A PARTING
"NELLIE! I say, where are you, Nellie? It's all right! Bounce is
safe! He's just been brought home."
Mr. and Mrs. Burford and their little daughter were at the
breakfast-table when Tom burst in on them with his news. Nellie
cried: "Oh, how glad I am!" and was beginning to ask questions
when her father interposed by telling Tom to sit down and have his
breakfast.
"I'm sorry I'm late," the little boy said apologetically, as he took
his accustomed place. "I've been to Halcyon Villa, and stayed talking
to Peter Perry and his aunt. I wanted so much to know if Bounce had
been found."
"When was he found?" asked Nellie.
"Last night. But Moses Lee—that's the gipsy who found him—kept him
tied up at Hatwell Green till this morning, when the caravan had to
pass Halcyon Villa on their way through the town—the gipsies are
moving to-day. I was standing at the front door when I saw the Lees'
caravan stop at the gate. The blinds of the house were all down then,
but a minute later a servant pulled up those in the dining-room, and
after that came and opened the front door, and Peter Perry was close
behind her. The instant he showed himself Bounce uttered a yell,
broke away from Moses Lee, and simply went off his head—oh, it was
a sight! First Bounce jumped around Peter like a mad thing, barking
with joy, then, when he had quieted down, Peter took him up in his
arms and kissed and hugged him, and—yes, really almost cried over
him!"
"Poor boy!" exclaimed Mrs. Burford, whilst tears of sympathy shone
in Nellie's blue eyes. "Where was the dog found?" she inquired.
"In a rabbit burrow, Mother," Tom replied.
He flushed scarlet as he spoke, and hung his head. For a minute
he hesitated, then, in a few halting sentences, he explained how
he had seen and left Bounce in the woods, and told of his interview
with the gipsy on the preceding day.
"I think it would have been only kind if you had taken the dog back
to his master," Mrs. Burford remarked, with a note of reproof in her
voice.
"Yes, Mother," Tom answered; "I wished afterwards I had. You can't
think what a weight off my mind it is to know he's all right."
"How came the dog to be found?" asked Mrs. Burford; "you have not
told us that."
"No, but I will," Tom said eagerly. "Really it's quite wonderful
he's living! Moses Lee put in all the afternoon yesterday looking for
him, and couldn't find him; but, late in the evening, after his wife
and Zingra had returned, he went into the woods again. This time
he came upon the hole in the old hedge I'd told him of, where Bounce
had been digging, and he got down on his knees and looked in. He saw
the hole led into a regular rabbit run, and that the hedge was like
a honeycomb with rabbit holes. Then he got up and went to the other
side of the hedge, and there he saw another hole where Bounce had
evidently been digging, too, and above the hole earth had given way—
fallen and partly blocked the entrance. Well, what did he do as soon
as he saw that, but go and fetch a spade, and begin to dig away
at the hedge, and—"
"And he found Bounce there!" broke in Nellie excitedly.
"Yes," said Tom, "right in the middle of the rabbit run, almost
smothered, poor little beast He'd dug himself in, and of course
there wasn't room for him to turn round, so he tried to go on, and
the earth had fallen on him and—well, he couldn't have lived much
longer if Moses Lee hadn't found him when he did!"
"Has Miss Perry given Moses Lee the reward?" questioned Nellie.
"Oh, yes!" answered Tom. "She said she had never paid a sovereign
with greater pleasure in her life. And, oh, Mother, what do you
think? She's going to call here by and by to ask you to let me go
to Halcyon Villa to tea; she says she would like her nephew and me
to become better acquainted with each other. You will say 'yes,'
won't you, Mother?"
Mrs. Burford exchanged a glance with her husband, and, looking very
pleased, answered: "Certainly, my dear."
"Did Miss Perry say anything about me, Tom?" Nellie inquired.
"Oh, yes!" Tom replied promptly, adding, as he met the wistful glance
of his little sister's eyes: "I'm sorry, Nellie, but she didn't say
anything about asking you to tea."
It was between eleven and twelve o'clock that morning when Miss
Perry's motor-car, with only Miss Perry and the chauffeur in it,
drew up before the Burfords' house in Ladysmith Terrace. Tom had gone
out to do an errand for his mother; but Nellie was at home, lying
back in her favourite hammock chair in the shady yard, her pale
little face swollen with weeping; for, since breakfast, she had been
told of the change in store for her, that she was to spend three
months at Broadstairs, away from her own people, and she could not
reconcile herself to the idea at all. Her mother was with her when
Jane came into the yard and said that Miss Perry was in the
drawing-room.
"Will you come with me and see her, Nellie?" Mrs. Burford inquired.
"No, thank you," was the answer; "she hasn't come to ask me to tea!"
So Mrs. Burford went into the house alone. In a very short while she
returned, her face lit up with a pleased smile. "Nellie, dear,"
she began, "Miss Perry wants to know if you would like a drive with
her this morning—"
"Oh! oh!" interrupted Nellie, her voice shrill with surprise and
excitement, "how simply lovely of her! I'll go and get ready
at once!"
The little girl never forgot the delights of that first motor drive
she took with Miss Perry. She sat very still with an expression
of intense contentment on her face. The sun did not seem too hot now,
and a breeze fanned her cheeks—there had been none in the yard
at home. When, at length, after more than an hour's drive, she was
set down before her own door in Ladysmith Terrace, how feeble
her thanks sounded in return for the pleasure she had been given!
"I will take you with me another day," Miss Perry told her,
smilingly, "and perhaps we may be able to persuade your Mother
to come, too."
"Oh, yes!" cried Nellie; "thank you!—oh, thank you!"
She entered the house light-heartedly. She was not to go
to Broadstairs till next month, she reflected, and, perhaps, before
then, something might happen to prevent her going at all.
But nothing happened to prevent it. The remaining days of August
passed all too quickly, Miss Perry's car was frequently seen now
before the Burfords' house, and Tom was spending a great deal of his
time with Peter Perry, whilst Tim and Bounce had evidently decided
that the only course open to two reasonable dogs, whose masters had
become friends, was to follow their example and be friends, too.
"It's the last day of August," Nellie remarked mournfully
at breakfast one morning; "another week, and then—" She stopped
with a choking lump in her throat.
"You'll like it at Broadstairs, I shouldn't wonder," Tom said
hastily. "I'll promise to write to you," he went on, "and tell you
everything you'll care to know."
This was very good of Tom, for he hated letter-writing. Nellie, aware
of that fact, looked at him gratefully, and answered: "Yes, do! And
never mind the spelling! That won't matter a bit!"
A fine, sunny morning, a week later, found the whole Burford family,
Tim included, at the railway station. Mrs. Burford was to take Nellie
to Broadstairs, remain there the night, and return on the morrow.
"Three months will soon pass," Tom whispered to his little sister,
meaning to be consolatory.
"It's ages and ages!" she answered, looking very doleful indeed.
Then the train by which she and her mother were to travel ran into
the station. Mr. Burford found corner seats in a third-class
compartment for them, and the time had come for good-byes to be
exchanged. Nellie had determined beforehand that she would be brave
and not cry, and she succeeded in saying "Good-bye!" to both her
father and brother and kissing them without breaking down; but when,
after her father had settled her and her mother comfortably for the
journey, Tom came to the carriage window, saying, "You haven't said
good-bye to Tim, Nellie!" and lifted up the little dog for her
to caress, her courage suddenly gave way, and her tears began to
flow. "Take care of him, Tom," she whispered with a sob, as she
leaned out of the carriage window and kissed Tim, too; "and, oh, I do
hope he won't forget me! I don't know what I shall feel if he doesn't
remember me when I come back!" Then the guard blew his whistle, and
Nellie hastily drew in her head. The train moved slowly out of the
station, and a minute later was gone.
"Come, Tom!" said Mr. Burford, touching his son on the arm.
With the dog still in his arms, Tom followed his father out of the
station. In the street he set Tim down. "I was afraid if I let him go
before he might run after the train," he explained. "Oh, Father,
won't it be strange without Nellie?" he sighed.
"Very strange," Mr. Burford agreed. "Poor little maid, her greatest
trial will be when she comes to say 'Good-bye' to her mother
to-morrow; she is so unaccustomed to strangers. Are you going to come
with me as far as the bank?"
"Oh, yes, Father!"
"And what will you do afterwards?"
"I thought perhaps I'd walk as far as Halcyon Villa, and ask Miss
Perry to allow Peter to go somewhere with me this afternoon—fishing
perhaps."
"I hope you'll not wear out your welcome at Halcyon Villa, Tom!"
"Miss Perry said she was always pleased to see me," Tom said,
eagerly. "She is glad Peter has me for his friend—he never had a real
friend before he knew me."
"How was that?"
"Well, you see, he doesn't go to school when he's at home—he has a
tutor who's especially clever at teaching blind people; so he doesn't
mix with other boys. Oh, Father, what a noise!"
A big traction engine, drawing several vans, was puffing along the
street in the direction of the market square, a large piece of ground
in the centre of the town, where, during three days in the middle
of September, a fair was always held.
"It's a menagerie," said Mr. Burford, catching sight of the picture
of a lion on one of the vans from which the covering had slipped.
"I saw it was advertised to be here next week for the Fair. Look,
there come an elephant and a couple of camels! Well, here we are
at the bank. Good-bye, my boy, for the present."
After parting from his father, Tom followed in the rear of the
elephant and the camels to the market square, where the animals were
taken into a tent which had been prepared for them, and watched with
the greatest interest whilst the vans belonging to the menagerie were
arranged in a circle, a space being left for the entrance of the
public to the exhibition. There being nothing more to be seen at
present, he was thinking of going on to Halcyon Villa when his
attention was attracted by an angry voice proceeding from a shabby
caravan which had been pushed as far back as possible into a corner
of the square, and curiosity prompted him to stop and listen to it.
"You little white-faced coward, you!" cried the voice, and there
followed a string of oaths and what sounded like a blow. After that
there was silence; then the door of the caravan opened, and a stout
purple-faced woman came out, leading by the hand a little girl with a
frightened, tear-stained countenance. The pair walked a few steps
side by side, then suddenly the child pulled her hand from the
woman's and started forward at a run.
"Stop her! Stop her!" cried the woman, appealing to Tom. "Set your
dog at her—that'll fetch her back!"
"Stop her yourself!" retorted Tom shortly, and, bidding Tim keep
to heel, he turned away. Already the little girl was out of the
square and had disappeared from sight.