EXPLANATIONS.
After so much excitement it seemed intolerably dull to sit quietly hour
after hour in the schoolroom without knowing what was going on. Even
Miss Thompson could not attend to them, for she was sitting with their
mother, who happened to be unwell in bed. The children had time to
talk over and imagine every kind of terrible conclusion to the accident
before their father was ready to come and see them.
"Will he get better?" Madge inquired in a trembling voice as soon as
the door opened.
"Get better? Yes, I should hope so in every way," answered Captain
West, sitting down and taking the twins gently on his knees, while
Madge hung over the back of his chair. "It's a bad accident though,"
he continued. "A broken leg and some injury to the head. He only
regained consciousness just before I left Mrs. Howard's."
"Oh, what were they doing with him? I hope they won't lock him into
the cellar now he is ill!" cried Betty compassionately.
"My dear child! What are you thinking about? Do we usually lock
people in cellars when they are ill?" laughed her father. "No, he was
in a remarkably nice bedroom, with a hospital nurse and Dr. Brown in
attendance on him when I left."
Betty felt greatly relieved. It seemed impossible to believe that much
cruelty would take place in the presence of Dr. Brown, who always
ordered her black-currant tea when she had a cough, and told Nurse to
put as little mustard as possible in the poultices.
"But why should you expect that boy to be ill-treated at home?"
inquired Captain West. "From what I hear about him I should think it
is much more likely he has been spoilt!"
"Ah! it isn't his real home," explained Betty, "and that Mrs. Howard is
a terrible person."
She was going to add that the old lady had the reputation of being a
witch, but the accusation seemed too absurd to be urged in broad
daylight in the school-room. So she only mentioned a few of Lewis's
tales about Mrs. Howard's cruelty to him.
Captain West listened for a minute and then fairly burst out laughing.
"Do you really mean that you believed all that?" he said. "You
seriously thought boys were stolen, and shut up in dark cellars, and
all the rest of it?"
The children hung their heads, suddenly feeling rather ashamed of the
ease with which they had been imposed upon, for they could see that
their father did not believe a word of the horrors.
"But other people beside Lewis Brand have told us that Mrs. Howard is
very dreadful and mysterious," observed Madge, who did not at all like
finding herself quite in the wrong. "When Mrs. Bunn is weeding the
garden she sometimes tells us what people in the village say--"
"She would be better employed pulling up groundsel!" interrupted
Captain West. "But what does she tell you about starving boys in
cellars full of black-beetles?"
Madge was bound to admit that she had never heard this particular
accusation against Mrs. Howard from anybody except Lewis.
"But people say she is mad and never will see strangers. And we have
looked at her over the wall, so we know something about it," she
persisted.
"And you saw a very delicate-looking old lady tottering along and
nodding her head? Just so. Now listen to me. Many years ago poor
Mrs. Howard had a very serious illness, which left her with some
disease of the nerves so that she cannot keep her head still for a
moment. Ever since then she has shut herself up and avoided seeing
strangers, as she is very shy about her infirmity being noticed. And I
must say," concluded Captain West, "that I am vexed to think my
children should have tried to pry into what did not in the least
concern them."
"I am sorry we looked at her, if that is the reason she nodded so
funnily to the cows," said Madge. "But were not any of the stories
Lewis told us true? About the cellars, and the jailer with the gray
beard?"
"I cannot tell you anything definite about Mrs. Howard's cellars,
except that, judging by the size of the house, they must be very
small," answered Captain West. "But this I know for a fact. The boy
Lewis Brand is an orphan with no money of his own, and Mrs. Howard
being an old friend of his parents generously offered to adopt him and
bring him up. Unfortunately, owing to his mother's long illness, Lewis
was very much neglected as a child, and got into such bad habits that
he has been nothing but an anxiety to his kind friend from the first.
He has already been expelled from two schools, and Mrs. Howard is at
present trying to educate him at home with a tutor--that gentleman with
the gray beard you saw."
"Well, I never heard of such a horrid story-telling boy!" exclaimed
Madge impetuously. "And so ungrateful too! But why should he have
told such dreadful untruths about Mrs. Howard?"
"To frighten you, I expect," replied Captain West. "The reason they
would not keep him at school was because he would tease and frighten
the younger boys. He seems a born bully."
"And a great coward into the bargain!" added Madge. "You should have
seen how frightened--"
"I dare say!" interrupted her father. "The two things generally go
together. His only excuse is that he was badly trained when young.
However, you will probably admit that in future it will be wiser to let
us choose your friends for you?"
The children had no answer to make. They were thoroughly ashamed of
themselves. When their father left the room they began to discuss the
subject in all its bearings.
"I don't want to abuse Lewis as he is ill," said Madge. "That would be
mean. But I must tell you both something very suspicious that
happened. When I was standing by him just after he fell from the loft
I happened to step on something hard. I stooped to see what it was,
picked it up, and here it is!"
"One of my marbles!" cried John. "One of those I lost out of the
treasure-house! I am quite sure it is, because of the funny red mark I
painted myself on the side."
"You did it with my new paints," chimed in Betty.
"But how did the marble come there?" asked John, much bewildered, but
holding tightly on to his newly-recovered treasure for fear it should
again disappear.
"Well, of course I can't tell for certain," said Madge. "I can only
guess. But it seems as if it must have fallen out of Lewis's pocket."
"Then you think he took our things out of the treasure-hole?" cried
Betty. "He never could have been so wicked as to steal them, and then
come pretending he was so sorry for our loss and wondering where they
had gone!"
"Perhaps he didn't actually mean to steal them, only to tease us,"
suggested Madge. "And I feel sure now that he took the rope-ladder,"
she continued. "You know he pretended at the time that he couldn't get
up the wall without it; but that was only to deceive us. He had those
iron railings for ladders, though he said nothing about them until
later."
"Oh, Madge!" exclaimed the twins. They could think of nothing else to
say. The contemplation of such deliberate perfidy was too
overpowering. The more they recalled Lewis's dark hints and malicious
suggestions about other people, the more disgusted they felt with him,
and the more vexed with themselves for having been so completely
deceived. "We might have known there was something wrong when he made
us promise not to say anything about him!" they said. "Never again
will we have a secret friend!"
Captain West went several times to see Lewis during his long illness,
and did his best to make the unfortunate boy understand the reason why
he was an unfit companion for other children. At first Lewis seemed to
regard his untruths and deceptions merely in the light of very clever
jokes; but gradually some faint sense of shame appeared to steal over
him, though whether on account of his faults or only because they had
been discovered, Captain West could not very well make out.
"What will become of Lewis Brand?" asked the children one day when
their father had just returned from visiting him.
"Directly he is well enough to walk he is going to live with a
gentleman who has great experience with boys, and who will do his best
to counteract the faults that you all find so shameful in Lewis," said
Captain West. "But in justice to the poor boy I must add one thing.
He was much neglected as a little child, and had none of the advantages
of an affectionate and careful training. Now, in proportion to his
opportunities, perhaps he did not behave worse than certain children
who, with no excuses at all, tried to deceive--"
"Do you mean us?" interrupted Madge, with a very red face. She did not
at all appreciate being compared in any way with Lewis, for whose
conduct she felt great contempt. And yet there was a certain element
of truth in her father's words that could not be ignored.
"Well, we will say no more about that," continued Captain West
cheerfully. "I think after what has happened I can trust you all not
to embark again on secret friendships with strangers?"
"No! Indeed we will not!" cried the three children. And they kept
their resolution.