Hector's Inheritance Or the Boys of Smith Institute Part 34

"That's jolly!" exclaimed Guy, much pleased. "You're well rid of him, papa. Let him go away and make a living as he can. He'll have to turn newsboy, or something of that sort--perhaps he'll have to be a bootblack. Wouldn't that be a good come down for a boy like Hector?"

Guy spoke with great glee, but his father did not seem to enjoy his release as well as Guy. He showed that he understood the boy better when he said:

"Hector will not have to resort to any such employment. He has a good education, and he can get some decent position, probably. On the whole, I am sorry he is going to leave my protection, for friends of the family may, perhaps, blame me."

"But it isn't your fault, papa. He is taking his own course."

"To be sure. You are right there!"

Mr. Roscoe thought so much on the subject, however, that the next day he went to Smith Inst.i.tute to see Hector, without telling Guy where he was going.

Arrived there, he asked to see Mr. Smith.

The latter did not appear to be in a happy frame of mind.

"How do you do, Mr. Roscoe?" he said.

"Very well," answered Mr. Roscoe, briefly. "Mr. Smith, I wish to see my ward."

"I am sorry you cannot see him, Mr. Roscoe."

"Cannot see him! Why not?"

"Because he has left the inst.i.tute."

Allan Roscoe frowned.

"Why has he left?" he asked.

"He has left against my will. I think he has been influenced by an usher in my employ who has behaved very ungratefully. I took him, sir, when he was in danger of starving, and now he leaves me at a day's notice, after doing all he can to break up my school."

"I feel no particular interest in your usher," said Allan Roscoe, coldly. "I wish to obtain information about the boy I placed under your charge. Do you know where he has gone?"

"No; he did not tell me," answered the princ.i.p.al.

"You wrote me that he had been detected in stealing a wallet!"

"Yes," answered Socrates, embarra.s.sed. "Appearances were very much against him."

"Do you still think he took it?"

"I may have been mistaken," answered Mr. Smith, nervously, for he began to see that the course he had been pursuing was a very unwise one.

"Hector has written me, inclosing a statement signed by two of his schoolfellows, implicating your own nephew, and he charges that you made the charge against him out of partiality for the same."

"There is considerable prejudice against my nephew," said Socrates.

"And for very good reasons, I should judge," said Allan Roscoe, severely. "Hector describes him as an outrageous bully and tyrant. I am surprised, Mr. Smith, that you should have taken his part."

Now, Socrates had already had a stormy interview with his nephew. Though partial to Jim, and not caring whether or not he bullied the other boys, as soon as he came to see that Jim's presence was endangering the school, he reprimanded him severely. He cared more for himself--for number one--than for anyone else in the universe. He had been exceedingly disturbed by receiving letters from the fathers of Wilkins and Ben Platt, and two other fathers, giving notice that they should remove their sons at the end of the term, and demanding, in the meantime, that his nephew should be sent away forthwith.

And now Allan Roscoe, whom he had hoped would side with him, had also turned against him. Then he had lost the services of a competent usher, whom he got cheaper than he could secure any suitable successor, and, altogether, things seemed all going against him.

Moreover, Jim, who had been the occasion of all the trouble, had answered him impudently, and Socrates felt that he had been badly used.

As to his own agency in the matter, he did not give much thought to that.

"My nephew is going to leave the school, Mr. Roscoe," said Socrates, half-apologetically.

"I should think it was full time, Mr. Smith."

"Perhaps so," said Smith; "but if I have stood by him, it has been in ignorance. I cannot think him as wrong as your ward has probably represented. Hector was jealous of him."

"Of his scholars.h.i.+p, I presume?"

"Well, no," answered the princ.i.p.al, reluctantly, "but of his physical superiority, and--and influence in the school. I may say, in fact, Mr. Roscoe, that till your ward entered the school it was a happy and harmonious family. His coming stirred up strife and discontent, and I consider him primarily responsible for all the trouble that has occurred."

"I don't defend Hector Roscoe," said Allan, "but he writes me that your nephew was a bully, who imposed upon his schoolfellows, and that he, by taking their part and stopping this tyranny, incurred his ill-will and yours."

"I supposed I should be misrepresented," said Socrates, meekly. "I am devoted to my school and my pupils, Mr. Roscoe. I am wearing out my life in their service. I may make mistakes sometimes, but my heart--my heart, Mr. Roscoe," continued Socrates, tapping his waistcoat, "is right, and acquits me of any intentional injustice."

"I am glad to hear it, Mr. Smith," said Allan Roscoe, stiffly. "As Hector has left you, I have only to settle your bill, and bid you good-day."

"Will you not exert your influence to persuade the boy to return?"

pleaded Socrates.

"As I don't know where he is, I don't see how I can," said Allan Roscoe, dryly.

"That man is an arch hypocrite!" he said to himself, as he was returning home.

I may state here that at the end of the term half the pupils left Smith Inst.i.tute, and Socrates Smith lamented too late the folly that had made him and his school unpopular.

CHAPTER XXVI. HECTOR'S ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK.

Mr. Crabb and Hector were sitting side by side in a railroad car, speeding away from Smith Inst.i.tute. In the heart of each was a feeling of relief, which increased as each minute carried them farther away from the school.

"Hector," said the usher, looking younger and happier than his pupil had ever known him, "I feel like a free man now. It is a feeling that I have not had since I first set foot in Smith Inst.i.tute."

"I think you will lead a happier life in New York, Mr. Crabb."

"I am sure of it. Thanks to your considerate kindness, I shall for the first time earn an ample salary, and even be able to lay up money. Is my future pupil about your age?"

"He is a year younger."

"Where did you make his acquaintance?"