Page:Dick Hamilton's Fortune.djvu/24

 CHAPTER II

A STRANGE WILL

", I'm glad to see you are on time, Dick," said Mr. Hamilton, as his son, having left Rex at the stables, and sent one of the grooms on a horse to the aid of Henry, entered the handsome library. "Right to the minute. That is what I like to see. It speaks well for what we have in hand."

Dick had never known his father to be quite so solemn save on one former occasion, and that was the dreadful day when the house was dark and in confusion, followed by a strange stillness, and then his loving mother was seen no more. She had gone away—somewhere—he did not understand where until long afterward, and it now made him a little sad to recall the scene.

But his thoughts were interrupted by a sudden rush of feet, and a big bulldog, with fore legs arched almost grotesquely, and with two big teeth showing from under the upper lip, leaped joyously upon him.

"Grit, old boy !" exclaimed Dick, as he caressed the brute, handsome in its very ugliness, a dog, Rh