"
"Yes, I understand that, Richard. Of course the only temptation that
might urge a boy, brought up as you have been, to do something of this
sort would be the desire to place his mother beyond want. I have no
doubt the officer will lay considerable stress upon the fact that you
have found yourselves in straightened circumstances of late, and that
you could not bear to see her suffer."
"That is all ended, sir," said Dick, smiling, for he knew what a bolt he
was about to launch in another moment.
"How do you mean, Richard?" asked the president, curiously.
"We have come into some money, left by a relative in Boston so far
removed that my mother hardly remembered her name, sir."
"What! come into some money? Indeed!" and the president, just as Dick
expected, shot an alarmed glance across at Mr. Goodwyn, who also looked
very serious.
"Yes, sir, and you can well believe that it was welcome, too," Dick went
on.
"About how much did this sudden and surprising inheritance amount to,
Richard?" coldly.
"We do not know yet, but it will bring something like a thousand dollars
a year, which is enough to support us handsomely, sir," returned the
boy, smiling now at the mysterious looks exchanged between the two
gentlemen.
"Interest at four per cent, on about twenty-five thousand dollars. That
is quite a lucky windfall, Richard; but, my boy, don't you realize what
a terribly significant fact it would appear in the eyes of any one bent
upon investigating the mysterious disappearance of these valuable
documents?" and he laid a trembling hand on Dick's shoulder as he
spoke.
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