"Trotty" seems a strange name for an old man, but it was given to Toby
Veck because of his always going at a trot to do his errands; for he was
a porter, and carried letters and messages for people who were in too
great a hurry to send them by the post. He did not earn very much, and
had to be out in all weathers and all day long. But Toby was of a
cheerful disposition, and looked on the bright side of everything. His
greatest joy was his dear daughter Meg, who loved him dearly.
One cold day Toby had been trotting up and down in his usual place
before the church, when the bells chimed twelve o'clock, which made Toby
think of dinner.
"There's nothing," he remarked, "more regular in coming round than
dinner-time, and nothing less regular in coming round than dinner.
That's the great difference between 'em." He went on talking to himself
never noticing who was coming near to him.
"Why, father, father," said a pleasant voice, and Toby turned to find
his daughter's sweet, bright eyes close to his.
"Why, pet," said he, kissing her, "what's-to-do? I didn't expect you
to-day, Meg."
"Neither did I expect to come, father," said Meg, smiling. "But here I
am! And not alone, not alone!"
"Why, you don't mean to say," observed Trotty, looking curiously at the
covered basket she carried, "that you?----"
"Smell it, father dear," said Meg; "only smell it, and guess what it
is."
Toby took the shortest possible sniff at the edge of the basket. "Why,
it's hot," he said.
But to Meg's great delight he could not guess what it was that smelt so
good. At last he exclaimed in triumph, "Why, what am I a-thinking of?
It's tripe!"
And it was.
Just as Toby was about to sit down to his dinner on the doorsteps of a
big house close by, the chimes rang out again, and Toby took off his hat
and said, "Amen."
"Amen to the bells, father?"
"They broke in like a grace, my dear," said Trotty, "they'd say a good
one if they could, I'm sure. Many's the kind thing they say to me. How
often have I heard them bells say, 'Toby Veck, Toby Veck, keep a good
heart, Toby!' A millions times? More!"
"Well, I never!" cried Meg.
While Toby ate his unexpected dinner with immense relish, Meg told him
how her lover Richard, a young blacksmith, had brought his dinner to
share with her, and had begged her to marry him on New Year's Day, "the
best and happiest day of the whole year."
"So," went on Meg, "I wanted to make this a sort of holiday to you, as
well as a dear and happy day to me, father, and I made a little treat
and brought it to surprise you."
Just then, Richard himself came up to persuade Toby to agree to their
plan; and almost at the same moment, a footman came out of the house and
ordered them all off the steps, and some gentleman came out who called
up Trotty, and gave him a letter to carry.
Toby trotted off to a very grand house, where he was told to take the
letter in to the gentleman. While he was waiting, he heard the letter
read. It was from Alderman Cute, to tell Sir Joseph Bowley that one of
his tenants named Will Fern who had come to London to try and get work,
had been brought before him charged with sleeping in a shed, and asking
if Sir Joseph wished him to be dealt leniently with or otherwise. To
Toby's great disappointment the answer was given that Will Fern might be
sent to prison as a vagabond, though his only fault was poverty. On his
way home, Toby ran against a man dressed like a countryman, carrying a
fair-haired little girl. The man asked him the way to Alderman Cute's
house.
"It's impossible," cried Toby, "that your name is Will Fern?"
"That's my name," said the man.
Thereupon Toby told him what he had just heard, and said "Don't go
there."
[Illustration: TROTTY VECK'S DINNER.
TOBY TOOK A SNIFF AT THE EDGE OF THE BASKET.]
Poor Will told him how he could not make a living in the country, and
had come to London with his orphan niece to try and find a friend of her
mother's and to endeavor to get some work, and wishing Toby a happy
New Year, was about to trudge wearily off again, when Trotty caught his
hand saying--
"Stay! The New Year never can be happy to me if I see the child and you
go wandering away without a shelter for your heads. Come home with me.
I'm a poor man, living in a poor place, but I can give you lodging for
one night and never miss it," and lifting up the pretty little one, he
trotted towards home, and rushing in, he set the child down before his
daughter. The little girl ran into her arms at once, while Trotty ran
round the room, saying, "Here we are and here we go. Here, Uncle Will,
come to the fire. Meg, my precious darling, where's the kettle? Here it
is and here it goes, and it'll bile in no time!"
"Why, father!" said Meg, "you're crazy to-night, I think. Poor little
feet, how cold they are!"
"Oh, they're warmer now!" exclaimed the child. "They're quite warm now!"
"No, no, no," said Meg. "We haven't rubbed 'em half enough. And when
they're done, we'll brush out the damp hair; and we'll bring some color
to the poor pale face with fresh water; and then we'll be so gay and
brisk and happy!"
The child sobbing, clasped her round the neck, saying, "O Meg, O dear
Meg!"
"Good gracious me!" said Meg, presently, "father's crazy! He's put the
dear child's bonnet on the kettle, and hung the lid behind the door!"
Trotty hastily repaired this mistake, and went off to find some tea and
a rasher of bacon he fancied "he had seen lying somewhere on the
stairs." He soon came back and made the tea, and before long they were
all enjoying the meal.
After tea Meg took Lilian to bed, and Toby showed Will Fern where he was
to sleep. Then he went to sit by the fire and read his paper, and fell
asleep, to have a wonderful dream so terrible and sad, that it was a
great relief when he woke to find Meg sitting near him, putting some
ribbons on her simple gown for her wedding, and looking so happy and
young and blooming, that he jumped up to clasp her in his arms.
But somebody came rushing in between them, crying,--"No! Not even you.
The first kiss of Meg in the New Year is mine. Meg, my precious prize,
a happy year! A life of happy years, my darling wife!"
Then in came Lilian and Will Fern, and a band of music with a flock of
neighbors burst into the room, shouting, "A Happy New Year, Meg." "A
happy wedding!" "Many of 'em," and the Drum stepped forward and said--
"Trotty Veck, it's got about that your daughter is to be married
to-morrow. And there ain't a soul that knows you both that don't wish
you both all the happiness the New Year can bring. And here we are, to
play it in and dance it in accordingly." Then Mrs. Chickenstalker came
in (a good-humored, comely woman, who, to the delight of all, turned out
to be the friend of Lilian's mother for whom Will Fern had come to
look), to wish Meg joy, and then the music struck up, and Trotty, making
Meg and Richard second couple, led off Mrs. Chickenstalker down the
dance, and danced it in a step unknown before or since, founded on his
own peculiar trot.