Captain Bayley's Heir: A Tale of the Gold Fields of CaliforniaHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
General
Captain Bayley's Heir: A Tale of the Gold Fields of California
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
California -- Gold discoveries -- Juvenile fiction
"No, I should not care about being in Parliament," the boy said. "If I
were ever so rich I think I might like a yacht; still, a yacht, if it
were only a small one, would cost a great deal of money, and I do hope
that grandfather won't disappoint any one for my sake."
Captain Bayley had, however, a few days after the discovery of his
grandson, and after having satisfied himself how lovable the lad was,
and how worthy in all respects to be his heir, written to Fred Barkley,
telling him that his grandson had been found, and that he was all that
he could wish to find him.
"Naturally, Fred," he wrote, "this will make a considerable difference
in your prospects. At the same time, as you have been led to believe
that you would come into a considerable property at my death, and as you
have done nothing to forfeit my confidence and affection, having proved
yourself in all ways a steady and industrious and honourable young
fellow, I do not consider it right that you should be altogether
disinherited by a discovery which has occasioned me such vast pleasure.
I have therefore instructed my solicitor to prepare a new will. By this
he will settle my property in Warwickshire, and my town house, upon my
grandson; but my other house property, and a portion of my money in
stocks and shares, which has been accumulating for many years, will be
left to you, the value of the legacy being, I calculate, about one-half
of that of the property left to my grandson. Thus you will be in nearly
the same position you would have occupied had not your cousin Frank
forfeited, by his disgraceful conduct, his place in my affections."
Whatever may have been the feelings of Fred Barkley when he received
this communication, he wrote a graceful letter of congratulation to his
uncle, expressing his pleasure at the discovery of his long-lost
grandson, and with many thanks for his kind intention on his own behalf.
His anger and disappointment were so great that he did not return to
town until the day before he was going up to Cambridge--having left
Westminster at the end of the preceding term--for he did not feel
himself equal, before that time, to continue to play his part, and to
express personally the sentiments which he had written. What rendered
his disappointment even more bitter was the thought that, indirectly, it
was Frank who had dealt him the blow, for Captain Bayley had mentioned
in his letter that it was through the boy whom his cousin had
recommended as an assistant to the footman that the discovery had been
made.
The visit that he paid at Eaton Square was a short one. To his relief
Alice was not present, for he was certain that she would have watched
him with malicious pleasure. But there had been a passage of arms
between her and her guardian of a more serious nature than any which had
occurred since she had been under his care, owing to her having
expressed herself with her usual frankness respecting Fred's visit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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