Budd Boyd's Triumph

Father and mother had been brought up in the western part of that State, and were married there, but soon after my birth

r or two on Hope Island," interrupted Judd

until he alluded to it to-night, that it was d

tion until last fall. Of course his salary was a comfortable one, and we lived nicely out in the Roxbury suburbs. I was kept constantly in school, and as I seem

ld me what I was to pass through in less than a year I should have thought it simply impossible. In

our one servant in the care of the house, I, at least, thought but little about it. Not so with father, however. Always thoughtful of others rather than of himself, he watched mother with a

ed that this should be done, but how he was to accomplish it he did not know. Mother was too feeble to go without him and a woman attendant. The fall drive at the store had begun, and father could not well be

s taking care of her consented to go and stay there with her; and much as father and mother hated to be separated, this seemed the only thing that could be done. Father had about two hundred dollars o

ether," and Budd's voice grew husky. "It was at a friend's of the family, where mother had been temporarily removed while the household goods were being packed and stored. We were alone in mother's room, and it

ock came at the door, an

'is a letter for you. It ha

giving. It proved, however, to be a great cause for rejoicing to us all, and no one dreamed that it w

ass., Oct

ENRY

as a proof that I do, and also as a token of my appreciation of your long and faithful service, I inclose a check for five hundred ($500) dollars. T

n, your

. JO

rforation were in strict accordance with the firm-usages, and therefore father, with a grateful heart, wrote a note of thanks, and gave it to me to mail to Mr. Johnson as I went back to my boarding-place. With joyful hearts, too--joyful in spite of mother's feebleness--father and mother

e next morning he delayed one train, and at the opening of the bank where he was acquainted presented his check for paymen

t the hotel in Deland, to have an officer immediately step forward and arrest him for forgery and theft. As soon as father recovered his composure he demanded a full explanation of the outrage, and at whose instigation the

her comfort, he would then return to Boston and face the charges, sure that he could prove them false. But father was a stranger. No one was ready to offer bai

he was in trouble. The whole party started on their return, therefore, with the officer. In New York mother was ta

ter got a telegram from father announcing mother's death, and that night met him

per that he declared he had found hid in the office, on which there had evidently been constant practice to imitate the firm-name. This testimony, together with the known facts that father needed the money, and was the only clerk in the office that at that time had access to the safe and check-book, convicted him. His story, and the drawing of the check and the sending of it to the house, were declared to be simply plans on his part to cover his crimes in mother's an

his first offenses. His obdurateness, however, compels me to make the sentences correspondingly harsh. I therefore sentence him on the first charge

ormer friends refused to receive me at their homes; school-mates treated me coldly or met me with sneers; even

d told Mr. Johnson if he ever lived to get out of prison he should pay the other thousand. 'You believe I have taken it,' he had said, 'and I will not allow myself to rest until you at least are convinced that I hav

s and mother's watches; in fact, everything that would sell. After paying the lawyer in fu

so long, and he scowled darkly at me. I had always felt that he could tell all about the forged check and the thousand dollars if he were willing to do so, an

, did not refuse my request to see him privately. Once in his inn

ou, but because you believe he did. This five hundred makes an even thousand. The other

the receipt, but on handing i

had wronged your father I would not leave a st

ions,' I replied, 'but it is

owering his voice and tapping thoug

started South, get a note from him thanking you for the check?' and as he shook his head in rep

s to the safe, and what could have been his motiv

d, and Bagsley appeared. By the look of rage on his face as he glanced at me I knew he had been listening to

t of the city. I had so little money I had decided to walk to Providence, looking for work all the way. Barely had I turned

er come about the office again telling stories about me!' Then he shook me

atment I had received, I sprun

and sent it to father to cover your theft of

r with him that would only end in serious injury to one or the other of us, and braced myself for it. But j

ll kill you!' and then he tur

presence here indicates also that he has been discharged for some reason from Mr. Johnson's employ, and is allied with

ure a job failed, and I continued my tramp. In the village over here I heard of Benton, and that he wanted a lad about my age. It was cold,

partner finished and bowed his head upon the table to co

ne to him explaining that I had found work. I did not give my address, for I was afraid if I got a letter from the prison my story might come out, and I should have to see

ther was confident of your father's innocence, and died before she knew of his imprisonment, while my mother all her married life had the burden of knowing she was married to a brute. Surely there is much

ment on the last five hundred dollars. In some way, too, Bagsley may be led to confess the part he has played, and then father can go free, and here I'll have a home to which he can come u

thin we'll stand by each other;" and with a hearty shak

week was over a darker cloud and a heavier burden would fall upon