"Then you have missed me?" said Mark smiling.
"It has seemed a long time since you went away. Did you have a successful trip?"
"Yes, indeed. Mr. Swan was so well satisfied that he gave me fifteen dollars besides paying the telegraph company for my services. I shall be paid my regular wages by them also."
"Poor Mrs. Mack has been attacked and robbed of a hundred dollars since you went away."
"I read a paragraph about it copied from the New York papers. How is she now?"
"She is confined to her bed. The villain, whoever he was, nearly choked her, and the shock was so great that it quite prostrated her."
"Were you at home when the attack took place?"
"No; I had gone out on an errand. Meanwhile the rascal escaped. I suppose it was her nephew."
"I have brought him back to stand trial."
"You!" exclaimed his mother in amazement.
"Yes; I met him at Niagara, and on reading the paragraph I concluded that he was the thief, especially as he seemed to be well provided with money. On my information a telegram was sent to Inspector Byrnes, and he was brought back on the same train with me."
"Go up and tell Mrs. Mack. It will do her good."
Mark went up-stairs with his mother. The old lady, looking unusually feeble, was lying on the bed.
"How do you feel, Mrs. Mack?" asked Mark.
"I'm almost dead," groaned the old woman. "I've been robbed and almost murdered since you went away, Mark."
"Who did it?"
"Who but that rascal Jack Minton, and he my own nephew!"
"Are you sure it was he?"
"Yes, I saw him and talked with him."
"Tell me about it."
"He come in while I was sitting in the rocking chair and asked me for some money. He begged and implored, but I would give him nothing. Then he began to threaten, and I said I would call you. 'If you do I'll kill the kid,' he said. Then he put his hand around my throat and almost choked me."
"I fainted away, and when I came to he was gone and a hundred dollars was taken from the bureau, all I had to keep me from the poor-house," added the old woman whimpering. "But I'll get even with him. He thinks he'll have the little I have to leave because he is my nephew. He'll find himself mistaken. I'll make a will—I'll——"
"Mrs. Mack, I have something to tell you that will please you."
"Has my money been found?" asked the old woman eagerly.
"Your nephew has been arrested and he is now in the hands of the police."
"Heaven be praised! I don't mind the money now. And where was he found?"
"I found him at Niagara Falls and had him arrested."
"You're a good boy, Mark, and you won't be sorry for helping a poor old woman; no, you won't be sorry. Tell me all about it."
Mark told the story, and it so cheered up the old woman that she got up from her bed and the next day was as well as ever. She no longer complained of her loss of money. Her satisfaction in the retribution which had overtaken her nephew was so great that it overcame every other feeling.
When the trial came on she even succeeded in getting to the court room where she positively identified Jack Minton as her assailant, and her evidence procured his conviction. He was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment at Sing Sing.
"He'll not trouble me again," said Mrs. Mack triumphantly as she walked out of court leaning on Mark's arm. The prisoner glared at the pair and his hands were clenched.
"If I could only get at 'em I'd kill 'em both!" he muttered, but in his position his threats were futile.
Two days afterwards Mrs. Mason was surprised by another call from Solon Talbot.
He looked about him as he entered the room and his eyes lighted up with satisfaction as he noted the evidences of poverty. Though Mark was now better off no new furniture had been bought. He was waiting till he would feel justified in securing better apartments for his mother.
Mrs. Mason looked surprised when her brother-in-law entered.
"Have you moved into the city yet, Mr. Talbot?" she asked.
"Yes; I arrived yesterday."
"How is Mary? Is she with you?"
"Yes."
"I should like to see her. Where are you located?"
"Why, the fact is, we are not located yet."
"I should be glad to see Mary. It is so long since we have met."
"I can't ask you to call as we are so unsettled. In a short time she will come and call upon you."
"I hope so. It is tantalizing to think she is in the same city, and yet not to meet."
"We all have our duties, and her duty is to her husband and son. I was surprised a few days since to meet Mark on the Central road."
"Yes; he went to Cleveland on business."
"Indeed! has he returned yet?"
"He returned two days since."
"For whom was he traveling?"
"I don't know that it is any secret. He had a business commission from Mr. Swan, a Broadway jeweler."
"He must be a strange business man to select a boy to travel for him."
"He made no mistake in selecting Mark. He professed himself well pleased with him."
"Humph! it may have turned out right in a single instance. When I select an agent I prefer to employ a man."
"How is Edgar?"
"He is well. I am looking for a position for him. I have hopes of getting him into the office of a prominent broker on Wall Street."
"I shall be glad to hear that he is doing well. He is about the age of Mark."
"True, but their paths will lie apart. My, ahem! position will secure for Edgar an entrance into fashionable society, while your son, though doubtless a deserving boy, must necessarily associate with his equals."
"Mark has some excellent friends," said Mrs. Mason, nettled.
"No doubt, no doubt. I have not a word to say derogatory of him except that he is inclined to be conceited."
"I suppose Edgar is quite free from that fault."
"Well no, perhaps not, but he has a social position to maintain. However, this is not what I came to talk about. You remember that when I was last here I asked your signature to a statement that you had received your rightful portion of your father's estate."
"I remember it."
"I offered you a small sum in consideration of this release. As the administrator I find it desirable to have it in order that I may render a final account."
"I remember the circumstances."
"I think you made some objection—a foolish one, to which you were instigated probably by your son Mark."
"I remember that too."
"No doubt the boy was honest in his advice, but I need hardly suggest to you how incompetent a boy of his age is as an adviser in a serious business matter. Well, I have come this morning on the same business, but I wish to be liberal. I think it only fair to take your circumstances into consideration. I am ready to give you a hundred dollars if you will sign the paper I have here."
"Let me see the paper, Solon."
Mr. Talbot took from his pocket a folded document which he placed before his sister-in-law.
It ran thus:
"I hereby acknowledge that I have received from Solon Talbot, administrator of the estate of my late father, Elisha Doane, my full share in that estate, and I hereby release him from all further claim on my part to said estate."
"Sign here, if you please," said Solon suavely, "and I will give you the sum promised."
As he spoke he drew from his wallet a roll of ten ten-dollar bills, which he judged would look tempting to a woman of Mrs. Mason's limited means.
"If you will leave this paper here, Solon," said the widow, "I will show it to Mark when he gets home, and ask his advice."
Mr. Talbot frowned and looked vexed.
"Ask advice of a boy of sixteen!" he sneered. "Surely you are better able to judge what is best than he."
"I am not sure about that. At any rate he is interested, and I prefer to wait till I see him."
"Then the offer of a hundred dollars is withdrawn."
"Just as you think best, Solon. I shall not sign without consulting Mark."
"Well, I will leave the paper, then," said Talbot, finding it hard to conceal his chagrin. "I hope for your sake that Mark will advise you sensibly."
"I think he will. He is young, but he has always shown good judgment."
"Confound the woman!" muttered Talbot, as he left the house. "It is most provoking to have her act in this way. Should she hear of the Golden Hope mine it would be most disastrous. Once let me obtain her release and I can sell it out for my own advantage."