Alger Horatio Jr.
Herbert Carter's Legacy; Or, the Inventor's Son
CHAPTER XXXIV
HERBERT’S LEGACY
The weeks slipped rapidly away. Herbert succeeded in maintaining himself at his new business, and never failed to have ready the four dollars which he had agreed to pay for board. It was lucky he did, for he soon found that there would be no chance of borrowing from his roommate. Cornelius was always hard up. As he only paid a dollar more board than Herbert, the latter wondered what he did with his twenty dollars a week. But the fact was, Mr. Dixon at present received but half that sum, though pride induced him to represent otherwise. And what, I ask, are ten dollars a week to a young man of fashionable tastes? No wonder he was always short of funds. How could it be otherwise?
Of course it was satisfactory to Herbert to feel that he was paying his way. But still he had a source of anxiety. He felt that he ought—indeed, it was absolutely necessary—to contribute to his mother’s support. Moreover, the dreaded day on which the semi-annual interest came due was now close at hand. So far as he could judge, his mother would have nothing to meet it. It seemed inevitable that she should submit to the squire’s demand, and sacrifice the house. It was a sad thing to think of, yet there was this consolation: the three or four hundred dollars cash which the squire would pay would tide over the next year or two, until Herbert was older and could earn more.
But, after all, was it certain that he would earn more? Could he sell more papers two years hence than now? That was hardly likely. If he wanted to advance his income, it must be in some other business. Yet, to a boy situated as he was, there was little chance of getting any employment that would make as good immediate returns as selling papers.
So, thinking over these things, our hero was much perplexed, and could see no way out of the difficulty. He had never read “David Copperfield,” and had not accustomed himself to expecting something to turn up. He was sensible enough, indeed, to know that it is idle to wait for such chances. Yet, when one does his duty faithfully, things will occasionally turn up, and this was precisely what happened to Herbert.
He was standing at his accustomed post one day, when a pleasant-looking gentleman of fifty, or perhaps a little more, accosted him, inquiring for a particular morning paper.
“I haven’t got it, sir; but I will get you one,” said Herbert.
“Will you be long?”
“No, sir; I know where I can get one at once.”
“Very well, then, I will wait here till you return.”
Herbert was as good as his word. As the gentleman paid him, he asked, pleasantly: “How is business, my young friend?”
“Pretty good, sir.”
“Can you make money enough to support yourself?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then I suppose you are contented?”
“I should be, sir, if I had only myself to look after.”
“You haven’t a wife and family, I presume,” said the gentleman, smiling.
Herbert laughed.
“I hope not yet, sir,” he answered. “But I have a mother whom I ought to assist.”
“And you cannot?”
“I have not been able to yet. It takes all I can earn to pay my own expenses.”
“Does your mother live in the city?”
“No, sir; in the town of Wrayburn, fifty or sixty miles from here.”
“Wrayburn?” repeated the gentleman, in surprise.
“Yes, sir; it is a small village. I dare say you never heard of it.”
“But I have heard of it. My son passed a few weeks there during the last summer.”
It was Herbert’s turn to be surprised. He examined the gentleman’s face attentively, and it dawned upon him who he was.
“Are you Mr. Cameron?” he asked.
“How is it that you know me?” inquired the other.
“My name is Herbert Carter. I was employed to read to your son. Have you heard from him?”
“We are expecting a letter daily, but the distance is considerable, and we may have to wait for some time yet. So you are Herbert Carter?”
“Yes, sir.”
“My son was very much interested in you. He has spoken often of you.”
“He was very kind to me.”
“Your father was an inventor.”
“That was not his business, but he devoted his leisure to invention.”
“My son placed in my hands, for examination, a model of his, just before he went away.”
“Have you examined it? What do you think of it, sir?” asked Herbert, eagerly.
“I only recently returned from Europe, and have not thoroughly examined it. So far as I have done so, I am inclined to think favorably of it.”
Herbert’s heart bounded with hope.
“Do you think we can get anything for it?” he asked.
“I think you can. Indeed, if further examination bears out my first favorable impressions, I will myself make you an offer for it.”
“I should be so glad, for mother’s sake!” exclaimed Herbert.
“My young friend,” said Mr. Cameron, “I like your feeling toward your mother. I sincerely hope I may be able to make you a satisfactory offer. By the way, how are you situated? Can you leave the city this afternoon?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then come home with me. You shall be my guest for a week. During that time we will examine and decide about the model.”
“Thank you, sir; you are very kind,” said Herbert, hesitating.
“What makes you hesitate?”
“I am afraid I don’t look fit to visit a gentleman’s family.”
“Oh, never mind that,” said Mr. Cameron, heartily. “We are plain people, and don’t value fine dress.”
“Will there be time for me to go home first?”
“Yes; you can meet me two hours hence at the St. Nicholas Hotel. I occupy Room 121. On second thoughts, you may as well wait for me in the reading room.”
“All right, sir.”
Herbert hurried home, arrayed himself in clean clothes, put up a small bundle of necessary articles, and in an hour and a half was at the hotel awaiting Mr. Cameron. He left a note for Cornelius Dixon, explaining that he was called out of the city for a few days, but would write soon. He did not enter into details, for he was not at all certain that things would turn out as he hoped.
Mr. Cameron lived in a substantial country house, with a fine garden attached. Nothing was wanting of comfort in his hospitable home, but he avoided show and ostentation. To Herbert was assigned a large, well-furnished chamber, the best he had ever occupied, and he was made to feel at home. The next day he accompanied Mr. Cameron to the manufactory, which he found to be a scene of busy industry, employing three hundred hands.
“I shall be busy to-day; but to-night I will look at your father’s model,” said the manufacturer. “Probably it will be three or four days before I can come to any decision.”
Herbert passed his time pleasantly for the next three or four days. Yet he could not avoid feeling anxious. Interest day was close at hand, and his hopes might end in failure.
On the fourth day Mr. Cameron said to him: “Well, Herbert, I have made up my mind about your father’s invention.”
Herbert’s suspense was great. His heart almost stopped beating.
The manufacturer went on:
“I consider it practicable, and am disposed to make you an offer for it. Are you authorized to conclude terms?”
“My mother will agree to anything I propose, sir.”
“Then this is my offer. The model must be patented at once. I will see to that. Then make over to me half the invention, and I will agree to pay you and your mother one thousand dollars a year for the next ten years.”
“Are you in earnest?” gasped Herbert.
“Entirely so,” said Mr. Cameron. “Will that satisfy you?”
“I would have accepted a quarter of the sum you offer, sir.”
“Better not tell me that,” said Mr. Cameron, smiling. “I might take advantage of it. Will you consider it a bargain, then?”
“Oh, how happy my mother will be!” said Herbert.
“Don’t you want to go home, and carry the news?”
“I should like to very much.”
Then his countenance changed. Two days hence, as he reflected, the interest would be payable. Must they lose the house, after all? If only he had a small part of the money, it would make matters all right.
“Does anything trouble you?” asked the manufacturer, noticing the sudden change in his countenance.
Upon this Herbert told him exactly how they were situated in regard to the house, and in what danger they were of losing it.
“If it’s nothing worse that that,” said Mr. Cameron, I cheerfully, “you needn’t feel anxious. I will advance you; a hundred dollars on account of the contract, and you shall give me a receipt for it.”
Herbert’s face cleared instantly, and he was warm in his gratitude.
The next morning he started for home.
After all, the little model which his father left behind, had proved to be his most valuable legacy.
CHAPTER XXXV
HERBERT’S RETURN
Mrs. Carter was setting the table for her solitary supper. She had been very lonely since Herbert went away. The days seemed doubly long. Most of all she missed him at mealtime. He kept her informed of all that was going on in the village, and when there was no news to tell he talked over their plans for the future. Life seemed very dull and monotonous without him. Yet the poor mother always wrote cheerfully, for she did not want to damp his courage, or interfere with the plan of life he had formed. She felt that there was nothing for him to do in Wrayburn, and, since she could not go to him, they must be content to live apart for the present.
“I wish I could see my boy,” she sighed, as she poured out her solitary cup of tea, and tried to force down a few mouthfuls of toast. “Shall we ever be able to live together again?”
There was a noise at the outer door, a quick step was heard, and Herbert rushed in, nearly upsetting the table in his impetuosity, as he embraced his mother.
“Are you glad to see me, mother?” he asked.
“You don’t know how I have longed to see you!” was the heartfelt reply.
She did not ask what brought him home, nor care to ask just yet. She was too happy in having him back.
“You don’t ask for my news, mother,” said Herbert, after a pause.
“Is it good news?” she asked, wistfully.
“Suppose I should tell you that Mr. Cameron’s father has agreed to pay two hundred dollars for father’s model!”
“Has he, really?” asked Mrs. Carter, her face lighting up.
“He has bought it, that is, half of it; but he is to pay more than that.”
“More than two hundred dollars, Herbert?”
“More than three hundred. What do you think of that?”
“Are you in earnest, Herbert?”
“Quite in earnest, mother; only it is better than a dream. You mustn’t be too much excited, mother, when you hear the whole. I will only say that we shan’t have to pinch any more, or lie awake thinking how to ward off starvation.”
“And can we be together again, Herbert? You don’t know how lonely it is without you.”
“Poor mother! How lonesome it must have been! Yes; we can be together again, if you think a thousand dollars a year will pay our expenses.”
“A thousand dollars a year!” exclaimed Mrs. Carter, thinking that Herbert was bereft of his senses. “It can’t be that your father’s invention is worth as much as that?”
“Mr. Cameron has offered that for half the invention, and I have agreed to sell to him. I supposed you would not object.”
“Object? I did not dream of getting one-tenth as much. It seems to me like a dream.”
“It is a happy dream, mother, and a true one. Father little thought what a handsome legacy he was leaving us when he left us that model.”
“How happy it would have made him had he known it before he died! Tell me how it all happened.”
So Herbert had to tell his mother about his fortunate meeting with Mr. Cameron, and what resulted from it.
“Mr. Cameron is a very honorable man,” he concluded, “for he might easily have offered one-quarter as much, and I should have agreed to it. Now, mother, let me tell you my plans for the future. In the first place, are you willing to leave Wrayburn?”
“I am willing to live anywhere if we are together.”
“Mr. Cameron proposed to me to accept a clerkship in his office, but for the present, I told him, I wished to make up the deficiencies in my education. In the town where he lives there is a flourishing academy. I propose that we move there, and I spend the next two years in study. We shall have a competent income, more than enough to support us, and so I can afford the time.”
“I fully approve of your proposal, Herbert. We may sometime lose our money, but a good education never.”
“I was sure you would agree with me.”
“Shall we have any difficulty in finding a house of suitable size?”
“I inquired about that. There is a very pretty cottage just vacated, not far from the academy. I find we can have it at a moderate rent. I have already got the refusal of it, and will write at once that we will hire it.”
“And what shall we do with this house?”
“We won’t sell it to Squire Leech at a sacrifice. That is one thing certain. By the way, day after to-morrow is the day for paying the interest.”
“Yes; I have been troubling myself about it.”
“There is no occasion; I have a hundred dollars in my pocket, given me on account by Mr. Cameron. So the squire is checkmated. But, mother, I have a favor to ask of you.”
“What is that?”
“For two days keep secret our good fortune.”
“Why, Herbert?”
“I want the squire to be deceived—to think the place is in his grasp, and realize that there is many a slip between the cup and the lip.”
“What shall I say to the neighbors if they ask why you have got home?”
“Say that I am not going back to New York—that I couldn’t earn enough there to save anything.”
“I will do as you think best, Herbert; but I am afraid that my joy at the good news you have brought will betray me.”
“It will be attributed to your joy in having me back. We’ll keep things secret for a day or two—that’s all.”
After supper Herbert walked out. He was popular in the village, and received many cordial greetings. To the inevitable inquiries he replied as he had suggested to his mother.
Presently he met James Leech. He smiled to himself as he saw James advancing to meet him, but assumed a sober, downcast look.
“Hello, Carter! Have you got back?” said James.
“Yes.”
“Got tired of New York?”
“I should like New York well enough, if I could make enough money there.”
“Then you’re not going back?” asked James, in a tone of satisfaction.
“Not at present.”
“I thought you’d be coming back,” said James, in a tone of triumph.
“What made you think so?”
“I knew you couldn’t get along there.”
“I supported myself while I was there.”
“But you didn’t make anything over?”
“No.”
“Then you might as well be back.”
“I don’t know. I am not sure of doing that in Wrayburn.”
“I don’t think I shall stay in Wrayburn long. Father talks of moving to New York,” said James, in a burst of confidence. “What do you expect to do here?”
“Do you think your father would give me work?” asked Herbert, demurely.
“I don’t know. He might, if you agreed to sell the house.”
“We may, if we can get enough for it.”
“You’ll have to, anyway. You must be very poor.”
“We’ve got a little money.”
“Well, I’ll mention your case to father. I’m sorry for you, but I knew beforehand you wouldn’t succeed in New York.”
Herbert smiled quietly as James walked away.
“He’ll be astonished when he hears the truth,” thought he.
CHAPTER XXXVI
CONCLUSION
James repeated to his father what Herbert had told him, and the squire jumped to the conclusion that Herbert and his mother were in his power, and must accede to his demand. He decided to take advantage of their necessities, and allow only three hundred dollars for the house.
He entered the little house with the air of a proprietor.
“I suppose you know my errand, Mrs. Carter,” he said pompously.
“I believe this is interest day,” returned the widow.
“Yes. I presume you have by this time seen the folly of holding on to the place. You can’t afford it, and it is best to accept my offer.”
“My mother and I have thought it over, and decided to sell,” said Herbert.
“I am glad you are so sensible,” observed Squire Leech, in a tone of satisfaction. “I will give you three hundred dollars over and above the mortgage.”
“You offered us fifty dollars more before.”
“Then is not now. You should have accepted my offer when I made it.”
“We have no idea of selling at that price,” said Herbert. “Our lowest price is six hundred and fifty dollars over and above the mortgage.”
“Are you crazy?” ejaculated the squire, angrily.
“No; we have fixed upon that as a fair price,” said Herbert, coolly.
“You know you can’t get it.”
“Then we won’t sell.”
“Young man, I apprehend you do not understand how the matter stands. You will have to sell.”
“Why must we?”
“You can’t live on nothing.”
“Of course not.”
“You have made a failure in New York.”
“I made my expenses while I was there.”
“Then why didn’t you stay?”
“I wanted to do something for mother’s support.”
“You have altogether too high an idea of your own abilities.”
“I hope not, sir.”
“You influence your mother to her harm.”
“I don’t think so, Squire Leech.”
“But in this case you must yield. You can’t expect me to wait for my money.”
“Do you mean the interest?”
“Of course I do.”
“We shall not ask you to wait. I am ready to pay it.”
The squire stared in discomfiture while Herbert drew out the precise sum needed to pay the interest.
“Where did you get that money?” he inquired, chop-fallen.
“Honestly, Squire Leech. Will you give me a receipt?”
The squire did so mechanically.
“I will give you the three hundred and fifty dollars,” he said; “but you must accept it to-day, or it is withdrawn.”
“Neither to-day nor any other day will it be accepted, Squire Leech,” said Herbert, firmly. “If you choose to pay six hundred and fifty, we will sell.”
“You must think I am crazy.”
“No, sir; it is a fair offer. If you don’t want to buy, we will make another offer. We will rent the house for ninety dollars a year. That is the interest on fifteen hundred dollars at six per cent. I believe a man in your employ wishes to live here.”
“Where do you propose to live?” asked Squire Leech, in surprise.
“We are going to leave town.”
“Have you got a chance to work outside?”
“Yes; but I have declined to. I am going to school for two years—to an academy.”
“But how are you going to live all this time?” inquired the squire, in amazement.
“I shall live on my income,” answered Herbert, smiling.
“Income! Have you had a legacy?”
“Yes.”
“From whom? I thought you only got a trunk of old clothes from your uncle.”
“My legacy comes from my father.”
“But he died poor.”
“He left behind him an invention, half of which we have sold for an income of a thousand dollars a year.”
“A thousand a year!” ejaculated the squire.
“Yes. I have sold it to the father of Mr. Cameron, who employed me last summer. You see, there is no occasion for our selling the house.”
“You have been very fortunate,” said Squire Leech, soberly. “I congratulate you both.”
“Thank you,” said Herbert, who privately thought their visitor looked excessively annoyed at their good fortune.
“I will see you about the house,” he said, as he rose to go.
“Well, the squire congratulated us,” said Herbert, after he went away; “but he didn’t look happy when he did so. I shouldn’t wonder if he accepted our terms, now that he knows we needn’t sell.”
Herbert proved to be right. Two days later the squire offered six hundred dollars over the mortgage for the place, and it was accepted.
“The place is worth more, mother,” he said; “but it will relieve us from care to sell it.”
James was even more annoyed than his father when he heard of Herbert’s good fortune; but after his first annoyance he showed a disposition to be friendly. It is the way of the world. Nothing makes us sought after like a little good fortune. James felt that, now Herbert was in a position to live without work, he was a gentleman, and to be treated accordingly. Herbert received his overtures politely, but rated them at their real value.
Two years slipped away.
Herbert has finished his course at the academy, and is about to enter the manufactory as an office clerk. Mr. Cameron means to promote him as he merits, and I should not be at all surprised if our young friend eventually became junior partner. He and his mother have bought the house into which they moved, and have done not a little to convert it into a tasteful home. The invention has proved all that Mr. Cameron hoped for it. It has been widely introduced, and Herbert realizes as much from his own half as Mr. Cameron agreed to pay for that which he purchased. So his father’s invention has proved to be Herbert Carter’s most valuable legacy.
Squire Leech has been unfortunate. Too late he found, that Andrew Temple had deceived and defrauded him. All his large property, except a few thousand dollars, has been swept away, and James, disappointed in his lofty hopes, last week applied to Herbert to use his influence to obtain him a situation in Mr. Cameron’s establishment. There was no vacancy there, but our hero has found him a place in a dry-goods store in the same town. Whether he will keep it remains to be seen. Times have changed since James looked upon Herbert as far beneath him. Now he is glad to be acknowledged as his companion. If James profits by his altered circumstances, the loss of his father’s property may not prove so much of a misfortune after all, for wealth is far from being the greatest earthly good. For our young friend Herbert we may confidently indulge in cheerful anticipations. He has undergone the discipline of poverty and privation, and prosperity is not likely to spoil him. He has done his duty under difficult circumstances, and now he reaps the reward.
