The Errand Boy; Or, How Phil Brent Won Success by Jr. Horatio Alger (bearly read books .txt) ๐
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- Author: Jr. Horatio Alger
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Just after supper he took his gun and the key of his boat over to Reuben Gordon, who thereupon gave him the money agreed upon.
โShall I tell Mrs. Brent I am going away?โ Phil said to himself, โor shall I leave a note for her?โ
He decided to announce his resolve in person. To do otherwise would seem too much like running away, and that he had too much self-respect to do.
So in the evening, after his return from Reuben Gordon's, he said to Mrs. Brent:
โI think I ought to tell you that I'm going away to-morrow.โ
Mrs. Brent looked up from her work, and her cold gray eyes surveyed Phil with curious scrutiny.
โYou are going away!โ she replied. โWhere are you going?โ
โI think I shall go to New York.โ
โWhat for?โ
โSeek my fortune, as so many have done before me.โ
โThey didn't always find it!โ said Mrs. Brent with a cold sneer. โIs there any other reason?โ
โYes; it's chiefly on account of what you told me yesterday. You said that I was dependent upon you.โ
โSo you are.โ
โAnd that I wasn't even entitled to the name of Brent.โ
โYes, I said it, and it's true.โ
โWell,โ said Phil, โI don't want to be dependent upon you. I prefer to earn my own living.โ
โI am not prepared to say but that you are right. But do you know what the neighbors will say?โ
โWhat will they say?โ
โThat I drove you from home.โ
โIt won't be true. I don't pretend to enjoy my home, but I suppose I can stay on here if I like?โ
โYes, you can stay.โ
โYou don't object to my going?โ
โNo, if it is understood that you go of your own accord.โ
โI am willing enough to take the blame of it, if there is any blame.โ
โVery well; get a sheet of note-paper, and write at my direction.โ
Phil took a sheet of note-paper from his father's desk, and sat down to comply with Mrs. Brent's request.
She dictated as follows:
โI leave home at my own wish, but with the consent of Mrs. Brent, to seek my fortune. It is wholly my own idea, and I hold no one else responsible.
โPHILIP BRENT.โ
โYou may as well keep the name of Brent,โ said his step-mother, โas you have no other that you know of.โ
Phil winced at those cold words. It was not pleasant to reflect that this was so, and that he was wholly ignorant of his parentage.
โOne thing more,โ said Mrs. Brent. โIt is only eight o'clock. I should like to have you go out and call upon some of those with whom you are most intimate, and tell them that you are leaving home voluntarily.โ
โI will,โ answered Phil.
โPerhaps you would prefer to do so to-morrow.โ
โNo; I am going away to-morrow morning.โ
โVery well.โ
โGoing away to-morrow morning?โ repeated Jonas, who entered the room at that moment.
Phil's plan was briefly disclosed.
โThen give me your skates,โ said Jonas.
โI can't. I've given them to Tommy Kavanagh.โ
โThat's mean. You might have thought of me first,โ grumbled Jonas.
โI don't know why. Tommy Kavanagh is my friend and you are not.โ
โAnyway, you can let me have your boat and gun.โ
โI have sold them.โ
โThat's too bad.โ
โI don't know why you should expect them. I needed the money they brought me to pay my expenses till I get work.โ
โI will pay your expenses to New York if you wish,โ said Mrs. Brent.
โThank you; but I shall have money enough,โ answered Phil, who shrank from receiving any favor at the hands of Mrs. Brent.
โAs you please, but you will do me the justice to remember that I offered it.โ
โThank you. I shall not forget it.โ
That evening, just before going to bed, Mrs. Brent opened a trunk and drew from it a folded paper.
She read as followsโfor it was her husband's will:
โTo the boy generally known as Philip Brent, and supposed, though incorrectly, to be my son, I bequeath the sum of five thousand dollars, and direct the same to be paid over to any one whom he may select as guardian, to hold in trust for him till he attains the age of twenty-one.โ
โHe need never know of this,โ said Mrs. Brent to herself in a low tone. โI will save it for Jonas.โ
She held the paper a moment, as if undecided whether to destroy it, but finally put it carefully back in the secret hiding-place from which she had taken it.
โHe is leaving home of his own accord,โ she whispered. โHenceforth he will probably keep away. That suits me well, but no one can say I drove him to it.โ
CHAPTER IV. MR. LIONEL LAKE.
Six months before it might have cost Philip a pang to leave home. Then his father was living, and from him the boy had never received aught but kindness. Even his step-mother, though she secretly disliked him, did not venture to show it, and secure in the affections of his supposed father, he did not trouble himself as to whether Mrs. Brent liked him or not. As for Jonas, he was cautioned by his mother not to get himself into trouble by treating Phil badly, and the boy, who knew on which side his interests lay, faithfully obeyed. It was only after the death of Mr. Brent that both Jonas and his mother changed their course, and thought it safe to snub Philip.
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