“But I am well and strong as a giant; will you let me try, sir?” he pleaded, earnestly.
“Yes, indeed, with all my heart. It is a pleasure to give you advantages when you improve them so eagerly. I will make it an object to Mr. Rivers to remain with you during the vacation, and then we can decide later where you will go in the fall.”
“Thank you, Uncle August, you are like a dear father to me, and I could not love you better if you really were. I hope some day to prove, in some tangible way, how grateful I am for your goodness,” Geoffrey said, with deep feeling.
“Tut, tut, my boy, don’t burden yourself with any sense of obligation. I am getting my pay as I go along, in the enjoyment I get out of having a fine, manly fellow like yourself in the house. I don’t believe I could be prouder of my own son than I am of you, and, taking us all in all, I imagine there isn’t a happier family in all Brooklyn than the one residing at No. —— Clinton avenue. Eh, Geoff?”
CHAPTER VII.
GEOFFREY ENTERS COLLEGE.
August Huntress and his gentle wife, Alice, deserved to be happy, for they had devoted the best of their lives to the work of rearing the two children who had been so strangely thrown upon their care.
Of course it was but natural that their love for Gladys should be deeper, stronger, and more sacred than for Geoffrey, for they had taken her to their hearts as their very own when she was but a tiny babe, and having had no other children sent them to share their affection, their every hope had long been centered in her.
But they felt very tenderly toward the hapless boy who had first aroused their sympathy for his misfortune, and subsequently won their love by his gentleness and confidence in them.
Mr. Rivers, Geoffrey’s tutor, was very glad of the opportunity to remain with his pupil during the summer vacation, for it was simply a pleasure to teach one so eager for knowledge; while, too, being in limited circumstances, he needed the pecuniary benefit accruing from the arrangement.
Mr. Huntress sent them both into the country upon a farm, where they could have fresh air and country living to strengthen their bodies, while storing their minds with knowledge.