Horatio Alger Jr

Adrift in New York: or Tom and Florence Braving the World Horatio Alger Jr

?Uncle, you are not looking well to-night.? ?I?m not well, Florence. I sometimes doubt if I shall ever be any better.? ?Surely, uncle, you cannot mean??? ?Yes, my child, I have reason to believe that I am nearing the end.? ?I cannot bear to hear you speak so, uncle,? said Florence Linden, in irrepressible agitation. ?You are not an old man. You are but fifty-four.? ?True, Florence, but it is not years only that make a man old. Two great sorrows have embittered my life. First, the death of my dearly beloved wife, and next, the loss of my boy, Harvey.? ?It is long since I have heard you refer to my cousin?s loss. I thought you had become reconciled?no, I do not mean that,?I thought your regret might be less poignant.? ?I have not permitted myself to speak of it, but I have never ceased to think of it day and night.?