrs. Fox as housekeeper.

"I wonder what people think of the thing," Rex said once to Roy.

There had been no publicity about the transfer. Only a few people knew
of it and the cause.

On this July day on which we are writing, it was unusually hot. The
heat seemed to be frying in the air. It was a day of all others on
which to keep quiet and calm.

But this was the day on which the waiters of the Homestead House had
chosen to go out on strike for an increase of wages which Mrs. Pell
was not empowered to give them. They threw down their aprons just
before the dinner hour at one o'clock.

"Never mind, mother," said Roy. "Rex and I will pitch in and help."

And they did, they and Eva and Jess. Rex was just carrying a tray of
dishes into the pantry when he heard a louder voice than usual coming
from one of the tables.

He looked around. He saw Jess, flushed to her hair, standing behind a
young man who had come in with one of the regular guests, and whom he
had not noticed before.

"Come now, I'll give you a nice tip if you'll do it for me," Rex heard
the fellow say.

He thought he recognized the voice. He put his tray down and hurried
to his sister's side.

She had started to walk away, but the man had caught her by the dress
and held her fast.

"He wants me to go to the saloon across the street and bring him a
bottle of beer," said Jess.

Rex stooped quickly and disengaged the fellow's hand with no gentle
touch. In doing so he looked him straight in the face. It was Ashby
Stout.

"Great Scott, it's little Pell," exclaimed Stout. Then he added
quickly: "Look here, youngster, what right have you to send that girl
away from here?"

"A brother's right," replied Rex promptly.

"Whew!" whistled Stout under his breath, and he turned to Driscoll,
the friend with whom he had come in. "Say, Sammy," he whispered, "what
position does this chap hold in the place?"

"He's the manager's son," was the reply.

Having accomplished his purpose Rex went on, took up his tray and
carried it into the pantry. His eyes still flashed from anger.

"Jess," he said, going up to his sister, "you must not go into that
dining room again."

"But I'll have to," she replied, "I've got lots of orders to fill."

"Never mind. I'll attend to yours and mine, too. I'm not going to have
that ruffian ogling you, I know who he is."

"You do? Who is he?"

"Never mind. It is enough that I know everything bad about him and
nothing good. Give me your orders."

And Jess complied. Of course this compelled Rex to wait on Stout. But
he gritted his teeth and went through with the process in dignified
silence, taking no notice of the attempt Stout made to draw him into
conversation.

When dinner was over and Rex was back in his place behind the desk,
making up accounts, Stout strolled in, a cigarette between his lips.

He affected to be examining the register for a little while, then
suddenly looked up to remark: "I say, Pell, that's a deuced pretty
sister of yours."

I won't say that Rex did right, I can't say that he did wrong, but on
the instant and without a word he leaned forward and hit J. Ashby
Stout a blow on the chin that sent him staggering backward over a
chair that stood just behind him.

There happened to be no one else in the office just at that moment. So
Mr. Stout was obliged to pick himself up, which he did, muttering
wrathfully under his breath, while Rex, very white, went on with his
work.

"If you're not a coward, sir, you'll come out here and give me
satisfaction for that insult, sir."

So spoke Mr. Stout. Rex closed his books and came out in front of the
desk.

"I allow no one to speak of my sister in that tone," he said.

"And I allow no one to strike me," blustered Mr. Stout, launching out
a blow directly at Rex's face.

Rex dodged and planted another blow on Mr. Stout's chin. Then they
both went at it. Sometimes one was struck, sometimes the other. I am
aware that this is contrary to all precedents in story writing.
Following out these, J. Ashby Stout should have gone down under the
first blow, and then been glad to slink off without risking another
encounter with the redoubtable hero.

But then as I think I have remarked once before, Rex is not the hero
of this story. He is a boy of very impulsive nature, as often wrong as
right in his motives. Perhaps he might have taken a wiser method of
standing up for his sister on the present occasion. Be this as it may,
he did not regret the black eye he went up to his room to bathe a
little while later.

And while the battle did not result in a decisive victory for either
side, it was noticeable that Mr. J. Ashby Stout did not again
accompany Driscoll to the Homestead. But some one else appeared the
next day to whom Rex found it necessary to explain how be came by his
battered visage.

CHAPTER XXXVI

MILES BREAKS THE NEWS

A compromise had been effected with the striking waiters, and the heat
had lessened a little in its intensity. The two things, together with
the nonappearance of Ashby Stout were blessings for which Rex had to
be grateful.

But when the stage came in and he recognized among the passengers
Miles Darley and the latter's father, he did not know whether he was
glad or not. They were links connecting him with that past life which
he was trying his best to forget. Now it seemed to him that only by
forgetting it and thus doing away with the power of contrast, could he
be happy in the present.

"You dear old fellow!" Miles rushed forward with this exclamation and
fairly took Rex in his arms.

He had grown much in the past few months and the clothes he wore set
off his figure to great advantage.

"I won't say where on earth did you come from," said Rex, "but where
in the world are you going to, that you should take in this forsaken
place?"

"Well, that's polite, I'm sure," laughed Miles, "Can't you imagine
that Batemans may be our objective point?"

"No, because I'm certain you can't be interested in saw mills, and
that's the only thing that brings people here."

"But I can be interested in you, can't I, Rex? I've missed you
terribly. That great house seems so lonely with only three of us in
it."

"But you needn't have stayed there in the summer. There's the White
Mountains or the sea coast-- lots of places you could have gone to."

"If we choose to come here instead, it's all right, isn't it, Rex?"

"Of course it is, old fellow, and now I see that the best way in which
I can entertain you is to tell you right off how I came by this black
eye," which Rex proceeded at once to do.

"Good for you, my little game cock!" exclaimed Miles, when he had
heard the story. "Speaking of Stout, your friend Harrington has tried
to scrape acquaintance with me, but he hasn't got beyond the scraping
stage yet. I wonder what Stout was doing out here."

"His father's in the lumber business, I believe. But I'm afraid you'll
find it pretty hot, Miles."

"Well, I've had so many cold days in my time I guess I can stand a
little heat."

Rex was not the only one of the Pells who was astonished by the advent
of the Darleys. Their coming was a complete surprise to the entire
family. And a still greater cause of astonishment was the prolongation
of their stay.

They rented two of the best rooms in the house, had awnings put up at
the windows and wicker furniture sent on from Denver. Mr. Darley took
frequent trips to neighboring towns. It was understood by the gossips
at Batemans that he was a large Eastern capitalist, looking about for
profitable mining investments.

July, August and half of September passed, and still the Darleys
remained. Miles was supremely content, for he was with Rex, for whom
his admiration appeared to increase with each day's added intimacy.
Miles had brought his books, and they studied together some. And in
spite of the forlornness of the place, the five young people managed
to have a pretty good time.

One afternoon Roy and Rex were washing the omnibus out at the stable.
The driver, hearing of a big strike that had been made at a mine some
sixty miles away, threw up his position at once and started off to try
to get rich at a hand stroke. And the boys were forced to throw
themselves into the breach until another man could be obtained in his
place.

This is the sort of thing they had trained themselves to expect since
coming to Batemans.

"Where's Miles?" asked Roy, as he brought a fresh pail of water and
set it down beside his brother.

"He was coming out but his father called him into his room."

"We'll miss them when they go, won't we, Reggie? It has been jolly
good fun to have Miles with us all summer. You ought to feel quite
proud to think you are a strong enough magnet to keep him here."

"I can't understand it at all, why they should have stayed," returned
Rex.

He did not speak very cheerfully. The Darleys were to leave the very
next week. It was impossible but that Rex should realize vividly to
what they were returning. He did not tell Roy so, but he wished they
had not come.

There was only one wheel of the omnibus to finish when Miles came
hurrying toward them. There was an expression on his face which
neither of the twins could comprehend. It was a blending of fear, joy
and stupefaction.

"Here, let me help," he said, as he came up. "I want you fellows to
hurry and get through. I've something to tell you."

But they had so nearly finished that there was nothing left for him to
undertake.

"What have you got to tell us?" asked Rex, throwing his sponge back
into the bucket.

"I wish I knew how you fellows would take it," returned Miles, a flush
creeping over his face.

"Try us and find out," rejoined Roy with a smile.

"I'm simply delighted myself," went on the other. "I wonder how I can
keep my two feet on the ground. It seems too good to be true."

"Then why are you in doubt how we'll take it," said Rex. "What pleases
you ought certainly to please us."

"But perhaps this won't. It's so-- so, unexpected and altogether
jolly."

"Well, Miles Darley, you are certainly the most incomprehensible
fellow this afternoon," exclaimed Roy. "What's it about?"

"Well, it's about the Pells and the Darleys," explained Miles, the
color still surging in his cheeks. "In union there is strength, you
know, and-- haven't you guessed it yet?"

"No, indeed, we haven't and just you tell us right out what it is
without any more fooling," and Rex made a playful dab at his friend
with the big sponge.

"All right, here goes then," and Miles drew in his breath. "Your
mother has told my father that she will be Mrs. Darley, and that makes
us brothers, Rex, don't you see, and we're all going back to
Philadelphia together-- well, don't you like it?"

Miles checked himself suddenly, for Roy and Rex stood staring at him
as if struck dumb, too amazed to allow any expression to appear on
their faces.

But it was all true; they were to have another test of fortune, and
though its bringing about seemed in some sense to deprive the boys of
their mother, they knew that not only was this not so, but that they
were to gain a father thereby. "And a brother, too, don't forget
that," Miles adds at my side.

THE END.

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