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Jed, The Poorhouse Boy

Creator: Horatio Alger (author)
Date: 1899
Publisher: The John Winston Company. Philadelphia
Source: Available at selected libraries
Figures From This Artifact: Figure 2

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1181  

"I don't think it, but as you seemed interested in the boy, I asked you the question."

1182  

"Oh, that's it. I have seen Mr. Holbrook, and I may have spoken to him. I can't be sure on the subject, as I meet a good many people. Are you going in bathing?"

1183  

"Do you want to bathe, Chester?" asked Jed.

1184  

"No; papa told me not to go to-day, as I have a cold."

1185  

"I thought perhaps I would have had your company in the surf. Well, I must be going or I shall be late for the bath."

1186  

The stranger got up slowly and sauntered away,

1187  

"I don't like that man. Do you, Jed?" asked Chester.

1188  

"Not very much. I never saw him before."

1189  

"I have seen him. I saw him one day last week."

1190  

"Did you see him on the beach?"

1191  

"Yes; he came up and talked with Clara."

1192  

"But he said you were mistaken about that"

1193  

"I was not mistaken," said Chester positively. "I remember him very well."

1194  

"Do you remember what he was talking about?" asked Jed, struck by what the boy said.

1195  

"Yes; he was asking questions about me."

1196  

"He seems a good deal interested in you. Perhaps he is especially fond of small boys."

1197  

Chester shook his head.

1198  

"I don't think he is," he answered.

1199  

When the bathing hour was over they ascended the steps and took seats in a summer house on the bluff.

1200  

Ten minutes later a tall woman, with piercing black eyes and a swarthy complexion, entered the arbor and sat down beside them.

1201  

"Do you want your fortune told?" she asked of Jed.

1202  

He shook his head.

1203  

"I don't believe in fortune-tellers," he said.

1204  

"Don't you? Let me convince you of my power. Give me your hand."

1205  

There seemed a fascination about the woman, and almost involuntarily he suffered her to takes his hand.

1206  

"You look prosperous," she began abruptly, "but your life has been full of poverty and privation. Is this true?"

1207  

"Yes," answered Jed, impressed in spite of himself by the woman's words.

1208  

"Shall I tell you where your early years were passed?"

1209  

"No," answered Jed, with a quick look at Chester. He did not care to have the boy hear that his life had been passed in the Scranton poorhouse.

1210  

"You are right. The knowledge could do no good and might embarrass you. You admit that I have told the truth?"

1211  

"Yes."

1212  

"Then shall I tell you of the future?"

1213  

Jed did not answer, but the woman took his assent for granted and went on.

1214  

"You will be rich -- some day."

1215  

"Shall I? I am glad to hear that. But I don't know where the wealth is to come from."

1216  

"It is not necessary for you to know. It will be enough if it comes."

1217  

"I agree with you there," said Jed, smiling. "Will it be soon?"

1218  

"That is a question which I might answer, but I will not."

1219  

"I don't care to know, as long as I am to be prosperous some day. Shall I ever go back to the place where my earlier years were passed?"

1220  

"You may, but not to live. That part of your life is over."

1221  

"I am glad of that at any rate. One question more. Shall I meet my -- any one belonging to me -- any one to whom I am related?"

1222  

Jed fixed his eyes anxiously upon the fortune-teller, for skeptical as he was at first, he was beginning to have some confidence in her claims to knowledge.

1223  

"Yes."

1224  

"When?"

1225  

"Don't seek to know more. Let me look at this boy's hand. Do you want me to tell your fortune, my pretty?"

1226  

Chester laughed.

1227  

"Yes," he said. "Perhaps you can tell me if I will ever be a soldier. I would like to be a General."

1228  

"No; you will never be a soldier, but you will have a fight before you."

1229  

"A fight? What kind of a fight?"

1230  

The fortune-teller turned to Jed and said rapidly, "This boy is threatened with a serious danger. He has an enemy."

1231  

"How can a young boy have an enemy?"

1232  

"There are few who do not have enemies,'' said the woman sententiously.

1233  

"Can you describe the enemy?"

1234  

"He is a dark man, not tall, but taller than you. He is thin."

1235  

"I met such a man on the beach," said Jed surprised. "I met him only this morning. Is he the one you mean?"

1236  

"When you meet such a man beware of him!" said the woman, and without waiting for a reply she rose from her seat and walked away rapidly.

1237  

"What a funny old woman!" said Chester. "I am hungry. Let us go up to the hotel. It is time for lunch."

1238  

Jed's face became thoughtful. What he had heard left a deep impression upon his mind.

1239  

CHAPTER XVI.
Miss Holbrook, Spinster

1240  

IT was at first on Jed's mind to tell Mr. Holbrook of his encounter with the young man upon the beach and his subsequent conversation with the fortune-teller and her predictions in regard to Chester. But he was afraid of being laughed at.

1241  

Moreover, as the days passed the impression made upon his mind became weaker, and was only recalled when from time to time he saw the young man on the sands or walking on the bluff.

1242  

He got on very well with Chester. The boy became strongly attached to him, much to the satisfaction of his father.

1243  

"So you like Jed, do you?'' said Mr. Holbrook one evening, on his return from the city.

1244  

"Yes, papa, I like him ever so much."

1245  

"Do you like him as much as Clara?"

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