JOHN HOLL, DUST CONTRACTOR.
IT was a pathetic meeting between Captain Bayley and his newly-found
grandson. The latter had been astounded at the wonderful news that Mrs.
Holl had brought home. His first thought was that of indignation, that
his mother should have been a penniless wanderer in the streets of
London, while her father was rolling in wealth; but Mrs. Holl's
description of the old officer's agitation and pleasure, and the long
efforts which he had made to find his daughter, convinced him that there
must at least have been some fault on both sides.
"My poor boy," Captain Bayley said, as he entered the room, "if you knew
how long and earnestly I have sought for you, and how many years I have
grieved and repented my harshness to your mother, you would not find it
in your heart to think hardly of me. We were both to blame, my boy, and
we were both punished, heavily punished; but you shall have all the
story some day. I know that it must be a bitter thought for you that she
died homeless, save for the shelter which this good woman afforded her;
but I hope that you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive an
old man who has been terribly punished, and that you will let me do my
best to atone by making your life as happy as I can."
Harry took the hand which the old officer held out to him.
"For myself, I have nothing to forgive, sir. My life has been a happy
one, thanks to the kindness and love of my father and mother here; as to
my real mother, of course, I do not remember her, nor is it for me to
judge between her and you. At any rate I can well believe that you must
have suffered greatly. I have been thinking it over, and it seems to me
that the mere fact that your wishes have at last been carried out, and
that you have so strangely found your daughter's son, would seem as if
any wrongs you did her are considered by God as atoned for. I am sorry
that I am a cripple; I have been sorry before sometimes, but never so
sorry as now, for it must be a great disappointment to you."
"I am so pleased at finding you as you are, my boy," Captain Bayley
said, "for I had feared that if you were alive it must be as a vagrant,
or perhaps even a criminal, that your bodily misfortune is as nothing in
my eyes. This is my ward, Miss Hardy; she is something like a
granddaughter to me, and is prepared to be a sister to you."
"I have heard of her from Evan, sir," Harry said, with a bright look at
the girl. "He has told me how every one in the house loves her, and how
fond my kind friend----" But here he stopped abruptly. The tale of
Frank's sudden departure was a subject of frequent discussion at the
Holls', as well as in the servants' hall in Eaton Square; and although
Harry's indignation on behalf of his friend had been extreme, he paused
now before uttering the name, for at this first meeting with his
relation he felt that no unpleasant topic should be introduced.
There was a moment's silence as he paused, but Alice advanced fearlessly
and gave the boy her hand.
"Thank you, Harry, for what you say, and we shall be all the better
friends because you love, as I do, my dear good cousin, Frank."
"Well, Harry," Captain Bayley said hastily, "when will you come home to
me? I don't want to press you to leave your kind friends here too
suddenly, but I am longing to have you home. I have the carriage at the
end of the street if you will come now."
"No, grandfather, not to-day; I will come to-morrow. Father took his
dinner away with him, and he will not be back till this evening, and I
am not going to let him come and find me gone."
"Quite right, my boy, quite right," Captain Bayley said. "Then
to-morrow, at eleven o'clock, I will come round in the carriage and
fetch you. Mrs. Holl, remember that Harry Bayley owes you a deep debt of
gratitude, which he will do his best some day to repay as far as it is
in his power. Good-bye, Harry, for the present. I am glad your mother
gave you my name; it seems to show she thought kindly of me at the last.
Perhaps she found, poor girl, that I had not been altogether wrong in my
opposition to her unhappy fancy."
The following day Harry was installed in Eaton Square. Captain Bayley
was delighted to find how easily and naturally he fell into the new
position, how well he expressed himself, and how wide was his range of
knowledge.
"He is a gentleman, every inch," he exclaimed delightedly to Alice. "If
you knew how I have thought of him you would understand how happy it
makes me to see him what he is."
Captain Bayley lost no time in obtaining the best possible surgical
advice for his grandson; their opinion was not as favourable as he had
hoped. Had he been properly treated at the time of his accident he
might, they said, have made a complete recovery; but now it was too
late. However, they thought that by means of surgical appliances, and a
course of medicinal baths, he might recover the use of his legs to some
extent, and be able to walk with crutches. This was something, and the
Captain determined at once to carry their advice into effect.
Between Alice Hardy and the lad a strong friendship speedily sprang up.
The girl's bright talk, which was so different from anything he had
hitherto experienced was very delightful to the lad; but the strong bond
between them was their mutual feeling about Frank. From her Harry
learned the charge under which Frank laboured, and his indignant
repudiation of the possibility of such a thing delighted Alice's heart;
hitherto she had been alone in her belief, and it was delightful to her
to talk with one who was of her own way of thinking. She infected Harry
with her own dislike and suspicions of Fred Barkley, and amused the lad
greatly by telling him how, when she had heard of the discovery of his
existence, she had, when Mrs. Holl left, gone straight up to her room
and indulged in a wild dance of delight at the destruction of Fred's
hope of being Captain Bayley's sole heir.
"It was glorious," she said. "I knew Fred hated Frank, though Frank,
silly old boy, was always taking his part with me, and scolding me
because I didn't like his cousin; and I am quite, quite sure that he has
had something to do with getting Frank into this dreadful scrape, and it
was glorious to think that just when he thought that he had got the
field clear, and uncle Harry all to himself, you should suddenly appear
and put his nose out of joint. That's a very unladylike expression,
Harry, and I know I oughtn't to use it, but there's nothing else does so
well. It's Fred's holidays now, and he is away; I expect uncle will
write and tell him all about it. I wish he wouldn't, for I would give
anything to see his face when he walks in and sees you sitting here and
hears who you are."
"Oh! but I hope," Harry said, "that grandfather won't make any
difference to any one because of me. What would be the use of much money
to me. Of course I should like to have a little house, with a man to
wheel me about; but what could I want beyond that?"
"Oh! nonsense, Harry. In the first place you are going to get better;
and even if you were not, you could enjoy life in lots of ways. Of
course you would have nice carriages and horses; you might keep a
yacht--Frank was always saying that he would like to have a yacht,--and
I don't see why you shouldn't go into Parliament. I am sure you are
clever enough, and I have heard uncle say that three-fourths of the
members are fools. He says something naughty before fools, but you know
he swears dreadfully; he does not mean it, not in the least; I suppose
he learned it in India. I tell him it is very wrong sometimes, but he
says he is too old to get rid of bad habits. I wish he wouldn't do it;
and the worst of it is, Harry," she said plaintively, "that instead of
being very much shocked, as I ought to be, very often I can hardly help
laughing, he does put in that dreadful word so funnily."
"No, I should not care about being in Parliament," the boy said. "If I
were ever so rich I think I might like a yacht; still, a yacht, if it
were only a small one, would cost a great deal of money, and I do hope
that grandfather won't disappoint any one for my sake."
Captain Bayley had, however, a few days after the discovery of his
grandson, and after having satisfied himself how lovable the lad was,
and how worthy in all respects to be his heir, written to Fred Barkley,
telling him that his grandson had been found, and that he was all that
he could wish to find him.
"Naturally, Fred," he wrote, "this will make a considerable difference
in your prospects. At the same time, as you have been led to believe
that you would come into a considerable property at my death, and as you
have done nothing to forfeit my confidence and affection, having proved
yourself in all ways a steady and industrious and honourable young
fellow, I do not consider it right that you should be altogether
disinherited by a discovery which has occasioned me such vast pleasure.
I have therefore instructed my solicitor to prepare a new will. By this
he will settle my property in Warwickshire, and my town house, upon my
grandson; but my other house property, and a portion of my money in
stocks and shares, which has been accumulating for many years, will be
left to you, the value of the legacy being, I calculate, about one-half
of that of the property left to my grandson. Thus you will be in nearly
the same position you would have occupied had not your cousin Frank
forfeited, by his disgraceful conduct, his place in my affections."
Whatever may have been the feelings of Fred Barkley when he received
this communication, he wrote a graceful letter of congratulation to his
uncle, expressing his pleasure at the discovery of his long-lost
grandson, and with many thanks for his kind intention on his own behalf.
His anger and disappointment were so great that he did not return to
town until the day before he was going up to Cambridge--having left
Westminster at the end of the preceding term--for he did not feel
himself equal, before that time, to continue to play his part, and to
express personally the sentiments which he had written. What rendered
his disappointment even more bitter was the thought that, indirectly, it
was Frank who had dealt him the blow, for Captain Bayley had mentioned
in his letter that it was through the boy whom his cousin had
recommended as an assistant to the footman that the discovery had been
made.
The visit that he paid at Eaton Square was a short one. To his relief
Alice was not present, for he was certain that she would have watched
him with malicious pleasure. But there had been a passage of arms
between her and her guardian of a more serious nature than any which had
occurred since she had been under his care, owing to her having
expressed herself with her usual frankness respecting Fred's visit.
Her guardian had resented this warmly, and had rated her so severely as
to what he called her wicked prejudice against Fred, that she had
retired to her room in tears. This defeat of his favourite had not
predisposed Harry to any more favourable opinion of his unknown cousin;
but Fred, relieved from the presence of Alice, acted his part so well,
and infused so genuine a ring into the tone of his congratulations, that
he did much to dissipate the prejudice with which Harry was prepared to
regard him. Alice was quick to observe the impression which Fred had
made, and quarrelled hotly with Harry concerning it.
"I am disappointed in you altogether, Harry. I have looked upon you as
being a real friend of Frank, and now you desert him directly his enemy
says a few soft words to you. I despise such friendship, and I don't
want to have anything more to say to you."
In vain Harry protested. The girl flung herself out of the room in deep
anger, and thenceforth, for a long time, Harry was made to feel that
although she wished to be civil to him as her guardian's grandson, yet
that the bond of union between them was entirely broken. Harry himself
had lost no time in speaking to his grandfather on behalf of Frank.
"My dear Harry," the old man said, "my faith in his innocence was as
strong as yours, and, crushing as the proofs seemed to be, I would never
have doubted him had he defended himself. But he did not; he never sent
me a line to ask me to suspend my judgment or to declare his innocence;
he ran away like a thief at night, and, although Fred generously tried
to soften the fact to me, there is no doubt he admitted his guilt to
him. Still, after the lesson I had in your mother's case, I would
forgive him did I know where he was.
"I do not say, Harry, that I would restore him to his place in my
affection and confidence, that of course would be impossible; but I
would willingly send him a cheque for a handsome amount, say for five
thousand pounds, to establish him in business, or set him up in a farm
in one of the colonies."
"That is no use, grandfather," Harry said, "if he is innocent--as I most
firmly believe him to be, in spite of everything against him, and shall
believe him to be to my dying day, unless he himself tells me that he
was guilty--he will not accept either your forgiveness or your money.
What I wish is that he could be found. I wish that I could see him, or
that you could see him, face to face, and that we could hear from his
own lips what he has to say. He might, at least, account for his foolish
running away instead of facing it out.
"We do not know how desperate he might have been at being unable to
clear himself from the charge brought against him. Remember, he could
not have known how hotly you were working on his behalf, and may have
believed himself altogether deserted. He may account for not having
written to you. And we must remember, grandfather--mind I do not share
all Alice's prejudice, and have no inclination in any way to doubt the
honesty of my cousin Fred--but at the same time, in bare justice to
Frank, we must not forget that Fred was really a rival of his in your
affections, and that he would possibly benefit greatly by Frank's
disgrace, and, we must also remember that the only evidence against
Frank, with the exception of the circumstantial proof, comes from him.
"It was he who furnished Frank with funds to enable him to run away, and
we cannot tell whether or not he did not even urge him to fly. You must
remember, grandfather, that Alice asserts Fred always hated Frank. I
know she is prejudiced, and that you never noticed the feeling, nor did
Frank; but children's perceptions are very quick. And even allowing
that she liked Frank much the best, Fred was always, as she admits, very
kind and attentive to her--more so, in some ways, than Frank, and there
was no reason, therefore, for her taking up such a prejudice had she not
been convinced that it was true.
"Now, grandfather, I will tell you what has occurred to me. I know it
will appear a hideously unjust suspicion to you, but I will tell you
once for all, and we will not recur to the subject again; God knows I
may be wronging him cruelly, but the wrong would be no greater than that
which has been done to Frank if he is really innocent.
"Ever since you told me the whole story, I have lain awake at night
thinking it over. It may be that what Alice has said may have turned my
thoughts that way, but I can see only two explanations of the affair.
"Frank is really guilty, or he is altogether innocent. If he is
innocent, who was guilty? Some one took the note, some one sent it to
Frank, and this some one must be a person who knew that Frank was in
need of it; whoever did so can only have done it with one of two
motives, either to get Frank out of trouble, or to bring disgrace upon
him. Only four boys knew of the affair, and they all declare that they
told no one else. If they spoke truly it was one of these four sent him
the note--always supposing that he did not take it himself. Of the other
three I know nothing; but I will take the case of Fred and view it as if
he was a stranger to both of us.
"He was a rival of Frank's. Alice declares he hated him. At any rate he
would benefit greatly by Frank's disgrace. What did he do when Frank
asked him to help him? He refused to do so, on the ground that he had no
money; but two days later he was able to raise double the sum Frank
then wanted in order to assist him to fly. Dreadful as the supposition
is, it seems to me that the only positive alternative to supposing Frank
to be guilty is to believe that his cousin took this note and sent it to
him in order to bring him into disgrace, and that he afterwards urged
and assisted him to fly in order to stamp his guilt more firmly upon
him."
While Harry had been speaking Captain Bayley had paced up and down the
room.
"Impossible, Harry," he exclaimed, "impossible. For, bad as was the case
of Frank taking the note on the pressure of the moment to get himself
out of the silly scrape into which he had got, this charge which you
bring against Fred would be a hundred times, ay, a thousand times worse.
It would be a piece of hideous treachery, a piece of villainy of which I
can scarce believe a human being capable."
"I do not bring the charge, grandfather," Harry said quietly, "I only
state the alternative. That one of your nephews took this note seems to
me to be clear; the crime would be infinitely greater, infinitely more
unpardonable in the one case than the other, but the incentive, too, was
enormously greater. In the one case the only object for the theft would
be to avoid the consequence of a foolish, but, after all, not a serious
freak; in the other to obtain a large fortune, and to ruin the chances
of a dangerous rival.
"Remember, at that time Fred did not know how you had determined to
dispose of your property. Frank was living with you, and was apparently
your favourite, therefore he may have deemed that it was all or nothing.
There, grandfather, I have done. I need not say that I know little of
the real disposition of your two nephews. Frank behaved to me with the
greatest kindness when I was a poor cripple without the slightest claim
upon him. Fred has behaved kindly and courteously, although I have come
between him and you. I can only say that I believe that one of these two
must be guilty; which it is, God alone knows."
"I wish you had said nothing about it," Captain Bayley groaned, "it is
dreadful; I don't know what to do or what to think."
"There is nothing to be done," Harry said, "except, grandfather, to find
Frank. Let us find him and see him face to face; let us hear his story
from beginning to end, and I think then we shall arrive at a just
conclusion. I have no doubt he has gone abroad, and I should advise that
you should advertise in all the Colonial and American papers begging him
to return to have an interview with you, and offering a handsome reward
to any one who will give you information of his whereabouts. If we find
where he is, and he will not come to us, we will go to him."
"That's what I will do, Harry. I will not lose a moment's time, but will
set about it at once; if I spend ten thousand pounds in advertising I
will find him. As to Fred, I cannot meet him again until I get to the
bottom of the affair, so we will stay away from England till I get some
news of Frank."
Before starting abroad, Captain Bayley carried out his plan for
rewarding John and Sarah Holl for the kindness they had shown to Harry.
After consultation with his grandson, he had concluded that the best
plan of doing so would be to help them in their own mode of life. He
accordingly called upon the dust-contractor for whom John Holl worked, a
man who owned twenty carts. An agreement was soon come to with him, by
which Captain Bayley agreed to purchase his business at his own price,
with the whole of the plant, carts, and horses. A fortnight after this
John's master said to him one day--
"John, I have sold my business, you are going to have a new master."
"I am sorry for that," John said, "for we have got on very well together
for the last fifteen years. Besides," he added thoughtfully, "it may be
a bad job for me; I am not as young as I used to be, and he may bring
new hands with him."
"I will speak to him about you, John," his master said; "he is a good
sort, and I dare say I can manage it. The thing is going to be done
well. Three or four new carts are going to be put on instead of some of
the old ones, and there are ten first-rate horses coming in place of
some of those that are getting past work. The stables are all being done
up, and the thing is going to be done tip-top. Curiously enough his name
is the same as yours, John Holl."
"Is it now?" John said. "Well, that will be a rum go, to see my own name
on the carts, 'John Holl, Dust Contractor.' It don't sound bad, neither.
So you will speak to him, gaffer?"
"Ay, I will speak to him," his employer answered.
Three days later John received a message from his master to the effect
that the new gaffer would take possession next day, and that he was to
call at the office at eleven o'clock. He added that his new employer
said that he wished Mrs. Holl to go round with her husband.
John and Sarah were greatly mystified with the latter part of this
message, until the solution occurred to them that probably their late
employer had mentioned that Mrs. Holl went out charring and cleaning,
and that he might intend to engage her to keep the office tidy.
Accordingly, at eleven o'clock on the following day, John and Sarah
presented themselves at the office at Chelsea. As they entered the yard
they were greatly amused at seeing all the carts ranged along, in the
glory of new paint, with "John Holl, Dust Contractor," in large letters
on their sides. A boy was in the office, who told them that they were to
go to the house. The yard was situated near the river, and the house
which adjoined it was a large old-fashioned building, standing in a
pretty, walled garden. They went to the back door, and knocked. It was
opened by a bright-looking servant-girl.
"Is Mr. Holl in?" Sarah asked.
"You are to be shown in," the girl said, and ushered them into a large,
old-fashioned parlour, comfortably furnished.
John and Sarah gave a cry of surprise, for, sitting by the fire, in his
wheeled box, just as in the olden time, was Harry.
Scarce a day had passed since he had left them without his coming in for
a half-hour for a chat with them, but his appearance here struck them
with astonishment.
"What on arth be you a-doing here, Harry?" Mrs. Holl asked. "Do you know
our new gaffer?"
"Yes, mother, I know him. Captain Bayley has had some business with him,
and asked me to come down here to see him. You are to sit down until he
comes."
"But that will never do, Harry. Why, what would he think of us if he
comes in and finds us sitting down in his parlour just as if the place
belonged to us?"
"It's all right, mother, I will make it right with him; he's a good
fellow, is the new gaffer--a first-rate fellow."
"Is he, now?" John asked, interested, as he and Sarah, seeing nothing
else to do, sat down. "And his name is John Holl, just the same as
mine?"
"Just the same, John, and he's not unlike you either. Now, when I tell
you what a kind action he did once, you will see the sort of fellow he
is. Once, a good many years ago, when he wasn't as well off as he is
now, when he was just a hard-working man, earning his weekly pay, a poor
woman with a child fell down dying at his door. Well, you know, other
people would have sent for a policeman and had her taken off to the
workhouse, but he and his wife took her into their house and tended her
till she died."
"That was a right-down good thing," John said, quite oblivious of the
fact that he too had done such an action.
Sarah did not speak, but gave a little gasping cry, and threw her apron,
which she wore indoors and out, over her head, a sure sign with her that
she was going to indulge in what she called "a good cry." John looked at
her in astonishment.
"And more than that, John," Harry went on, "they took in the child, and
brought it up as one of their own; and though afterwards they had a
large family, they never made him feel that he was a burden to them,
though he grew up a cripple, and was able to do nothing to repay them
for all their goodness. Well, at last the boy's friends were found. They
had lots of money, and the time came at last when they bought a business
for John Holl; and when he came, there the cripple boy was, sitting at
the fire, to welcome them, and say, 'Welcome, father! and welcome,
mother!'" and Harry held out his hands to them both.
Even now John Holl did not understand. He was naturally dull of
comprehension, and the loud sobbing of his wife so bewildered and
confounded him, that it divided his attention with Harry's narrative.
"Yes, Harry," he said, "it's all very nice. But what's come to you,
Sarah? What are you making all this fuss about? We shall be having the
new master coming in and finding you sobbing and rocking yourself like a
mad woman. Cheer up, old woman. What is it?"
"Don't you see, John," Sarah sobbed out, "don't you see Harry has been
telling you your own story? Don't you see that it is you he has been
talking about, and that you are 'John Holl, Dust Contractor'?"
"Me?" John said, in utter bewilderment.
"Yes, father," Harry said, taking his hand, "you are the John Holl. This
house, and the business, and the carts and horses, are yours; Captain
Bayley has bought them all for you. He would not come here himself, as I
wished him, but he asked me to tell you and mother how glad he was to be
able to repay, in a small way, he said your great kindness to me, and
how he hoped that you would prosper here, and be as happy as you deserve
to be. You will be better off than your last gaffer, for he had to pay
rent for this house and yard, but, as grandfather has bought the
freehold of them all for you, you will have no rent to pay; and
therefore I hope, even in bad times, you will be able to get along
comfortably. There, father, there, mother, dry your eyes, and look
sharp, for I can hear voices in the garden. Evan went to your house
after you had gone to bring all the children round here in a cab.
"You will find everything in the house, mother, and you must get a grand
tea as soon as possible. I have got a servant for you--for, you know,
you must have a servant now."
The next minute the children came bounding in, wild with delight, and a
happier party never assembled than those who sat round the table of
"John Holl, Dust Contractor," on the evening of his first taking
possession of his new property.
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