Part 30 (1/2)
”I have told them all about it, Noddy,” interrupted Miss f.a.n.n.y, blus.h.i.+ng. ”I couldn't stand it after you went away.”
”It was my fault,” said Noddy. ”I said so then, and I say so now.”
”We won't say anything about that until after breakfast. We are very glad you have come back; and we don't care about thinking of anything else, at present,” said Mr. Grant.
Breakfast was provided for the wanderer and his friend, and Mollie was soon made quite at home by the kind attentions of Bertha and f.a.n.n.y. When the meal was ended, Noddy insisted upon ”settling up old affairs,” as he called it. He declared that the blame ought to rest on him, and he was willing to suffer. Mr. Grant said that he was satisfied. f.a.n.n.y was to blame, and she had already been severely punished for her fault.
”You will not send poor Noddy to prison--will you?” interposed Mollie.
”He is a good boy now. He saved my life, and took care of me for months.
You will find that he is not the same Noddy, he used to be. He is made over new.”
”I'm glad to hear that,” replied Mr. Grant. ”But Noddy, did you really think I intended to send you to jail?”
”Yes, sir; what was the constable after me for, if not for that?”
”It's a mistake, and I told you so in Albany. Didn't I say you would be a rich man?”
”You did, sir; but I thought that was only to catch me. All of them said something of that sort. I knew I couldn't be a rich man, because my father never had a cent to leave me. That's what they told me.”
”But you had an uncle.”
”Never heard of him,” replied Noddy, bewildered at the prospect before him.
”Your father's only brother died in California more than a year ago. He had no family; but an honest man who went with him knew where he came from; and Squire Wriggs has hunted up all the evidence, which fully proves that all your uncle's property, in the absence of other heirs, belongs to you. He left over thirty thousand dollars, and it is all yours.”
”Dear me!” exclaimed Noddy, utterly confounded by this intelligence.
”This sum, judiciously invested, will produce at least fifty thousand when you are of age. I have been appointed your guardian.”
”I don't think I'm Noddy Newman after this,” added the heir, in breathless excitement.
”I know you are not,” added Bertha, laughing. ”Your real name is Ogden Newman.”
”How are you, Ogden?” said Noddy, amused at his new name.
”I suppose Noddy came from Ogden,” said Mr. Grant.
”If that's what's the matter, I don't see what you wanted to take me to court for.”
”As you have come to years of discretion, you might have had the privilege of naming your own guardian; and we were going to take you to the court for that purpose. As you were not here to speak for yourself, I was appointed. If you are not satisfied, the proceedings can be reviewed.”
”I'm satisfied first rate,” laughed Noddy. ”But you said something about sending me off.”
”My plan was to send you to the Tunbrook Military Inst.i.tute, where Richard is, and make a man of you.”
”I should like that--perhaps.”
”You gave me a great deal of trouble to find you; and I did not succeed, after all,” added Mr. Grant.