The Errand Boy; or, How Phil Brent Won Success by Horatio Alger, Jr. Chapter 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

”He has been used to none of these things, for Mr. Brent and I, much as we loved him, had not the means to provide him with such luxuries.“

”Yes, Mrs. Brent, I understand that fully. You were far from rich. Yet you cared for my boy as if he were your own.“

”I loved him as much as if he had been my own son, Mr. Granville.“

”I am sure you did. I thank Providence that I am able to repay to some extent the great debt I have incurred. I cannot repay it wholly, but I will take care that you, too, shall enjoy ease and luxury. You shall have one of the best rooms in my house, and a special servant to wait upon you.“

”Thank you, Mr. Granville,“ said Mrs. Brent, her heart filled with proud anticipations of the state in which she should hereafter live. ”I do not care where you put me, so long as you do not separate me from Philip.“

”She certainly loves my son!“ said Mr. Granville to himself. ”Yet her ordinary manner is cold and constrained, and she does not seem like a woman whose affections would easily be taken captive. Yet Philip seems to have found the way to her heart. It must be because she has had so much care of him. We are apt to love those whom we benefit.“

But though Mr. Granville credited Mrs. Brent with an affection for Philip, he was uneasily conscious that the boy’s return had not brought him the satisfaction and happiness he had fondly anticipated.

To begin with, Philip did not look at all as he had supposed his son would look. He did not look like the Granvilles at all. Indeed, he had an unusually countrified aspect, and his conversation was mingled with rustic phrases which shocked his father’s taste.

”I suppose it comes of the way in which he has been brought up and the country boys he has associated with,“ thought Mr. Granville. ”Fortunately he is young, and there is time to polish him. As soon as I reach Chicago I will engage a private tutor for him, who shall not only remedy his defects of education, but do what he can to improve my son’s manners. I want him to grow up a gentleman.“

The next day the three started for Chicago, while Mr. Granville’s real son and heir continued to live at a cheap lodging-house in New York.

The star of Jonas was in the ascendant, while poor Philip seemed destined to years of poverty and hard work. Even now, he was threatened by serious misfortune.

CHAPTER XX.

LEFT OUT IN THE COLD.

OF COURSE Phil was utterly ignorant of the audacious attempt to deprive him of his rights and keep him apart from the father who longed once more to meet him. There was nothing before him so far as he knew except to continue the up-hill struggle for a living.

He gave very little thought to the prediction of the fortune-teller whom he had consulted, and didn’t dream of any short-cut to fortune.

Do all he could, he found he could not live on his wages.

His board cost him four dollars a week, and washing and lunch two dollars more, thus compelling him to exceed his salary by a dollar each week.

He had, as we know, a reserve fund, on which he could draw, but it was small, and grew constantly smaller. Then, again, his clothes were wearing out, and he saw no way of obtaining money to buy new.

Phil became uneasy, and the question came up to his mind, ”Should he write to his step-mother and ask her for a trifling loan?“ If the money had been hers, he would not have done so on any condition; but she had had nothing of her own, and all the property in her hands came through Mr. Brent, who, as he knew, was attached to him, even though no tie of blood united them. He certainly meant that Phil should be cared for out of the estate, and at length Phil brought himself to write the following letter: ”NEW YORK, March 10, 18–.

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