Fame and Fortune Part 16

"Call and see me when you haven't anything better to do."

"Thank you. Good-night."

"Were you in earnest, d.i.c.k, about the up-town lots," asked Fosd.i.c.k, after Clifton had left the room.

"Yes," said d.i.c.k. "It's an investment that Mr. Murdock advised. I'll tell you about it, and then you can tell me what you think of it."

d.i.c.k thereupon gave an account of the conversation that had taken place between him and the head clerk, and what they proposed to do. "What do you think of it?" he concluded.

"I have no doubt it is an excellent plan," said Fosd.i.c.k; "but of course my opinion isn't worth much. I don't see but you stand a chance to be a rich man some time, d.i.c.k."

"By the time I get to be a hundred," said d.i.c.k.

"A good while before that, I presume. But there's something else we must not forget."

"What is that?"

"Money is a good thing to have, but a good education is better. I was thinking to-day that since we have come here we haven't done any studying to amount to anything."

"That is true."

"And the sooner we begin the better."

"All right. I agree to that."

"But we shall need a.s.sistance. I've taught you about all I know myself, and now we want to go higher."

"What shall we do?"

"I'll tell you, d.i.c.k. Have you noticed the young man that has a room just opposite ours?"

"His name is Layton,--isn't it?"

"Yes."

"What about him?"

"I heard yesterday that he was a teacher in a private school. We might engage him to teach us in the evening, or, at any rate, see if he is willing."

"All right. Is he in now, I wonder?"

"Yes. I heard him go into his room a few minutes since."

"Very well; suppose we go in and speak to him."

The boys at once acted upon this suggestion, and, crossing the entry, knocked at the door.

"Come in!" said a voice from within.

The door being opened, they found themselves in the presence of a young man of pleasant appearance, apparently about twenty-five years of age.

"Good-evening, gentlemen," he said. "I am glad to see you. Will you have seats?"

"Thank you," said Fosd.i.c.k. "We came in on a little business. I understand you are a teacher, Mr. Layton."

"Yes, I am engaged in a private school in the city."

"My friend and myself are engaged in business during the day, but we feel that our education is quite deficient, and we want to make arrangements to study evenings. We cannot do this to advantage without a.s.sistance. Are you occupied during the evenings?"

"No, I am not."

"Perhaps you would not like teaching in the evening, after being engaged in the daytime."

"On the contrary, I have been hoping to secure scholars; but I hardly knew how to set about it."

"Are you acquainted with the French language, Mr. Layton?"

"Yes, I am tolerably familiar with it. I studied it at college with a native teacher."

"If you are a college graduate, then, you will be able to teach us whatever we desire to learn. But I am afraid we may not be able to make it worth your while. We have neither of us large salaries. But if four dollars a week--two dollars for each of us--would be satisfactory--"

"I shall be satisfied with it," said Mr. Layton. "In fact," he added, frankly, "I shall consider it quite a welcome addition to my salary. My father died a year since, and my mother and sister are compelled to depend upon me in part for support. But I have not been able to do as much for them as I wished. This addition to my earnings will give me the means of increasing their comforts."

"Then it will be a pleasant arrangement all round," said Fosd.i.c.k. "What would you advise us to study?"

After a few inquiries as to their present attainments, Mr. Layton recommended a course of mathematics, beginning with algebra, history, and the French language. He gave the boys a list of the books they would be likely to need.

The next evening the boys commenced studying, and determined to devote an hour and a half each evening to mental improvement. They found Mr.

Layton an excellent teacher, and he on his side found them very apt pupils.

d.i.c.k had an active, intelligent mind, and an excellent capacity, and Fosd.i.c.k had always had a thirst for learning, which he was now able to gratify. As his salary would have been insufficient to pay his expenses and the teacher besides, he was obliged to have recourse to his little fund in the savings bank. d.i.c.k offered to a.s.sist him, but Fosd.i.c.k would not consent. Just as his savings were about exhausted, his wages were raised two dollars a week, and this enabled him to continue the arrangement without a.s.sistance.

In the course of a few weeks the boys commenced reading French, and found it quite interesting.

CHAPTER IX.

ROSWELL CRAWFORD AT HOME.

While Fosd.i.c.k and d.i.c.k are devoting their evenings to study, under the guidance of Mr. Layton, we will direct the reader's attention to a young gentleman who considered himself infinitely superior in the social scale to either. Roswell Crawford could never forget that d.i.c.k had once been a boot-black, and looked upon it as an outrage that such a boy should be earning a salary of ten dollars a week, while he--a gentleman's son--was only paid four, which he regarded as a beggarly pittance. Roswell's father had once kept a small dry goods store on Broadway, but failed after being in business a little less than a year. This const.i.tuted his claim to gentility. After his failure, Mr. Crawford tried several kinds of business, without succeeding in any. His habits were not strictly temperate, and he had died two years previous. His wife hired a house in Clinton Place, and took boarders, barely succeeding in making both ends meet at the end of the year. The truth was that she was not a good manager, and preferred to talk of her gentility and former wealth to looking after the affairs of the household. She was very much like her son in this respect.

Among Mrs. Crawford's boarders was Mr. Gilbert, who is already known to the reader as the book-keeper of Rockwell & Cooper. It has been mentioned also that he was Roswell's cousin, being a son of Mrs.

Crawford's only brother. He, too, was not unlike his aunt and cousin, and all three combined to hate and despise d.i.c.k, whom Mrs. Crawford saw fit to regard as her son's successful rival.

"How's the boot-black, Cousin James?" asked Roswell, on the evening succeeding that which d.i.c.k had pa.s.sed at Mr. Rockwell's.