The boys had not asked many questions about him, nor been told much.
They knew his father and mother were dead. They thought he had a rich
guardian, perhaps a fortune some day coming, they did not care. Mikky
never spoke about any of these things and there was a strange reticence
about him that made them dislike to ask him questions; even, when they
came to know him well. He was entered under the name of Endicott,
because, on questioning him Professor Harkness found he could lay no
greater claim to any other surname, and called him that until he could
write to Mr. Endicott for advice. He neglected to write at once and
then, the name having become fastened upon the boy, he thought it best
to let the matter alone as there was little likelihood of Mr.
Endicott’s coming down to the college, and it could do no harm. He
never stopped to think out possible future complications and the boy
became known as Michael Endicott.
But his companions, as boys will, thought the matter over, and
rechristened him “Angel”; and Angel, or Angel Endy he became, down to
the end of his college course.
One great delight of his new life was the out-of-door freedom he
enjoyed. A beautiful lake spread its silver sheet at the foot of the
campus slope and here the boy revelled in swimming and rowing. The
whole country round was filled with wonder to his city-bred eyes. He
attached himself to the teacher of natural sciences, and took long
silent tramps for miles about. They penetrated dense hammocks,
gathering specimens of rare orchids and exquisite flowers; they stood
motionless and breathless for hours watching and listening to some
strange wild bird; they became the familiar of slimy coiling serpents
in dark bogs, and of green lizards and great black velvet spiders; they
brought home ravishing butterflies and moths of pale green and gold and
crimson. Mikky’s room became a museum of curious and wonderful things,
and himself an authority on a wide and varied range of topics.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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