Rupert's Ambition

"An invitation! Didn't I tell you that I would meet you here this evening?"

"Do you mean to tell me that you know Albert Fraser?"

"Certainly. Shall I wait for you?"

"No."

Rupert smiled and went down stairs by himself. He was talking with Albert Fraser when Julian entered. The latter half drew back when he saw the two boys together. He had tried to persuade himself that Rupert was an unauthorized intruder.

"Good evening," he said with a ceremonious bow.

"Good evening," responded Albert.

Rupert bowed slightly, smiling as he did so.

"Ha! are you two acquainted?"

"Yes," answered Julian superciliously. "I knew Mr. Rollins when he was a bell-boy at the Somerset Hotel."

"And I knew Mr. Lorimer years before that, when his father and my father were partners in Buffalo."

Albert Fraser looked from one to the other and smiled at Julian's angry confusion.

"Rupert," he said, "let me take you up to my sister and introduce you. The grand march will soon begin."

"Thank you, Albert."

Rupert and Edith Fraser led the march, while Julian followed considerably behind, with a fat, red-headed girl of very limited attractions.

It was hard upon poor Julian, and his enjoyment was quite taken away by the social success of his quondam friend Rupert. Rupert, on the other hand, enjoyed himself immensely, and was treated very graciously by his fair partner.

*         *         *         *         *         *         *

Six months later Mr. Packard called Rupert aside. He was evidently nervous and ill at ease.

"Rupert," he said, "I am going to ask your advice."

"If you think my advice worth asking, I shall be glad to give it."

"I want you to be plain with me, Rupert Do you think I am too old to be married?"

"Certainly not, Mr. Packard."

"I am forty-five, and I never was very good-looking."

"You are a good, kind-hearted man, and any woman ought to be happy with you. But I didn't know you had made many lady acquaintances."

"I haven't, but there is one lady I should like to marry. I may as well come out with it, Rupert. Do you think your mother would marry me? But—I see you look surprised. I suppose I am a great fool."

"You mistake me, Mr. Packard. I am surprised, for the idea never entered my head before."

"I suppose you wouldn't like the idea," said Giles Packard nervously.

"On the contrary, I approve it. Of course I don't know how mother may look upon it."

"But you don't object to it?"

"No, Mr. Packard, I wish you success."

Mrs. Rollins was surprised to receive an offer of marriage from Mr. Packard, but she had learned to know his many good qualities and was grateful to him for his kindness to Rupert, and after a brief time for consideration she gave her consent.

There was little change in their way of living, but of course there was an end of pecuniary cares and anxiety for the future.

Mr. Packard decided to go into business in New York on his own account. Rupert is his confidential clerk, and has a handsome salary. Mr. Packard's natural shrewdness has made his venture a success from the start He sold out his Colorado cattle ranch on very favorable terms to two parties from the East, and now his time is exclusively employed in his New York business.

Some time since the Evening World contained the following announcement:

"Mr. Stephen Lorimer, the well-known dry-goods merchant of Third Avenue, is reported in difficulties. A meeting of his creditors has been called, but so serious are his embarrassments that it is doubted whether he will be permitted to go on."

This prediction was verified. Mr. Lorimer now occupies a position as salesman in a dry-goods house in Chicago, not being willing to fill such a place in any city where he had been in business for himself, and is obliged to live in a very plain way.

There was little sympathy felt for him by those who had been in his employ. He had done nothing to win their favor. But Julian is very discontented. He is working in an office at four dollars a week, and feels that life is not worth living under his altered circumstances.

Rupert's real estate has increased largely in value, and he is worth quite a competency in his own right. His young charge, Fred, has developed a taste for study, and Rupert intends to have him prepare for college.

"You ought to have gone to college yourself," said Mr. Packard.

"No," answered Rupert. "I am cut out for business. Fred must be the scholar, and I will be the business man."

Frank Sylvester, Rupert's first friend, has returned from Europe, and the friendship between them has been renewed. Though Rupert has been so prosperous, he is never ashamed to refer to the time when he was a bell-boy.

Nor does he forget his old friends. Recently he met Leslie Waters standing in front of the Coleman House looking seedy and dilapidated.

"How is the world using you, Leslie?" he asked.

"Badly, my dear boy," answered Leslie, mournfully. "Our company was stranded at Pittsburg and I had to walk all the way to New York. The profession isn't what it was."

"Then why not leave it? I think I can get you a business position."

But Leslie Waters was too much enamored of the stage to forsake it. When he is in hard luck Rupert always helps him, and he still works on, hoping some day to achieve eminence. But the prospect does not look encouraging.