CHAPTER IX.
AT THE ASTOR HOUSE.
As they walked up to the hotel together, Miss Sinclair said: "Youare probably surprised at what has taken place, but I have strongreasons for acting as I have done."
"I don't doubt it, Miss Sinclair," returned Ben.
"It is desirable that I should tell you-"
"Don't tell me anything unless you like, Miss Sinclair. I am nottroubled with curiosity."
"Thank you, but in the confidential relations which we are to holdtoward each other, it is necessary that you should understand myposition. I will reserve my explanation, however, till we reach thehotel."
"We are to stop at the Astor House?"
"Yes, and I wish you to put down my name and your own on theregister, and obtain two rooms as near together as convenient."
"Very well, Miss Sinclair."
"You may put me down as from-well, from Philadelphia."
"All right. Shall I put myself down from Philadelphia, too?"
"Not unless you choose. Your native village will answer. By the way,you are to pass for my cousin, and it will be better, therefore,that you should call me by my first name-Ida."
"I wouldn't take the liberty but for your wishing it."
"I do wish it-otherwise it would be difficult to pass you off as mycousin."
"All right, Miss Sinclair-I mean Ida."
"That is better. I shall call you Ben."
"You couldn't very well call me Mr. Stanton," said our hero,smiling.
"Not very well. But here we are at the hotel. We will go intogether. I will go to the ladies' parlor, and you can join me thereafter securing rooms at the office."
"Very well-Ida."
Of course Ben was not used to city hotels, and he was a littleafraid that he should not go to work properly, but he experienced nodifficulty. He stepped up to the desk, and said to the clerk:
"I should like to engage rooms for my cousin and myself."
The clerk pushed the register toward him.
Ben inscribed the names. At first he could not remember hiscompanion's last name, and it made him feel awkward. Fortunately itcame to him in time.
"We can give you rooms on the third floor. Will that do?"
"Yes, sir, I think so. We would like to be near together."
"Very well. I can give you two rooms directly opposite to eachother."
"That will do, sir."
The clerk touched a bell, and a porter presented himself:
"Here are the keys of sixty-six and sixty-eight," said the hotelclerk. "Take this young gentleman's luggage to sixty-six, and showthe lady with him to number sixty-eight."
Ben followed the porter, pausing at the door of the ladies' parlor,where his companion awaited him.
"Come, Ida," he said, feeling a little awkward at addressing MissSinclair so familiarly. "The servant is ready to show us our rooms."
"Very well, Ben," said Miss Sinclair, smiling. She did not seem sonervous now.
As the clerk had said, the rooms were directly opposite each other.They were large and very comfortable in appearance. As Miss Sinclairentered her room she said:
"Join me in the ladies' parlor in fifteen minutes, Ben. I havesomething to say to you."
Ben looked around him with considerable satisfaction. He had onlyleft home that morning; he had met with a severe disappointment, andyet he was now fortunate beyond his most sanguine hopes. He hadheard a great deal of the Astor House, which in Hampton andthroughout the country was regarded at that time as the mostaristocratic hotel in New York, and now he was actually a guest init. Moreover, he was booked for a first-class passage to California.
"It's like the Arabian Nights," thought Ben, "and Miss Sinclair mustbe a fairy."
He took out his scanty wardrobe from the carpetbag, and put it awayin one of the drawers of the bureau.
"I might just as well enjoy all the privileges of the hotel," hesaid to himself.
He took out his brush and comb, and brushed his hair. Then he lockedthe door of No. 66 and went down-stairs to the ladies' parlor.
He did not have to wait long. In five minutes Miss Sinclair made herappearance.
"Ben," she said, "here is the check for my trunk. You may take itdown to the office and ask them to send for it. Then come back and Iwill acquaint you with some things I wish you to know."
Ben speedily reappeared, and at Miss Sinclair's request sat downbeside her on a sofa.
"You must know, Ben," she commenced, "that I am flying from myguardian."
"I hope it's all right," said Ben, rather frightened. He was notsure but he was making himself liable to arrest for aiding andabetting Miss Sinclair's flight.
"You have no cause for alarm. He has no legal control over me,though by the terms of my father's will he retains charge of myproperty till I attain my twenty-fifth year. Before this, fourteenmonths must elapse. Meanwhile he is exerting all his influence toinduce me to marry his son, so that the large property of which I ampossessed may accrue to the benefit of his family."
"He couldn't force you to marry his son, could he?" asked Ben.
"No, but he has made it very disagreeable to me to oppose him, andhas even gone so far as to threaten me with imprisonment in amadhouse if I do not yield to his persuasions."
"He must be a rascal!" said our hero indignantly.
"He is," said Miss Sinclair quietly.
"I don't see how he can do such things in a free country."
"He has only to buy over two unscrupulous physicians, and in a largecity that can easily be done. On their certificate of my insanity Imight any day be dragged to a private asylum and confined there."
"I don't wonder you ran away, Ida."
"I feel perfectly justified in doing so. Liberty and the control ofmy own person are dear to me, and I mean to struggle for them."
"What makes you think of going to California? is it because it is sofar off?"
"Partly; but there is another reason," said Miss Sinclair. "I willnot conceal from you that there is a person there whom I wish tomeet."
"Is it a young man?" asked Ben shrewdly.
"You have guessed it. Richard Dewey is the son of a formerbookkeeper of my father. He is poor, but he is a gentleman, andthere is a mutual attachment between us. Indeed, he asked myguardian's consent to his suit, but he was repelled with insult, andcharged with being a fortune-hunter. That name would better apply tomy guardian and his precious son."
"Is Mr. Dewey in California?"
"Yes; he went out there some months since. He promised to write meregularly, but I have not heard a word from him. I know very wellthat he has written, and that my guardian has suppressed hisletters."
"That is shameful!" said Ben warmly.
"It is indeed; but with your help I think I can circumvent Mr.Campbell yet."
"Mr. Campbell is your guardian, I suppose, Ida?"
"Yes."
"You may reply upon me to help you in every way possible, MissSinclair."
"Ida," corrected the young lady.
"I mean Ida."
"That's right, Cousin Ben."
Now that Miss Sinclair's veil was removed, our hero could see thatshe was very pretty, and perhaps he felt all the more proud of beingselected as her escort. But on one point he was in the dark.
"May I ask you a question, Ida?" he said. "How is it that you havechosen me-a stranger, and so young-as your escort? I am only a greencountry boy."
"Partly because I like your looks; you look honest and trustworthy."
"Thank you, but I am only a boy."
"That's all the better for me. It would not do for me to accept theescort of a man, and it would be awkward for me to propose it evenif it would do."
"At any rate, I am lucky to be selected. I hope you will besatisfied with me."
"I feel sure of it."
"You are spending a great deal of money for me."
"You may feel surprised that I have so much money to spendindependent of my guardian, but he has control
only of the propertyleft by my father. My mother left me thirty thousand dollars, ofwhich I am sole mistress."
"That is lucky for you."
"Under present circumstances-yes."
Here two ladies entered the parlor, and the conversation wassuspended.
"I believe I will go in to dinner now," said Miss Sinclair. "Willyou come, Ben?"
"I ate dinner an hour ago."
"Then you can go where you please. Meet me here at six o'clock."
"All right, Ida."
The Young Explorer; Or, Claiming His Fortune Page 9