The post-office was not robbed that night, neither did the silver sugar-
tongs disappear, though Paul Blackthorn was no farther off than the hay-
loft at Farmer Shepherd's, where he had obtained leave to sleep.
But he did not go away with morning, though the hay-making was over.
Ellen saw him sitting perched on the empty waggon, munching his
breakfast, and to her great vexation, exchanging nods and grins when
Harold rode by for the morning's letters; and afterwards, there was a
talk between him and the farmer, which ended in his having a hoe put into
his hand, and being next seen in the turnip-field behind the farm.
To make up for the good day, this one was a very bad one with poor
Alfred. There was thunder in the air, and if the sultry heat weighed
heavily even on the healthy, no wonder it made him faint and exhausted,
disposed to self-pity, and terribly impatient and fretful. He was
provoked by Ellen's moving about the room, and more provoked by Harold's
whistling as he cleaned out the stable; and on the other hand, Harold was
petulant at being checked, and vowed there was no living in the house
with Alfred making such a work. Moreover, Alfred was restless, and
wanted something done for him every moment, interrupting Ellen's work,
and calling his mother up from her baking so often for trifles, that she
hardly knew how to get through it.
The doctor, Mr. Blunt, came, and he too felt the heat, having spent hours
in going his rounds in the closeness and dust. He was a rough man, and
his temper did not always hold out; he told Alfred sharply that he would
have no whining, and when the boy moaned and winced more than he would
have done on a good day, he punished him by not trying to be
tender-handed. When Mrs. King said, perhaps a little lengthily, how much
the boy had suffered that morning, the doctor, wearied out, no doubt,
with people's complaints, cut her short rather rudely, 'Ay, ay, my good
woman, I know all that.'
'And can nothing be done, Sir, when he feels so sinking and weak?'
'Sinking--he must feel sinking--nothing to do but to bear it,' said Mr.
Blunt gruffly, as he prepared to go. 'Don't keep me now;' and as Alfred
held up his hand, and made some complaint of the tightness of the
bandage, he answered impatiently, 'I've no time for that, my lad; keep
still, and be glad you've nothing worse to complain of.'
'Then you don't think he is getting any better, Sir?' said Mrs. King,
keeping close to him. 'I thought he was yesterday, and I wanted to speak
to you. My oldest daughter thought if we could get him away to the sea,
and--'
'That's all nonsense,' said the hurried doctor; 'don't you spend your
money in that way; I tell you nothing ever will do him any good.'
This was at the bottom of the stairs; and Mr. Blunt was off. He was the
cleverest doctor for a good way round, and it was not easy to Mrs. King
to secure his attendance. Her savings and Matilda's were likely to melt
away sadly in paying him, since she was just too well off to be doctored
at the parish expense, and he was really a good and upright man, though
wanting in softness of manner when he was hurried and teased. If Mrs.
King had known that he was in haste to get to a child with a bad burn,
she might have thought him less unkind in the short ungentle way in which
he dashed her hopes. Alas! there had never been much hope; but she
feared that Alfred might have heard, and have been shocked.
Ellen heard plainly enough, and her heart sank. She tried to look at her
brother's face, but he had put it out of sight, and spoke not a word; and
she only could sit wondering what was the real drift of the cruel words,
and whether the doctor meant to give no hope of recovery, or only to
dissuade her mother from vainly trying change of air. Her once bright
brother always thus! It was a sad thought, and yet she would have been
glad to know he would be no worse; and Ellen's heart was praying with all
her might that he might have his health and happiness restored to him,
and that her mother might be spared this bitter sorrow.
Alfred said nothing about the doctor's visit, but he could eat no dinner,
and did not think this so much the fault of his sickly taste, as of his
mother's potato-pie; he could not think why she should be so cross as to
make that thing, when she knew he hated it; and as to poor Harold, Alfred
would hardly let him speak or stir, without ordering Ellen down to tell
him not to make such a row.
Ellen was thankful when Harold was fairly hunted out of the house and
garden, even though he betook himself to the meadow, where Paul
Blackthorn was lying on the grass with his feet kicking in the air, and
shewing the skin through his torn shoes. The two lads squatted down on
the grass with their heads together. Who could tell what mischief that
runaway might be putting into Harold's head, and all because Alfred could
not bear with him enough for him to be happy at home?
They were so much engrossed, that it needed a rough call from the farmer
to send Paul back to his work when the dinner-hour was over; whereupon
Harold came slowly to his digging again.
Hotter and hotter did it grow, and the grey dull clouds began to gain a
yellow lurid light in the distance; there were low growlings of thunder
far away, and Ellen left her work unfinished, and forgot how hot she was
herself in toiling to fan Alfred, so as to keep him in some little degree
cooler, while the more he strove with the heat, the more oppressed and
miserable he grew.
Poor fellow! his wretchedness was not so much the heat, as the dim
perception of Mr. Blunt's hasty words; he had not heard them fully--he
dared not inquire what they had been, and he could not endure to face
them--yet the echo of 'nothing will ever do him good,' seemed to ring
like a knell in his ears every time he turned his weary head. Nothing do
him good! Nothing! Always these four walls, that little bed, this
wasting weary lassitude, this gnawing, throbbing pain, no pony, no
running, no shouting, no sense of vigour and health ever again, and
perhaps--that terrible perhaps, which made Alfred's very flesh quail, he
would not think of; and to drive it away, he found some fresh toil to
require of the sister who could not content him, toil as she would.
Slowly the afternoon hours rolled on, one after the other, and Alfred had
just been in a pet with the clock for striking four when he wanted it to
be five, when the sky grew darker, and one or two heavy drops of rain
came plashing down on the thirsty earth.
'The storm is coming at last, and now it will be cooler,' said Ellen,
looking out from the window. 'Dear me!' she added, there stopping short.
'What?' asked Alfred. 'What are you gaping at?'
'I declare!' cried Ellen, 'it's the new clergyman! It is Mr. Cope, and
he is coming up to the wicket!'
Alfred turned his head with a peevish sound; he was in the dreary mood to
resent whatever took off attention from him for a moment.
'A very pleasant-looking gentleman,' commented Ellen, 'and so young! He
does not look older than Charles Lawrence! I wonder whether he is coming
in, or if it is only to post a letter. Oh! there he is, talking to
Mother! There!'
A vivid flash of lightning came over the room at that moment and made
them all pause till it was followed up by the deep rumble of the thunder,
and then down rushed the rain, plashing and leaping up again, bringing
out the delicious scent from the earth, and seeming in one moment to
breathe refreshment and relief on the sick boy. His brow was already
clearing, as he listened to his mother's tones of welcome, as she was
evidently asking the stranger to sit down and wait for the storm to be
over, and the cheerful voice that replied to her. He did not scold Ellen
for, as usual, making things neat; and whereas, five minutes sooner, he
would have hated the notion of any one coming near him, he now only hoped
that his mother would bring Mr. Cope up; and presently he heard the well-
known creak of the stairs under a manly foot, and his mother's voice
saying something about 'a great sufferer, Sir.'
Then came in sight his mother's white cap, and behind her one of the most
cheerful lively faces that Alfred had ever beheld. The new Curate looked
very little more than a boy, with a nice round fresh rosy face, and curly
brown hair, and a quick joyous eye, and regular white teeth when he
smiled that merry good-humoured smile. Indeed, he was as young as a
deacon could be, and he looked younger. He knocked his tall head against
the top of the low doorway as he came into the room, and answered Mrs.
King's apologies with a pleasant laugh. Ellen knew her mother would like
him the better for his height, for no one since the handsome coachman
himself had had to bend his head to get into the room. Alfred liked the
looks of him the first moment, and by way of salutation put up one of his
weary, white, blue-veined hands to pull his damp forelock; but Mr. Cope,
nodding in answer to Ellen's curtsey, took hold of his hand at once, and
softening the cheery voice that was so pleasant to hear, said, 'Well, my
boy, I hope we shall be good friends. And what's your name?'
'Alfred King, Sir,' was the answer. It really was quite a pleasure not
to begin with the old weary subject of being pitied for his illness.
'King Alfred!' said Mr. Cope. 'I met King Harold yesterday. I've got
into royal company, it seems!'
Alfred smiled, it was said so drolly; but his mother, who felt a little
as if she were being laughed at, said, 'Why, Sir, my brother's name was
Alfred; and as to Harold, it was to please Miss Jane's little sister that
died--she was quite a little girl then, Sir, but so clever, and she would
have him named out of her History of England.'
'Did Miss Selby give you those flowers?' said Mr. Cope, admiring the rose
and geranium in the cup on the table.
'Yes, Sir;' and Mrs. King launched out in the praises of Miss Jane and of
my Lady, an inexhaustible subject which did not leave Alfred much time to
speak, till Mrs. King, seeing the groom from the Park coming with the
letter-bag through the rain, asked Mr. Cope to excuse her, and went down-
stairs.
'Well, Alfred, I think you are a lucky boy,' he said. 'I was comparing
you with a lad I once knew of, who got his spine injured, and is laid up
in a little narrow garret, in a back street, with no one to speak to all
day. I don't know what he would not give for a sister, and a window like
this, and a Miss Jane.'
Alfred smiled, and said, 'Please, Sir, how old is he?'
'About sixteen; a nice stout lad he was, as ever I knew, till his
accident; I often used to meet him going about with his master, and
thought it was a pleasure to meet such a good-humoured face.'
Alfred ventured to ask his trade, and was told he was being brought up to
wait on his father, who was a bricklayer, but that a ladder had fallen
with him as he was going up with a heavy load, and he had been taken at
once to the hospital. The house on which he was employed belonged to a
friend of Mr. Cope, and all in the power of this gentleman had been done
for him, but that was not much, for it was one of the families that no
one can serve; the father drank, and the mother was forced to be out
charing all day, and was so rough a woman, that she could hardly be much
comfort to poor Jem when she was at home.
Alfred was quite taken up with the history by this time, and kept looking
at Mr. Cope, as if he would eat it up with his eager eyes. Ellen asked
compassionately who did for the poor boy all day.
'His mother runs in at dinner-time, if she is not at work too far off,
and he has a jug of water and a bit of bread where he can reach them; the
door is open generally, so that he can call to some of the other lodgers,
but though the house is as full as a bee-hive, often nobody hears him. I
believe his great friend is a little school-girl, who comes and sits by
him, and reads to him if she can; but she is generally at school, or else
minding the children.'
'It must be very lonely,' said Alfred, perceiving for the first time that
there could be people worse off than himself; 'but has he no books to
read?'
'He was so irregularly sent to school, that he could not read to himself,
even if his corner were not so dark, and the window so dingy. My friend
gave him a Bible, but he could not get on with it; and his mother, I am
sorry to say, pawned it.'
Ellen and Alfred both cried out as if they had never heard of anything so
shocking.
'It was grievous,' said Mr. Cope; 'but the poor things did not know the
value, and when there was scarcely a morsel of bread in the house, there
was cause enough for not judging them hardly, but I don't think Jem would
allow it now. He got some of his little friend's easy Scripture lessons
and the like, in large print, which he croons over as he lies there
alone, till one feels sure that they are working into his heart. The
people in the house say that though he has been ill these three years, he
has never spoken an ill-tempered word; and if any one pities him, he
answers, "It is the Lord," and seems to wish for no change. He lies
there between dozing and dreaming and praying, and always seems content.'
'Does he think he shall get well?' said Alfred, who had been listening
earnestly.
'Oh no; there is no chance of that; it is an injury past cure. But I
suppose that while he bears the Will of God so patiently here, his
Heavenly Father makes it up to him in peacefulness of heart now, and the
hope of what is to come hereafter.'
Alfred made no answer, but his eyes shewed that he was thinking; and Mr.
Cope rose, and looked out of window, as a gleam of sunshine, while the
dark cloud lifted up from the north-west, made the trees and fields glow
with intense green against the deep grey of the sky, darker than ever
from the contrast. Ellen stood up, and Alfred exclaimed, 'Oh Sir, please
come again soon!'
'Very soon,' said Mr. Cope good-humouredly; 'but you've not got rid of me
yet, the rain is pretty hard still, and I see the beggarmen dancing all
down the garden-walk.'
Alfred and Ellen smiled to hear their mother's old word for the drops
splashing up again; and Mr. Cope went on:
'The garden looks very much refreshed by this beautiful shower. It is in
fine order. Is it the other monarch's charge?'
'Harold's, Sir,' said Ellen. 'Yes, he takes a great pride in it, and so
did Alfred when he was well.'
'Ah, I dare say; and it must be pleasant to you to see your brother
working in it now. I see him under that shed, and who is that lad with
him? They seem to have some good joke together.'
'Oh,' said Ellen, 'Harold likes company, you see, Sir, and will take up
with anybody. I wish you could be so good as to speak to him, Sir, for
lads of that age don't mind women folk, you see, Sir.'
'What? I hope his majesty does not like bad company?' said Mr. Cope, not
at all that he thought lightly of such an evil, but it was his way to
speak in that droll manner, especially as Ellen's voice was a little bit
peevish.
'Nobody knows no harm of the chap,' said Alfred, provoked at Ellen for
what he thought unkindness in setting the clergyman at once on his
brother; but Ellen was the more displeased, and exclaimed:
'Nor nobody knows no good. He's a young tramper that hired with Farmer
Shepherd yesterday, a regular runaway and reprobate, just out of prison,
most likely.'
'Well, I hope not so bad as that,' said Mr. Cope, 'he's not a bad-looking
boy; but I dare say you are anxious about your brother. It must be dull
for him, to have his companion laid up;--and by the looks of him, I dare
say his spirits are sometimes too much for you,' he added, turning to
Alfred.
'He does make a terrible racket sometimes,' said Alfred.
'Ay, and I dare say you will try to bear with it, and not drive him out
to seek dangerous company,' said Mr. Cope; at which Alfred blushed a
little, as he remembered the morning, and that he had never thought of
this danger.
Mr. Cope added, 'I think I shall go and talk to those two merry fellows;
I must not tire you, my lad, but I will soon come here again;' and he
took leave.
Heartily did Ellen exclaim, 'Well, that is a nice gentleman!' and as
heartily did Alfred reply. He felt as if a new light had come in on his
life, and Mr. Cope had not said one word about patience.
Ellen expected Mr. Cope to come back and warn her mother against Paul
Blackthorn, but she only saw him stand talking to the two lads till he
made them both grin again, and then as the rain was over, he walked away;
Paul went back to his turnips, and Harold came thundering up-stairs in
his great shoes. Alfred was cheerful, and did not mind him now; but
Ellen did, and scolded him for the quantity of dirt he was bringing up
with him from the moist garden, which was all one steam of sweet smells,
as the sun drew up the vapour after the rain.
'If you were coming in, you'd better have come out of the rain, not stood
idling there with that good-for-nothing lad. The new minister said he
would be after you if you were taking up with bad company.'
'Who told you I was with bad company?' said Harold.
'Why, I could see it! I hope he rebuked you both.'
'He asked us if we could play at cricket--and he asked the pony's name,'
said Harold, 'if that's what you call rebuking us!'
'And what did he say to that boy?'
'Oh! he told him he heard he was a stranger here, like himself, and asked
how long he'd been here, and where he came from.'
'And what did he say?'
'He said he was from Upperscote Union--come out because he was big enough
to keep himself, and come to look for work,' said Harold. 'He's a right
good chap, I'll tell you, and I'll bring him up to see Alfy one of these
days!'
'Bring up that dirty boy! I should like to see you!' cried Ellen, making
_such_ a face. 'I don't believe a word of his coming out of the Union.
I'm sure he's run away out of gaol, by the look of him!'
'Ellen--Harold--come down to your tea!' called Mrs. King.
So they went down; and presently, while Mrs. King was gone up to give
Alfred his tea, there came Mrs. Shepherd bustling across, with her black
silk apron thrown over her cap with the crimson gauze ribbons. She
wanted a bit of tape, and if there were none in the shop, Harold must
match it in Elbury when he took the letters.
Ellen was rather familiar with Mrs. Shepherd, because she made her gowns,
and they had some talk about the new clergyman. Mrs. Shepherd did not
care for clergymen much; if she had done so, she might not have been so
hard with her labourers. She was always afraid of their asking her to
subscribe to something or other, so she gave it as her opinion, that she
should never think it worth while to listen to such a very young man as
that, and she hoped he would not stay; and then she said, 'So your
brother was taking up with that come-by-chance lad, I saw. Did he make
anything out of him?'
'He fancies him more than I like, or Mother either,' said Ellen. 'He
says he's out of Upperscote Union; but he's a thorough impudent one, and
owns he's no father nor mother, nor nothing belonging to him. I think it
is a deal more likely that he is run away from some reformatory, or
prison.'
'That's just what I said to the farmer!' said Mrs. Shepherd. 'I said he
was out of some place of that sort. I'm sure it's a sin for the
gentlemen to be setting up such places, raising the county rates, and
pampering up a set of young rogues to let loose on us. Ay! ay! I'll
warrant he's a runaway thief! I told the farmer he'd take him to his
sorrow, but you see he is short of hands just now, and the men are so set
up and grabbing, I don't know how farmers is to live.'
So Mrs. Shepherd went away grumbling, instead of being thankful for the
beautiful crop of hay, safely housed, before the thunder shower which had
saved the turnips from the fly.
Ellen might have doubted whether she had done right in helping to give
the boy a bad name, but just then in came the ostler from the Tankard
with some letters.
'Here!' he said, 'here's one from one of the gentlemen lodging here
fishing, to Cayenne. You'll please to see how much there is to pay.'
Ellen looked at her Postal Guide, but she was quite at a fault, and she
called up-stairs to Alfred to ask if he knew where she should look for
Cayenne. He was rather fond of maps, and knew a good deal of geography
for a boy of his age, but he knew nothing about this place, and she was
just thinking of sending back the letter, to ask the gentleman where it
was, when a voice said:
'Try Guiana, or else South America.'
She looked up, and there were Paul's dirty face and dirtier elbows,
leaning over the half-door of the shop.
'Why, how do you know?' she said, starting back.
'I learnt at school, Cayenne, capital of French Guiana.' Sure enough
Cayenne had Guiana to it in her list, and the price was found out.
But when this learned geographer advanced into the shop, and asked for a
loaf, what a hand and what a sleeve did he stretch out! Ellen scarcely
liked to touch his money, and felt all her disgust revive. But, for all
that, and for all her fear of Harold's running into mischief, what
business had she to set it about that the stranger was an escaped
convict?
Meanwhile, Alfred had plenty of food for dreaming over his fellow
sufferer. It really seemed to quiet him to think of another in the same
case, and how many questions he longed to have asked Mr. Cope! He wanted
to know whether it came easier to Jem to be patient than to himself;
whether he suffered as much wearing pain; whether he grieved over the
last hope of using his limbs; and above all, the question he knew he
never could bear to ask, whether Jem had the dread of death to scare his
thoughts, though never confessed to himself.
He longed for Mr. Cope's next visit, and felt strongly drawn towards that
thought of Jem, yet ashamed to think of himself as so much less patient
and submissive; so little able to take comfort in what seemed to soothe
Jem, that it was the Lord's doing. Could Jem think he had been a wicked
boy, and take it as punishment?