Page:Ralph on the Railroad.djvu/989

Rh "You've struck it," assented Fred; "just that."

"And you accepted?"

"And that is why you see me here," said Fred. "Don't think any the less of me, Fairbanks, for doing it. Don't find fault with me if I took up the imposture for all there was in it. It's my way—when I go at a thing, I do so with all my—nerves. I was Marvin Clark to the core. I took up his name, I played his part, and say, I tried not to disgrace his good name by one unmanly act. He taught me to imitate his handwriting perfectly one day. The next I was on the road, without a mishap until I met you."

"Which may not be a mishap after all," suggested the young engineer.

"I think as you do about that. I've come to you for advice, and I feel sure that it will be good advice. Now, then, to get to central motive of Clark's plan—a noble, grand act, a royal deed. It was all for the sake of his little charge, Ernest Gregg."

"I can imagine that," said Ralph.

"Clark could not get the little fellow out of his mind. He had got, it seemed, a clew to some of his relatives. He told me that only for a wicked enemy, and if he had his rights, Ernest would be in a position of positive wealth. He said that he was determined to find a certain old man who