The Little Red Chimney: Being the Love Story of a Candy ManLeonard, Mary Finley
General
The Little Red Chimney: Being the Love Story of a Candy Man
Leonard, Mary Finley
Fiction; Love stories
"Of course you are right," she agreed. "As Virginia's story runs, 'He
turned into a prince, and because Violetta had been true to him through
thick and thin, he made her a princess.' Anyhow, Candy Man, I'm glad I
chose you before your good fortune came."
"It was an extremely venturesome thing to do, Girl of All Others, as
I have told you before, though immensely flattering to me. I have to
take the money, there is no way out of it. I believe it would break our
Miser's heart if I refused. Do you know what he was proposing to do
before he found the book?"
"What?" asked Margaret Elizabeth.
"To adopt me. You see we had come to be pretty good friends last
winter, and I think he suspected from the start that I had rather lofty
aspirations for a Candy Man. In a Little Red Chimney direction--you
understand?"
"Perfectly--go on."
"Well, he saw us in the park----"
"And his suspicions were confirmed, I suppose," put in Margaret
Elizabeth, coolly.
"Exactly. And knowing from what I had told him previously that I had
my fortune to seek, it occurred to him that as the channel he had been
hoping for had been closed, the next best thing would be to make it
possible for two young persons to----"
"The dear old Miser!" interrupted Margaret Elizabeth. "But why is he so
unwilling to use the money himself? It is honestly his."
"I may not fully understand, but I think from things he has said, that
as a boy he was jealous of my father. This feeling would naturally make
him, when it came to the test, not unwilling to believe in his guilt.
Then, being reticent and introspective, he magnified all this a
thousandfold when the truth came out, and he realised he had profited by
the unjust suspicion. By dwelling upon it he came to feel as if he had
actually obtained the money himself by unfair means. But I am convinced
that if he did encourage his uncle to believe in my father's guilt, it
was because he firmly believed it himself. Never since the facts were
known has he regarded the money as his, and not until he had almost
exhausted his own means in the effort to trace the rightful owner, as
he regarded him, did he use a penny of it."
"It is so touching to see his surprise and gratitude that I do not feel
resentful toward him," added the Candy Man. "His joy at handing over
this fortune is wonderful. He already looks a different man."
"We must make it up to him in some way," said Margaret Elizabeth. "I
mean for all these lonely years. Speaking of money, I'll tell you what
I have been thinking. When we build our house, as I suppose we shall
some day, when we come back from our search for the Archaeologist----"
"By all means. That is one mitigating circumstance. We can build a
house," responded the Candy Man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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