Sitting alone in the breakfast parlour of The Rosebud, one morning in
June, Miss Stivergill read the following paragraph in her
newspaper:--"GALLANT RESCUE.--Yesterday forenoon a lady and her
daughter, accompanied by a gentleman, went to the landing-wharf at
Blackfriars with the intention of going on board a steamer. There were
some disorderly men on the wharf, and a good deal of crowding at the
time. As the steamer approached, one of the half-drunk men staggered
violently against the daughter above referred to, and thrust her into
the river, which was running rapidly at the time, the tide being
three-quarters ebb. The gentleman, who happened to have turned towards
the mother at the moment, heard a scream and plunge. He looked quickly
back and missed the young lady. Being a tall powerful man, he dashed
the crowd aside, hurled the drunk man--no doubt inadvertently--into the
river, sprang over his head, as he was falling, with a magnificent
bound, and reached the water so near to the young lady that a few
powerful strokes enabled him to grasp and support her. Observing that
the unfortunate cause of the whole affair was lulling helplessly past
him with the tide, he made a vigorous stroke or two with his disengaged
arm, and succeeded in grasping him by the nape of the neck, and holding
him at arm's-length, despite his struggles, until a boat rescued them
all. We believe that the gentleman who effected this double rescue is
named Aspel, and that he is a city missionary. We have also been
informed that the young lady is engaged to her gallant deliverer, and
that the wedding has been fixed to come off this week."
Laying down the paper, Miss Stivergill lifted up her eyes and hands,
pursed her mouth, and gave vent to a most unladylike whistle! She had
barely terminated this musical performance, and recovered the serenity
of her aspect, when Miss Lillycrop burst in upon her with unwonted haste
and excitement.
"My darling Maria!" she exclaimed, breathlessly, flinging her bonnet on
a chair and seizing both the hands of her friend, "I am _so_ glad you're
at home. It's _such_ an age since I saw you! I came out by the early
train on purpose to tell you. I hardly know where to begin. Oh! I'm
_so_ glad!"
"You're not going to be married?" interrupted Miss Stivergill, whose
stern calmness deepened as her friend's excitement increased.
"Married? oh no! Ridiculous! but I think I'm going deranged."
"That is impossible," returned Miss Stivergill, "You have been deranged
ever since I knew you. If there is any change in your condition it can
only be an access of the malady. Besides, there is no particular cause
for joy in that. Have you no more interesting news to give me?"
"More interesting news!" echoed Miss Lillycrop, sitting down on her
bonnet, "of course I have. Now, just listen: Peter Pax--of the firm of
Blurt, Pax, Jiggs, and Company, Antiquarians, Bird-Stuffers, Mechanists,
Stamp-Collectors, and I don't know what else besides, to the Queen--is
going to be married to--whom do you think?"
"The Queen of Sheba," replied Miss Stivergill, folding her hands on her
lap with a placid smile.
"To--Tottie Bones!" said Miss Lillycrop, with an excited movement that
ground some of her bonnet to straw-powder.
Miss Stivergill did not raise her eyes or whistle at this. She merely
put her head a little on one side and smiled.
"I knew it, my dear--at least I felt sure it would come to this, though
it is sooner than I expected. It is not written anywhere, I believe,
that a boy may not marry a baby, nevertheless--"
"But she's not a baby," broke in Miss Lillycrop.
"Tottie is seventeen now, and Pax is twenty-four. But this is not the
half of what I have to tell you. Ever since Pax was taken into
partnership by Mr Enoch Blurt the business has prospered, as you are
aware, and our active little friend has added all kinds of branches to
it--such as the preparation and sale of entomological, and
ichthyological, and other -ological specimens, and the mechanical parts
of toy-engines; and that lad Jiggs has turned out such a splendid
expounder of all these things, that the shop has become a sort of
terrestrial heaven for boys. And dear old Fred Blurt has begun to
recover under the influence of success, so that he is now able to get
out frequently in a wheel-chair. But the strangest news of all is that
Mister Enoch Blurt got a new baby--a girl--and recovered his diamonds on
the self-same day!"
"Indeed!" said Miss Stivergill, beginning to be influenced by these
surprising revelations.
"Yes, and it's a curious evidence of the energetic and successful way in
which things are managed by our admirable Post-Office--"
"What! the union of a new baby with recovered diamonds?"
"No, no, Maria, how stupid you are! I refer, of course, to the
diamonds. Have you not seen reference made to them in the papers?"
"No. I've seen or heard nothing about it."
"Indeed! I'm surprised. Well, that hearty old letter-carrier, Solomon
Flint, sent that ridiculously stout creature whom he calls Dollops to me
with the last Report of the Postmaster-General, with the corner of page
eleven turned down, for he knew I was interested in anything that might
affect the Blurts. But here it is. I brought it to read to you.
Listen: `On the occasion of the wreck of the _Trident_ in Howlin' Cove,
on the west of Ireland, many years ago, strenuous efforts were made by
divers to recover the Cape of Good Hope mails, and, it will be
recollected, they were partially successful, but a portion which
contained diamonds could not be found. Diving operations were, however,
resumed quite recently, and with most satisfactory results. One of the
registered-letter-bags was found. It had been so completely imbedded in
sand, and covered by a heavy portion of the wreck, that the contents
were not altogether destroyed, notwithstanding the long period of their
immersion. On being opened in the Chief Office in London, the bag was
found to contain several large packets of diamonds, the addresses on
which had been partially obliterated, besides about seven pounds weight
of loose diamonds, which, having escaped from their covers, were mixed
with the pulp in the bottom of the bag. Every possible endeavour was
used by the officers of the Department to discover the rightful owners
of those packets which were nearly intact, and with such success that
they were all, with very little delay, duly delivered. The remaining
diamonds were valued by an experienced broker, and sold--the amount
realised being about 19,000 pounds. After very great trouble, and much
correspondence, the whole of the persons for whom the loose diamonds
were intended were, it is believed, ascertained, and this sum proved
sufficient to satisfy the several claimants to such an extent that not a
single complaint was heard.'"
"How strange! Why did you not tell me of this before, Lilly?"
"Because Mr Blurt resolved to keep it secret until he was quite sure
there was no mistake about the matter. Now that he has received the
value of his diamonds he has told all his friends. Moreover, he has
resolved to take a house in the suburbs, so that Fred may have fresh
country air, fresh milk, and fresh eggs. Peter Pax, too, talks of doing
the same thing, being bent, so he says, on devoting himself to the
entomological department of his business, in order that he may renew his
youth by hunting butterflies and beetles with Tottie."
"It never rains but it pours," said Miss Stivergill. "Surprises don't
come singly, it appears.--Have you read _that_?" She handed her friend
the newspaper which recounted the "gallant rescue."
Miss Lillycrop's countenance was a study which cannot be described. The
same may be said of her bonnet. When she came to the name of Aspel her
eyeballs became circular, and her eyebrows apparently attempted to reach
the roots of her hair.
"Maria dear!" she cried, with a little shriek, "this only reminds me
that I have still more news to tell. You remember Sir James Clubley?
Well, he is dead, and he has left the whole of his property to George
Aspel! It seems that Sir James went one night, secretly, as it were, to
some low locality where Aspel was preaching to poor people, and was so
affected by what he heard and saw that he came forward at the close,
signed the pledge along with a number of rough and dirty men, and then
and there became a total abstainer. This, I am told, occurred a
considerable time ago, and he has been a helper of the Temperance cause
ever since. Sir James had no near relatives. To the few distant ones
he possessed he left legacies, and in his will stated that he left the
rest of his fortune--which, although not large, is considerable--to
George Aspel, in the firm belief that by so doing he was leaving it to
further the cause of Christianity and Temperance."
"Come, now, don't stop there," observed Miss Stivergill calmly, "go on
to tell me that Phil Maylands has also had a fortune left him, or become
Postmaster-General and got married, or is going to be."
"Well, I can't exactly tell you that," returned Miss Lillycrop, "but I
can tell you that he has had a rise in the Post-Office Savings Bank,
with an increase of salary, and that May declines to marry Aspel unless
he agrees to live with her mother in the cottage at Nottinghill. Of
course Aspel has consented--all the more that it is conveniently
situated near to a station whence he can easily reach the field of his
missionary labours."
"Does he intend to continue these now that he is rich?" asked Miss
Stivergill.
"How can you ask such a question?" replied her friend, with a slightly
offended look. "Aspel is not a man to be easily moved from his purpose.
He says he will labour in the good cause, and devote health and means
to it as long as God permits."
"Good!" exclaimed Miss Stivergill with a satisfied nod.--"Now, Lilly,"
she added, with the decision of tone and manner peculiar to her, "I mean
to make some arrangements. The farmer next to me has a very pretty
villa, as you are aware, on the brow of the hill that overlooks the
whole country in the direction of London. It is at present to let. Mr
Blurt must take it. Beside it stands a cottage just large enough for a
new-married couple. I had already rented that cottage for a poor
friend. He, however, knows nothing about the matter. I will therefore
have him put somewhere else, and sub-let the cottage to Mr and Mrs
Pax. Lastly, you shall give up your insane notion of living alone, come
here, with all your belongings, and take up your abode with me for
ever."
"That's a long time, dear Maria," said Miss Lillycrop, with a little
smile.
"Not _too_ long, by any means, Lilly. Now, clear that rubbish off the
chair--it's well got rid of, I never liked the shape--go, put yourself
to rights, use one of my bonnets, and come out for a walk. To-morrow
you shall go into town and arrange with Pax and Blurt about the villa
and the cottage to the best of your ability. It's of no use attempting
to resist me, Lilly--tell them that--for in this affair I have made up
my mind that my will shall be law."
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Reader, what more need we add--except that Miss Stivergill's will did
eventually become law, because it happened to correspond with the wishes
of all concerned. It is due, also, to Solomon Flint to record that
after his long life of faithful service in the Post-Office he retired on
a small but comfortable pension, and joined the "Rosebud Colony," as Pax
styled it, taking his grandmother along with him. That remarkable piece
of antiquity, when last seen by a credible witness, was basking in the
sunshine under a rustic porch covered with honeysuckle, more wrinkled,
more dried-up, more tough, more amiable--especially to her cat--and more
stooped in the previous century than ever. Mr Bright, the energetic
sorter, who visits Solomon whenever his postal duties will allow,
expresses his belief that the old lady will live to see them all out,
and Mr Bright's opinion carries weight with it; besides which, Phil
Maylands and May Aspel with her husband are more than half inclined to
agree with him. Time will show.
Pegaway Hall still exists, but its glory has departed, for although Mrs
Square still keeps her one watchful eye upon its closed door, its walls
and rafters no longer resound with the eloquence, wit, and wisdom of Boy
Telegraph Messengers, although these important servants of the Queen
still continue--with their friends the letter-carriers--to tramp the
kingdom "post haste," in ceaseless, benignant activity, distributing
right and left with impartial justice the varied contents of Her
Majesty's Mails.