In due time Mrs. Harcourt received letters from Basil and also from her uncle, congratulating her on Edwin’s success.
She read them with a smile of exultation.
“All is working well,” she said. “This unknown boy whom I picked up in the Bowery is turning out to be a star of the first magnitude. I am bound to say that he is doing me more credit than my own poor boy would have done. While I can make my relations and trustees believe that he is really my own son, I shall be entitled to draw on his behalf the annual sum of ten thousand dollars, which would otherwise go to Basil and the Mordaunts. How will it all come out? I don’t know, but with moderate prudence, and especially if I can keep Basil and the boy apart, it may last for years.”
When Ben returned from Bentley Hall Mrs. Harcourt received him with an unusual warmth of manner.
“I am proud of you, Edwin,” she said. “You have reflected great credit on me as well as yourself. Where did you learn to act?”
“I acted for four weeks at the People’s Theater on the Bowery.”
“Indeed! In what character?”
“As Ted the Newsboy.”
“I see. Do you think any one who saw you on the stage at that time will be likely to recognize you, if he meets you here?”
“No, I don’t think so. You see,” Ben continued, with a smile, “I am very differently dressed.”