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Page 37
As he spoke Mr. Phelps arose, for the machine which was to convey him to
the station could now be seen approaching and the time of his departure
had arrived. His good-bye was hastily spoken for he knew how hard it
would be for Will to be left behind, and in a brief time he had taken
his seat in the auto. He saw Will as he hastily ran back to his room and
then he could see him as he stood by the window in his room watching the
departing auto as long as it could be seen. He gave no signal to show
that he saw his boy, but his own eyes were wet as he was carried swiftly
down the street, as he thought of the predicament in which Will was and
how the testing-time had come again. But the young student must be left
to fight out his battle alone. To save him from the struggle would be to
save him from the strength. If it were only possible for a father to
save his boy by assuming his burden, how thankful he would be, was Mr.
Phelps' reflection, but he was too wise a man and too good a father to
flinch or falter now, and, though his heart was heavy, he resolutely
kept on his way leaving Will to fight his own battle, and hoping that
the issue would be as he most fervently desired.
Left to himself, for a moment Will was almost despondent. The departure
of his father seemed to leave the loneliness intensified, but he was
recalled as he heard some one run up the stairway and rush into the
room. His visitor was Mott, and perhaps the sophomore almost
instinctively felt that his presence was not welcome, for he said:
"Governor gone, Phelps? Hope he left a good-sized check with you! I've
come over to be the first to help you get rid of it."
"What's the trouble?" inquired Will quietly, glancing up as he spoke.
"Your money all gone? Want to borrow some?"
"I'm always ready for that," laughed Mott, "though I'll have to own up
that I've got a few cents on hand yet. No, I don't know that I want to
borrow any; but I thought you might want a little help in getting rid of
that check, and I'd just run over to oblige you. Just pure missionary
work, you see." Mott seated himself in the large easy-chair and
endeavored to appear at his ease, though to Will it still seemed as if
there was something which still troubled his visitor.
"I haven't any special check."
"That's all right. My 'old man' never has been up to see me since I
entered Winthrop, but as I look around at the fellows whose fathers and
mothers have been up, I've noticed that they're usually pretty flush
right after the old gentleman departs."
"Hasn't your mother ever been up?" inquired Will in surprise.
"No. Why should she? She hasn't any time to bother with me. She's on
more than forty boards, and is on the 'go' all the time. She has to
attend all sorts of 'mothers' meetings' too, and I believe she has a
lecture also, which she gives."
"A lecture?"
"Yes. She has a lecture on 'The proper method of bringing up boys.' How
do you suppose she ever has any time to visit me?" Mott laughed as if
the matter was one of supreme indifference to him, but Will fancied that
he could detect a feeling of bitterness beneath it all. For himself, the
condition described by the sophomore seemed to him to be incredible. His
own relations with his father had been of the frankest and most friendly
nature. Indeed, it never occurred to him in a time of trouble or
perplexity that there was any one else to whom he so naturally could go
as to his own father. Since he had entered Winthrop, however, he had
discovered several who were not unlike Mott in their feelings toward
their own families; and as Mott spoke he almost unconsciously found a
feeling of sympathy arising in his heart for him. Some of his apparently
reckless deeds could be explained now.
"Mott, you must go home with me next vacation," he said impulsively.
"That's good of you, but it's too far off to promise. Say, Phelps,
what's become of that man Friday of yours?"
"Who's he?"
"Schenck."
"Oh, he's flourishing."
"He's the freshest freshman that ever entered Winthrop. What do you
suppose he had the nerve to say to me to-day?"
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