“I haven’t,” said Fletcher, bitterly.

“Have you been unfortunate?  Tell me about it, if you don’t mind,” said Harry, sympathetically.

“My father failed three years ago,” said Fletcher, “and I found myself adrift with nothing to do, and no money to fall back upon.  I have drifted about since then; but now I am out of employment.  I came to you to-day to see if you will exert your influence to get me a government clerkship, even of the lowest class.  You may rest assured, Mr. Walton, that I need it.”

Was this the proud Fitzgerald Fletcher, suing, for the means of supporting himself, to one whom, as a boy, he had despised and looked down upon?  Surely, the world is full of strange changes and mutations of fortune.  Here was a chance for Harry to triumph over his old enemy; but he never thought of doing it.  Instead, he was filled with sympathy for one who, unlike himself, had gone down in the social scale, and he cordially promised to see what he could do for Fletcher, and that without delay.

On inquiry, he found that Fletcher was qualified to discharge the duties of a clerk, and secured his appointment to a clerkship in the Treasury Department, on a salary of twelve hundred dollars a year.  It was an income which Fletcher would once have regarded as wholly insufficient for his needs; but adversity had made him humble, and he thankfully accepted it.  He holds the position still, discharging the duties satisfactorily.  He is glad to claim the Hon. Harry Walton among his acquaintances, and never sneers at him now as a “printer’s devil.”

Oscar Vincent spent several years abroad, after graduation, acting as foreign correspondent of his father’s paper.  He is now his father’s junior partner, and is not only respected for his ability, but a general favorite in society, on account of his sunny disposition and cordial good nature.  He keeps up his intimacy with Harry Walton.  Indeed, there is good reason for this, since Harry, four years since, married his sister Maud, and the two friends are brothers-in-law.

Harry’s parents are still living, no longer weighed down by poverty, as when we first made their acquaintance.  The legacy which came so opportunely improved their condition, and provided them with comforts to which they had long been strangers.  But their chief satisfaction comes from Harry’s unlooked-for success in life.  Their past life of poverty and privation is all forgotten in their gratitude for this great happiness.

The next and concluding volume of this series will be

  HERBERT CARTER’S LEGACY.