Part 51 (2/2)
”No! no! don't arrest me! For the sake of my family, have mercy!”
groaned Nathan Dobb, breaking down utterly.
”Will you promise to restore every cent due Leo?”
”Yes! yes! He shall have it all!”
”I only want what is due me,” said Leo.
”You shall have every cent-I swear it.”
After this Nathan Dobb was easy to handle. He told the whole story of the estate and how the money was invested.
All the necessary papers were turned over to Barton Reeve to be put into the hands of the court.
”A good day's work,” said Reeve when he and Leo left the squire's house.
”You are now free and rich.”
”I hardly know myself,” replied Leo, and he told the plain truth.
It was not long after this that Leo came into possession of property which, later on, when times became better, proved to be worth nearly fifteen thousand dollars.
Barton Reeve was appointed his guardian until he should become of age.
The great friends.h.i.+p between the man and the boy, so strangely begun, was never broken.
A few weeks after the exposure, and after Daniel Hawkins had carried the news far and wide, Nathan Dobb sold out his household effects and went West. Whatever became of him is not known.
Several years have pa.s.sed.
On his stony farm Daniel Hawkins worries out a miserable existence. His wife is more of a tartar than ever, and together they make one of the most wretched couples living in the Hopsville district.
Mart Keene is still with the ”Greatest Show on Earth” and is earning a good salary. He has called once or twice upon the Hawkinses, but he has nothing in common with the mean farmer and his wife.
Carl Ross is likewise still on the road and is getting a large salary.
He has married pretty Natalie Sparks and both are well and happy.
Leo has given up the circus profession and is now at college. He is a diligent scholar and expects to become a doctor. He has a score of friends who wish him well and who predict for him a brilliant future.
But no matter how successful he may be in years to come it is not likely that he will forget the stirring times when he was simply Leo the Circus Boy.
THE END.
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