CHAPTER XXIII
AN EXPLANATION
It would be hard to tell which of the two was the more surprised at the meeting, Philip or Mr. Carter.
“I don’t understand how Mr. Pitkin came to hear of my return. I didn’t telegraph,” said the old gentleman.
“I don’t think he knows anything about it,” said Phil.
“Didn’t he send you to the pier?”
“No, sir.”
“Then how is it that you are not in the store at this time?” asked Mr. Carter, puzzled.
“Because I am no longer in Mr. Pitkin’s employ. I was discharged last Saturday.”
“Discharged! What for?”
“Mr. Pitkin gave no reason. He said my services were no longer required. He spoke roughly to me, and has since declined to give me a recommendation, though I told him that without it I should be unable to secure employment elsewhere.”
Mr. Carter frowned. He was evidently annoyed and indignant.
“This must be inquired into,” he said. “Philip, call a carriage, and I will at once go to the Astor House and take a room. I had intended to go at once to Mr. Pitkin’s, but I shall not do so until I have had an explanation of this outrageous piece of business.”
Phil was rejoiced to hear this, for he was at the end of his resources, and the outlook for him was decidedly gloomy. He had about made up his mind to sink his pride and go into business as a newsboy the next day, but the very unexpected arrival of Mr. Carter put quite a new face on matters.
He called a carriage, and both he and Mr. Carter entered it.
“How do you happen to be back so soon, sir?” asked Phil, when they were seated. “I thought you were going to Florida for a couple of months.”
“I started with that intention, but on reaching Charleston I changed my mind. I expected to find some friends at St. Augustine, but I learned that they were already returning to the North, and I felt that I should be lonely and decided to return. I am very glad I did, now. Did you receive my letter?”
“Your letter?” queried Philip, looking at Mr. Carter in surprise.
“Certainly. I gave Alonzo a letter for you, which I had directed to your boarding-house, and requested him to mail it. It contained a ten-dollar bill.”
“I never received any such letter, sir. It would have been of great service to me—the money, I mean; for I have found it hard to live on five dollars a week. Now I have not even that.”
“Is it possible that Alonzo could have suppressed the letter?” said Mr. Carter to himself.
“At any rate I never received it.”
“Here is something else to inquire into,” said Mr. Carter. “If Alonzo has tampered with my letter, perhaps appropriated the money, it will be the worse for him.”
“I hardly think he would do that, sir; though I don’t like him.”
“You are generous; but I know the boy better than you do. He is fond of money, not for the sake of spending it, but for the sake of hoarding it. Tell me, then, how did you learn that I had gone to Florida?”
“I learned it at the house in Twelfth Street.”
“Then you called there?”
“Yes, sir; I called to see you. I found it hard to get along on my salary, and I did not want Mrs. Forbush to lose by me, so I–”
“Mrs. Forbush?” repeated the old gentleman quickly. “That name sounds familiar to me.”
“Mrs. Forbush is your niece,” said Phil, a hope rising in his heart that he might be able to do his kind landlady a good turn.
“Did she tell you that?”
“No, sir; that is, I was ignorant of it until I met her just as I was going away from Mrs. Pitkin’s.”
“Did she call there, too—to see me?” asked the old gentleman.
“Yes, sir; but she got a very cold reception. Mrs. Pitkin was very rude to her, and said that you were so much prejudiced against her that she had better not call again.”
“That’s like her cold selfishness. I understand her motives very well. I had no idea that Mrs. Forbush was in the city. Is she—poor?”
“Yes, sir; she is having a hard struggle to maintain herself and her daughter.”
“And you board at her house?”
“Yes, sir.”
“How strangely things come about! She is as nearly related to me as Lavinia—Mrs. Pitkin.”
“She told me so.”
“She married against the wishes of her family, but I can see now that we were all unreasonably prejudiced against her. Lavinia, however, trumped up stories against her husband, which I am now led to believe were quite destitute of foundation, and did all she could to keep alive the feud. I feel now that I was very foolish to lend myself to her selfish ends. Of course her object was to get my whole fortune for herself and her boy.”
Phil had no doubt of this, but he did not like to say so, for it would seem that he, too, was influenced by selfish motives.
“Then you are not so much prejudiced against Mrs. Forbush as she was told?” he allowed himself to say.
“No, no!” said Mr. Carter earnestly. “Poor Rebecca! She has a much better nature and disposition than Mrs. Pitkin. And you say she is poor?”
“She had great difficulty in paying her last month’s rent,” said Philip.
“Where does she live?”
Phil told him.
“What sort of a house is it?”
“It isn’t a brown-stone front,” answered Phil, smiling. “It is a poor, cheap house; but it is as good as she can afford to hire.”
“And you like her?”
“Very much, Mr. Carter. She has been very kind to me, and though she finds it so hard to get along, she has told me she will keep me as long as she has a roof over her head, though just now I cannot pay my board, because my income is gone.”
“It will come back again, Philip,” said the old gentleman.
Phil understood by this that he would be restored to his place in Mr. Pitkin’s establishment. This did not yield him unalloyed satisfaction, for he was sure that it would be made unpleasant for him by Mr. Pitkin. Still he would accept it, and meet disagreeable things as well as he could.
By this time they had reached the Astor House.
Phil jumped out first, and assisted Mr. Carter to descend.
He took Mr. Carter’s hand-bag, and followed him into the hotel.
Mr. Carter entered his name in the register.
“What is your name?” he asked—“Philip Brent?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I will enter your name, too.”
“Am I to stay here?” asked Phil, in surprise.
“Yes; I shall need a confidential clerk, and for the present you will fill that position. I will take two adjoining rooms—one for you.”
Phil listened in surprise.
“Thank you, sir,” he said.
Mr. Carter gave orders to have his trunk sent for from the steamer, and took possession of the room. Philip’s room was smaller, but considerably more luxurious than the one he occupied at the house of Mrs. Forbush.
“Have you any money, Philip?” asked the old gentleman.
“I have twenty-five cents,” answered Philip.
“That isn’t a very large sum,” said Mr. Carter, smiling. “Here, let me replenish your pocketbook.”
He drew four five-dollar bills from his wallet and handed them to Phil.
“How can I thank you, sir?” asked Phil gratefully.
“Wait till you have more to thank me for. Let me tell you this, that in trying to harm you, Mr. and Mrs. Pitkin have done you a great service.”
“I should like to see Mrs. Forbush this evening, if you can spare me, to let her know that she needn’t be anxious about me.”
“By all means. You can go.”
“Am I at liberty to mention that I have seen you, sir?”
“Yes. Tell her that I will call to-morrow. And you may take her this.”
Mr. Carter drew a hundred-dollar bill from his wallet and passed it to Phil.
“Get it changed at the office as you go out,” he said. “Come back as soon as you can.”
With a joyful heart Phil jumped on a Fourth Avenue car in front of the hotel, and started on his way up town.
CHAPTER XXIV
RAISING THE RENT
Leaving Phil, we will precede him to the house of Mrs. Forbush.
She had managed to pay the rent due, but she was not out of trouble. The time had come when it was necessary to decide whether she would retain the house for the following year. In New York, as many of my young readers may know, the first of May is moving-day, and leases generally begin at that date. Engagements are made generally by or before March 1st.
Mr. Stone, the landlord, called upon the widow to ascertain whether she proposed to remain in the house.
“I suppose I may as well do so,” said Mrs. Forbush.
She had had difficulty in making her monthly payments, but to move would involve expense, and it might be some time before she could secure boarders in a new location.
“You can’t do better,” said the landlord. “At fifty dollars a month this is a very cheap house.”
“You mean forty-five? Mr. Stone?” said Mrs. Forbush.
“No, I don’t,” said the landlord.
“But that is what I have been paying this last year.”
“That is true, but I ought to get fifty dollars, and if you won’t pay it somebody else will.”
“Mr. Stone,” said the widow, in a troubled voice, “I hope you will be considerate. It has been as much as I could do to get together forty-five dollars each month to pay you. Indeed, I can pay no more.”
“Pardon me for saying that that is no affair of mine,” said the landlord brusquely. “If you can’t pay the rent, by all means move into a smaller house. If you stay here you must be prepared to pay fifty dollars a month.”
“I don’t see how I can,” answered the widow in dejection.
“I’ll give you three days to consider it,” said the landlord indifferently. “You’ll make a mistake if you give the house up. However, that is your affair.”
The landlord left the house, and Mrs. Forbush sat down depressed.
“Julia,” she said to her daughter, “I wish you were old enough to advise me. I dislike to move, but I don’t dare to engage to pay such a rent. Fifty dollars a month will amount to–”
“Six hundred dollars a year!” said Julia, who was good at figures.
“And that seems a great sum to us.”
“It would be little enough to Mrs. Pitkin,” said Julia, who felt that lady’s prosperity unjust, while her poor, patient mother had to struggle so hard for a scanty livelihood.
“Oh, yes; Lavinia is rolling in wealth,” sighed Mrs. Forbush. “I can’t understand how Uncle Oliver can bestow his favors on so selfish a woman.”
“Why don’t you ask Philip’s advice about keeping the house?” said Julia.
It must be explained that Philip and Julia were already excellent friends, and it may be said that each was mutually attracted by the other.
“Poor Philip has his own troubles,” said Mrs. Forbush. “He has lost his place through the malice and jealousy of Mr. and Mrs. Pitkin, for I am sure that Lavinia is the cause of his dismissal, and I don’t know when he will be able to get another.”
“You won’t send him away, mother, if he can’t pay his board?”
“No,” answered her mother warmly. “Philip is welcome to stay with us as long as we have a roof over our heads, whether he can pay his board or not.”
This answer seemed very satisfactory to Julia, who rose impulsively and kissed her mother.
“That’s a good mother,” she said. “It would be a pity to send poor Philip into the street.”
“You seem to like Philip,” said Mrs. Forbush, smiling faintly.
“Yes, mother. You know I haven’t any brother, and Phil seems just like a brother to me.”
Just then the door opened, and Philip himself entered the room.
Generally he came home looking depressed, after a long and ineffectual search for employment. Now he was fairly radiant with joy.
“Phil, you’ve got a place; I know you have!” exclaimed Julia, noticing his glad expression. “Where is it? Is it a good one?”
“Have you really got a place, Philip?” asked Mrs. Forbush.
“Yes, for the present.”
“Do you think you shall like your employer?”
“He is certainly treating me very well,” said Phil, smiling. “He has paid me twenty dollars in advance.”
“Then the age of wonders has not passed,” said the widow. “Of course I believe you, Philip, but it seems extraordinary.”
“There is something more extraordinary to come,” said Phil. “He has sent you some money, too.”
“Me!” exclaimed Mrs. Forbush, in great surprise.
“What can he know about me?”
“I told him about you.”
“But we are strangers.”
“He used to know you, and still feels an interest in you, Mrs. Forbush.”
“Who can it be?” said the widow, looking bewildered.
“I don’t want to keep you in suspense any longer, so I may as well say that it is your Uncle Oliver.”
“Uncle Oliver! Why, he is in Florida.”
“No; he came home from Charleston. I happened to be at the pier—I went down to see if I could get a job at smashing baggage—when I saw him walking down the gang-plank.”
“Has he gone to his old quarters at Mr. Pitkin’s?”
“No; what I told about the way they treated you and me made him angry, and he drove to the Astor House. I have a room there, too, and am to act as his private secretary.”
“So that is your new situation, Phil?” said Julia.
“Yes, and it is a good one.”
“And he really feels kindly to me?” said Mrs. Forbush hopefully.
“He sends you this and will call to-morrow,” said Phil. “Actions speak louder than words. There are a hundred dollars in this roll of bills.”
“He sent all this to me?” she said.
“Yes, and of his own accord. It was no suggestion of mine.
“Julia,” said Mrs. Forbush, turning to her daughter, “I believe God has heard my prayer, and that better days are in store for all of us.”
“Philip included,” added Phil, smiling.
“Yes. I want you to share in our good fortune.”
“Mother, you had better consult Phil about keeping the house.”
“Oh, yes.”
Mrs. Forbush thereupon told Philip of the landlord’s visit and his proposal to ask a higher rent.
“I hesitated about taking the house,” she said; “but with this handsome gift from Uncle Oliver, I don’t know but I may venture. What do you think?”
“I think, Mrs. Forbush, you had better not decide till you have seen your uncle. He may have some plan of his own for you. At any rate, you had better consult him. He will call to-morrow. And now, let me pay you for my week’s board.”
“No, Philip. I shall not want it with all this money, which I should not have received but for you.”
“A debt is a debt, Mrs. Forbush, and I prefer to pay it. I shall not be here to supper, as Mr. Carter is expecting me back to the Astor House. I shall probably come with him when he calls upon you to-morrow.”
On his return to the hotel, as he was walking on Broadway, Phil came face to face with Alonzo Pitkin.
“I think I’ll ask him about that letter his uncle gave him to post to me,” thought Phil, and he waited until Alonzo was close at hand.
CHAPTER XXV
ALONZO IS PUZZLED
Alonzo, who had his share of curiosity, as soon as he saw Phil’s approach, determined to speak to him, and ascertain what were his plans and what he was doing. With the petty malice which he inherited from his mother, he hoped that Phil had been unable to find a place and was in distress.
“It would serve him right,” said Alonzo to himself, “for trying to get into Uncle Oliver’s good graces. I s’pose he would like to cut me out, but he’ll find that he can’t fight against ma and me.”
“Oh, it’s you, is it?” was Alonzo’s salutation when they met.
“Yes,” answered Phil.
“Pa bounced you, didn’t he?” continued Alonzo complacently.
“Yes,” answered Phil. “That is, he discharged me. I suppose that is what you meant.”
“You’ve got it right the first time,” said Alonzo.
“Have you got another place?”
“Do you ask because you feel interested in me?” asked Phil.
“Well, not particularly,” answered Alonzo appearing quite amused by the suggestion.
“Then you ask out of curiosity?”
“S’pose I do?”
“I don’t mind telling you that I have found a place, then.”
“What sort of a place?” asked Alonzo, disappointed.
“There is no need of going into particulars.”
“No. I s’pose not,” sneered Alonzo. “You’re probably selling papers or blacking boots.”
“You are mistaken. I have a much better situation than I had with your father.”
Alonzo’s lower jaw fell. He was very sorry to hear it.
“Didn’t your employer ask for a recommendation?”
“He didn’t seem to think one necessary!” replied Phil.
“If he’d known pa had sacked you, he wouldn’t have wanted you, I guess.”
“He knows it. Have you got through asking questions, Alonzo?”
“You are too familiar. You can call me Mr. Pitkin.”
Phil laughed at Alonzo’s assumption of dignity, but made no comment upon it.
“I want to ask you what you did with that letter Mr. Carter gave you to post for me?” asked Phil.
Alonzo was indeed surprised, not to say dismayed. The truth was that, judging from the “feel” of the letter, it contained money, and he had opened it and appropriated the money to his own use. Moreover he had the bank-note in his pocket at that very moment, not having any wish to spend, but rather to hoard it.
“That’s a queer question,” he stammered. “What letter do you refer to?”
“A letter Mr. Carter gave you to mail to me.”
“If he gave me any such letter I mailed it,” answered Alonzo, scarcely knowing what to say.
“I didn’t receive it.”
“How do you know he gave me any letter?” demanded Alonzo, puzzled.
“I don’t care to tell. I only know that there was such a letter handed to you. Do you know what was in it?”
“Writing, I s’pose,” said Alonzo flippantly.
“Yes, there was, but there was also a ten-dollar bill. I didn’t receive the letter,” and Phil fixed his eyes searchingly upon the face of Alonzo.
“That’s a pretty story!” said Alonzo. “I don’t believe Uncle Oliver would be such a fool as to send you ten dollars. If he did, you got it, and now want to get as much more, pretending you haven’t received it.”
“You are mistaken,” said Phil quietly.
“If you didn’t get the letter, how do you know any was written, and that there was anything in it?” asked Alonzo triumphantly, feeling that the question was a crusher.
“I don’t care to tell you how I know it. Do you deny it?”
“I don’t remember whether Uncle Oliver gave me any letter or not.”
“Will you be kind enough to give me his address in Florida, so that I may write to him and find out?”
“No, I won’t,” said Alonzo angrily, “and I think you are very cheeky to ask such a thing. Ma was right when she said that you were the most impudent boy she ever came across.”
“That’s enough, Alonzo,” said Phil quietly. “I’ve found out all I wanted to.”
“What have you found out?” asked Alonzo, his tone betraying some apprehension.
“Never mind. I think I know what became of that letter.”
“Do you mean to say I opened it and took out the money?” demanded Alonzo, reddening.
“I wouldn’t charge anybody with such a mean act, unless I felt satisfied of it.”
“You’d better not!” said Alonzo, in a bullying tone. “If I find out who you’re working for, I’ll let him know that pa bounced you.”
“Just as you please! I don’t think that any words of yours will injure me with the gentleman I have the good fortune to work for.”
“Don’t you be too sure! If you think he wouldn’t mind a boy, I’ll refer him to pa and ma. They’ll give you a good setting out.”
“I don’t doubt it,” said Phil indifferently, and turned to go away.
He was called back by Alonzo, who had not quite satisfied his curiosity.
“Say, are you boarding with that woman who came to see ma the same day you were at the house?” he asked.
“No; I have left her.”
Alonzo looked well pleased. He knew that his mother felt rather uneasy at the two being together, dreading lest they should make a concerted attempt to ingratiate themselves with her rich uncle.
“Ma says she behaved very badly,” Alonzo could not help adding.
“Mrs. Forbush is an excellent Lady,” said Phil warmly, for he could not hear one of his friends spoken against.
“Lady! She’s as poor as poverty,” sneered Alonzo.
“She is none the worse for that.”
“Uncle Oliver can’t bear her!”
“Indeed!” said Phil; pausing to see what else Alonzo would say.
“Ma says she disgraced herself, and all her relations gave her up. When you see her tell her she had better not come sneaking round the house again.”
“If you will write a letter to that effect, I will see that she gets it,” said Phil. “That letter won’t miscarry.”
“I don’t care to take any notice of her,” said Alonzo loftily.
“You are very kind to have wasted so much notice upon me,” said Phil, amused.
Alonzo did not see fit to answer this, but walked away with his head in the air. He was, however, not quite easy in mind.
“How in the world,” he asked himself, “could that boy have found out that Uncle Oliver gave me a letter to post? If he should learn that I opened it and took the money, there’d be a big fuss. I guess I’d better not meet him again. If I see him any day I’ll go in a different direction. He’s so artful he may get me into trouble.”
It is needless to say that neither Mr. or Mrs. Pitkin knew of Alonzo’s tampering with the letter. Much as they would have been opposed to Phil’s receiving such a letter, they would have been too wise to sanction such a bold step.
“Well,” said Mr. Carter, when Phil returned, “did you see Rebecca—Mrs. Forbush?”
“Yes, sir, and handed her the money. She was overjoyed; not so much at receiving so generous a sum as at learning that you were reconciled to her.”
“Poor girl!” said the old man, forgetting that she was now a worn woman. “I am afraid that she must have suffered much.”
“She has met with many hardships, sir, but she won’t mind them now.”
“If I live her future shall be brighter than her past. I will call to-morrow. You, Philip, shall go with me.”
“I should like to do so, sir. By the way, I met Alonzo on Broadway.”
He detailed the conversation that had taken place between them.
“I am afraid he took the money,” said Mr. Carter. “I am sorry any relative of mine should have acted in that way. Let him keep it. Any benefit he may derive from it will prove to have been dearly purchased.”