"Well, you remember Hardy's will, which you put into my hands a few days
ago?"
"Yes; what then? _That_ can't be the fortune!"
"Indeed it is. Hardy, you remember, made you his residuary legatee. I
find, on inquiry, that the old cousin you told me about, who meant to
leave all his money to build a hospital, changed his mind at the last
and made out a will in favour of Hardy, who was his only relative. So,
you see, you, being Hardy's heir, have come into possession of something
like two thousand a year."
To this Miles replied by a whistle of surprise, and then said, "Is that
all?"
"Upon my word, sir," said the `kind little lawyer,' in a blaze of
astonishment, "you appear to take this communication in a peculiar
manner!"
"You mistake me," returned Miles, with a laugh. "I don't mean `is that
all the fortune?' but `is that all you have to say?'"
"It is, and to my mind I have said a good deal."
"You certainly have. And, believe me, I am not indifferent or
unthankful, but--but--the fact is, that at present I am _particularly_
engaged. Good-bye, and thank you."
So saying, Miles shook the puzzled old gentleman heartily by the hand,
and hurried back to his anchorage in the hall.
"I've done it, mother!" whispered Miles, two days thereafter, in the
privacy of the Institute reading-room.
"Miles!" said the startled lady, with a reproachful look, "I thought you
said that nothing would induce you--"
"Circumstances have altered, mother. I have had a long consultation
with your `kind little lawyer,' and he has related some interesting
facts to me."
Here followed a detailed account of the facts.
"So, you see, I went and proposed at once--not to the lawyer--to
Marion."
"And was accepted?"
"Well--yes. I could hardly believe it at the time. I scarcely believe
it now, so I'm going back this afternoon to make quite sure."
"I congratulate you, my darling boy, for a good wife is God's best gift
to man."
"How do you know she is good, mother?"
"I know it, because--I know it! Anybody looking in her face can _see_
it. And with two thousand a year, why--"
"One thousand, mother."
"I thought you said two, my son."
"So I did. That is the amount of the fortune left by the eccentric old
hospital-for-incurables founder. When poor Hardy made out his will he
made me residuary legatee because the trifle he had to leave--his kit,
etcetera,--was not worth dividing between me and Armstrong. If it had
been worth much he would have divided it. It is therefore my duty now
to divide it with my friend."
But in our anxiety to tell you these interesting facts, dear reader, we
have run ahead of the tea-fight! To detail all its incidents, all its
bearings, all its grand issues and blessed influences, would require a
whole volume. We return to it only to mention one or two gratifying
facts.
It was essentially a temperance--that is, a total-abstinence, a
blue-ribbon--meeting, and, at the end, the "Soldiers' Friend" earnestly
invited all who felt so disposed to come forward and sign the pledge.
At the same time, medals and prizes were presented to those among the
civilians who had loyally kept their pledge intact for certain periods
of time. On an average, over a thousand pledges a year are taken at the
Institute, and we cannot help thinking that the year we are writing of
must have exceeded the average--to judge from the numbers that pressed
forward on this particular night.
There were soldiers, sailors, and civilians; men, women, and children.
Amongst the first, Rattling Bill Simkin walked to the front--his moral
courage restored to an equality with his physical heroism--and put down
his name. So did Johnson and Sutherland--the former as timid before the
audience as he had been plucky before the Soudanese, but walking erect,
nevertheless, as men do when conscious that they are in the right; the
latter "as bold as brass"--as if to defy the world in arms to make him
ever again drink another drop of anything stronger than tea.
Moses Pyne also "put on the blue," although, to do him justice, he
required no protection of that sort, and so did Corporal Flynn and
Terence and their mother--which last, if truth must be told, stood more
in need of the pledge than her stout sons.
Among the civilians several noted personages were influenced in the
right direction. Chief among these was sodden, blear-eyed, disreputable
Sloper, whose trembling hand scrawled a hieroglyphic, supposed to
represent his name, which began indeed with an S, but ended in a
mysterious prolongation, and was further rendered indecipherable by a
penitent tear which fell upon it from the point of his red, red nose!
Some people laughed, and said that there was no use in getting Sloper to
put on the blue-ribbon, that he was an utterly demoralised man, that he
had no strength of character, that no power on earth could save _him_!
They were right. No power on earth could save him--or them! These
people forgot that it is not the righteous but sinners who are called to
repentance.
Time passed away and wrought its wonted changes. Among other things, it
brought back to Portsmouth big, burly Jack Molloy, as hearty and
vigorous as he was when being half-hanged in the Soudan, but--_minus_ a
leg! Poor Jack! a spent cannon-ball--would that it had been spent in
vain!--removed it, below the knee, much more promptly than it could have
been taken off by the surgeon's knife. But what was loss to the Royal
Navy was gain to Portsmouth, for Jack Molloy came home and devoted
himself, heart and soul, to the lending of "a helping hand" to his
fellow-creatures in distress--devoting his attentions chiefly to the
region lying round Nobbs Lane, and causing himself to be adored
principally by old women and children. And there and thus he probably
works to this day--at least, some very like him do.
When not thus engaged he is prone to take a cruise to a certain rural
district in the south of England, where he finds congenial company in
two very tall, erect, moustached, dignified gentlemen, who have a
tendency to keep step as they walk, one of whom has lost his left hand,
and who dwell in two farm-houses close together.
These two gentlemen have remarkably pretty wives, and wonderfully
boisterous children, and the uproar which these children make when
Molloy comes to cast anchor among them, is stupendous! As for the
appearance of the brood, and of Jack after a spree among the hay, the
word has yet to be invented which will correctly describe it.
The two military-looking farmers are spoken of by the people around as
philanthropists. Like true philanthropists, whose foundation-motive is
love to God, they do not limit their attentions to their own little
neighbourhood, but allow their sympathies and their benefactions to run
riot round the world--wheresoever there is anything that is true,
honourable, just, pure, lovely, or of good report to be thought of, or
done, or assisted.
Only one of these acts of sympathy and benefaction we will mention.
Every Christmas there is received by Miss Robinson at the Soldiers'
Institute, Portsmouth, a huge hamper full of old and new garments of all
kinds--shoes, boots, gowns, frocks, trousers, shawls, comforters,
etcetera,--with the words written inside the lid--"Blessed are they that
consider the poor." And on the same day come two cheques in a letter.
We refuse, for the best of all reasons, to divulge the amount of those
cheques, but we consider it no breach of confidence to reveal the fact
that the letter containing them is signed by two old and grateful Blue
Lights.