Adventures of a Telegraph Boy or 'Number 91'. Horatio Alger Jr.
him talk!” ejaculated the old man, raising his feeble arm in despairing protest. “I – I haven’t got any money except a few cents that Paul brought me yesterday.”
“And who is Paul?” asked the son, quickly.
“He is a boy I took years ago when he was very small. I – I took him out of charity.”
“Very likely. That’s so like you,” sneered the son. “I warrant you have got more out of him than he cost you.”
This was true enough, as Paul could testify. He was only six when he came under the old man’s care, but even at that tender age he was sent out on the street to sell papers and matches, and old Jerry tried to induce him to beg; but that was something the boy had always steadfastly refused to do.
He had an independent, self respecting spirit, which made him ashamed to beg. He was always willing to work, and to work hard, and he generally had an opportunity to do so. This will relieve Paul from the charge of ingratitude, for he had always paid his own way, and really owed Jerry nothing.
“He – he has cost me a great deal,” whined Jerry, “but I knew his father, and I could not turn him out into the streets.”
“And how old is this boy now?” asked the son.
“I – I think he is about sixteen.”
“He ought to be able to earn something. What does he do?”
“He is a telegraph boy.”
“Ha!” exclaimed the burglar with a scowl, for the word provoked disagreeable memories of the previous night. “I hate telegraph boys.”
“Paul is a good boy – a pretty good boy, but he eats a sight.”
The son indulged in a short laugh.
“How does he like your boarding house?” he asked.
“He doesn’t eat here; he goes to a restaurant. He spends piles of money!” groaned the old man.
“Telegraph boys are not generally supposed to revel in riches,” said the son in a sarcastic tone. “It’s so much out of your pocket, eh?”
“Yes,” groaned the old man. “If he would give me all his wages I should be very comfortable.”
“But he wouldn’t. From what I know of your table, father, I think he would starve to death in a month. I haven’t forgotten how you starved me when I was a kid.”
“You look strong and well now,” said old Jerry.
“Yes, but no thanks to you! But to business! How much money have you got?”
“Very little, James. I have eleven cents that Paul gave me yesterday.”
“Bah! You are deceiving me. Where is your bank book?”
“I have none. What makes you ask such questions?” demanded the old man, querulously. “I wish you would go away.”
“That is a pretty way to treat a son you haven’t seen for twelve years. Do you know what I am?”
“No.”
“Then I’ll tell you; for years I have been a burglar.”
Old Jerry looked frightened.
“You’re not in earnest, James?”
“Yes, I am. I ain’t proud of the business, but you drove me to it.”
“No, no,” protested the old man.
“You made me work hard, and half starved me when I was a boy, you gave me no chance of education, and all to swell your paltry hoards. If I have gone to the bad, you are responsible. But let that drop. I’ve been unfortunate, and I want money.”
“I told you I had none, James.”
“And I don’t believe you. Hark you! I will come back tomorrow,” he said, with a threatening gesture. “In the meanwhile, get fifty dollars from the bank, and have it ready for me. Do you hear?”
“You must be mad, James!” said old Jerry, regarding his son with a look of fear.
“I shall be, unless you have the money. I will go now, but I shall be back tomorrow.”
Paul ran downstairs hastily, as he heard the man’s heavy step approaching the door. He didn’t care to be recognized by his unpleasant acquaintance of the night previous.
CHAPTER VII
PAUL RESOLVES TO MOVE
After Jerry’s unwelcome visitor was well out of the way, Paul returned to the room. He found old Jerry trembling and very much distressed. The old man looked up with startled eyes when he opened the door.
“Oh, it’s you, Paul,” he said, in a tone of relief.
“Who did you think it was?” asked Paul, wishing to draw out the old man.
“I – I have had a visit from a bad man, who wanted to rob me.”
“Who was it?”
“I’ll tell you, Paul, but it’s a secret, mind. It was my son.”
“I didn’t know you had a son.”
“Nor I. I thought he might be dead, for I have not seen him for twenty years. I am afraid he is very wicked.”
“How did he find you out?”
“I don’t know. He – he frightened me very much. He wanted me to give him money – and I so miserably poor.”
Paul didn’t answer.
“You know how poor I am, Paul,” continued the old man appealingly.
“You always say so, Jerry.”
The old man did not appear to notice that Paul had ceased to call him grandfather.
“And it’s true – of course it’s true. But he wants me to pay him fifty dollars. He is coming back tomorrow.”
“But he can’t get it if you haven’t it to give.”
“I – I don’t know. He was always bad tempered – James was. I am afraid he might beat me.”
“What! Beat his father!” exclaimed Paul, indignantly.
“He might,” said the old man. “He wasn’t a good boy like you. He always gave me trouble.”
“Are you really afraid he will come, grand – Jerry?” asked Paul, earnestly.
“Yes, he is sure to come – he said so.”
“Then I think we had better move to another place where he can’t find us.”
“Yes – yes – let us go,” said the old man, hurriedly. “But, but,” he added, with a sudden thought, “we have paid the rent here to the end of the month. I can’t afford to lose that – I am so poor.”
“It will only be a dollar and a half; I will pay it,” said Paul.
“Then I think I shall go. When shall we leave, Paul?”
“This evening, Jerry, if I can get the time. I may have to stay up town to guard a house where the gentleman is absent, but it isn’t certain. If I do, I will be here early in the morning, before I go to work.”
This assurance seemed to abate the apprehensions of the old man, who, it was evident, stood in great fear of his son. Paul was obliged to take a hurried leave of him in order to have time for lunch before returning to the office.
“Who would have dreamed,” he said to himself, “that the bold burglar whom I encountered last night, was the son of old Jerry? One is as timid as a mouse, the other seems like a daring criminal. I wonder why Jerry never told me that he had a son.”
The discovery that Jerry had such a son made Paul still more unwilling to own a relationship to him. It was bad enough to pass for the grandson of a squalid miser, but it was worse to be thought the son or nephew