Andy Grant's Pluck. Alger Horatio Jr.

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СКАЧАТЬ thinks a good deal more of you than she does of me."

      "Girls don't generally appreciate their brothers, I believe. If I had a sister, I presume she would like you better than me."

      Roland dropped Andy at his father's gate.

      It may be said here that Mr. Grant owned a farm of fifty acres, that yielded him a comfortable living when supplemented by the interest on three thousand dollars invested in government bonds. On the farm was a house of moderate size which had always been a pleasant home to Andy and his little brother Robert, generally called Robbie.

      Andy opened the gate and walked up to the front door, valise in hand.

      The house and everything about it seemed just as it did when he left at the beginning of the school term. But Andy looked at them with different eyes.

      Then he had been in good spirits, eager to return to his school work.

      Now something had happened, he did not yet know what.

      Mrs. Grant was in the back part of the house, and Andy was in the sitting room before she was fully aware of his presence. Then she came in from the kitchen, where she was preparing supper.

      Her face seemed careworn, but there was a smile upon it as she greeted her son.

      "Then you got my telegram?" she said. "I didn't think you would be here so soon."

      "I started at once, mother, for I felt anxious. What has happened? Are you all well?"

      "Yes, thank God, we are in fair health, but we have met with misfortune."

      "What is it?"

      "Nathan Lawrence, cashier of the bank in Benton, has disappeared with twenty thousand dollars of the bank's money."

      "What has that to do with father? He hasn't much money in that bank."

      "Your father is on Mr. Lawrence's bond to the amount of six thousand dollars."

      "I see," answered Andy, gravely, "How much will he lose?"

      "The whole of it."

      This, then, was what had happened. To a man in moderate circumstances, it must needs be a heavy blow.

      "I suppose it will make a great difference?" said Andy, inquiringly.

      "You can judge. Your father's property consists of this farm and three thousand dollars in government bonds. It will be necessary to sacrifice the bonds and place a mortgage of three thousand dollars on the farm."

      "How much is the farm worth?"

      "Not over six thousand dollars."

      "Then father's property is nearly all swept away."

      "Yes," said his mother, sadly. "Hereafter he will receive no help from outside interest, and will, besides, have to pay interest on a mortgage of three thousand dollars, at six per cent."

      "One hundred and eighty dollars."

      "Yes."

      "Altogether, then, it will diminish our income by rather more than three hundred dollars."

      "Yes, Andy."

      "That is about what my education has been costing father," said Andy, in a low voice.

      He began to see how this misfortune was going to affect him.

      "I am afraid," faltered Mrs. Grant, "that you will have to leave school."

      "Of course I must," said Andy, speaking with a cheerfulness which he did not feel. "And in place of going to college I must see how I can help father bear this burden."

      "It will be very hard upon you, Andy," said his mother, in a tone of sympathy.

      "I shall be sorry, of course, mother; but there are plenty of boys who don't go to college. I shall be no worse off than they."

      "I am glad you bear the disappointment so well, Andy. It is of you your father and I have thought chiefly since the blow fell upon us."

      "Who will advance father the money on mortgage, mother?"

      "Squire Carter has expressed a willingness to do so. He will be here this evening to talk it over."

      "I am sorry for that, mother. He is a hard man. If there is a chance to take advantage of father, he won't hesitate to do it."

      CHAPTER II.

      SQUIRE CARTER

      When Mr. Grant entered the room, he seemed to Andy to have grown five years older. His face was sad, and he had lost the brisk, cheerful manner which was habitual to him.

      "Has your mother told you?" he asked.

      "Yes, father." Then he added with indignation: "What a wicked man Mr.

      Lawrence must be!"

      "I suppose he was tempted," said Mr. Grant, slowly. "Here is a note I received from him this morning."

      Andy took the envelope from his father's hand, and, opening it, read the following lines:

      "OLD FRIEND: Perhaps by the time you receive this letter you will have heard of the wrong I have done you and yours, and the loss I have brought upon you. It is to me a source of the greatest sorrow, for I fear you will never recover from it. I am just ready to go away. I cannot stay here to receive punishment, for it would tie my hands, and prevent my making reparation, as I hope some day to do. Why did I go wrong? I can't explain, except that it was infatuation. In a moment of madness I took some of the funds of the bank and risked them in Wall Street. I lost and went in deeper, hoping to be more fortunate and replace the stolen money. That is the way such things usually happen.

      "I can say no more, except that it will be my earnest effort to give you back the money you will lose by me. It may take years, but I hope we both shall live long enough for me to do it.

"NATHAN LAWRENCE."

      Andy read this letter in silence and gave it back to his father.

      "Do you believe he is sincere?" he asked.

      "Yes; he has many good points, and I believe he really feels attached to me."

      "He has taken a strange way to show it."

      "He was weak, and yielded to temptation. There are many like him."

      "Do you believe he will ever be able to make up the loss?"

      "I don't know. He is a man of fine business talent, and may be able in time to do something, but his defalcation amounts to twenty thousand dollars."

      "We must try to make the best of it, father. You have been spending three hundred dollars a year for me, besides the expense of my clothes. If that is saved, it will make up your loss of income."

      "But, my dear boy, I don't like to sacrifice your prospects."

      "It won't be sacrificing them," said Andy, with forced cheerfulness. "It will only change them. Of course, I must give up the thought of a college education, but I may make СКАЧАТЬ