Bart Stirling's Road to Success; Or, The Young Express AgentChapman, Allen
General
Bart Stirling's Road to Success; Or, The Young Express Agent
Chapman, Allen
Boys -- Juvenile fiction; Express service -- Juvenile fiction; Railroads -- Juvenile fiction
One day he did not appear, nor the following. Early on the morning of
the third day he staggered into the house, weak and fainting. He was
taken down with a fever, was delirious for a week, and at the end of
that time died.
Just before his death he tried to tell something about the will. Baker
made out that he had found it, that it was at Pleasantville, nothing
more.
After his friend's death, Baker wrote a letter to Colonel Harrington.
He accused him of his dishonorable conduct, and threatened to publicly
expose him if he did not provide in some way for the little orphan,
Dorothy, for whom he had found a home with a poor relative.
A week later Colonel Harrington sought out Baker, told him he had
trumped up a charge against him that would land him in jail, which Baker
later discovered was the truth, and gave him twenty-four hours to leave
the country.
From that time the poor fellow was a fugitive, venturing to appear only
in disguise at Pleasantville. Adams, it seemed, had found the will and
had sent it to Pleasantville addressed to himself, not daring to face
the colonel with the important document in his possession, but never
living to carry out his plan.
In the settlement with Colonel Harrington, Baker had received a letter
exculpating him totally from the trumped up charge, and a check for five
thousand dollars, which money was now held in trust by a bank to provide
for little Dorothy's future.
Bart felt much gratified over the way all these tangled strands in the
warp and woof of his young life had been straightened out, but he
experienced a final blessing that filled him with unutterable joy and
gratefulness.
A week previous his father had returned from a month's treatment by a
city expert oculist.
Robert Stirling came back to Pleasantville a well man.
That was a joyful night at the little Stirling home, when Mr. Stirling
once again looked with restored sight upon the faces of the many friends
who respected and loved him.
Mr. Stirling, while in the city, had been an invited guest at the home
of Mr. Leslie, and the express superintendent had learned a good deal
more about his devoted son than he had ever known before.
"Come out of it!" hailed a jolly voice, and Bart was disturbed in his
pleasant reverie by the appearance of Darry and Bob Haven.
"It's settled!" cried the latter ecstatically?--"we're going into the
regular business at last."
"I don't quite catch on," returned Bart.
"The printing and publishing business," put in Darry. "We have got the
money together for a nice little plant, and father and mother are
willing that we shall go ahead. Some day you'll see us running a regular
newspaper."
"Well, I wish you good luck--you certainly deserve it," answered the
young express agent, warmly.
"There is only one drawback," resumed Bob. "We'll have to give up
helping you."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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