Part 33 (1/2)
”I have struggled hard to get along, and feed and clothe you children,”
replied Mrs. Dornwood. ”If I could get work enough, I could do pretty well; but”--
”I can take care of you, mother; and I shall do it,” interposed Dory.
”You, poor boy! What can you do? I heard that you had been discharged from your place on the steamboat,” added his mother. ”Worse than that: they say you took some money that didn't belong to you.”
”Did Corny Minkfield bring that story over here?” demanded Dory indignantly.
”No: your uncle heard it over at Plattsburgh.”
Dory told enough of his story to prove that he did not steal the money with which he bought the boat, but he could not tell where he got it.
Then he produced the seventy dollars he had in his pocket, and gave that to his mother.
”Why, Dory, where in the world did you get so much money?” exclaimed Mrs. Dornwood, as she took the bills; and the amount was more than she had ever before possessed at one time since she was married.
”I received one hundred and five dollars for a service I rendered to a man near Plattsburgh, and I earned ten dollars by helping the officer capture Pearl Hawlinshed,” replied Dory.
His mother wanted to know who had given him the money, and for what; and Dory could only reply that he had promised not to tell. Mrs. Dornwood was not satisfied, and she greatly feared that her son had been doing something wrong.
”I can't tell when I promised not to tell,” added he. ”The man that gave it to me said that I had saved him from losing a very large sum. With a part of this I bought the Goldwing.”
”I have heard all about the Goldwing Club, and so has your uncle Royal,”
said Mrs. Dornwood. ”When he came up yesterday morning, he set about finding you. We couldn't tell any thing at all what had become of you. I supposed you was at work on the steamer till Royal told me you had been turned away.”
”It wasn't my fault that I was turned off. Major Billcord blamed me for what was not my fault,” replied Dory.
”Your uncle said as much as that, and declared that he should give Major Billcord a piece of his mind. At last Royal came to me to know what boys you played with when you were at home. I gave him the names of all the boys you used to call the Colchester Club.”
”They changed the name to the Goldwing Club,” added Dory.
”Your uncle found them all, and they told him all about the boat you had bought. He took them with him when he went up to Plattsburgh in his steam-yacht. He wanted them to help him find you,” continued Mrs.
Dornwood.
”Then Corny Minkfield told him that I was a thief. If he had staid with me, he would have heard the detective prove that I was not a thief. But my uncle heard it all,” said Dory.
”He proved that you did not steal the money you paid for the boat from the man at the hotel; and that was all. No one knows to this minute where you did get it.”
”If you won't believe what I say, I can't help it,” answered Dory, with some indignation in his tones.
”I hope it is all right, Dory; but your uncle is afraid you are getting into bad ways. He wants to do something for you.”
”I don't want him to do any thing for me. I am able to take care of myself, and you and Marian besides. With the Goldwing I can make five dollars a day when I can get a party,” said Dory.
”You had better see your uncle Royal, and talk with him. He has been very kind to me, and he thinks a great deal of you,” said Mrs. Dornwood.
”Thinks a great deal of me!” exclaimed Dory, hardly able to believe the statement.
”That is just what he says. We had a long talk about you yesterday forenoon, after he came back from his trip down the lake after you. He said you were too smart for him, and he told how you had kept out of the way of his steam-yacht. He thinks you have talent, and it would be a great pity to have you go wrong in the world.”
Dory was utterly astonished, for he supposed his uncle had a very mean opinion of him. But he was not quite reconciled to having his mother dependent on his uncle. He wanted to be independent, and he had been thinking so much of supporting the family that he was not ready to give up the idea.