The few months slipped away and the birthday came, or at least the day
that was always celebrated as such; for though neither Mrs. Ganderby
nor any of the other people under the shadow of the old butternut-tree
had the least idea when or where the record should have been made, the
doctor called him just twelve when he first saw him, and insisted upon
a birthday every year that same day in October.
Aleck went to the store an hour before time to catch him and have his
talk out before people began to come in. But early as he was, Thorndyke
was there before him, and a customer too; so Aleck retreated into the
sheltered corner behind the desk to wait his opportunity. Thorndyke
gave him a nod and a radiant look as he came in, for these birthdays
were times when, for one day in the year, the “all but me” was _forced_
to flee away; the doctor had always planned some excursion, and
managed that he could bear it; and the little room, that had seemed
such a paradise the first time he saw it, was gradually filling up
with treasures, more and more beautiful every year, until the walls
would hardly hold anything more. Uncle Ralph’s was missing this time,
but all the rest were there, even to old Joan’s; and the flowers that
had always come from Nelly since the very first, “went ahead,” as
Aleck called it, of all that had ever come before. The doctor was in
high spirits, and Thorndyke thought “the princess” had never been so
bewitching in her gentle, lovely ways. He _couldn’t_ say “All but me”
this morning; he had almost forgotten it, and there was actually a bit
of color in his cheeks, and the great eyes shone as Aleck had not seen
them since that day he stood before the window so many years ago.
Aleck sat and watched him as he went about to fill the prescription
waited for.
“Good for him!” he said to himself; “the boy looks gay this morning.
But I declare I wish I didn’t remember how he looked that miserable
day at the school. That thing between his shoulders was hardly worth
noticing then; I wonder the boys saw it at all--and now! It seems as
if it almost buried that splendid head and face of his, and I know the
pain is always there by the patient, wistful look out of his eyes. And
his step that flew down the street so that I couldn’t catch him that
day! It never breaks now from that slow, noiseless way it has. Well,
it’s no use thinking what might have been, and I suppose I should never
have had him here if all had gone well. Will that man _never_ be ready
to go? Ah, there he is actually steering for the door!”
But at the same instant somebody else came in, only a little child,
however, wanting something that would take but a moment. So Aleck
possessed his soul in patience; there surely would not be any one else
in, it was so early.
But what was the matter with Thorndyke?
The child stood innocently enough before the counter, but Thorndyke’s
face was growing white, the glow was gone, and sharp lines coming in
its place, and the thin fingers trembled so that it seemed as if the
package never would be tied. But it was done at last, and Thorndyke
handed it to the child with the same smile and the same gentle
“Anything more?” that the customers had learned to expect. But when
the door was shut, Aleck started. What _was_ the matter? Thorndyke was
leaning against the wall, his lips pressed tightly together, and the
great veins showing blue and hard on his forehead.
“What is it, Thorndyke?” said Aleck, springing towards him.
Thorndyke covered his face with his fingers, and his whole frame
quivered as Aleck had never seen it before, but as the doctor saw it
once under the overhanging of the old rock.
“O Aleck, I cannot bear it! Didn’t you see? I can bear anything else. I
can let a strong man look down at me, but that wondering, pitying look
of a little child! That is the one thing I cannot bear! Oh, why must I
always be a soldier? I am _so_ tired, and I had almost forgotten I was
one to-day!”
Aleck drew him quickly into the shelter of the desk, and got his arm
round his neck.
“There, there, rest a little if you are so tired! you are the bravest
little soldier in all the world, and the lightest weapons are the
hardest to stand against sometimes. Is that the reason you always get
out of the way when a child comes in? I noticed it, but I never knew.
Why didn’t you tell me? Don’t, old fellow! don’t mind. I’ve got lots
I want to say to you this morning, and I thought it should be such a
happy day. If you only knew, if you only would believe how wonderful
you are to every one! The doctor and Nelly would think they had
nothing in the world to be proud of, if it weren’t for you; and you
know what Uncle Ralph thought and everybody else is finding out. And
as for fighting, you get victories every day where the strongest of us
would go down.”
But Aleck had to wait awhile for his talk. The next customer that came
in saw the queer little form going about just as usual, but Aleck knew
it was no time for him, and waited till evening when he got Thorndyke
by himself in his own room, the fire crackling and the room shining as
if there had never been such a thing as a shadow in the world.
“Now, old fellow,” he began, after he had been going on merrily for a
while, “I’ve got a little business proposal to make. I want you to buy
me out.”
The great eyes opened in amazement.
“Buy you out, Aleck! What do you mean?”
“I mean exactly what I say,” and then Aleck told him all the sacrifice
it had been to him to go into the store to begin with, how he had done
it for Nellie’s sake and his uncle’s, and how he had gone steadily
through the whole college course out of hours, as well as it was
possible to do by himself.
“I had an idea, you see, of slipping off and leaving the coast to you,
you were doing so splendidly and Uncle Ralph was so proud of you; but
that night he talked to me about the partnership, I saw it would not do
then. But now, why not? I know he thought I should always stay, but if
he sees how things go among us at all, he sees what it would be to me
to get away, and I know what he would say. We’ll never take the name
down, old fellow, it shall be Halliday still, and I’ll hang about more
or less till you have one more birthday, and when you are twenty-one,
up goes ‘Halliday & Thorndyke,’ and I leave you to your own devices
altogether.”
“But Aleck, where are you going? What do you want to do?”
“What do I want to do? I want to get my profession: what I have always
wanted, and what my father wanted for me. He thought I should be a
lawyer, I know, but I should never make one in the world; there is only
one profession for me, and I am going to the headquarters you and I
think most of. I’m going to study with Dr. Thorndyke. Why shouldn’t a
man be a doctor if he wants to?”
“All but me!” The doctor had meant to make one of him, Thorndyke knew
that very well. However that was neither here nor there. Aleck was
going to leave him; that was all to be thought of now.
“But Aleck!” he cried, and then stopped himself. Aleck had sacrificed
everything all these years, because his uncle wanted him; he should
never know what the store and life would seem, when he hadn’t him at
his side any longer!
“Only you know--why, Aleck, I can’t buy you out! you know very well
what I have wouldn’t buy a corner of the store.”
“Well, put that in, if you’re not afraid to risk it, and you shall have
the whole profits of the business from to-day onward; and if you manage
the old concern as well as I know you can, you will own the whole of it
before many years. Uncle Ralph would like it, I know, and I don’t see
why we sha’n’t be jolly all around.”
“But Aleck!” said Thorndyke again, “I can’t do it! It would be just
taking what belongs to you and putting it in my pocket. I never will do
it in the world.”
“Well now, wait a minute,” said Aleck. “I haven’t finished my remarks
about it. In the first place, there’s more than I know what to do with,
without it, and in the second place, I owe it to you if there wasn’t,
for you have made life in the store a different thing to me a thousand
times over. Do you think I could ever have kept up heart if I hadn’t
thought so much of your being there every day, or could ever have been
patient through it all if I hadn’t seen such a little fighter at my
side? So that’s settled so far, and now in the third place, I can’t
desert the ship, unless you will take the whole command, and if you
do you ought to have the whole profits. And in the fourth place,” and
Aleck put his arm around his future partner’s neck again in a most
unbusinesslike way, “in the fourth place, it’s all in the family,
whatever you do and have, you dear, little old soldier? Don’t you know
nobody could be closer to us all? Flesh and blood couldn’t bring it any
nearer, and if we’re so proud of you now, what will it be by-and-by?”
Nobody could resist Aleck. It was all settled with the doctor and
Thorndyke and everybody else, just as he would like it, and before they
really knew what he was about, and Thorndyke very soon found himself
really steering the ship, and Aleck only “hanging about more or less,”
as he had said. A good deal “less,” Thorndyke thought, but it was
better than losing him altogether, and he was determined he should
never know how he missed him.