One afternoon Captain Lee and Emma called on Mrs Tipps, and found her
engaged in earnest conversation with Netta. The captain, who was always
in a boiling-over condition, and never felt quite happy except when in
the act of planning or carrying out some scheme for the increase of
general happiness, soon discovered that Netta was discussing the details
of a little treat which she meant to give to the boys and girls of a
Sunday-school which she and her mother superintended. With all his
penetration he did not, however, find out that the matter which called
most for consideration was the financial part of the scheme--in other
words, how to accomplish the end desired with extremely limited means.
He solved the question for them, however, by asserting that he intended
to give all the scholars of all the Sunday-schools in the neighbourhood
a treat, and of course meant to include Netta's school among the rest--
unless, of course, she possessed so much exclusive pride as to refuse to
join him.
There was no resisting Captain Lee. As well might a red-skin attempt to
stop Niagara. When once he had made up his mind to "go in" for
something, no mortal power could stop him. He might indeed be _turned_.
Another object of interest, worthy of pursuit and judiciously put
before him, might perhaps induce him to abandon a previous scheme; but
once his steam was up, as John Marrot used to say, you could not get him
to blow it off into the air. He was unlike the iron horse in that
respect, although somewhat like him in the rigour of his action.
Accordingly the thing was fixed. Invitations were sent out to all the
schools and to all who took an interest in them, and the place fixed on
was a field at the back of Mrs Tipps's villa.
The day came, and with it the children in their best array. The weather
was all that could be wished--a bright sun and a clear sky,--so that the
huge tent provided in case of rain, was found to be only required to
shade the provisions from the sun. Besides the children there were the
teachers--many of them little more than children as to years, but with a
happy earnestness of countenance and manner which told of another
element in their breasts that evidently deepened and intensified their
joy. There were several visitors and friends of Captain Lee and Mrs
Tipps. Emma was there, of course, the busiest of the busy in making
arrangements for the feast which consisted chiefly of fruit, buns, and
milk. Netta and she managed that department together. Of course little
Gertie was there and her sister Loo, from which we may conclude that
Will Garvie was there in spirit, not only because that would have been
natural, but because he had expressly told Loo the day before that he
meant to be present in that attenuated condition. Bodily, poor fellow,
he was on the foot-plate of the _Lightning_, which is as much as to say
that he was everywhere by turns, and nowhere long. Mrs Marrot was
there too, and baby, with Nanny Stocks as his guardian. Miss Stocks's
chief employment during the evening appeared to be to forget herself in
the excess of her delight, and run baby's head against all sorts of
things and persons. Perhaps it was as well she did so, because it
tended to repress his energy. She acted the part of regulator and
safety-valve to that small human engine, by controlling his actions and
permitting him good-naturedly to let off much of his superfluous steam
on herself. Indeed she was a species of strong buffer in this respect,
receiving and neutralising many a severe blow from his irrepressible
feet and fists. Bob Marrot was also there with his bosom friend Tomtit
Dorkin, whose sole occupation in life up to that time had been to put
screws on nuts; this must have been "nuts" to him, as the Yankees have
it, because, being a diligent little fellow, he managed to screw himself
through life at the Clatterby Works to the tune of twelve shillings a
week. Joseph Tipps, having got leave of absence for an evening, was
also there,--modest amiable, active and self-abnegating. So was Mrs
Natly, who, in consideration of her delicate health, was taken great
care of, and very much made of, by Mrs Tipps and her family--
conspicuously by Mrs Durby, who had become very fond of her since the
night she nursed her. Indeed there is little doubt that Mrs Durby and
the bottle of wine were the turning-point of Mrs Natly's illness, and
that but for them, poor Sam would have been a widower by that time. Mr
Able, the director, was also there, bland and beaming, with a brother
director who was anything but bland or beaming, being possessed of a
grave, massive, strongly marked and stern countenance; but nevertheless,
owning a similar spirit and a heart which beat high with philanthropic
desires and designs--though few who came in contact with him, except his
intimate friends, would believe it. There were also present an elderly
clergyman and a young curate--both good, earnest men, but each very
different in many respects from the other. The elder clergyman had a
genial, hearty countenance and manner, and he dressed very much like
other gentlemen. The young curate might have breakfasted on his poker,
to judge from the stiffness of his back, and appeared to be afraid of
suffering from cold in the knees and chest, to judge from the length of
his surtout and the height of his plain buttonless vest.
When all were assembled on the green and the viands spread, the elder
clergyman gave out a hymn; and the curate, who had a capital voice, led
off, but he was speedily drowned by the gush of song that rose from the
children's lips. It was a lively hymn, and they evidently rejoiced to
sing it. Then the elder clergyman made the children a short speech. It
was amazingly brief, insomuch that it quite took the little ones by
surprise--so short was it, indeed and so much to the point, that we will
venture to set it down here.
"Dear children," he said, in a loud voice that silenced every chattering
tongue, "we have met here to enjoy ourselves. There is but one of your
Sunday lessons which I will remind you of to-day. It is this,--`Whether
ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.'
Before beginning, then, let us ask God's blessing."
Thereupon he asked a blessing, which was also so brief, that, but for
the all-prevailing name of Jesus, with which he closed it, some of those
who heard him would scarce have deemed it a prayer at all. Yet this
elderly clergyman was not always brief.
He was not brief, for instance, in his private prayers for himself, his
friends, and his flock. Brevity did not mark his proceedings when
engaged in preparing for the Sabbath services. He was not brief when,
in his study, he pleaded with some awakened but unbelieving soul to cast
itself unreservedly on the finished work of our Saviour. He was a man
who carried his tact and common-sense into his religious duties; who
hated formalism, regarding it as one of the great stumbling-blocks in
the progress of Christianity, and who endeavoured at all times to suit
his words and actions to the circumstances of the occasion.
The children regarded him with a degree of affection that was all but
irrepressible, and which induced them, at his earnest request, to sit
still for a considerable time while his young brother gave them "a
_short_ address." He was almost emphatic on the word _short_, but the
young curate did not appear to take the hint, or to understand the
meaning of that word either in regard to discourses or surtouts. He
asserted himself in his surtouts and vests, without of course having a
shadow of reason for so doing, save that some other young curates
asserted themselves in the same way; and he asserted himself then and
there in a tone of voice called "sermonising," to which foolish young
men are sometimes addicted, and which, by the way, being a false, and
therefore irreligious tone, is another great stumbling-block in the way
of Christianity. And, curiously enough, this young curate was really an
earnest, though mistaken and intensely bigoted young man. We call him
bigoted, not because he held his own opinions, but because he held by
his little formalities with as much apparent fervour as he held by the
grand doctrines of his religion, although for the latter he had the
authority of the Word, while for the former he had merely the authority
of man. His discourse was a good one, and if delivered in a natural
voice and at a suitable time, might have made a good impression. As it
was, it produced pity and regret in his elder brother, exasperation in
Captain Lee, profound melancholy in Joseph Tipps, great admiration in
Miss Stocks and the baby, and unutterable _ennui_ in the children.
Fortunately for the success of the day, in the middle of it, he took
occasion to make some reference, with allegorical intentions, to the
lower animals, and pointed to a pig which lay basking in the sunshine at
no great distance, an unconcerned spectator of the scene. A rather
obtuse, fat-faced boy, was suddenly smitten with the belief that this
was intended as a joke, and dutifully clapped his hands. The effect was
electrical--an irresistible cheer and clapping of hands ensued. It was
of no use to attempt to check it. The more this was tried the more did
the children seem to think they were invited to a continuance of their
ovation to the young curate, who finally retired amid the hearty though
unexpressed congratulations of the company.
By good fortune, the arrival of several more friends diverted attention
from this incident; and, immediately after, Captain Lee set the children
to engage in various games, among which the favourite was
blindman's-buff.
One of the new arrivals was Edwin Gurwood, who had come, he said, to
introduce a gentleman--Dr Noble--to Mrs Tipps.
"Oh, the hypocrite!" thought Mrs Tipps; "he has come to see Emma Lee,
and he knows it."
Of course he knew it, and he knew that Mrs Tipps knew it, and he knew
that Mrs Tipps knew that he knew it, yet neither he nor Mrs Tipps
showed the slightest symptom of all that knowledge. The latter bowed to
Dr Noble, and was expressing her happiness in making his acquaintance,
when a rush of laughing children almost overturned her, and hurled Dr
Noble aside. They were immediately separated in the crowd, and, strange
to say, Edwin at once found himself standing beside Emma Lee, who, by
some curious coincidence, had just parted from Netta, so that they found
themselves comparatively alone. What they said to each other in these
circumstances it does not become us to divulge.
While all parties were enjoying themselves to the full, including the
young curate, whose discomfiture was softened by the kind attentions of
Mrs Tipps and her daughter, an incident occurred which filled them with
surprise and consternation. Dr Noble was standing at the time near the
large tent looking at the games, and Nanny Stocks was not far from him
choking the baby with alternate sweetmeats and kisses, to the horror of
Joseph Tipps, who fully expected to witness a case of croup or some such
infantine disease in a few minutes, when suddenly a tall man with torn
clothes, dishevelled hair and bloodshot eyes, sprang forward and
confronted Dr Noble.
"Ha!" he exclaimed with a wild laugh, "have I found you at last, mine
enemy?"
Dr Noble looked at him with much surprise, but did not reply. He
appeared to be paralysed.
"I have sought you," continued the man, trembling with ill-suppressed
passion, "over land and sea, and now I've found you. You've got the
casket--you know you have; you took it from my wife the night she died;
you shall give it up now, or you die!"
He spluttered rather than spoke the last words between his teeth, as he
made a spring at the doctor.
Edwin Gurwood had seen the man approach, and at once to his amazement
recognising the features of Thomson, his old opponent in the train, he
ran towards him, but was not near enough to prevent his first wild
attack. Fortunately for Dr Noble this was thwarted by no less a
personage than Joseph Tipps, who, seeing what was intended, sprang
promptly forward, and, seizing the man by the legs adroitly threw him
down. With a yell that sent a chill of horror to all the young hearts
round, the madman, for such he plainly was, leaped up, but before he
could renew his attack he was in the powerful grasp of his old enemy,
Edwin Gurwood. A terrific struggle ensued, for both men, as we have
said before, were unusually powerful; but on this occasion madness more
than counterbalanced Edwin's superior strength. For some time they
wrestled so fiercely that none of the other gentlemen could interfere
with effect. They dashed down the large tent and went crashing through
the _debris_ of the feast until at length Thomson made a sudden twist
freed himself from Edwin's grasp, leaving a shred of his coat in his
hands, and, flying across the field, leaped at a single bound the wall
that encompassed it. He was closely followed by Edwin and by a
constable of the district, who happened to arrive upon the scene, but
the fugitive left them far behind, and was soon out of sight.
This incident put an end to the evening's enjoyment but as the greater
part of it had already passed delightfully before Thomson came on the
ground to mar the sport, the children returned home much pleased with
themselves and everybody else, despite the concluding scene.
Meanwhile Mrs Tipps invited her friends who had assembled there to take
tea in Eden Villa, and here Dr Noble was eagerly questioned as to his
knowledge of his late assailant, but he either could not or would not
throw light on the subject. Some of the guests left early and some
late, but to Mrs Tipps's surprise the doctor remained till the last of
them had said good-night, after which, to her still greater surprise, he
drew his chair close to the table, and, looking at her and Netta with
much earnestness, said--
"Probably you are surprised, ladies, that I, a stranger, have remained
so long to-night. The truth is, I had come here to have some
conversation on private and very important matters, but finding you so
lively, and, I must add, so pleasantly engaged, I deemed it expedient to
defer my conversation until you should be more at leisure."
He paused as if to collect his thoughts, and the ladies glanced at each
other uneasily, and in some surprise, but made no reply. In truth,
remembering the scene they had just witnessed, they began to suspect
that another style of madman had thought fit to pay them a visit.