Budd Boyd's Triumph; or, The Boy-Firm of Fox Island
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CHAPTER XXV.--MR. JOHNSON'S MUNIFICENCE.
On the following Saturday the two lads went over to the village, theirprincipal errand being to secure a boarding-place for themselves andfathers, for it had been decided to leave the island the coming week.Then Mr. Boyd was going on to Boston to see about entering business, andalso about putting the boys into some good school. Mr. Floyd had askedthat his brother-in-law would so arrange the business that work might befound for him.
"I don't care so much for wages," he had explained, "as to be near youand the lads. I want you all to help me watch myself."
The young partners soon found a boarding-house where they could obtain aparlor and two sleeping-rooms, with board, at what seemed to them areasonable figure, and promising to give their decision early the nextweek they left the house. On their way back to the sloop they steppedinto the post-office for their mail, and were handed a letter for Mr.Boyd.
"It is from Mr. Johnson," said Budd, as he glanced at the address. "Iwonder what he wants of father?"
"Nothing bad, you can be sure," replied Judd. "The day has gone by foreither you or your father to fear anything from that source. I am notsure but the greatest of your triumphs has been to win him for afriend."
"He certainly is a friend now," Budd admitted, his heart going outstrongly toward the man he had once counted his enemy; but he littlethought what the outcome of that letter was to be.
"I presume we are taking our last sail for months, at least, in oursloop," he remarked, as they took their places in the boat and sailedoff down the harbor. "She seems like a near friend to me, and I shallbe sorry when we leave her."
"So shall I," assented Judd; "but still I confess I am glad we are goingon with our schooling. I had hoped for nothing, however, quite as grandas we probably shall have;" and there was more truth in his words thenhe himself knew.
They were still discussing the plans they hoped to realize when theyreached the island. Mr. Boyd was at the wharf, and immediately openedthe letter Budd gave him.
"Hold on!" he a moment later cried out, as Budd was about to take thesloop to her anchorage. "This letter has laid in the office ever sinceyesterday noon. Mr. Johnson simply says he is coming down to-night toremain over Sunday with us, and wants you to meet him at the six o'clocktrain. One of you will have to go back to the village after him."
"We will both go," replied Judd; "there is nothing else to do."
So the sloop was put in readiness for the return trip to the village.
Whatever Mr. Johnson's coming meant he in no way disclosed to the ladsas they met him at the depot. He greeted then; cordially, but seemedanxious to reach the island, and was unusually silent and preoccupied inmind the whole way over.
His meeting of Mr. Boyd at the wharf was warm, almost affectionate, andin a way indicated his purpose in making this visit.
"My dear Henry," he said, grasping Mr. Boyd's hand, "I have found Icannot get along without you, and so have come to make you an importantproposal--important to me, at least, if not to you."
Mr. Boyd led the way up to the house, while the lads secured the boatfor the night. Supper was on the table, and as soon as the boys came inall sat down to eat it. When it was finished, Mr. Boyd, turning to Mr.Johnson, asked:
"Did you wish to see me alone, sir?"
"No; all of you are more or less interested in what I have to say, and Iwill wait until the boys have cleared away the table and can join us inthe sitting-room."
Curiosity to know just what was coming hastened the lads' movements, andin a very few minutes all were seated about the fire, and Mr. Johnsonbegan:
"Henry, I want to ask, first of all, if you have really forgiven me thepart that I innocently played in securing your imprisonment? This boyhas," and he laid his hand on Budd's head; "but I have thought you, whowere the greatest sufferer, still held a little resentment against me.Is it not so?"
"I have always thought my years of faithfulness to you ought to havecounted for something when I was accused of forgery, but you seemed tojump at once to the conclusion that I must be guilty, and so you wouldin no way admit that my explanation might be the true one," Mr. Boydreplied.
Then he went on, with marked hesitation:
"I don't think I have felt just right toward you since then--not,perhaps, as I ought to feel. Your mistake may have been a natural one;still you seemed to me to be too hasty in your judgment."
"So I was," admitted Mr. Johnson, frankly; "and the same fault led me tomisjudge your boy also. But, Henry, I have learned my lesson well, Ibelieve, and you hold a higher place in my estimation now than everbefore, while this boy has my heart."
He paused a moment, visibly affected by his own words, then went rapidlyon:
"Henry, I am getting to be an old man, my business is getting largerthan I can manage, and since you have been away from me I see how muchyou were the real head of the whole concern. I have come, therefore, toask you to show your forgiveness of the wrong I have done you by comingback to me, not as my confidential clerk, but as my equal partner in thenew firm of Johnson & Boyd, the whole business to be under your directmanagement and care. In fact, Henry, the papers are all here ready foryour signature. You can look them over and see if the conditions aresatisfactory before you give your answer. But I trust you will find itin your heart to accept my offer."
He took from his pocket a package of papers and handed them over to Mr.Boyd, who took them mechanically, for he seemed completely overwhelmedat Mr. Johnson's magnificent offer.
"Now, my lads," said Mr. Johnson, turning to Budd and Judd, "I have aproposition to make you. I have no children, as you know, and my greathouse in the city needs some young life. I have watched and admired theindustry and uprightness you boys have this summer displayed. But youought to do something better than the work you have been doing, howeverhonorable that may be. You want first the school and then the college;after that the business or professional life. I invite you, then, tocome to my home as my boys, to be educated as my sons, and to be myheirs. Do not think I mean by this a separation from your fathers; wewill find a place in the house for them, for there can be found work atthe store for Mr. Floyd, and thus you can all be where you can see eachother every day. What I want is to have you with me, so that your freshyoung lives will enliven mine, and teach me how to soften the hard,stern heart that has twice led me to commit acts I must to my dying dayregret;" and now the tears ran down the old man's cheeks unhindered.
This was but the opening of the great plan that had entered Mr.Johnson's heart and mind as he sat alone in his library on Thanksgivingevening and exclaimed:
"I will do it!"
Little by little he unfolded all his hopes concerning the lads in whomhe had become so interested; step by step he made known what he wantedto do for the middle-aged men, one of whom he had so cruelly wronged;until, as they listened, his hearers became bewildered with the man'slarge-heartedness and munificence.
But Mr. Johnson's purpose was accomplished, for he left the islandMonday morning accompanied by Mr. Boyd, and the lads and Mr. Floyd wereto follow as soon as the house could be closed up and the householdmatters adjusted.
This was quite an undertaking, however, since everything was to bedisposed of but the Sea Witch, for it was now evident that the youngfirm of Fox Island had closed up their business for good, and the youngpartners were to enter upon an altogether different career. Still, thesame elements of character--patience, industry, energy and quickness toknow and use an opportunity--which had made the firm a success, we maybe sure would mark their new career.
That it was these elements that had largely contributed to the lads'success is clearly apparent; for those who succeeded to their businessunder even more favorable auspices soon abandoned it, and to-day onlythe tumble-down wharf, the half-filled cellar-way, and the moss-grownwell, mark the place where Budd and his partner had their island home.
But they, grown now to manhood, and busy with the cares of theirprofessional
lives, think often of the summer when first they met, andtalk over the experiences under which they learned some of their mostvaluable lessons and triumphed over burdens that seemed too great tobear.
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