Chapters (29)
- HER BENNY
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- Contents
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- Preface
- Chapter I - Brother and Sister
- Chapter II - Addler's Hall
- Chapter III - Roughing It
- Chapter IV - A Friend in Need
- Chapter V - "Oh, Death! What Does Thou Mean?"
- Chapter VI - In Which Benny Makes a Discovery
- Chapter VII - Two Visits
- Chapter VIII - In Which Joe Wrag Has a Vision
- Chapter IX - Tempted
- Chapter X - In the Woods
- Chapter XI - Benny Prays
- Chapter XII - Fading Away
- Chapter XIII - The Tide Turns
- Chapter XIV - A Glimpse of Paradise
- Chapter XV - A Terrible Alternative
- Chapter XVI - An Experiment
- Chapter XVII - Perks Again
- Chapter XVIII - Adrift
- Chapter XIX - The Border Land
- Chapter XX - Life at the Farm
- Chapter XXI - An Accident
- Chapter XXII - Recognition
- Chapter XXIII - The Question Settled
- Chapter XXIV - The Reward of Well-Doing
"Whew!" lifting his eyebrows. Then he began to search carefully all the pockets; that done, he lifted his white scared face to Mrs. Fisher, and said,
"Where's the bob, please?"
"Where's what?"
"The shillin'."
"What shilling?"
"The one the angel gived me. Ain't yer seen it?"
"No; where was it?"
"In the linin' of my wesket."
"Oh, then, perhaps we can find it."
"Oh, yes, do, please; I wouldna lose that bob for a hunderd poun'."
"A hundred pounds is a lot of money, Benny."
"Don't care; don't you see? an angel gived it to me."
"An angel, Benny?"
"Ay, an angel, a real one; but if you'll find the bob, I'll tell yer all 'bout it."
After some searching the shilling was found, and Benny, as good as his word, told Mrs. Fisher the story connected with it. In fact, he would, now that the ice was broken, have told that day all the story of his life, but Mrs. Fisher insisted that it would tire him too much, and that she would hear it some other day.
So day after day as he sat by the window, with the soft summer breeze fanning his brow, and with the songs of the birds in his ears, he told the story that we have written. Told of his father's cruelty, of Joe Wrag's friendship, and of his sister's love—told of his sorrow and loss, his hunger and despair, and of the angel that came to him in his hour of need—told of his success in Mr. Lawrence's office, of his thirst for knowledge, and of the bright hopes he cherished for the future. And he told her, too, of the charge of theft, of his imprisonment and temptation, of his release and resolve, of his fierce battle with hunger and want; and how, to be out of the reach of temptation, he had wandered away into the country until, worn out with hunger and fatigue, he lay down to die.