“Who was the boy? Do you recall his name?” said Mr. Van Kuren.
“Certainly I do. He is employed in the fire department in some capacity, and his name is Bruce Decker, and there was just enough similarity between his name and mine—Dexter and Decker—to suggest——”
“Bruce Decker!” interrupted Mr. Van Kuren savagely; “well, I can tell you from my own personal experience with that young rascal, that he is quite capable of inventing any story, and of deceiving you with it as well. And so he took Laura into his confidence, did he? Well, I have no doubt he answered your letter, and you will be very fortunate if he doesn’t hunt you up, and establish some sort of a claim on you, before you realize what he’s doing! Now I’ll tell you my experience with that bright, honest-looking, open-faced young scamp. He got acquainted with my children, I think it was by picking Harry up in the road one afternoon, when he met with an accident, and I asked him up to dinner, so that I might see for myself, what sort of a boy he was. As you know quite well, I am very democratic in my ideas, and I don’t want Harry to grow up with a notion that he’s made of better clay than the boy whose coat is not quite as good as his. In fact, I have no objection to his playing with boys in humbler circumstances than himself, providing only they are decent and honest, and as this Decker lad made a very good impression on me—for there is no denying that he has a good face and decent manners—I saw no reason why he should not come to the house now and then, and I was glad to have Harry go and visit him, when he was laid up in the hospital. The first thing I knew, the young vagabond had repaid me by entering into a sly correspondence with Laura, and I discovered that she had actually been down to the hospital, to call on him, without saying a word to either her aunt or myself. As you can well imagine, I put a stop to the intimacy without a moment’s delay, and as I never heard either of the children mention the boy’s name again, I concluded that they had dismissed him from their thoughts, as I had from the house. Now it seems though that he has found some means of communication with Laura, and has been filling her head with this romantic story about recognizing your house and grounds. Well, I shall put a stop to that, I can tell you, and I am very sorry to think that Laura should disobey me, as she evidently has.”
“My dear Horace,” exclaimed Mr. Dexter, raising himself with some difficulty as he spoke, “I am very sorry I said anything that will get your daughter into trouble, and I am sure that what she learned from this lad she learned from his own lips before you forbade the intimacy. In fact, if I remember rightly, she said as much to me herself. I still have the young man’s address, and to-morrow morning, or as soon as my health will allow it, I will either go to see him or send for him, and you may be sure that I will learn exactly how much truth there is in this story that he tells. Meantime, let me beg of you to say nothing to Miss Laura, for it would really break my heart to think that I had been the means of getting her into trouble.”
The old gentleman seemed to be so deeply in earnest that both Mr. Van Kuren and his sister readily promised to accede to his wishes, and Mr. Van Kuren was even induced to forego the intention he had formed of going the very next morning to the quarters of the hook and ladder truck, and lodging a complaint with the chief of the battalion.
It was late when they finished their discussion, much later than they had thought, and as they arose to take their leave, a servant, coming in with an armful of wood for the fire, informed them that the snow had accumulated in such heavy drifts, as to make the roads almost impassable.
And this information was confirmed by a glance through the window at the storm which was raging without.
“You must not think of going home to-night!” exclaimed Mr. Dexter. “It will never do for you in the world, my dear Emma, to think of going out into such an awful storm as this. No, there are plenty of rooms in the house, and I will have fires built at once, so that you will be just as comfortable as you would be at that big hotel you’re stopping at. Not one of you shall leave the house to-night.”
“But just think of poor little Laura all alone in that great, big hotel,” exclaimed Miss Van Kuren. “Suppose anything were to happen to her; why, I would never forgive myself to the last day of my life for leaving her there. And just fancy a fire breaking out in that place in the middle of the night! No, I really think that I ought to——”
“You’ll stay where you are, all of you,” put in the hospitable old gentleman, in a voice that was full of pleasant authority, “and as for the hotel, it’s warranted strictly fire-proof. And I’m sure Laura is just as safe there as she would be if you were with her.”