CHAPTER XV.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE AFFAIRS OF THE MILLWEED FAMILY.
Long before breakfast-time the new boys were roaming about the estate, with Dory as their guide. He showed them the place, and treated them as handsomely as he knew how. They were not in a boat, with a fresh wind blowing; and he had no occasion to use a single sharp word, and he had not on board of the Goldwing, except to Oscar Chester. By this time he had become quite popular with the students.
“Dory,” called Captain Gildrock, as the skipper and his party came to the shop: “what was the name of the man that stole the money at the store?”
“Tim Lingerwell: he was the head man of Mr. Longbrook,” replied Dory. “He came from this place.”
“I know all about him,” said a stranger who had been talking with the captain. “He never
was any too good to do such a thing; and my son was lucky to get out of the scrape as well as he did.”
This man was the father of Bolingbroke Millweed. For the first time he had heard about the Beech-Hill Industrial School that morning. His wife had told him about the captain’s offer to take Bolingbroke into the school. He had been telling the shipmaster his troubles, and he wanted his son to accept the offer.
“I am a peaceable man, Captain Gildrock, and my wife has always had her own way,” continued Farmer Millweed. “I don’t like to have any trouble in the family, but I have gone just about as far as I can go.”
The early visitor looked very sad, and choked a little, as though a few tears would relieve him. He stood looking upon the ground, trying to check his emotions.