"No, something as unexpected as a meteor falling out of the heavens. I have received word from a lawyer in Boston that a relative whom I hardly knew belonged to the family has died, and left me quite a little fortune—the lawyer could not say the exact amount, but it brings in something like a thousand dollars a year."
Dick could hardly believe his ears.
What a day this had been, the evil mingled with the good; would he ever forget it as long as he lived?
Of course, being a boy he immediately forgot all about his own troubles, and hugged his little mother until she begged for mercy.
"Say, isn't that great? Did you ever hear of such luck, and just when it looked as if we were near the bottom of the heap, too? Ain't it just bully? I feel as if I could whoop like a wild Indian. Now, mother, no more worry for you, and a rest from all that miserable sewing that makes your eyes red. Hurrah for the Morrisons! they're sure IT right now."
His boyish enthusiasm was bubbling over in this fashion when he suddenly remembered the distressing news he had brought with him; still, in the light of his mother's glorious good fortune Dick somehow felt that he could stand the odium of being under suspicion for a little while; for, of course, the truth must come out sooner or later.
His friends at the bank believed in him, and if the cashier still harbored any doubts he at least was a square man and meant to do the right thing; as for what Mr. Graylock chose to think, that could not matter a great deal, for he had plainly shown that he was very much prejudiced against Dick—in fact, come to think of it, he had by every means in his power striven to make it appear that the crime must lie at his door.
It was what puzzled Dick, and seemed to be the subject of much of his pondering.
He waited until they were through supper before speaking of the ugly matter.