Paul was stupefied by the suddenness of the shock, and all the currents of his existence seemed to stop in their flow. He spent the afternoon in his chamber, trying to understand the nature of his situation. He had dried his tears, but the deeper grief had gone in upon his heart. He spent a wakeful night in thinking of the past, and in endeavoring to make himself believe that his father was dead. All that he had ever done for him, all that he had ever said to him, came up before him with a vividness that made them seem like realities.
In this condition he moved about the house till after the funeral, mechanically executing such duties as he was required to perform; but everything was so unnatural to him that he could hardly persuade himself of the reality of his being. The death of his father was an epoch in his existence, a turning point in his career, and the wheels of time, the current of events, stopped, soon to resume their course in a different direction.
When the last rites of love and respect had been paid to the remains of his father, Paul roused himself from his stupor, and began to examine the future. At the death bed of his parent he had received a solemn charge, and he carefully reviewed the words, and recalled the expression with which it had been committed to him. His mother and his brothers and sisters had been given into his care, and he felt the responsibility of the position he had accepted. He determined, to the best of his ability, to discharge his duty to them; but he was sorely troubled to think of some way by which he could earn money enough to support them, for he had put a literal construction upon the dying words of his father.
CHAPTER IV.
PAUL BECOMES THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY.
For a week after the funeral Paul racked his brain in devising expedients to supply the place of his father in a pecuniary point of view, but without success. If he went into a store, or obtained such a place as a boy can fill, it would pay him only two or three dollars a week, and this would be scarcely anything towards the support of the family, for his father had generally earned twelve dollars a week during the greater portion of the year. He wanted to do something better. He did not expect to make so much as his father had made, but was determined, if possible, to earn at least half as much.
Thus far his reflection had been to little purpose, for it was no small matter for a boy to charge himself with double the work of one of his age. He had not yet consulted his mother, nor obtained her views in regard to the support of the family. He did not know whether she expected him to do the whole of it, but it did not appear reasonable to him that she could do anything more than to keep house and take care of the children. He wished that he could go to her and relieve her of all responsibility in regard to the money affairs, and let her live just as she had been accustomed to live before the death of his father; and he almost cried with vexation, after he had vainly ransacked his brains for the means, to think he could not do so. He could not hit upon any plan that would meet his expectations, and he decided to have a talk with her in relation to the future.
"What are we going to do, mother?" he asked, as he seated himself in the kitchen where Mrs. Duncan was getting supper.
"That is what I have been thinking of myself," she replied. "I have been talking with Captain Littleton to-day, and he gave me some good advice, and offered me any a.s.sistance I might require."
"You surely don"t mean to live on charity, mother," added Paul, proudly.
"Certainly not. Captain Littleton did not offer to give me anything; only to a.s.sist me in getting work for myself and you."
"O, well, that"s all right."
"While we have our health and strength, we shall not have to ask other help of any one."
"Of course not."
"I hope I am above asking charity, or taking it either."
"I knew you were. What did Captain Littleton say?"
"Thanks to the goodness and forethought of your father, we are not left entirely dest.i.tute," replied Mrs. Duncan, wiping a tear from her cheek.
"I didn"t know there was anything left."
"After paying all the funeral expenses and the doctor"s bills, I shall have fifty dollars in money. Your father had no debts."
"Fifty dollars isn"t much, mother, towards supporting the family. It wouldn"t last two months."
"That is very true; we have more than that. Three years ago your father had his life insured for a thousand dollars, and this sum will be paid to me in a few days."
"I didn"t know that," said Paul, greatly surprised to find they had what seemed to him so vast a sum. "We shall get along very well."
"Your father used to calculate that it cost him about eight dollars a week to live, or about four hundred dollars a year. If he had had work all the year round, he might have saved a very handsome sum, he used to tell me."
"It will not cost us eight dollars a week now."
"No; we must live very prudently; but if it cost us only five, a thousand dollars would last but a few years, and what should we do then?"
"We must not spend it then."
"Captain Littleton told me what he thought we had better do. This house in which we live can be bought for fifteen hundred dollars, though the owner has always asked eighteen hundred, and----"
"You don"t really think of such a thing as buying the house?"
interrupted Paul, filled with amazement at the magnitude of the idea.
"That is what Captain Littleton advises me to do."
"But you haven"t money enough."
"I can give a mortgage for five hundred dollars. The rent of the house is one hundred and forty dollars, and Mr. Freeman says he cannot afford to let it for any less. Now, if we buy it, we can pay a thousand dollars down, and we shall owe five hundred, on which we shall have to pay the interest, amounting to thirty dollars. By this plan, we should have to pay out only about fifty dollars a year for interest and taxes, or about a dollar a week. In this way we can get along on five dollars a week."
"Buy the house then, by all means, mother. Five dollars a week! Well, I think I shall be able to support the family, after all."
"You, Paul?" exclaimed Mrs. Duncan, with a smile.
"I am sure I can."
"What do you intend to do?"
"I don"t know yet."
"Your poor father intended that you should enter the High School this fall; but I suppose that cannot be. Captain Littleton said he would get you a place where you could have two or three dollars a week."
"I must make more than that, mother," replied Paul, shaking his head.
"You must not be too ambitious. If you get two or three dollars a week, you will do very well, and that sum will be a great help to me."
"You heard what father said to me in his last moments?" said Paul, with solemn earnestness. "He told me to take care of my mother and of my brothers and sisters, and I mean to do so."
"But he never had a thought that you could earn money enough to support the whole of us. You are a good boy, Paul, but you must not try to do too much."
"If we can live on five dollars a week, I am almost sure I can earn that."
"That is a good deal for a boy like you."
"I can do it, I know."
"Captain Littleton said he would find a place for you."
"I shall be very much obliged to him, and will take any place I can get; but I am certain before long that I can make five dollars a week."
"Don"t think of such a thing. There are a great many men who get no more than that. You must work your way up, little by little, Paul, and one of these days you will obtain a good situation."