Alger Horatio Jr.
Helping Himself; Or, Grant Thornton's Ambition
CHAPTER XXII – WILLIS FORD AT BAY
The telegraph boy’s evidence overwhelmed Willis Ford and his confederates with dismay. The feeling was greater in Ford, for it tended to fasten the theft upon him, while Jim Morrison and Tom Calder, though convicted of falsehood, were at all events sustained by the consciousness that nothing worse could be alleged against them.
“It is false!” asserted Willis Ford, with a flushed face.
“It is true!” declared the telegraph boy, sturdily.
“I don’t believe a word of it,” said the housekeeper, angrily.
“This is a startling revelation, Mr. Ford,” said the broker, gravely.
“It is a base conspiracy, sir,” returned Ford, hoarsely. “I submit, sir, that the word of a boy like that ought not to weigh against mine. Besides, these gentlemen,” indicating Jim Morrison and Tom Calder, “will corroborate my statement.”
“Of course we do,” blustered Morrison. “That boy is a liar!”
“I have spoken the truth, sir, and they know it,” asserted Johnny, resolutely.
“How much did Grant Thornton pay you for telling this lie?” demanded Willis Ford, furiously.
“I will answer that question, Mr. Ford,” said Grant, thinking it time to speak for himself. “I paid him nothing, and did not know till last evening that he had witnessed the interview between you and Mr. Morrison.”
“Your word is of no value,” said Ford, scornfully.
“That is a matter for Mr. Reynolds to consider,” answered Grant, with composure.
“Mr. Ford,” said the broker, gravely, “I attach more importance to the testimony of this telegraph boy than you appear to; but then it is to be considered that you are an interested party.”
“Am I to be discredited on account of what a wretched telegraph boy chooses to say?” asked Ford, bitterly. “Even supposing him worthy of credence, my two friends sustain me, and it is three against one.”
“They are your friends, then?” asked Mr. Reynolds, significantly.
Willis Ford flushed. It was not to his credit to admit that an acknowledged gambler was his friend, yet he knew that to deny it would make Morrison angry, and perhaps lead him to make some awkward revelations.
“I have not known them long, sir,” he answered, embarrassed, “but I believe they feel friendly to me. One of them,” he added, maliciously, “is an old friend of Grant Thornton.”
“Yes,” answered Grant, by no means disconcerted. “Tom Calder is from the same town as myself, and I wish him well.”
Tom looked pleased at this friendly declaration on the part of Grant, whom, indeed, he personally liked better than Willis Ford, who evidently looked down upon him, and had more than once snubbed him.
“You see,” said Ford, adroitly, “that Grant Thornton’s old friend testifies against him. I don’t think I need say any more except to deny, in toto, the statement of that low telegraph boy.”
“I’m no lower than you are,” retorted Johnny, angrily.
“None of your impertinence, boy!” said Ford, loftily.
“I must say,” interposed the housekeeper, “that this seems a very discreditable conspiracy against my stepson. I am sure, Mr. Reynolds, you won’t allow his reputation to be injured by such a base attack.”
“Mr. Ford,” said the broker, “I have listened attentively to what you have said. I ought to say that a telegraph boy has as much right to be believed as yourself.”
“Even when there are three against him?”
“The three are interested parties.”
“I have no doubt he is also. I presume he has an understanding with Grant Thornton, who is a suspected thief.”
“I deny that, Mr. Ford,” exclaimed Grant, indignantly.
“You are certainly suspected of stealing my stepmother’s bonds.”
“And I have no doubt you took them,” declared the housekeeper, venomously.
At this time the doorbell was heard to ring.
“Excuse me for a moment,” said the broker. “I will be back directly.”
When he had left the room, the parties left behind looked at each other uncomfortably. Willis Ford, however, was too angry to keep silence.
He turned to Grant, and made an attack upon him.
“You won’t accomplish anything, you young rascal, by your plotting and contriving! I give you credit for a good deal of cunning in bringing this boy to give the testimony he has; but it won’t do you any good. Mr. Reynolds isn’t a fool, and he will see through your design.”
“That he will, Willis,” said the housekeeper. “After all the kindness that boy has received in this house, he might be better employed than in stealing my bonds, and then trying to throw it upon a man like you.”
“I don’t care to argue with you, Mr. Ford,” said Grant, quietly. “You know as well as I do that I didn’t steal the bonds, and you know,” he added, significantly, “who did.”
“I have a great mind to break your head, you impudent boy!”
“That would be a very poor argument. The truth has already come out, and I am vindicated.”
“I don’t know whether you expect Mr. Reynolds to shield you or not, but, if my mother takes my advice, she will have you arrested, whatever happens.”
“I intend to,” said the housekeeper, nodding spitefully. “If you had returned the bonds, I did not mean to let the matter drop, but since you have tried to throw suspicion on my son, who has always been devoted to me, I mean to punish you as severely as the law allows.”
“I think you will change your mind, Mrs. Estabrook, and let the thief go unpunished,” said Grant, in no ways disturbed.
“Not unless you make a full confession; and even then I think you ought to suffer for your base wickedness.”
“You are making a mistake, Mrs. Estabrook. I referred to the thief.”
“That is yourself.”
Grant shrugged his shoulders. He was spared the necessity of answering the attack, for just then the door opened, and Mr. Reynolds re-entered. He did not enter alone, however.
A small man of quiet manner, attired in a sober suit of brown, closely followed him.
All present looked at him in surprise. Who was this man, and what had he to do with the matter that concerned them all?
They were not destined to remain long in doubt,
“Mr. Graham, gentlemen!” said the broker, with a wave of the hand.
The detective bowed courteously.
“Mr. Graham, permit me to ask,” continued the broker, “if you have seen any of these gentlemen before?”
“Yes,” answered Graham, and he indicated Grant Thornton, Jim Morrison and Tom Calder.
“When did you see them, and where?”
“At the Fifth Avenue Hotel this morning.”
“What passed between them?”
“They were talking about some bonds, which that gentleman,” indicating Morrison, “acknowledged giving to the boy to sell. He asked for the proceeds, but the boy told him there was something wrong about the bonds, and his employer wouldn’t allow him to pass over the money. Upon this, Morrison, as I understand him to be called, said they were given him by a party that owed him money, and threatened that, if he had played a trick upon him, it would be the worse for him.”
“Who is that man, Mr. Reynolds?” asked Ford, in nervous excitement.
“One of the best known detectives in the city,” quietly answered the broker. “What have you to say to his evidence?”
“That it doesn’t concern me. I may be wrong about the boy taking the bonds, but that doesn’t involve me. There may have been another party.”
“You forget the testimony of the telegraph boy—that he saw you give the bonds to your friend there.”
“The boy told a falsehood!”
“I am in a position to confirm the boy’s testimony,” said the detective.
Willis Ford gasped for breath and seemed ready to sink into the floor. What was coming next?
CHAPTER XXIII – JUSTICE TRIUMPHS
Mr. Graham turned to the broker and addressed further remarks to him.
“Your statement that four hundred dollars remained to be accounted for, led me to conclude that they would be found in the possession of the party who had abstracted the others. I therefore obtained a search warrant and visited the room occupied by that gentleman, whose name I believe is Willis Ford.”
This was an unexpected stroke. Ford did not speak, but kept his eyes fixed upon the detective in evident panic.
“I have just come from Mr. Ford’s room,” he resumed. “These are what I found there.”
He drew from his pocket a long envelope, from which he took four government bonds.
“Will you be kind enough, Mrs. Estabrook,” said the broker, gravely, “to examine these bonds and determine whether they are yours?”
The housekeeper took them mechanically and examined them.
“They are mine,” she said; “but I cannot believe Willis took them.”
“I did not,” said Ford, hoarsely, but his eyes were downcast.
“Will you account for their being in your room, then, Mr. Ford?” inquired the broker, sternly.
“That boy must have put them there. I know nothing of them. I am as much surprised as you are.”
“We have had enough of this, Mr. Ford,” said the broker, coldly. “Your guilt is evident. In robbing your stepmother you have committed a serious crime; but in attempting to throw the guilt upon an innocent boy, you have been guilty of an offense still more detestable, and one which I cannot forgive. You cannot remain in my employment another day. If you will call at the office in the morning, I will pay your salary to the end of the month. That will end all relations between us.”
Willis Ford looked like a convicted criminal. For the moment all his hardihood and bravado deserted him.
“Can this be true, Willis?” wailed his stepmother. “Is it possible that you took my bonds, and would have left me to an old age of poverty?”
“No,” answered Ford, with a return of his usual assurance. “I am as innocent as a babe unborn. I am the victim of a conspiracy. As Mr. Reynolds is determined to shield his favorite by throwing the blame on it, I must submit. The time will come when he will acknowledge my innocence. Mother, I will satisfy you later, but I do not believe you will think me guilty. Gentlemen, I bid you all good-evening.”
No one spoke as he withdrew from the room, and not even Morrison offered to follow him.
When he was fairly out of the room, the broker turned to Morrison.
“Mr. Morrison,” he said, “I have a question or two to put to you. I think you will find it to your interest to answer correctly. Do you still maintain that these bonds were given you by Grant Thornton?”
“I may as well make a clean breast of it,” said Morrison. “They were given me by Willis Ford.”
“To satisfy a gambling debt, was it not?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I take it for granted you did not know they were stolen?”
“If I had known it I wouldn’t have touched them. I might have been suspected of stealing them myself.”
“I believe you.”
“You’re a gentleman,” said Morrison, gratified that his word was accepted.
“Of course you have lost the amount which you consider due you. To be entirely candid with you, I do not feel any sympathy with you. Money won at play must be classed among ill-gotten gains. I hope you will realize this, and give up a discreditable profession.”
“I have no doubt your advice is good, sir. Do you want me and Tom any longer?”
“You are at liberty to go. I am indebted to you for coming. You have helped to clear up the mystery of the theft.”
“He’s a little hard on us, Tom,” said Morrison, as they went down the front steps, “but he’s treated us like a gentleman. That Ford is a rascal.”
“I think so, too,” Tom assented.
“And I shall never see a cent of that six hundred dollars,” continued Jim Morrison, ruefully.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go to my own room,” said Mrs. Estabrook, pertly. “I want to think quietly of all this.”
“Go, by all means,” said the broker, courteously. “To-morrow morning your property shall be restored to you.”
Next the detective and the telegraph boy withdrew, the latter rich by a five-dollar note, which Mr. Reynolds presented him.
Johnny’s eyes sparkled.
“That will make mother happy,” he said. “She’ll think I am in luck.”
“Keep your eyes open, my boy, and be faithful to your employer, and this won’t be the last piece of luck that will come your way.”
When they were alone Mr. Reynolds turned to Grant and said kindly, “I congratulate you, Grant, on your complete vindication. Those who have wickedly conspired against you have come to grief, and you come out of the trial unscathed. As I am to part with Willis Ford, though you are not competent to take his place, your duties will be somewhat enlarged, and I will take care that your compensation shall be increased.”
“I am afraid, Mr. Reynolds, I already receive more than I earn.”
“That may be, but I am only anticipating a little. How much do I pay you now?”
“Six dollars a week, sir.”
“I will allow you four dollars more, but this additional sum I will keep in my own hands, and credit you with. It is time you were saving something for future use. Will this be satisfactory to you?”
“You are very kind, Mr. Reynolds,” said Grant. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Then I will tell you—be faithful in your duties in the office and continue your kindness to Herbert.”
“Gladly, sir.”
Grant decided not to write to his mother about his increase in salary. He preferred to wait till his savings amounted to a considerable sum, and then surprise her by the announcement of his good fortune. In six months, he estimated, he would have more than a hundred dollars, and this to the country minister’s son seemed a large sum. At any rate, when he was twenty-one he might hope to be the possessor of a thousand dollars. This opened to Grant a brilliant prospect. It was probably all his father was worth, including all his possessions.
“In spite of my uncle’s opposition,” thought Grant, “I think I acted wisely in preferring business to college. Now I shall be able to make the family more comfortable.”
When Willis Ford called at the office the next morning Grant was gone to the post office. As he returned he met Ford coming out with a check in his hand.
“So it’s you, is it?” sneered Ford, stopping short.
“Yes, Mr. Ford.”
“I suppose you are exulting over your victory?”
“You are mistaken,” said Grant. “It was not my wish that anything unpleasant should happen.”
“I suppose not,” said Ford, in an unpleasant tone.
“For some reason you have shown a dislike to me from the first,” Grant proceeded. “I don’t know why. I have always treated you with respect and tried to do my duty faithfully.”
“You are a little angel, to be sure.”
“Have you any objection to telling me why you dislike me?” he asked.
“Yes, I’ll tell you. It is because I see how you are trying to worm yourself into the confidence of Mr. Reynolds. You have plotted against me, and now, thanks to you, I have lost my place.”
“I don’t consider myself the cause of that, Mr. Ford.”
“I do. But you needn’t exult too much. I generally pay my debts, and I shan’t forget what I owe you. I will be even with you some day.”
So saying, he walked off, and Grant returned to his work.
“I can’t understand why Mr. Ford should hate me so,” he thought.
CHAPTER XXIV – STARTLING NEWS
Willis Ford’s feelings were far from enviable when he took leave of the office in which he had long enjoyed an excellent position. He was conscious, though scarcely willing to admit it, that his misfortunes had been brought upon him by his own unwise, not to say criminal, course. None the less, however, was he angry with those whom he had connected with the disaster that had come upon him. He had always disliked Grant Thornton. Now he hated him, and thirsted for an opportunity to do him mischief. Next he felt embittered against Mr. Reynolds, who had discharged him, though it is hardly possible to see how the broker could have done otherwise. This dislike was increased within a few days, and for this reason.
Ford addressed a letter to Mr. Reynolds, requesting a certificate of good character, which would enable him to procure a new situation.
To this request the broker answered substantially as follows:
“I shall be glad to hear that you have changed your course, and have decided to lead an honest lift; but, for the same reason that I am not willing to retain you in my employment, I am unwilling to recommend you without reserve to another business man. If you are willing to refer him to me, on condition that I tell the truth, I will cheerfully testify that you have discharged your office duties to my satisfaction.”
“The old fool!” muttered Ford, angrily crushing the letter in his hand. “What use would such a recommendation be to me? Not content with discharging me, he wants to keep me out of employment.”
In truth, Willis Ford hardly knew where to turn. He had saved no money, and was earning nothing. In his dilemma he turned to his stepmother.
One forenoon, after he knew the broker and Grant would be out of the way, he rang the bell, and inquired for the housekeeper.
Mrs. Estabrook was agitated when she saw her step-son. She did not like to believe that he had robbed her, but it was hard to believe otherwise.
“Oh, Willis!” she said almost bursting into tears, “how could you take my small savings? I would not have believed you capable of it!”
“You don’t mean to say, mother,” returned Willis, with well-dissembled and reproachful sorrow, “that you believe this monstrous slander?”
“I don’t want to believe it, Willis, heaven knows. But were not the bonds found in your room?”
“I admit it,” said Ford; “but how did they get there?”
“Did you not put them there?”
“Certainly not, mother. I thought you knew me better than that.”
“But who, then—” began his step-mother, looking bewildered.
“Who should it be but that boy?”
“Grant Thornton?”
“Yes.”
“Have you any proof of this?” asked the housekeeper, eagerly.
“I will tell you what I have found out. I learn that a boy called, on the day in question, at my room and asked to see me. Being told that I was out, he asked leave to go up and wait for me. As the servant had no suspicion, he was allowed to go up. I don’t know how long he stayed; but no doubt he had the bonds with him and concealed them where they were found.”
“Did you ask for a description of the boy? Was it like Grant?” asked the housekeeper, quickly.
“Unfortunately, the girl did not take particular notice of him. I have no doubt that it was either Grant or the telegraph boy, who seems to have been in the plot.”’
Now, this story was an audacious fiction, and should not have imposed upon a person of ordinary intelligence; but the housekeeper was anxious to believe her step-son innocent and Grant guilty. She therefore accepted it without question, and was loud in her denunciation of that “artful young rascal.”
“You ought to tell Mr. Reynolds of this, Willis,” she said.
“It would be of no use, mother. He is too strongly prejudiced against me. What do you think? He has refused me a letter of recommendation. What does he care if I starve?” concluded Willis, bitterly.
“But I care, Willis. I will not desert you,” said Mrs. Estabrook, in a tone of sympathy.
This was just the mood in which Ford desired his step-mother to be. He was desirous of effecting a loan, and after a time succeeded in having transferred to him two of the one-hundred-dollar bonds. He tried hard to obtain the five hundred, but Mrs. Estabrook was too prudent and too much attached to her savings to consent to this. Ford had to be satisfied with considerably less.
“Ought I to stay with Mr. Reynolds after he has treated you in this way, Willis?” asked his step-mother, anxiously.
“By all means, mother. You don’t want to throw away a good position.”
“But it will be hard to see that boy high in Mr. Reynolds’ confidence, after all his wickedness.”
“You must dissemble, mother. Treat him fairly, and watch your opportunity to harm him and serve me. Don’t say much about me, for it would do no good; but keep your hold on Reynolds.”
“If you think it best, Willis,” said his stepmother, not without a feeling of relief, for she was reluctant to relinquish a good home and liberal salary, “I will remain.”
“Do so by all means. We may as well make all we can out of the enemy, for Mr. Reynolds has treated me very shabbily. And now I must bid you good-by.”
“What are your plans, Willis?”
“I can’t tell you, but I think I shall go West.”
“And I shall never see you!”
“You will hear from me, and I hope I shall have good news to write.”
Willis Ford left the house, and, going to the Grand Central Depot, bought a ticket for Chicago.
Now came quite a pleasant period after the trouble and excitement. Grant found his duties at the office increased, and it was pleasant to see that his employer reposed confidence in him. His relations with others in the office were pleasant, now that Willis Ford was away, and every day he seemed to get new insight into the details of the business. Whether Jim Morrison and Tom Calder were in the city, he did not know. At all events, they were never seen in the neighborhood of Wall Street. Grant was not sorry to have them pass out of his life, for he did not consider that he was likely to draw any benefit from their presence and companionship.
He was still a member of Mr. Reynolds’ house-hold. Herbert appeared to be as much attached to him as if he were an older brother, and the broker looked with pleasure upon the new happiness that beamed from the face of his son.
As to Mrs. Estabrook, Grant had feared that she would continue to show animosity toward him, but he had nothing to complain of. She certainly did not show any cordiality in her necessary intercourse with him; but then, on the other hand, she did not manifest any desire to injure him. This was all Grant desired. He felt that under no circumstances could he have made a friend of the housekeeper. He was content to have her leave him alone.
After the lapse of six months Grant expressed a desire to go home to pass a day or two. His mother’s birthday was close at hand, and he had bought for her a present which he knew would be acceptable. Permission was readily accorded, and Grant passed four happy days at home. His parents were pleased that he was so highly regarded by his employer, and had come to think that Grant’s choice had been a wise one.
When Grant returned he went at once to the office. He found it a scene of excitement.
“What has happened?” he asked, eagerly.
“Herbert Reynolds has disappeared, and his father is almost beside himself with grief!” was the startling reply.
