PROVIDES FOR EDUCATION.
Having before me several years of absence from home, if it should please
the Lord so long to spare me, I now took measures for the welfare of
those who would chiefly miss me. The little cottage was my own from many
generations, and in a new will made by a clever man (no less than our
new schoolmaster), I left it to Bunny, and all my effects, except my
boat, and the sum of ten guineas, which two items, as honour demanded,
were for Miss Delushy. But what is wealth without education? No more
than a plummet without the line. Knowing this, I provided as follows.
A thoroughly fine new schoolmaster had arisen, as aforesaid, for the
purpose of educating all our Newton children. Our good parson had
brought him in, not because the old one, being challenged by the village
tailor to spell the word "horse" without the picture, proved his command
of the alphabet by accomplishing it in nine different ways, all wrong
(for that was entered to his credit, when the tailor failed to do the
like), but because he horsed a boy and left him there for the afternoon,
having fallen asleep without thrashing him. And it shows what the public
confusion of mind is, that there were not three people in all the parish
who could help jumbling these stories together, because each of them had
a horse in it! However the poor old man had to go, and Colonel Lougher,
having nothing to do with the spelling of the children, thought it so
hard on his brother's part, that he made the old man his head gardener,
so as to double his wages, and enable him to sleep not half, but the
whole of the afternoon.
His successor in the school had been sought out very diligently, and he
could spell almost as well as Bardie could pronounce a word. But when we
found that he came from a distance more than a quick man could walk in a
day, and that he could not through all his forefathers (although they
were quite at his finger-ends) claim so much even as intermarriage with
any of our third-rate families, much less with any Llewellyns, or
Hopkins, or Bevans, or even Thomases, we saw that even Parson Lougher
had gone a little too far for us, and not a woman in the place would let
a bedroom to that man. However we could not bolt him out of his own
schoolroom, and there he slept, contented with a pile of slates for
bedstead, and of copy-books for bolster and for pillow. For a week at
least he had no school, but he went to church and sang beautifully
(which brought half the women over), and the children began to be such a
plague, at home, before Monday morning, that eight or nine were sent
back to school, as if with halters round their necks. With these he took
so much kind trouble, that in three hours they learned more than the
parish had learned for a generation; so much that they could not keep it
down when they went home for dinner. In the afternoon there were twenty
pupils, and by the end of the week three dozen. But how could they prove
him to their parents qualified for a bedroom?
Upon the strength of my present position, and unrivalled experience, I
found it my duty to come to the fore, and take the command of the
householders. And knowing of course what a waste of time it is to reason
with anybody, I seized the bull by the horns, and offered Master Roger
Berkrolles the occupancy of my cottage upon most liberal conditions.
"That is to say for rent per quarter, one sea-snail, and per annum one
cockleshell, to preserve the title; provided nevertheless and upon this
express condition that my lawful granddaughter Bunny should be fed,
alimented, sufficiently nourished, clothed, clad, apparelled, and in
garments found; also taught, instructed, indoctrined, educated and
perfected in every branch of useful knowledge by the said Roger
Berkrolles. Item, that if a certain child of tender years known as
'Delushy,' should at any time appear on the premises and demand
instruction, instruction of the highest order, and three slices of
bread-and-butter, should be imparted to her without charge, _de die in
diem_." I objected to these "dies," as being of a nasty churchyard
sound; but Master Roger convinced me soon, and must have convinced a far
tougher fellow, that to put our latter end out of sight and out of mind
so, is a bad example and discouragement for the young ones, whose place
it is to dwell on it.
A man of far coarser tone of mind than mine would be required to
describe Master Roger's sense of gratitude towards me. When I do a
handsome thing, I cannot bear to tell of it, nor even to receive the
praise accruing from what neighbours know. "Do it, and be done with it,"
in all such cases is my rule; and if Roger chose to give me an inventory
of goods and chattels, he can bear me out in saying that I scorned to
call a witness in to put his name to it. Business is not my strong
point, and it never is with a man of largeness.
The next thing for me to see to was to get some wicked warrants quashed;
which a deep ignorance of my character, and the lies of very low
villains, had induced some weak or vicious magistrates to issue; so that
in the sporting season (when I might have done my best), I was forced to
decamp with my telescope. This has been mentioned perhaps before; but
not my strong resolution to face it out, as soon as ever the sense of a
strong position enabled me. No doubt they had meant to do their duty;
and I forgave them altogether. There were three of them. Two names I
quite forget. How can one think of such trifles at sea? But the third
was one Master Anthony Stew, who had tyrannised over me dreadfully, in
the times of my tribulation. Up to this man's gate I went, and rang the
great bell, with my three stripes on, and a cap of fronted tapestry.
Squire Anthony was about, somewhere on the premises, would my honour
mind waiting while the boy went round to look for him? This maid never
guessed how often she had told me my fish was bad, and what a shame it
was to make them eat it up in the kitchen, or starve; and where did I
hope to go to? Neither did she recollect how she had as good as made me
kiss her behind the meat-screen, when my glory began to grow for saving
those drowned niggers. And yet I could not be sure that she did not know
it all, and hide it all, for the joy of boasting afterwards. I
understand everything, except women.
When I was shown into the drawing-room, and Mrs Stew with a curtsy went
out, as if afraid to trust herself in a presence so imposing, I had a
great mind to take a nip at some of the rubbish upon the table. The
whole of these nick-nacks could never have paid me half what this fellow
had cost me in fines, expenses, costs, and so on; without a bit of
evidence from any man of character. However, I only looked at them.
When that low Anthony Stew came in, he knew me (before I could speak
almost); he gave a quick glance at the table, and then without another
word showed me out, in spite of all my uniform, to his dirty little
justice-room. With such a man, I should think it wrong to go into
his ribaldry; only he said this, at last; "Davy, thou thief, we will
withdraw them, because we cannot execute them; now thou art in Royal
Service. Five there are, if I remember. Does your conscience plead to
more?"
"My conscience pleads to none, your Worship. Perjured scoundrels all of
them. Five was the number, I do believe. Alas! what may we come to?"
"The gallows, Dyo, the gallows, thou rogue! Thou hast had some shavings.
But when thy turn comes, good Dyo, I will do thee a good turn, if I
can."
"Will your Worship tell me why? I never looked for anything but the
flint-edge from your Worship."
"Because thou art the only rogue I never was a match for. There, go thy
way now; go thy way; or I shall be asking thee to dinner."
"Nay, your Worship, God forbid! What food have I had since
breakfast-time?" And so I won the last word of him.
After this provision for my good repute, and defiance of magisterial
scandal on behalf of Bunny, my next act was one of pure generosity
towards an ancient enemy. Poor Sandy Macraw had a very hard fight to
maintain himself and his numerous and still increasing family. Sometimes
they did not taste so much as a rind of bacon for months together, but
lived on barley-bread and dog-fish, or such stuff as he could not sell,
with oatmeal cakes for a noble treat every other Sunday. What did I do
but impart to him, under document drawn by Berkrolles, that licence to
fish off and on Sker Point which my courage had well established, with
authority to him and covenant by him to attack and scare all poachers;
the whole to be void upon my return, if so I should think proper. And
not only this, but I put him in funds to replace all his tackle, by
enabling him to sell his boat. For I went so far as to lease him my own,
at a moderate yearly rental, upon condition that he should keep her in
thorough repair and as good as new. And for the further validity (as the
lease said) of this agreement, two years' rent became due at once, and
was paid from the price of the other boat. My boat went twice as fast as
Sandy's, and was far more handy, so that this bargain was fair and
generous, and did honour to all concerned.
The next and last thing, before starting, was to provide for poor Bardie
herself. For I feared that Hezekiah, or some other unprincipled fellow,
might trump up a case, and get hold of her, and sell, or by other means
turn into money my little pet, to the loss of my rights, and perhaps her
own undoing. Resolved as I was to stop all chances of villany of that
kind, I went direct to Colonel Lougher and to Lady Bluett. Here I made
the cleanest breast that ever was scooped out almost. I may declare
that I kept in nothing, except about painting the boat, and one or two
infinite trifles of that sort, which it would have been a downright
impertinence to dwell upon. Nevertheless Colonel Lougher said that some
blame might attach to me in spite of all pure intentions.
But Lady Bluett said no, no. She would not hear of it for a moment. The
only thing that surprised her was Llewellyn's thorough unselfishness,
and chivalrous devotion to a child who was nothing to him. She was a
bewitching little dear; no one who saw her could doubt that; still it
showed a very soft side to a wonderfully gallant character, when through
all modesty it appeared what womanly tenderness there had been. And this
proved how entirely right her opinion had been from the very first, and
what a mistake the good Colonel had made, in declining to let her even
argue.
"My dear Eleanor, my dear Eleanor," cried the Colonel, with his eyes
wide open, and his white hand spread to her; "I am surprised to hear you
say so. But we cannot go into that question now. Llewellyn begged for my
opinion. Yours, my dear (as you have proved), is of course more
valuable: still I thought that it was mine----"
"To be sure it was, dear Henry. Yours is what was asked for. My rule is
never to interrupt you, but to listen silently."
"To be sure, Eleanor, to be sure! And we always agree in the end, my
dear. But so far as I can judge at present, Llewellyn, although with the
very best meaning----"
"And a display of the greatest valour. Come, Colonel, even by his own
account----"
"Yes, my dear, great valour, no doubt, coupled with very sound
discretion. Yet when I come to consider the whole, I really do think
that your hero might have entered more fully into these particulars
about the boat. Of course, he had no motive, and it was simply an error
of judgment----"
"Henry, there was no error at all. What could he do when they would not
even listen to him about the name of the ship? If they would not listen
about a ship, is it likely they would listen about a boat? And a very
small atom of a boat! The thing is too ridiculous."
Perceiving a pause, I made my bow; for the very last thing I could
desire would be to sow a controversy between the gentleman and lady,
whom of all the county I esteemed the most and loved the best. And I
knew that if I caused dissension in a pair so well united, each would
think the less of me, when they came to make it up together. Moreover,
my object was attained. Their attention was drawn to the child again:
the Colonel, as the nearest magistrate, was put in legal charge of her:
I was now quit of all concealment: and Lady Bluett had promised to see
to the poor thing's education, if ever she should need any.
This I hoped with all my heart that she would do, and quickly too. And
indeed she was growing at such a pace after that long illness, also
getting so wonderfully clever about almost everything, and full of
remarks that might never strike a grown man till he thought of them,
that the only way or chance I saw of taking the genius out of her, was
to begin her education. Forgetting just now a good deal of my own, and
being so full of artillery, I got Master Berkrolles to make the first
start, and show her the way to the alphabet. Our Bunny now could spell
"cat" and "dog," and could make a good shot at some other words, and
enjoyed a laugh at children (head and shoulders over her) whenever they
went amiss, and she from the master's face was sure of it. But Bardie
had never been to school; for I thought it below her rank so much; and
now I contrived for our great schoolmaster to come to my cottage, and
there begin.
It must have made the very gravest man, ever cut from a block of wood,
laugh to behold Master Roger, and her. He with his natural dignity, and
well-founded sense of learning, and continual craving for a perfect form
of discipline; yet unable to conceal his great wonder at her ways: she
on her side taking measure of him in a shy glance or two, and letting
her long eyelashes fall, and crossing her feet with one shoulder towards
him, for him to begin with her. He vowed that he never had such a pupil;
instead of learning, she wanted to know the reason why of everything.
Why had A two legs and a girdle, while B had two stomachs and no leg at
all? C was the moon, from the shape of it. It was no good to tell her
that C was the cat; a cat had four legs and C had none: and as for D
being a dog, she would fetch dear Dutch, if he would not believe her,
and show him what a dog was like. And then perceiving how patient he
was, and understanding his goodness, the poor little fatherless soul
jumped up on his knee, and demanded a play with him. He did not know how
to play very well, because he was an ancient bachelor; but entering into
her sad luck, from knowledge of her history, he did the very best thing
(as I thought) that ever had been done to her. He put her on a stool
between his knees, and through the gloss of her hair he poured such very
beautiful and true stories, that one could almost see her mind (like the
bud of a primrose) opening. She pushed up her little hands and tossed
her thick hair out of the hearing way, and then, being absorbed in some
adventures like her own almost, round she turned and laid her eyes upon
his furrowed yet beaming face, and her delicate elbows on his knees, and
drank in every word, with sighs, and short breath, and a tear or two.
Although, from one point of view, I did not like to be superseded so,
especially in my own department, as might be said, of story-telling, yet
I put small feelings away, and all the jaundice of jealousy. If I were
bound to go wherever Government might order me, for the safety of our
native land, and with moderate pay accruing, also with a high position,
and good hopes of raising it, the least I could do was to thank the Lord
for sending those two poor children a man, so wise, and accomplished,
and kind-hearted, bound over to look after them. And yet I would almost
as lief have committed them into the hands of Mother Jones, who could
scarcely vie with me. But they promised never to forget me; and the
night before I went away, I carried Bardie back to Sker, and saw that
Black Evan was dying.