His Big Opportunity | Page 3

relief ticket. That's
the best way to help such cases."
"Yes, but that would be your doing not ours."
"Money is a difficult way of helping," said Miss Bertram; "don't get
into the habit of thinking money is the only thing that will do people
good. It too often does them harm."
"Oh, I say! that's hard lines on me, when my last sixpence has gone,
and I was going to get a stunning ball old Principle has in his shop!"
Miss Bertram laughed at Roy's woe-begone little face.
"Never mind," she said, consolingly; "your intentions were good, and
you must buy your experience by mistakes as you go through life. Now
go into granny softly, both of you, and talk nicely to her. She will be
one person you can do good to, by brightening her up a little."
Dudley made a grimace at Roy; but both boys entered the house, and
crept into a cool half-darkened drawing-room on tiptoe, with hushed
voices and sober demeanor. A stern looking old lady sat upright in her
easy chair, knitting busily. She greeted the boys rather coldly.
"What have you been doing with yourselves? I sent for you some time
ago. Do you not remember that I like you to come to me every
afternoon about this hour?"
"Yes, granny," said Roy, climbing into an easy chair opposite her; "we
were coming only we didn't know it was so late: we were busy talking."
"Boys' chatter ought not to come before a grandmother's wishes."
There was silence; then Dudley struck in boldly:

"We were talking about good things, granny. It wasn't chatter. Roy and
I are going to look out for opportunities every day of our lives. Do you
think an opportunity is the same as an adventure? I don't think you have
adventures of doing good, do you?"
"Yes," asserted Roy, bobbing up and down in his chair excitedly; "King
Arthur and his knights did always. They never rode through a wood
without having an adventure, and it was always doing good, wasn't it,
granny?"
Conversation never slackened when the boys were present, and Mrs.
Bertram, though shrinking at all times from their high spirits and love
of fun, yet looked forward every day to their short visit. She was a
confirmed invalid, and rarely left the house, and her daughter Julia in
consequence took her place as mistress over the household.
Three years before, Roy and Dudley arrived within a month of each
other, to find a home with their grandmother. Roy, whose proper name
was Fitzroy, came from Canada, both his parents having died out there.
Dudley's father had died when he was a baby, but his mother had
married again in India; and upon her death which occurred not long
after, his stepfather had sent him home to his grandmother. From the
first day that they met, the boys were sworn friends; and their aunt
dubbed them "David" and "Jonathan" after having been an unseen
witness of a very solemn vow transacted between them under the
shadow of the pines, only a week after their meeting.
Roy's delicate health was a cause of great anxiety to his grandmother,
and if it had not been for Miss Bertram's wise tact and judgment, he
would have been imprisoned in one room and swathed in cotton wool
most of the year round. He had the advantage of having an old nurse
who had brought him up from his birth, and had come from Canada
with him; and she was as vigilant and experienced in managing his
ailments as could be desired. Poor little Roy, with his uncertain health,
was heir to a very large property of his father's not far away; and the
responsibilities awaiting him, and the knowledge that he would have so
much power in his hands, perhaps had the effect of making him weigh
life more seriously than would most boys of his age.

Later on after their visit to their grandmother was over, and tea had
been finished in the nursery, he wandered into his own little room, and
leaning out of his window, looked up into the clear sky above.
"I feel so small," was his wistful thought, "and heaven is so big; but I'll
do something big enough to get, 'Well done good and faithful servant,'
said to me when I die, I hope. And I'll try every day till I do it!"

II
A SONG
"Come here, boys. I have had some new music from town, and here is a
song that you will like to listen to, I expect."
It was Miss Bertram who spoke, and her appearance in the nursery just
saved a free fight. Wet afternoons were always a sore trial to the boys:
their mornings were generally spent at the