It was late in the afternoon when Mr Philip Ashton walked up to the
door of his residence in Portman-square. His hand touched the knocker
irresolutely. "It must be done," he said to himself. "May strength be
given to all of them to bear the blow!" His hand shook as he rapped.
The hall door flew open, a servant in handsome livery stood ready to
take his hat and gloves. As he entered the drawing-room his wife and
daughters rose to welcome him, with affection beaming in their eyes, as
did his three sons, who had just arrived at home from different
directions.
"Dear papa, you are not well," exclaimed Sophy, his eldest daughter,
leading him to a seat.
"Philip, what is the matter?" asked his wife, leaning over him.
"Sit down, dears, and I will tell you," he answered, pressing her hand.
"A severe trial has come upon us, but--"
"Dear Leonard, nothing has happened to him, I pray?" gasped out Mrs
Ashton. Leonard was a sailor son, the only one now absent.
"Thank Heaven he is well; I had a letter from him only to-day," answered
Mr Ashton. "Many mercies are granted us, and I trust, therefore, that
you will all submit to be deprived, without murmuring, of the wealth we
hitherto have thought our own. Dear ones, the law-suit has been decided
against us!"
The young Ashtons were silent for some minutes, but presently recovered
themselves.
"We can all work," exclaimed the three sons, in a breath.
"Our happiness does not consist in this," said Sophy, glancing round the
room, "We will make the smallest cottage comfortable for you, mamma."
"I am sure we can, and do all the work ourselves," cried Fanny, her next
sister.
"I can make a pudding, and churn, and could soon learn how to milk a
cow," said Agnes, the third daughter, laughing. "I have always wished
to live in a cottage in the country."
"I've arranged it," said Fanny. "Agnes shall be cook, I will be
waiting-maid, Sophy housekeeper, Philip bailiff, Harry gardener, and
Charley--oh, let me consider--general farm-servant: won't that be
excellent?"
"But you place your mother and me on the shelf," said Mr Ashton, his
spirits reviving from seeing the way in which his children bore the
announcement he had so dreaded making. "What are we to do?"
"O papa, of course you and mamma are to do nothing. We are all to work
for you," exclaimed Harry, a fine youth of fourteen, who looked as if
there was indeed work in him.
"Of course," added Charley. "How we ought to thank you, papa, for
having us taught carpentering, and that we all have such a fancy for
gardening. John says, too, that I know almost as much about pigs and
cows and sheep as he does; and as for Phil, he knows more about
everything than all of us put together."
Philip--Mr Ashton's eldest son--had not spoken after he had first
expressed his feelings with his brothers. His thoughts were elsewhere.
A bright airy castle he had lately raised, had just been hurled rudely
to the ground, and he was stunned by the crash.
Mr Ashton retired to rest that night with a mind greatly relieved. He
had not doubted the affection of his children, and he was assured that
it would enable them to bear their reverse of fortune with cheerfulness.
When he rose in the morning he prayed earnestly for strength to go
through the work required of him, and that is never denied to those who
seek it from Him who can alone afford it. In all the work he received
able assistance from his son. Philip had not left a single debt unpaid
at the University, by which, under his altered circumstances, he might
ever afterwards have been hampered. Mr Ashton, having never allowed
household bills to run on, was comparatively free from debt.
All his affairs arranged, he found himself with an income--arising from
a settlement on his wife--of two hundred pounds a-year, and about
fifteen hundred pounds in ready money. Once more his family being
assembled, he pointed out to them that though their plans were very
good, if they were to remain a united family they must look to the
future, and seek in another country the opportunity of developing their
energies.
"What do you think of Canada?" he asked.
"A capital country!" cried Charley, who, as the youngest, spoke first.
"I know all about the sleighing, and the skating, and the ice-boats, and
the coasting down snow-hills, and the shooting huge deer, and the
snow-shoeing, and the sailing on the lakes, and the fishing, and the
sporting of all sorts,--not a country like it, I should say."
"It's a country for hard work, I know," said Harry. "Nothing I should
fancy so much as cutting down trees, building log-huts, fencing in
fields, and ploughing and reaping. Ever since I read `Laurie Todd' I
have wished to go there." Philip and his sisters expressed themselves
equally ready to emigrate.
No time was lost in making the necessary preparations, after it was
resolved that they should go to Canada. It was highly gratifying to
them to find that several of their servants wished to accompany them.
Two only, however, could be taken. Of these Mrs Summers had been the
nurse of all the younger children, and had lately acted as housekeeper.
"It would break my heart, marm, if you were to go out to a strange
country, and I, who am still strong and hearty, not to be with you to
help you in all your troubles," she said, with tears in her eyes, to
Mrs Ashton. "Though you take them like an angel, marm, they are
troubles."
The other, Peter Puckle by name, had been first stable-boy, then page,
and lately footman. He engaged Harry to plead his cause. "The wages
and the passage-money shan't stand in the way, Master Harry," he urged.
"I have not been in the family all these years without laying by
something, and it's the honour of serving your good father still is all
I want."
The surface of the broad Atlantic was scarcely ruffled by a breeze as
the steamer with the Ashton family on board rushed across it. "Well,
Sophy, I declare it is worth being ruined for the sake of the fun we
have on board," exclaimed Charley, to his eldest sister, who was sitting
reading on deck, at a short distance from the rest of the party.
A gentleman standing by heard the remark, and finding Charley by himself
directly afterwards, he observed, smiling, "Why, my young friend, you do
not look as if you were ruined. I have never met a happier family than
yours appears to be. What did you mean by saying that?"
"Well, I do not think that we are ruined really, sir," said Charley,
artlessly; "still, my papa had many thousand pounds a-year till lately,
and we lived in a large house in London, and had another in the country,
and Philip was at Oxford and Harry at Eton, and I was going there; and
now we are to live in a log-hut in the back woods in Canada, and that
makes us all so jolly, because it will be such capital fun. Don't you
think so?"
"I have had some experience of life in the back woods," answered the
gentleman. "It has its advantages and its disadvantages, though I have
little doubt but that you will find it pleasant."
"What, do you live in Canada, sir?" asked Charley.
"Yes; I have lived there all my life," said the stranger. "But, my
young friend, you say that you are ruined, and yet I see that you have
servants attending on you: how is that?"
"Why, they insisted on coming, and would not leave us," answered
Charley.
"Would more have accompanied you?" enquired the stranger. "I am afraid,
though, that my questions may appear impertinent,"
"If papa would have let them," said Charley.
"That fact speaks volumes in favour both of masters and servants," said
the stranger to himself.
From that day Charley looked upon the stranger as an especial friend,
though he could learn little more about him than that his name was
Norman. At length the Saint Lawrence was reached, and the Ashton family
landed safely at Quebec, the chief port of the superb province which the
gallantry of Wolfe won for England, and which, mainly by the
perseverance and energy of Anglo-Saxon inhabitants, has become one of
the brightest jewels in the British crown.