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โ€œSo you say, Mr. Roscoe.โ€

โ€œSo my brother says in his letter to me.โ€

โ€œDo you think it probable that, with all this affection for me, he would have left me penniless?โ€ asked the boy.

โ€œNo; it was his intention to make a will. By that will he would no doubt have provided for you in a satisfactory manner. But I think my poor brother had a superstitious fear of will making, lest it might hasten death. At any rate, he omitted it till it was too late.โ€

โ€œIt was a cruel omission, if your story is a true one.โ€

โ€œYourโ€”my brother, did what he could to remedy matters. In his last sickness, when too weak to sign his name, he asked me, as the legal heir of his estate, to see that you were well provided for. He wished me to see your education finished, and I promised to do so. I could see that this promise relieved his mind. Of one thing you may be assured, Hector, he never lost his affection for you.โ€

โ€œThank Heaven for that!โ€ murmured the boy, who had been deeply and devotedly attached to the man whom, all his life long, he had looked upon as his father.

โ€œI can only add, Hector,โ€ said Mr. Roscoe, โ€œthat I feel for your natural disappointment. It is, indeed, hard to be brought up to regard yourself as the heir of a great estate, and to make the discovery that you have been mistaken.โ€

โ€œI donโ€™t mind that so much, Mr. Roscoe,โ€ said Hector, slowly. โ€œIt is the hardest thing to think of myself as having no claim upon one whom I have loved as a fatherโ€”to think myself as a boy of unknown parentage. But,โ€ he added, suddenly, โ€œI have it only on your word. Why should I believe it?โ€

โ€œI will give you conclusive proof, Hector. Read this.โ€

Allan Roscoe took from his pocket a letter, without an envelope. One glance served to show Hector that it was in the handwriting of his late father, or, at any rate, in a handwriting surprisingly like it.

He began to read it with feverish haste.

The letter need not find a place here. The substance of it had been accurately given by Mr. Allan Roscoe. Apparently, it corroborated his every statement.

The boy looked up from its perusal, his face pale and stricken.

โ€œYou see that I have good authority for my statement,โ€ said Mr. Roscoe.

โ€œI canโ€™t understand it,โ€ said Hector, slowly.

โ€œI need only add,โ€ said Mr. Roscoe, apparently relieved by the revelation, โ€œthat my brother did not repose confidence in me in vain. I accept, as a sacred charge, the duty he imposed upon me. I shall provide for you and look after your education. I wish to put you in a way to prepare yourself for a useful and honorable career. As a first step, I intend, on Monday next, to place you in an excellent boarding school, where you will have exceptional privileges.โ€

Hector listened, but his mind was occupied by sad thoughts, and he made no comment.

โ€œI have even selected the school with great care,โ€ said Mr. Roscoe. โ€œIt is situated at Smithville, and is under the charge of Socrates Smith, A. M., a learned and distinguished educator. You may go now. I will speak with you on this subject later.โ€

Hector bowed. After what he had heard, his interest in other matters was but faint.

โ€œI shall be glad to get him out of the house,โ€ thought Allan Roscoe. โ€œI never liked him.โ€





CHAPTER IV. A SKIRMISH.

Hector walked out of the house in a state of mental bewilderment not easily described. Was he not Hector Roscoe, after all? Had he been all his life under a mistake? If this story were true, who was he, who were his parents, what was his name? Why had the man whom he had supposed to be his father not imparted to him this secret? He had always been kind and indulgent; he had never appeared to regard the boy as an alien in blood, but as a dearly loved son. Yet, if he had, after all, left him unprovided for, he had certainly treated Hector with great cruelty.

โ€œI wonโ€™t believe it,โ€ said Hector, to himself.

โ€œI wonโ€™t so wrong my dear fatherโ€™s memory at the bidding of this man, whose interest it is to trump up this story, since he and his son become the owners of a great estate in my place.โ€

Just then Guy advanced toward Hector with a malicious smile upon his face. He knew very well what a blow poor Hector had received, for he was in his fatherโ€™s confidence, and he was mean enough, and malicious enough, to rejoice at it.

โ€œWhatโ€™s the matter with you, Hector?โ€ he asked, with a grin. โ€œYou look as if you had lost your last friend.โ€

Hector stopped short and regarded Guy fixedly.

โ€œDo you know what your father has been saying to me?โ€ he asked.

โ€œWell, I can guess,โ€ answered Guy. โ€œHo! ho! Itโ€™s a great joke that you have all the time fancied yourself the heir of Castle Roscoe, when you have no claim to it at all. I am the heir!โ€ he added, drawing himself up proudly; โ€œand you are a poor dependent, and a nobody. Itโ€™s funny!โ€

โ€œPerhaps you wonโ€™t think it so funny after this!โ€ said Hector, coolly, exasperated beyond endurance. As he spoke he drew off, and in an instant Guy measured his length upon the greensward.

Guy rose, his face livid with passion, in a frame of mind far from funny. He clinched his fists and looked at Hector as if he wished to annihilate him. โ€œYouโ€™ll pay for this,โ€ he screamed. โ€œYouโ€™ll repent it, bitterly, you poor, nameless dependent, low-born, very likelyโ€”โ€

โ€œHold, there!โ€ said Hector, advancing resolutely, and sternly facing the angry boy. โ€œBe careful what you say. If this story of your fatherโ€™s is true, which I donโ€™t believe, you might have the decency to let me alone, even if you donโ€™t sympathize with me. If you dare to say or hint anything against my birth, Iโ€™ll treat you worse than I have yet.โ€

โ€œYouโ€™ll suffer for this!โ€ almost shrieked Guy.

โ€œI am ready to suffer now, if you are able to make me,โ€ said Hector. โ€œCome on, and weโ€™ll settle it now.โ€

But Guy had no desire for the contest to which he was invited. He had a wholesome fear of Hectorโ€™s strong, muscular arms, aided, as they were, by some knowledge of boxing. Hector had never taken regular lessons, but a private tutor, whom his father had employed, a graduate of Yale, had instructed him in the rudiments of the โ€œmanly art of self-defense,โ€ and Hector was very well able to take care of himself against any boy of his

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