Thus happily situated, Julius is not troubled as to his real parentage. There is a mystery attending his origin, which he will probably never be able to solve. But he is content to regard Mr. and Mrs. Taylor as his parents, since they have allowed him to do so, and will always be known by the name of Julius Taylor.
Of course he has not forgotten his old associates, Jack Morgan and Marlowe. About two years after his arrival in Brookville a paragraph was copied into the county paper from the New York Herald, recording the daring attempts of these two criminals to escape from the prison at Sing Sing. Jack Morgan was caught and brought back, but Marlowe managed to make good his escape.
“I suppose,” thought Julius, “Jack was too fat. He couldn’t get over the ground as fast as Marlowe.”
In this he was correct. Jack Morgan’s size and clumsiness had interfered with his escape, while Marlowe, who was not so incumbered, got away.
“Marlowe would be glad to know where I am,” said our hero to himself. “He’d like to punish me for getting him caught. But he isn’t likely to find me out here. And even if he did, I think I can take care of myself better than I could when he knew me.”
Julius surveyed his figure in the glass complacently as he said this. He was five feet eight inches in height, and weighed one hundred and fifty pounds. His arm was powerful; and though he could not contend on{203} equal terms with the tall burglar, he felt that the time would soon come when he could do so.
“I wonder if he’d know me now,” thought our hero.
This question was soon to be solved, though Julius did not know it.
In the month of October Mr. Taylor proposed to Julius to set out on a collecting tour, among the towns in the neighborhood.
“I have claims against a dozen persons,” he said, “which ought to be presented and paid. At present, however, it is not convenient for me to leave home. If you will take my place, it will be quite a relief.”