Horatio Alger

Adrift in New York Horatio Alger

"She is in the toils! She cannot escape me!" he muttered. "But"-and here his brow darkened-"it vexes me to see how she repels my advances, as if I were some loathsome thing! If only she would return my love-for I do love her, cold as she is-I should be happy. Can there be a rival? But no! we live so quietly that she has met no one who could win her affection. Why can she not turn to me? Surely, I am not so illfavored, and though twice her age, I am still a young man. Nay, it is only a young girl's caprice. She shall yet come to my arms, a willing captive." His thoughts took a turn, as he arose from his seat, and walked over to the secretary. "So it is here that the two wills are deposited!" he said to himself; "one making me a rich man, the other a beggar! While the last is in existence I am not safe. The boy may be alive, and liable to turn up at any moment. If only he were dead-or the will destroyed- -" Here he made a suggestive pause.