Part 49 (2/2)
”No; what is it?”
”Your nephew Jefferson Pettigrew has got back.”
”You don't mean so. There, Jefferson, that's one comfort.”
”And they say he has brought home five hundred dollars.”
”That's more'n I thought he'd bring. Where is he?”
”Over at the tavern. He's brought a young man with him, leastways a boy, that's got a lot of money.”
”The boy?”
”Yes; he's from New York, and is a friend of Jefferson's.”
”Well, I'm glad he's back. Why didn't he come here?”
”It's likely he would if the boy wasn't with him.”
”Perhaps he heard of my misfortune.”
”I hope it'll all come right, Mr. Hooper. My, if there ain't Jefferson comin' to see you now. I see him through the winder. I guess I'll be goin'. You'll want to see him alone.”
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE BOY CAPITALIST.
”How are you, Uncle Cyrus?” said Jefferson Pettigrew heartily, as he clasped his uncle's toil worn hand. ”And Aunt Nancy, too! It pays me for coming all the way from Montana just to see you.”
”I'm glad to see you, Jefferson,” said his uncle. ”It seems a long time since you went away. I hope you've prospered.”
”Well, uncle, I've brought myself back well and hearty, and I've got a few hundred dollars.”
”I'm glad to hear it, Jefferson. You're better off than when you went away.”
”Yes, uncle. I couldn't be much worse off. Then I hadn't a cent that I could call my own. But how are you and Aunt Nancy?”
”We're gettin' old, Jefferson, and misfortune has come to us. Squire Sheldon has got a mortgage on the farm and it's likely we'll be turned out. You've come just in time to see it.”
”Is it so bad as that, Uncle Cyrus? Why, when I went away you were prosperous.”
”Yes, Jefferson, I owned the farm clear, and I had money in the bank, but now the money's gone and there's a twelve hundred dollar mortgage on the old place,” and the old man sighed.
”But how did it come about uncle? You and Aunt Nancy haven't lived extravagantly, have you? Aunt Nancy, you haven't run up a big bill at the milliner's and dressmaker's?”
”You was always for jokin', Jefferson,” said the old lady, smiling faintly; ”but that is not the way our losses came.”
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