“We’ve looked everywhere. I guess what happened was that my mother shook the tablecloth at the back door and they were in it and fell out.”
“Well, I’d have another look to-morrow by daylight,” advised Mr. Chase in disappointed tones. “Don’t give up yet, Will. You may find them tucked away where you least expect to. I’m awfully sorry. Good-night.”
Willard hung up the receiver. “Of course he doesn’t care,” he muttered resentfully. “Gee, if I could find those envelopes and get seventy dollars for the stamps, I’d have to earn only about a hundred and eighty to have enough for the first year. He says it’ll take ’most three hundred, but I’m sure I could do it on two hundred and fifty. And if I could get through the first year they’d have a whole lot of trouble keeping me away the second!”
In the morning, after a sleep badly disturbed by dreams, Willard was up early and, after the kitchen fire was started, was out in the back yard searching around the kitchen doorway, amongst the currant bushes and along the picket fence. But he found no trace of the envelopes. That was Tuesday and hope didn’t actually fail him until Thursday. On that day Mr. Morris put his foot down.
“They’re gone for good, mother, and there isn’t any use fretting about ’em. So you just stop pulling the house to pieces and settle down again. When a thing’s so, it’s so, and you can’t make it any other way, no matter how much you worry about it. You haven’t taken time to eat a decent meal since the pesky things were lost. Now I say let ’em go and have an end of it!”
That evening Willard found his old stamp book in the attic and took it over to Mr. Chase. But although the latter went through it carefully, he found no prizes there. The entire contents wouldn’t have brought a dollar at a stamp dealer’s. When he was leaving Mr. Chase reminded him that they were to begin the Greek lessons again the next evening. Willard hesitated and then promised half-heartedly to come. What was the good of knowing Greek if he couldn’t get to college?
But at seventeen no disappointment is big enough to last forever, and Friday was a wonderful Autumn day with just the right amount of tingle in the air, and at football practice Willard played so well that the coach promised to let him start the game against Shrevesport High the next afternoon, and—well, after a good supper eaten with a healthy appetite, Willard had quite forgotten about Grandma Pierson’s legacy! And at half past seven he found his Iliad—it wasn’t an easy task, either, because since the search for the lost envelopes scarcely anything was where it used to be!—and set out for Mrs. Parson’s with a light heart.
“I didn’t have a chance to study this any,” said Willard as he seated himself across the table from Mr. Chase. “I’ve been too busy looking for those envelopes, you see. So you’ll have to excuse me if it comes slow.”
“All right, Will, I’ll forgive you this time. Do you remember where we left off? Wasn’t it where Ulysses and Diomede are setting out to spy on the enemy’s camp?”