“Poor Horace!  I had always hoped to keep from you the fact that he was insane at the time of his death, but this letter makes it impossible.  It was while laboring under the delusion that he had money, that he wrote you of this phantom bequest.  Poor Horace!  The sight of his writing moves me deeply, especially as I have to disabuse you of the delusion that I am holding five thousand dollars in trust for you,” and he held out his hand.

Had it not been for the look of cunning that appeared in his guardian’s eyes as he uttered these words, which cast such a stigma upon the name of the boy’s dead father, Bob might have believed him, but he had been watching his guardian intently.  He saw the look of cunning, and instead of surrendering the letter, he hastily thrust it back into his pocket.

Forgetting all discretion, as he saw that his plot for obtaining possession of the letter had failed, Len Dardus rushed upon the boy, with the evident purpose of obtaining it by force, exclaiming: 

“You won’t give it to me, eh?  Well, I will take it, whether you want me to or not.”

But Bob, in the flush of his youth, was quick and agile, and it was no task at all for him to dive under the arm stretched forth to seize him, and then to dash through the door and out onto the street.

CHAPTER V

BOB MISSES A FRIEND

Never stopping to notice in what direction he was going, Bob dashed along the street, fearful only lest his guardian would pursue him, and expecting every moment to hear his voice shouting at him to stop.  But as the moments wore by without any sign of excitement or alarm, Bob gained confidence, finally slackening his pace to a walk, and began to think of what he should do, now that he had taken matters into his own hands, and severed the ties of years that had bound him to his guardian.

Back in the store the grocer had stood undecided what to do.  The knowledge that his ward had been informed of the bequest, a fact which he supposed was known only to himself, had unnerved him.  And the failure of his attempt to get the letter and thus destroy all evidence of the trust fund, had caused him to be seized with a great fear lest retribution should be visited upon him.

Instead, therefore, of going in pursuit of Bob, his one idea was to conceal himself.  Going to the front door of the shop, he closed it and locked it and then betook himself to his private office, the door of which he also shut, and sitting down in the chair buried his head in his hands and tried to think what was best for him to do.