“Run up to the house, my lad, an’ get your bundle of clothes,” he said. “I’ll be here when you get back. Don’t worry over what’s gone. I’ll take care o’ you, hereafter.”
I gave him a grateful glance and clasped his big, horny hands in both my own.
“Thank you, uncle,” said I; “I don’t know what would have become of me if you had not turned up just as you did.”
“Lucky; wasn’t it, Sam? But run along and get your traps.”
I obeyed, walking slowly and thoughtfully back to the house. When I tried to raise the latch I found the door locked.
“Mrs. Ranck!” I called. “Mrs. Ranck, let me in, please. I’ve come for my clothes.”
There was no answer. I rattled the latch, but all in vain. So I sat down upon the steps of the porch, wondering what I should do. It was a strange and unpleasant sensation, to find myself suddenly barred from the home in which I had been born and wherein I had lived all my boyhood days. It was only my indignation against this selfish and hard old woman that prevented me from bursting into another flood of tears, for my nerves were all unstrung by the events of the past few hours. However, anger held all other passion in check for the moment, and I was about to force an entrance through the side window, as I had done on several occasions before, when the sash of the window in my own attic room was pushed up and a bundle was projected from it with such good aim that it would have struck my head, had I not instinctively dodged it.
Mrs. Ranck’s head followed the bundle far enough to cast a cruel and triumphant glance into my upturned face.
“There’s your duds. Take ’em an’ go, you ongrateful wretch!” she yelled. “An’ don’t ye let me see your face again until you come to pay me the money you owes for your keepin’.”
“Please, Mrs. Ranck,” I asked, meekly, “can I have my father’s watch and ring?”
“No, no, no!” she screamed, in a fury. “Do ye want to rob me of everything? Ain’t you satisfied to owe me four hundred dollars a’ready?”
“I——I’d like some keepsake of father’s,” I persisted, well knowing this would be my last chance to procure it. “You may keep the watch, if you’ll give me the ring.”
“I’ll keep’m both,” she retorted. “You’ll get nothin’ more out’n me, now or never!”