Herbert Carter's Legacy; Or, the Inventor's Son by Jr. Horatio Alger (top reads .TXT) ๐
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- Author: Jr. Horatio Alger
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โYes; any way to make a living.โ
โDo you make much?โ inquired his old foe, curiously.
โI haven't made enough to retire upon yet; but I can manage to pay my board.โ
โHow much do you pay for your board?โ
Herbert hesitated about gratifying his curiosity, but finally did so.
โFour dollars,โ repeated James, scornfully. โIt can't be much of a boarding house.โ
โAn Italian count boards there,โ said Herbert, knowing James' respect for rank.
โYou don't say so!โ returned James, rather impressed. โDid he ever speak to you?โ
โHe spoke to me this morning.โ
โWhat did he say?โ
โ'Will you pass ze butter?'โ
โDo you save up any money?โ inquired James.
Herbert penetrated his motive in asking the question, and did not mean to give too definite information. But James was bent on learning all he could.
โHow much do you make a day?โ he asked.
โSometimes more, sometimes less, just as it happens.โ
โI can't tell anything from that.โ
โWhy do you want to know?โ asked Herbert, pointedly.
โCuriosity, I suppose.โ
โSo I thought. If it was from interest in me, I would tell you; but I don't care to gratify your curiosity.โ
โYou don't expect me to feel any interest in a common newsboy, do you?โ
โNo; I don't. I know you too well for that.โ
โI don't see what object you have in refusing to answer my questions.โ
โIf you are thinking of going into the business, yourself, I'll tell you.โ
โI a newsboy? I sell papers in the street? You must be crazy!โ returned James, haughtily.
โI suppose you feel above it,โ said Herbert, smiling.
โTo be sure I do. Haven't I a right to?โ
โOh, you must settle that question for yourself. Papers, sir?โ
The gentleman addressed purchased the last remaining paper, and Herbert was free till afternoon.
โHow do you like the city?โ asked James.
โVery much. I should like to have my mother here; then I would be contented.โ
โWe may come to live here,โ said James. โOf course, we shall live in a brownstone front, uptown.โ
โI live in a brick house,โ said Herbert, smiling.
โFashionable people live in brownstone fronts.โ
โI may be rich some time.โ
โThen you'll have to go into some other business. But there isn't much hope for you. You'll be a poor man.โ
โYou seem very confident of it.โ
โYou've got no chance, you know. But I must be going.โ
โWho do you think I met this morning, father?โ asked James, later in the day.
โI don't know.โ
โThe Carter boy.โ
โWhere did you meet him?โ
โHe was selling papers in front of the Astor House.โ
โHe won't get rich very fast in that business. What did he have to say for himself?โ
โHe wouldn't tell me how much money he was making. He pays four dollars a week for board.โ
โHe probably finds it hard to pay that. It isn't likely he lays up anything. He would do better to stay in Wrayburn.โ
โThen you think he can't send any money to his mother?โ
โNo; he will find it hard to pay his own expenses.โ
โThen she won't be able to pay the interest on the mortgage?โ
โI don't see how she can.โ
โAnd you will seize the house?โ
โI fully intend to do so.โ
โGood! That'll bring down Carter's pride. He's as cheeky as ever.โ
โHe hasn't much to be proud of.โ
โThat don't seem to make any difference with him. He talks as if he were my equal.โ
โThat don't make him so.โ
โWhen are you going to move to the city, father?โ
โI don't know,โ said the squire, shortly.
โI've got tired of Wrayburn.โ
โYou'll have to stay there till my business will allow me to move.โ
The fact was, Squire Leech had just had an unsatisfactory interview with Mr. Andrew Temple. Under the advice of that gentleman he had invested a very considerable sum of money in some mining shares, in the assurance that he would be able in a very short time to sell at a large profit. But from the time he bought, they began to drop. He asked an explanation of Mr. Temple.
โMy dear sir,โ said the financier, โthere's no being sure of the market. So many trivial circumstances affect it, that the wisest of us cannot absolutely predict anything. We can only calculate probabilities.โ
โYou told me there was no doubt about the stock rising,โ grumbled the squire.
โNor is there any, if you only have patience to wait Rome was not built in a day, you know.โ
โIt seems to me there is a good deal of uncertainty and risk in these stock operations,โ objected the squire, very sensibly.
โNot under discreet guidance; if you only have pluck and patience, you are morally sure of a fortune in the end. Fortunes are made every day. Why, there's old Jenkins, a grocer on Sixth Avenueโyou've heard of his luck, haven't you?โ
โNo.โ
โMade fifty thousand dollars in six months from an original investment of ten thousand. At first, things went against him, but he was bound to see the thing through, and he did, and he's forty thousand better off for it.โ
โWhat did he invest in?โ asked the squire, eagerly.
Mr. Temple told him, but I regret to say that the whole thing was a fiction,
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