Trouble in the Ellis Family.
Since the receipt of Mr. Garie's letter, Mrs. Ellis and Caddy had been
busily engaged in putting the house in a state of preparation for their
reception. Caddy, whilst superintending its decoration, felt herself in
Elysium. For the first time in her life she had the supreme satisfaction of
having two unfortunate house-cleaners entirely at her disposal;
consequently, she drove them about and worried them to an extent
unparalleled in any of their former experience. She sought for and
discovered on the windows (which they had fondly regarded as miracles of
cleanliness) sundry streaks and smears, and detected infinite small spots
of paint and whitewash on the newly-scrubbed floors. She followed them
upstairs and downstairs, and tormented them to that extent, that Charlie
gave it as his private opinion that he should not be in the least
surprised, on going up there, to find that the two old women had made away
with Caddy, and hidden her remains in the coal-bin. Whilst she was thus
engaged, to Charlie was assigned the duty of transporting to Winter-street
her diurnal portion of food, without a hearty share of which she found it
impossible to maintain herself in a state of efficiency; her labours in
chasing the women about the house being of a rather exhausting nature.
When he made the visits in question, Charlie was generally reconnoitred by
his sister from a window over the door, and was compelled to put his shoes
through a system of purification, devised by her for his especial benefit.
It consisted of three courses of scraper, and two of mat; this being
considered by her as strictly necessary to bring his shoes to such a state
of cleanliness as would entitle him to admission into the premises of which
she was the temporary mistress.
Charlie, on two or three occasions finding a window open, made stealthy
descents upon the premises without first having duly observed these
quarantine regulations; whereupon he was attacked by Caddy, who, with the
assistance of the minions under her command, so shook and pummelled him as
to cause his precipitate retreat through the same opening by which he had
entered, and that, too, in so short a space of time as to make the whole
manoeuvre appear to him in the light of a well-executed but involuntary
feat of ground and lofty tumbling. One afternoon he started with his
sister's dinner, consisting of a dish of which she was particularly fond,
and its arrival was therefore looked for with unusual anxiety. Charlie,
having gorged himself to an almost alarming extent, did not make the haste
that the case evidently demanded; and as he several times stopped to act as
umpire in disputed games of marbles (in the rules of which he was regarded
as an authority), he necessarily consumed a great deal of time on the way.
Caddy's patience was severely tried by the long delay, and her temper, at
no time the most amiable, gathered bitterness from the unprecedented length
of her fast. Therefore, when he at length appeared, walking leisurely up
Winter-street, swinging the kettle about in the most reckless manner, and
setting it down on the pavement to play leap-frog over the fire-plugs, her
wrath reached a point that boded no good to the young trifler.
Now, whilst Charlie had been giving his attention to the difficulties
growing out of the games of marbles, he did not observe that one of the
disputants was possessed of a tin kettle, in appearance very similar to his
own, by the side of which, in the excitement of the moment, he deposited
his own whilst giving a practical illustration of his view of the point
under consideration. Having accomplished this to his entire satisfaction,
he resumed what he supposed was his kettle, and went his way rejoicing.
Now, if Caddy Ellis had a fondness for one dish more than any other, it was
for haricot, with plenty of carrots; and knowing she was to have this for
her dinner, she, to use her own pointed expression, "had laid herself out
to have a good meal." She had even abstained from her customary lunch that
she might have an appetite worthy of the occasion; and accordingly, long
ere the dinner hour approached, she was hungry as a wolf. Notwithstanding
this fact, when Charlie made his appearance at the door, she insisted on
his going through all the accustomed forms with the mat and scraper before
entering the house; an act of self-sacrifice on her part entirely uncalled
for, as the day was remarkably fine, and Charlie's boots unusually clean.
He received two or three by no means gentle shoves and pokes as he entered,
which he bore with unusual indifference, making not the slightest effort at
retaliation, as was his usual practice. The fact is, Charlie was, as lions
are supposed to be, quite disinclined for a fight after a hearty meal, so
he followed Caddy upstairs to the second story. Here she had got up an
extempore dining-table, by placing a pasting board across two chairs.
Seating herself upon a stool, she jerked off the lid of the kettle, and, to
her horror and dismay, found not the favourite haricot, but a piece of
cheese-rind, a crust of dry bread, and a cold potatoe. Charlie, who was
amusing himself by examining the flowers in the new carpet, did not observe
the look of surprise and disgust that came over the countenance of his
sister, as she took out, piece by piece, the remains of some schoolboy's
repast.
"Look here," she at last burst forth, "do you call this _my_ dinner?"
"Yes," said Charlie, in a deliberate tone, "and a very good one too, I
should say; if you can't eat that dinner, you ought to starve; it's one of
mother's best haricots." "You don't call this cold potatoe and
cheese-rind haricot, do you?" asked Caddy, angrily.
At this Charlie looked up, and saw before her the refuse scraps, which she
had indignantly emptied upon the table. He could scarcely believe his eyes;
he got up and looked in the kettle, but found no haricot. "Well," said he,
with surprise, "if that don't beat me! I saw mother fill it with haricot
myself; I'm clean beat about it."
"Tell me what you've done with it, then," almost screamed the angry girl.
"I really don't know what has become of it," he answered, with a bewildered
air. "I saw--I saw--I--I--"
"You saw--you saw," replied the indignant Caddy, imitating his tone; and
taking up the kettle, she began to examine it more closely. "Why, this
isn't even our kettle; look at this lid. I'm sure it's not ours. You've
been stopping somewhere to play, and exchanged it with some other boy,
that's just what you've done."
Just then it occurred to Charlie that at the place where he had adjusted
the dispute about the marbles, he had observed in the hands of one of the
boys a kettle similar to his own; and it flashed across his mind that he
had then and there made the unfortunate exchange. He broke his suspicion to
Caddy in the gentlest manner, at the same time edging his way to the door
to escape the storm that he saw was brewing. The loss of her dinner--and of
such a dinner--so enraged the hungry girl, as to cause her to seize a brush
lying near and begin to belabour him without mercy. In his endeavour to
escape from her his foot was caught in the carpet, and he was violently
precipitated down the long flight of stairs. His screams brought the whole
party to his assistance; even Kinch, who was sitting on the step outside,
threw off his usual dread of Caddy, and rushed into the house. "Oh, take me
up," piteously cried Charlie; "oh, take me up, I'm almost killed." In
raising him, one of the old women took hold of his arm, which caused him to
scream again. "Don't touch my arm, please don't touch my arm; I'm sure it's
broke."
"No, no, it's not broke, only sprained, or a little twisted," said she;
and, seizing it as she spoke, she gave it a pull and a wrench, for the
purpose of making it all right again; at this Charlie's face turned deathly
pale, and he fainted outright.
"Run for a doctor," cried the now thoroughly-alarmed Caddy; "run for the
doctor! my brother's dead!" and bursting into tears, she exclaimed, "Oh,
I've killed my brother, I've killed my brother!"
"Don't make so much fuss, child," soothingly replied one of the old women:
"he's worth half a dozen dead folk yet. Lor bless you, child, he's only
fainted."
Water was procured and thrown in his face, and before Kinch returned with
the doctor, he was quite restored to consciousness.
"Don't cry, my little man," said the physician, as he took out his knife
and ripped up the sleeve of Charlie's coat. "Don't cry; let me examine your
arm." Stripping up the shirt-sleeve, he felt it carefully over, and shaking
his head (physicians always shake their heads) pronounced the arm broken,
and that, too, in an extremely bad place. At this information Charlie began
again to cry, and Caddy broke forth into such yells of despair as almost to
drive them distracted.
The physician kindly procured a carriage, and saw Charlie comfortably
placed therein; and held in the arms of Kinch, with the lamenting and
disheartened Caddy on the opposite seat, he was slowly driven home. The
house was quite thrown into confusion by their arrival under such
circumstances; Mrs. Ellis, for a wonder, did not faint, but proceeded at
once to do what was necessary. Mr. Ellis was sent for, and he immediately
despatched Kinch for Dr. Burdett, their family physician, who came without
a moment's delay. He examined Charlie's arm, and at first thought it would
be necessary to amputate it. At the mere mention of the word amputate,
Caddy set up such a series of lamentable howls as to cause her immediate
ejectment from the apartment. Dr. Burdett called in Dr. Diggs for a
consultation, and between them it was decided that an attempt should be
made to save the injured member. "Now, Charlie," said Dr. Burdett, "I'm
afraid we must hurt you, my boy--but if you have any desire to keep this
arm you must try to bear it."
"I'll bear anything to save my arm, doctor; I can't spare that," said he,
manfully. "I'll want it by-and-by to help take care of mother and the
girls."
"You're a brave little fellow," said Dr. Diggs, patting him on the head,
"so then we'll go at it at once."
"Stop," cried Charlie, "let mother put her arm round my neck so, and Es,
you hold the good hand. Now then, I'm all right--fire away!" and clenching
his lips hard, he waited for the doctor to commence the operation of
setting his arm. Charlie's mother tried to look as stoical as possible, but
the corners of her mouth would twitch, and there was a nervous trembling of
her under-lip; but she commanded herself, and only when Charlie gave a
slight groan of pain, stooped and kissed his forehead; and when she raised
her head again, there was a tear resting on the face of her son that was
not his own. Esther was the picture of despair, and she wept bitterly for
the misfortune which had befallen her pet brother; and when the operation
was over, refused to answer poor Caddy's questions respecting Charlie's
injuries, and scolded her with a warmth and volubility that was quite
surprising to them all.
"You must not be too hard on Caddy," remarked Mr. Ellis. "She feels bad
enough, I'll warrant you. It is a lesson that will not, I trust, be thrown
away upon her; it will teach her to command her temper in future."
Caddy was in truth quite crushed by the misfortune she had occasioned, and
fell into such a state of depression and apathy as to be scarcely heard
about the house; indeed, so subdued was she, that Kinch went in and out
without wiping his feet, and tracked the mud all over the stair-carpet, and
yet she uttered no word of remonstrance.
Poor little Charlie suffered much, and was in a high fever. The knocker was
tied up, the windows darkened, and all walked about the house with sad and
anxious countenances. Day after day the fever increased, until he grew
delirious, and raved in the most distressing manner. The unfortunate
haricot was still on his mind, and he was persecuted by men with
strange-shaped heads and carrot eyes. Sometimes he imagined himself pursued
by Caddy, and would cry in the most piteous manner to have her prevented
from beating him. Then his mind strayed off to the marble-ground, where he
would play imaginary games, and laugh over his success in such a wild and
frightful manner as to draw tears from the eyes of all around him. He was
greatly changed; the bright colour had fled from his cheek; his head had
been shaved, and he was thin and wan, and at times they were obliged to
watch him, and restrain him from tossing about, to the great peril of his
broken arm.
At last his situation became so critical that Dr. Burdett began to
entertain but slight hopes of his recovery; and one morning, in the
presence of Caddy, hinted as much to Mr. Ellis.
"Oh, doctor, doctor," exclaimed the distracted girl, "don't say that! oh,
try and save him! How could I live with the thought that I had killed my
brother! oh, I can't live a day if he dies! Will God ever forgive me? Oh,
what a wretch I have been! Oh, do think of something that will help him! He
_mustn't_ die, you _must_ save him!" and crying passionately, she threw
herself on the floor in an agony of grief. They did their best to pacify
her, but all their efforts were in vain, until Mr. Ellis suggested, that
since she could not control her feelings, she must be sent to stay with her
aunt, as her lamentations and outcries agitated her suffering brother and
made his condition worse. The idea of being excluded from the family circle
at such a moment had more effect on Caddy than all previous remonstrances.
She implored to have the sentence suspended for a time at least, that she
might try to exert more self-command; and Mr. Ellis, who really pitied her,
well knowing that her heart was not in fault, however reprehensible she was
in point of temper, consented; and Caddy's behaviour from that moment
proved the sincerity of her promises; and though she could not quite
restrain occasional outbursts of senseless lamentation, still, when she
felt such fits of despair coming on, she wisely retired to some remote
corner of the house, and did not re-appear till she had regained her
composure.
The crisis was at length over, and Charlie was pronounced out of danger. No
one was more elated by this announcement than our friend Kinch, who had, in
fact, grown quite ashy in his complexion from confinement and grief, and
was now thrown by this intelligence into the highest possible spirits.
Charlie, although faint and weak, was able to recognize his friends, and
derived great satisfaction from the various devices of Kinch to entertain
him. That young gentleman quite distinguished himself by the variety and
extent of his resources. He devised butting matches between himself and a
large gourd, which he suspended from the ceiling, and almost blinded
himself by his attempts to butt it sufficiently hard to cause it to rebound
to the utmost length of the string, and might have made an idiot of himself
for ever by his exertions, but for the timely interference of Mr. Ellis,
who put a final stop to this diversion. Then he dressed himself in a short
gown and nightcap, and made the pillow into a baby, and played the nurse
with it to such perfection, that Charlie felt obliged to applaud by
knocking with the knuckles of his best hand upon the head-board of his
bedstead. On the whole, he was so overjoyed as to be led to commit all
manner of eccentricities, and conducted himself generally in such a
ridiculous manner, that Charlie laughed himself into a state of
prostration, and Kinch was, in consequence, banished from the sick-room, to
be re-admitted only on giving his promise to abstain from being as _funny
as he could_ any more. After the lapse of a short time Charlie was
permitted to sit up, and held regular _levees_ of his schoolmates and
little friends. He declared it was quite a luxury to have a broken arm, as
it was a source of so much amusement. The old ladies brought him jellies
and blanc-mange, and he was petted and caressed to such an unparalleled
extent, as to cause his delighted mother to aver that she lived in great
fear of his being spoiled beyond remedy. At length he was permitted to come
downstairs and sit by the window for a few hours each day. Whilst thus
amusing himself one morning, a handsome carriage stopped before their
house, and from it descended a fat and benevolent-looking old lady, who
knocked at the door and rattled the latch as if she had been in the daily
habit of visiting there, and felt quite sure of a hearty welcome. She was
let in by Esther, and, on sitting down, asked if Mrs. Ellis was at home.
Whilst Esther was gone to summon her mother, the lady looked round the
room, and espying Charlie, said, "Oh, there you are--I'm glad to see you; I
hope you are improving."
"Yes, ma'am," politely replied Charlie, wondering all the time who their
visitor could be.
"You don't seem to remember me--you ought to do so; children seldom forget
any one who makes them a pleasant promise."
As she spoke, a glimmer of recollection shot across Charlie's mind, and he
exclaimed, "You are the lady who came to visit the school."
"Yes; and I promised you a book for your aptness, and," continued she,
taking from her reticule a splendidly-bound copy of "Robinson Crusoe,"
"here it is."
Mrs. Ellis, as soon as she was informed that a stranger lady was below,
left Caddy to superintend alone the whitewashing of Charlie's sick-room,
and having hastily donned another gown and a more tasty cap, descended to
see who the visitor could be.
"You must excuse my not rising," said Mrs. Bird, for that was the lady's
name; "it is rather a difficulty for me to get up and down often--so,"
continued she, with a smile, "you must excuse my seeming rudeness."
Mrs. Ellis answered, that any apology was entirely unnecessary, and begged
she would keep her seat. "I've come," said Mrs. Bird, "to pay your little
man a visit. I was so much pleased with the manner in which he recited his
exercises on the day of examination, that I promised him a book, and on
going to the school to present it, I heard of his unfortunate accident. He
looks very much changed--he has had a very severe time, I presume?"
"Yes, a very severe one. We had almost given him over, but it pleased God
to restore him," replied Mrs. Ellis, in a thankful tone. "He is very weak
yet," she continued, "and it will be a long time before he is entirely
recovered."
"Who is your physician?" asked Mrs. Bird.
"Doctor Burdett," was the reply; "he has been our physician for years, and
is a very kind friend of our family."
"And of mine, too," rejoined Mrs. Bird; "he visits my house every summer.
What does he think of the arm?" she asked.
"He thinks in time it will be as strong as ever, and recommends sending
Charlie into the country for the summer; but," said Mrs. Ellis, "we are
quite at a loss where to send him."
"Oh! let me take him," said Mrs. Bird--"I should be delighted to have him.
I've got a beautiful place--he can have a horse to ride, and there are wide
fields to scamper over! Only let me have him, and I'll guarantee to restore
him to health in a short time."
"You're very kind," replied Mrs. Ellis--"I'm afraid he would only be a
burthen to you--be a great deal of trouble, and be able to do but little
work."
"Work! Why, dear woman," replied Mrs. Bird, with some astonishment, "I
don't want him to work--I've plenty of servants; I only want him to enjoy
himself, and gather as much strength as possible. Come, make up your mind
to let him go with me, and I'll send him home as stout as I am."
At the bare idea of Charlie's being brought to such a state of obesity,
Kinch, who, during the interview, had been in the back part of the room,
making all manner of faces, was obliged to leave the apartment, to prevent
a serious explosion of laughter, and after their visitor had departed he
was found rolling about the floor in a tempest of mirth.
After considerable conversation relative to the project, Mrs. Bird took her
leave, promising to call soon again, and advising Mrs. Ellis to accept her
offer. Mrs. Ellis consulted Dr. Burdett, who pronounced it a most fortunate
circumstance, and said the boy could not be in better hands; and as Charlie
appeared nothing loth, it was decided he should go to Warmouth, to the
great grief of Kinch, who thought it a most unheard-of proceeding, and he
regarded Mrs. Bird thenceforth as his personal enemy, and a wilful
disturber of his peace.