With a grateful heart Harry immediately resumed his duties, and the partners were probably as glad to retain him as he was to remain.

At night, when he went to his chamber, he raised the loose board to get the pill box, containing his savings, in order to return the money he had not expended. To his consternation, he discovered that it was gone!

CHAPTER XVIII

IN WHICH HARRY MEETS WITH AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE AND GETS A HARD KNOCK ON THE HEAD

It was in vain that Harry searched beneath the broken floor for his lost treasure; it could not be found. He raised the boards up, and satisfied himself that it had not slipped away into any crevice, or fallen through into the room below; and the conclusion was inevitable that the box had been stolen.

Who could have done it? The mystery confused Harry, for he was certain that no one had seen him deposit the box beneath the floor. No one except Edward even knew that he had any money. He was sure that neither Mrs. Flint nor Katy would have stolen it; and he was not willing to believe that his room-mate would be guilty of such a mean and contemptible act.

He tried to a.s.sure himself that it had not been stolen--that it was still somewhere beneath the floor; and he pulled up another board, to resume the search. He had scarcely done so before Edward joined him.

"What are you about, Harry?" he asked, apparently very much astonished at his chum's occupation. "Are you going to pull the house down?"

"Not exactly. You know my pill box?" replied Harry, suspending operations to watch Edward's expression when he told him of his loss.

"The one you kept your money in?"

"Yes. Well, it is gone."

"Gone!" exclaimed Edward, starting back with surprise.

"It is either lost or stolen."

"What did you do with it?"

"Put it here, under this loose board."

"It must be there now, then. I will help you find it."

Edward manifested a great deal of enthusiasm in the search. He was sure it must be where Harry had put it, or that it had rolled back out of sight; and he began tearing up the floor with a zeal that threatened the destruction of the building. But the box could not be found, and they were obliged to abandon the search.

"Too bad, Harry."

"That is a fact; I can't spare that money, anyhow. I have been a good while earning it, and it is too thundering bad to lose it."

"I don't understand it," continued Edward.

"Nor I either," replied Harry, looking his companion sharp in the eye.

"No one knew I had it but you."

"Do you mean to say I stole it?" exclaimed Edward, doubling his fist, while his cheek reddened with anger.

"I don't say so."

"Humph! Well, you better not!"

"Don't get mad, Edward. I didn't mean to lay it to you."

"Didn't you?" And Edward was very glad to have the matter compromised.

"I did not; perhaps I spoke hastily. You know how hard I worked for this money; and it seems hard to lose it. But no matter; I will try again."

Mrs. Flint and Katy were much grieved when Harry told of his loss.

They looked as though they suspected Edward, but said nothing, for it was very hard to accuse a son or a brother of such a crime.

Mrs. Flint advised Harry to put his money in the savings bank in future, promising to take care of his spare funds till they amounted to five dollars, which was then the smallest sum that would be received. It was a long time before our hero became reconciled to his loss. He had made up his mind to be a rich man; and he had carefully h.o.a.rded every cent he could spare, thus closely imitating the man who got rich by saving his fourpences.

A few days after the loss he was reading in one of Katy's Sunday school books about a miser. The wretch was held up as a warning to young folks by showing them how he starved his body and soul for the sake of gold.

"That's why I lost my money!" exclaimed Harry, as he laid the book upon the window.

"What do you mean, Harry?" asked Katy, who sat near him.

"I have been h.o.a.rding up my money just like this old man in the book."

"You are not a miser, Harry. You couldn't be mean and stingy if you tried."

"Yes, I could. I love money."

"So does everybody."

"A miser wouldn't do what you did for us, Harry," added Mrs. Flint.

"We ought to be careful and saving."

"I have been thinking too much of money. After all, perhaps it was just as well that I lost that money."

"I am sorry you lost it; for I don't think there is any danger of your becoming a miser," said Katy.

"Perhaps not; at any rate, it has set me to thinking."

Harry finished the book; and it was, fortunately, just such a work as he required to give him right and proper views in regard to the value of wealth. His dream of being a rich man was essentially modified by these views; and he renewedly resolved that it was better to be a good man than a rich man, if he could not be both. It seemed to him a little remarkable that the minister should preach upon this very topic on the following Sunday, taking for his text the words, "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all these things shall be added unto you."

He was deeply impressed by the sermon, probably because it was on a subject to which he had given some attention.

A few days after his return from Rockville, Harry received a very cheerful letter from Mr. Bryant, to which Julia had added a few lines in a postscript. The little angel was rapidly recovering, and our hero was rejoiced beyond expression. The favorable termination of her illness was a joy which far outbalanced the loss of his money, and he was as cheerful and contented as ever. As he expressed it, in rather homely terms, he had got "the streak of fat and the streak of lean."

Julia was alive; was to smile upon him again; was still to inspire him with that love of goodness which had given her such an influence over him.

Week after week pa.s.sed by, and Harry heard nothing of his lost treasure; but Julia had fully recovered, and for the treasure lost an incomparably greater treasure had been gained. Edward and himself continued to occupy the same room, though ever since the loss of the money box Harry's chum had treated him coldly. There had never been much sympathy between them; for while Edward was at the theatre, or perhaps at worse places, Harry was at home, reading some good book, writing a letter to Rockville, or employed in some other worthy occupation. While Harry was at church or at the Sunday school, Edward, in company with some dissolute companion, was riding about the adjacent country.

Mrs. Flint often remonstrated with her son upon the life he led, and the dissipated habits he was contracting; and several times Harry ventured to introduce the subject. Edward, however, would not hear a word from either. It is true that we either grow better or worse, as we advance in life; and Edward Flint's path was down a headlong steep.

His mother wept and begged him to be a better boy. He only laughed at her.

Harry often wondered how he could afford to ride out and visit the theatre and other places of amus.e.m.e.nt so frequently. His salary was only five dollars a week now; it was only four when he had said it was five. He seemed to have money at all times, and to spend it very freely. He could not help believing that the contents of his pill box had paid for some of the "stews" and "Tom and Jerrys" which his reckless chum consumed. But the nine dollars he had lost would have been but a drop in the bucket compared with his extravagant outlays.