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Jed, The Poorhouse Boy
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2515 | "But your situation ." | |
2516 | "I haven't any." | |
2517 | "Perhaps you will meet another boy from the country." | |
2518 | "I treated you awful mean -- I know I did," burst out Graham, "and I've been very sorry for it. I've often wished that I had left you five dollars." | |
2519 | "Well, that would have helped me. But don't you think it would have been better to have left me the whole?" | |
2520 | "Yes, it would; but I am very unlucky." | |
2521 | "I am afraid you don't deserve good luck. Isn't there anything you can do?" | |
2522 | "Yes." | |
2523 | "Can't you find another broker to take you in his office?" | |
2524 | "I never was in a broker's office," confessed Graham. | |
2525 | "What was your business, then? I suppose you had some way of making a living?" | |
2526 | "I am a barber by trade, but I got tired of the confinement, and so I thought I'd become a sport. I started out with a hundred dollars which it took me a year to save up, and I got rid of it in two weeks. Then I fell in with you." | |
2527 | "And with my thirty-five dollars." | |
2528 | "Yes." | |
2529 | "The best thing you can do is to go back to your business." | |
2530 | "I would if I could." | |
2531 | "Why can't you?" | |
2532 | "Because my razors are in hock." | |
2533 | It is the custom of journeymen barbers to supply their own razors and a pair of shears for hair-cutting. | |
2534 | "I suppose that means in pawn?" | |
2535 | "Yes." | |
2536 | "When can you get a place if you get your razors back?" | |
2537 | "I can go to work to-morrow." | |
2538 | "What sum will get them out?" | |
2539 | "Four dollars and a half." | |
2540 | "Where are they?" | |
2541 | "In a pawnshop on the Bowery." | |
2542 | "Come with me and I will get them out for you if you will promise to go to work." | |
2543 | "I will," answered Graham earnestly. "I'll give you my word I will." | |
2544 | "Come back on the next boat, then, and I will go with you to the pawnshop." | |
2545 | "It will take up your time. You don't mean to give me in charge when we reach New York?" said Graham apprehensively. | |
2546 | "No; I am willing to give you a fresh chance. I hope you will improve it." | |
2547 | Jed took out his watch to note the time. | |
2548 | "Is that watch yours? It's a beauty," said Graham. | |
2549 | "Yes; it came from Tiffany's." | |
2550 | "Did you have it when I met you?" | |
2551 | "No; if I had, that would have gone the same way as the money." | |
2552 | "You must be awfully lucky!" | |
2553 | "I suppose I have been. At any rate I have been honest" | |
2554 | "Honesty seems to pay. I must try it." | |
2555 | "I advise you to," said Jed, smiling. | |
2556 | When Jed parted from Graham it occurred to him that he would call on Mrs. Gately. She had provided him with a breakfast when he needed one, and seemed kindly disposed towards him. | |
2557 | When he rang the bell of the small house on Twenty-Seventh Street, Mrs. Gately herself came to the door. | |
2558 | "Did you wish to see me, sir?" | |
2559 | "You don't remember me, Mrs. Gately?" | |
2560 | The old lady peered through her glasses. | |
2561 | "Why bless me!" she said, "if it isn't the young man from the country. But you're dressed so fine I hardly knew you. I hope you're prosperin'." | |
2562 | "Yes, thank you, Mrs. Gately. I have been quite lucky, but I was pretty low in spirits as well as in pockets when I left you." | |
2563 | "Why, you're lookin' fine. Won't you stay for supper? Luella Dickinson will be home soon -- she that tends at Macy's. I've often spoken to her about you. Luella's very romantic." | |
2564 | "I am not, Mrs. Gately, and I'm afraid I can't stop. I must be on board my yacht in an hour." | |
2565 | "Your yacht! Bless me, you don't mean to say you've got a yacht?" | |
2566 | "Well, it belongs to a friend, but we enjoy it together." | |
2567 | "Have you seen the bad young man who robbed you?" | |
2568 | "Yes; I saw him this afternoon." | |
2569 | "You don't say! Did you have him arrested?" | |
2570 | "No; I helped him get some things out of pawn." | |
2571 | "That's a real Christian act, but I don't think I'd have done it. You deserve to prosper. I wish you could stay and meet Luella." | |
2572 | "Some other time, Mrs. Gately." | |
2573 | At supper the landlady told Miss Dickinson of Jed's call. Luella expressed great regret that she had not seen him. | |
2574 | "I should fall in love with Mr. Gilman, I know I would," she said. "Why didn't you ask him to call at Macy's?" | |
2575 | "I will when I see him again." | |
2576 |
CHAPTER XXXII. | |
2577 | ABOUT eleven o'clock one forenoon the yacht Juno came to anchor in the harbor of Mount Desert. | |
2578 | Jed gazed admiringly at the rugged shores, the picturesque village, the background of hills, the smaller islands surrounding the main island, like the satellites of a larger planet. | |
2579 | "It is beautiful!" he said. "I never dreamed of such a place." | |
2580 | "Yes," said Roper, "it is by far the most attractive island on the American coast I think we shall find it pleasant to stay here for a time." | |
2581 | "I shall enjoy it at any rate," said Jed, "Where shall we stay?" | |
2582 | "I generally go to the Newport. It is one of the smaller hotels, but its location is excellent, being very near the water. Besides, I am expecting my aunt, Mrs. Frost, to arrive in a few days. She always goes to the Newport, and has the same room every year. There is the hotel yonder." | |
2583 | Mr. Roper pointed out a pleasant but unpretentious hostelry on the left of the pier. | |
2584 | "The large house farther up the hill is Rodick's," he said. "Rodick is an old name at Mount Desert, and the island just across from the wharf, separated by a bar, was once called Rodick's island." |