Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.
BROUGHT OUT OF PERIL
BY
EMMA LESLIE
AUTHOR OF
"Faithful, but not Famous," "The Martyr's Victory,"
"Maggie's Message," etc.
THIRD IMPRESSION
LONDON
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
4 BOUVERIE STREET AND 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, E.C.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. FANNY'S FIRST HOLIDAY
II. ELIZA
III. THAT WATCH
IV. JESSIE COLLINS
V. A RENOVATED HOME
VI. MASTER EUSTACE
VII. MAN FRIDAY
VIII. LITTLE ROBINSON CRUSOE
IX. FANNY'S FATHER
X. A TERRIBLE BLOW
XI. A FRIEND IN NEED
XII. AN UNWELCOME VISIT
XIII. THE TWO FRIENDS
XIV. ONE SUNDAY EVENING
XV. FANNY'S LUCK
XVI. A NEW SITUATION
XVII. NEWS FOR MRS. BROWN
XVIII. A MOTHER'S QUEST
XIX. THAT LETTER
XX. CONCLUSION
BROUGHT OUT OF PERIL
CHAPTER I
FANNY'S FIRST HOLIDAY
"I DON'T see why you should be so disagreeable about it, mother. It was
my own ten shillings that I paid for the watch."
"Watch, indeed!" exclaimed her mother, as though the very word was an
offence to her. "What do you know about buying a watch?—a bit of a
girl in her first place. You need all the money you can earn to keep
you in decent clothes, to say nothing of what you owe me for all the
things I have had to buy to make you tidy, and give you a fair start in
service." And Mrs. Brown almost burst into tears as her eyes fell again
on the glittering silver watch her daughter was so proud to display.
Fanny was a little over sixteen, a tall, well-grown girl for her age,
stout and rosy, and looking the picture of health, as she stood there
telling her mother her trial month was over, that her mistress was very
well satisfied with the way she had done her work, and that she was to
have six pounds a year at first, a whole day's holiday once a month,
and every Sunday evening to go to church.
"I am very glad to have that bit of news, Fanny," said her mother, in a
more cheerful tone. "But still, I wish you had left the watch alone. I
don't believe in such finery for a girl like you."
"Finery!" repeated Fanny. "Father has got a watch."
"Yes, but your father's is for use, not to dangle round his neck like
that glittering thing. You've got a clock in the kitchen at your place,
haven't you?" said her mother.
"To be sure we have," said Fanny, with a toss of her head. "But I'm not
always in the kitchen," she added.
"Well, my girl, I dare say we shall get over it but I do feel
disappointed, for I wanted you to let me have all you could spare of
your wages this month for Eliza."
"For Eliza!" repeated Fanny, changing colour a little. "Is she ill
again, mother?" she asked.
"No; she is better—very well for her. But Mrs. Parsons from the
Vicarage came to see me yesterday, and asked if Eliza could go with the
nurse and children to the seaside for a month. Our Vicar thought she
might help to look after the children on the sands, and that the change
would do her good too."
"Oh, mother, how kind of the Vicar and Mrs. Parsons! And what a chance
for Eliza! Of course you'll let her go!"
"How can I now?" And Mrs. Brown put her apron to her eyes, for she
could not keep her tears back any longer. "I spent every penny I could
scrape together to send you out tidy, never thinking I should want to
do the same thing for Eliza yet awhile, or that you would go and throw
away your first wages on rubbish like that watch."
Fanny looked confused and defiant. Certainly, if she had known the
money was likely to be wanted for such a purpose as helping her
delicate sister to go to the seaside, she would not have bought the
watch; but she did not like it that her mother seemed to think she had
a right to claim her first wages, and she muttered something about this
just as Eliza came in from school.
"Has mother told you, Fanny?" she exclaimed, after hugging and kissing
her sister.
Fanny had pictured this meeting with Eliza again and again during the
month she had been away, and she had thought it would be part of the
day's pleasure and triumph to show her sister the grand watch she had
bought. But now—well, how could she?
"Did you tell your teacher?" asked Mrs. Brown. The younger girl looked
up quickly, for she noticed the change in her mother's tone.
"What is it? What is the matter, mother? Have they been to say that the
Nurse thinks I am too little to look after the children?" she asked,
with changing colour.
Her mother shook her head, and the tears filled her eyes, as she said—
"No, no, dear; it isn't that. But I don't know how to get you the tidy
things the Vicar said you would want."
Eliza turned and looked at her sister. "Haven't you got your wages?"
she whispered, for her mother had told her there would be no difficulty
about the new cotton frocks she would have to buy for her, because
Fanny would be able to let her have the money, and they could repay her
later. But now, as she looked at her sister's angry, downcast face, she
did not know what to think. "The lady didn't pay you, did she, Fan?"
she said, with a tremor in her voice, fixing her eyes on her sister's
face as she spoke.
"Don't look at me like that! I can't help it! I'm sorry. But I haven't
got any money to buy you new frocks, and I don't see—"
She could not say any more, for she heard her father coming in at that
moment, and she dashed out of the back door and went through a gap in
the hedge, and walked to some fields close by, where she sat down and
cried to herself for several minutes. She managed to persuade herself
that her mother was very unkind and unreasonable to think she could
have all her money to spend upon Eliza, and that she had no right to
say what she did about the watch. "I wonder what she would think if she
knew I had to pay two pounds for it. She thinks ten shillings a lot of
money, and so I shall keep it to myself that I have to pay any more."
And Fanny thought she had better go home again and make the best she
could of things, or some of the children would be sent to look for her.
Just after she had started to run back, she heard her name called by a
familiar voice, and the next minute she was joined by a girl about her
own age, but dressed in a dirty-fine frock, and looking altogether so
slatternly and untidy that even Fanny was struck with the contrast in
their appearance.
"Are you out for your holiday, Fan?" she said, as she slipped her arm
in Fanny's.
Fanny knew that neither mother nor father would be pleased to see her
with Jessie Collins, and she tried to get away from her as they drew
near their own house. But Jessie held her arm tightly.
"I haven't told you half the news yet, Fan!" she exclaimed. "I tell you
it is as true as I am here that there'll be work soon for all us girls,
and we need not go to service, and I for one am very glad of it."
"Oh, if you get a nice comfortable place, I don't see why—"
Jessie laughed mockingly. "I do though," she said. "And I told mother
this morning she needn't bother herself to look for another place for
me, for I shall go to work in the blacking factory as soon as ever it
opens."
Fanny made a wry face. "I hate the smell of blacking," she said.
"So do I," answered Jessie; "but it isn't so bad when it gives you
liberty to go where you like in the evening, and dress how you like,
too."
Fanny glanced at her companion and smiled. But just then a voice was
heard calling her in a loud tone, and she crept through the hedge
again, and came face to face with her brother.
"You've been out with that Jessie Collins, instead of waiting indoors
to see me and father," he said accusingly.
"I didn't go out on purpose to see Jessie," replied his sister, in an
aggrieved tone. And she ran in to see her father.
"Well, my girl, what made you run off just as I was coming in?" he said.
"Oh, she caught sight of that Jess Collins," announced Jack, who had
followed her into the kitchen.
Her father looked from one to the other as Fanny's face flushed angrily.
"Look here, Fanny," he said, "it don't matter just for this once, of
course, but it would not be wise to make a friend of Jessie Collins.
She is about in the streets too much of a night to please me, and I
told her father the other day that no girl of mine should ever be about
as Jessie is, and so, to please me, I hope you won't go to meet her
again."
"I didn't go to meet her, father," said Fanny, darting an angry look at
her brother.
"There, no teasing, Jack," said his father. "Fanny is a visitor to-day,
and I hope her first holiday will be a happy one," he said, patting her
head. "See what a nice pudding mother has made for dinner, just because
her girl was coming home for her first holiday."
If Brown had wondered why Fanny had ran off as she did, he thought it
best to say nothing about it just now, and he made room for her to sit
beside him, and pushed his own plate aside to make room for her dinner,
which had been kept hot in front of the fire by Eliza.
"Never mind about the wages," she whispered, as she placed it on the
table before her sister.
"You must make haste, or we shall eat all the pudding," said her
father, jokingly.
Fanny had put the watch out of sight, and she was glad of it, for now
there would be no more disagreeable questions asked unless her mother
should say something about it, which at present seemed very unlikely.
And so the dinner passed off pleasantly, and no reference was made to
either watch or wages during the rest of the meal.
"I shall see you again at tea-time, my girl; and if we aren't wanted to
work late to-night, I will see you home, like I used to see mother when
she was a girl in service," and Brown nodded to his wife as he took his
cap from its nail at the back of the door and went off with Jack to
work.
When the dinner-things were cleared away, Fanny agreed to go with her
two younger sisters to the National School to see her former governess
and tell her how she was getting on, for she had recommended Fanny
for this place, and, of course, would be glad to hear she was giving
satisfaction. The two younger girls were very proud to walk with their
elder sister to school once more. Selina was eight and Minnie twelve,
so that Fanny felt quite grown up beside these two, and took a hand of
each as they went up the street together, and quite forgot the trouble
of the morning for a little while. But before the school was reached,
Selina said—
"Isn't it a pity poor 'Liza can't have new clothes to go to the
seaside?"
"What do you know about it, Miss Inquisitive?" said Fanny, sharply.
"I heard mother and 'Liza talking about it when we came home from
school. Don't you wish mother had money enough to buy some new frocks?"
"Why, of course I do, little stupid!" said Fanny, crossly, as though
she thought Selina had spoken like this on purpose to vex and annoy
her; and then that her mother must have told the children all about the
watch.
"I dare say mother will manage somehow," said Minnie, after a pause.
But Selina shook her head. "Mother can't make new frocks out of
nothing," she said.
But just then the school was reached, and other girls gathered round
the sisters, and Fanny was soon telling her former schoolfellows what
a nice comfortable place she had got, and how kind and considerate her
mistress was to everybody. And then the school-bell suddenly stopped,
and there was a general scamper among the girls to reach their classes
in time to answer when their names were called, and Fanny was left
standing near the door of the schoolroom until the governess had
finished calling the names and was at liberty to speak to her.
Then she called Fanny to her table and shook hands with her, and said
how glad she was to hear such a good account of her from her mistress.
Fanny opened her eyes in some surprise. "I did not know you knew Mrs.
Lloyd," she said.
"She is a friend of a friend of mine," explained the governess, "and I
met her at this friend's house a few days ago. When she spoke of you,
she said what a nice, neat, tidy girl you were. You have your mother to
thank for a good deal, Fanny," added the governess.
"Yes, ma'am," answered Fanny, and then she asked after several
schoolfellows and teachers whom she did not see in their places.
She stayed until playtime, and then went out and had a chat with some
other old friends until the children returned to school, and then she
went home.
"Fanny, dear, I am so sorry, and so is father, I know; but Jack has
just been to say they have got to work late to-night, and so father
won't be able to walk home with you as he hoped he should." And Mrs.
Brown kissed Fanny by way of consolation for this disappointment, and
also in token that all the disagreeables of the morning were over and
done with.
"Oh, mother, how tiresome everything is!" exclaimed Fanny. "I made sure
father would walk home with me."
"Never mind, Fan, mother will go instead," said Eliza, who always
thought a walk with her mother the best part of any holiday.
But Fanny sniffed at the proposal. She was afraid that if her mother
went with her she might ask more questions about the watch; and if she
thought she ought not to have given ten shillings for it, what would
she say if she found out that the price she had agreed to pay was two
pounds in monthly instalments of three shillings a month. The woman who
had come to the kitchen entrance at her mistress's house had assured
her that it was the cheapest watch that had ever been sold for that
money; but she was afraid that her mother might not be of the same
opinion, and so, for peace' sake, she resolved to say nothing about
this to anybody, nor mention the watch again to any one at home.
She found there was a pile of her own old underclothes on the table
when she went into the kitchen, and Eliza was contentedly patching and
darning these under her mother's direction.
"There is a good bit of wear in some of the things," said Mrs. Brown,
in answer to Fanny's look of surprise. "You grew so fast the last year,
Fanny, that you got too big for them, and they were torn rather than
worn out, and so I think they will do for Eliza for a little while."
"But you can't make frocks out of these things," said Fanny.
"No; but if we get these ready, mother says the frocks may come in good
time; and so, as I am not going to school, I can mend these ready,"
said Eliza, with quite a happy look on her pale, delicate face.
Like her sister Minnie, she had the fullest confidence that her mother
would manage "somehow," and that the neatly mended, outgrown clothes
would go with her to the seaside after all. So she sat and sewed and
darned, while Fanny told all about her visit to the school. She agreed
to carry her father's tea to the factory that her sister might keep on
with her work. Then they had their own tea, which Mrs. Brown contrived
should be a happy, merry meal; for she did not want Fanny to feel that
they were not all very glad to have her at home for her holiday, and
she was very sorry that anything had occurred to spoil the day they had
all looked forward to with so much anticipation.
Of course it was Fanny's own folly that had caused all the
unpleasantness. Mrs. Brown did not hide this fact from herself, nor
could she feel otherwise than disappointed that her Fanny, whom she
was so proud of, had been both foolish and selfish in spending all her
first wages before she reached home, to know whether any of the money
was required for the others.
But there should be no more said about it, Mrs. Brown was determined;
and so, when they set out on their walk this evening, she said, in a
cheery tone—
"Now, you musn't worry yourself about Eliza, what is done can't be
helped, and I think I shall manage to get her what she wants if father
has to work later two or three times. I have got enough, I think, to
make her two white aprons like yours, for Aunt Mary sent me a nice long
length for you, when she heard that you had got a place. She sent me
ten shillings, too, towards getting your new things, so that I cannot
ask her to help me with Eliza's as well."
"And, then, I was always her favourite," put in Fanny, "so, of course,
she would like to help me."
"Oh yes, of course," said her mother, with a smile.
"If aunt sent you ten shillings and all that stuff for aprons I can't
owe you much, can I, mother?" said Fanny; for she was thinking just
then of the large sum of money she still owed for that watch. And if
she was in debt to her mother too, whenever would she be able to buy
herself a new best dress?
Her mother was a little startled at the question.
"In debt?" she repeated. "I never thought of it in that way. We have
always been ready to help each other, and I thought when you were able
to earn money for yourself, you would like to help the rest of us."
"Oh yes," assented Fanny, "I should, of course, when I could afford it.
But you said this morning I owed you money for my things; but if aunt
sent that money and stuff for me, it can't be much, not worth talking
about."
"No, not worth talking about," repeated Mrs. Brown, in a mechanical
tone. But as she said the words a chill seemed to creep over her, as
though a great gulf had all at once arisen between her and her dear
child Fanny, separating them and putting a stranger in the place of the
girl she had been so proud to call "my Fanny" only a few hours before.
There was silence between the two for a minute after this, and Fanny
vaguely felt that she had hurt her mother, but still with the thought
of all the money she owed for the watch, she wanted to be quite clear
as to what her mother could claim from her, and so she said—
"Of course, I hope you will be able to send Eliza away all right, and
she is welcome to the muslin aunt sent for me, and to all the clothes I
left at home, but I don't think I shall be able to give you any money
as well."
"No, Fanny, I shall never ask for it or expect it again."
Mrs. Brown said these last words with a tremor in her voice, and as
soon as Fanny had reached the end of her walk, she kissed her and bade
her good night, and turned to walk up the garden path without another
word.
Halfway back Mrs. Brown met her husband, who had come straight from his
work to walk home with her.
"Why, what is it, mother? Haven't you anything to tell me about our
girl?"
For answer Mrs. Brown said, "I'm tired, Tom. This walk has been almost
too much for me, I think. I can't talk about anything to-night."
"Come along, then; take my arm. Never mind the dirty jacket. I will
help you home, and you shall go straight to bed, or else you will be
having one of your bad headaches, and we can't afford that just now,
can we?"
Mrs. Brown went to bed as soon as she reached home, and she had to
spend the whole of the next day there; but no word passed her lips
about Fanny and her watch, and, wisely or unwisely, she said no word to
her husband that the girl had bought one.