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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16969.txt b/16969.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee87152 --- /dev/null +++ b/16969.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4506 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Dick and Brownie, by Mabel Quiller-Couch + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Dick and Brownie + + +Author: Mabel Quiller-Couch + + + +Release Date: October 30, 2005 [eBook #16969] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DICK AND BROWNIE*** + + +E-text prepared by Lionel Sear + + + +DICK AND BROWNIE. + +by + +Mabel Quiller-Couch + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +Chapter. + + I. THE ESCAPE. + + II. A NIGHT SCARE. + + III. WHAT THE MORNING BROUGHT. + + IV. MISS ROSE. + + V. SURPRISES. + + VI. HULDAH GOES SHOPPING. + + VII. A MEETING AND AN ALARM. + + VIII. TRACKED DOWN. + + IX. TO THE RESCUE. + + X. ONE SUMMER'S AFTERNOON. + + XI. HULDAH'S NEW HOME. + + XII. HAPPY HOURS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +THE ESCAPE. + +The summer sun blazed down scorchingly on the white road, on the wide +stretch of moorland in the distance, and on the little coppice which +grew not far from the road. + +The only shady spot for miles, it seemed, was that one under the +trees in the little coppice, where the caravan stood; but even there +the heat was stifling, and the smell of hot blistering varnish +mingled with the faint scent of honeysuckle and dog-roses. + +Not a sound broke the stillness, for even the birds had been driven +to shelter and to silence, and except for the rabbits very few other +live things lived about there, to make any sounds. That afternoon +there were four other live things in the coppice, but they too were +silent, for they were wrapped in deep sleep. The four were a man and +a woman, a horse and a dog, and of all the things in that stretch of +country they were the most unlovely. The man and the woman were +dirty, untidy, red-faced and coarse. Even in their sleep their faces +looked cruel and sullen. The old horse standing patiently by, with +drooping head and hopeless, patient eyes, looked starved and weak. +His poor body was so thin that the bones seemed ready to push through +the skin, on which showed the marks of the blows he had received that +morning. The fourth creature there was a dog, as thin as the horse, +but younger, a lank, yellow, ugly, big-bodied dog, with a clever +head, bright, speaking brown eyes, and as keen a nose for scent as +any dog ever born possessed. + +The brown eyes had been closed for a while in slumber, but presently +they opened alertly; a fly had bitten his nose, and the owner of the +nose got up to catch the fly. This done, he looked around him. +He looked with drooped ears and tail at the sleeping man and woman, +with ears a little raised at the old horse, and then with both ears +and tail alertly cocked he looked about him eagerly, even anxiously. +A second later he was leaping up the steps and into the caravan; but +in less than a minute he was out again, leaping over the steps at the +other end, and out to the edge of the coppice. What he was in search +of was not in the van, or under it, or anywhere near it. + +The dog did not whine, or make a sound. He knew better than that. +A whine would have brought a heavy boot flying through the air at +him, or a stick across his back, or a kick in the ribs, if he were +foolish enough to go within reach of a foot. With his long nose to +the ground he stepped delicately to the edge of the coppice, then +stood still looking about him, his brown eyes full of wistful +anxiety. + +He looked to the right, he looked to the left, he listened eagerly, +then he stepped back to the van again. This time he found something. +It was only a clue, but it sent his spirits up again, and with his +nose to the ground he came quickly back to the edge of the little +wood and beyond it; then, evidently satisfied, he took to his heels +and raced away with a joy which almost forced a yelp of triumph from +his throat. + +The old horse raised his head and looked after the dog wistfully. +"If only I were as young and fleet, and able to get away as quietly!" +he thought longingly, and sighed a sigh which made his thin sides +heave painfully. Then his head drooped again, even more sadly than +before, and he closed his eyes patiently once more. He loved the +lank yellow dog. Next to little Huldah he loved him better than +anything in the world. It hurt him as much or more to hear the stick +raining blows on them as it did to feel it on his own poor battered +body, for his poor skin was hardened, but his feelings were not. + +On each side of the wide road which ran past the coppice and away +from it were sunk ditches and high hedges, separating it from a bit +of wild moorland, which stretched away on either side as far as eye +could see. Here and there in the hedges were gaps, through which a +person or an animal could pass from the road to the moor, and back +again. To Dick, who did not understand it, this was very +bewildering. Ahead of him a black shadow would flit for a moment, +dark against the dazzling white road, then it would disappear. +It moved so swiftly and so close to the ground, that if it had not +been for the scent he might have thought it was some animal dodging +about among the ditches and dry grasses. Dick could not know that +when it had slipped through a gap in the hedge it became, instead of +a shadow, a solid little dingy brown figure. + +Dick was puzzled. He was sure that Huldah was on ahead of him +somewhere, and he was very sure that he wanted her, but he was not at +all sure where she was, or that she wanted him; and there are times +in the lives of caravan dogs when they are not wanted, and are made +to know it. Dick had learnt that fact, but he wanted Huldah, and he +could not help feeling that she wanted him. It was very seldom that +she did not. + +So he followed along slowly, keeping at a safe distance, his eyes and +his senses all on the alert to find out if that shadow ahead of him +was really his little mistress, or what it was--and if she would be +angry if he ran after her and joined her. + +For a mile, for two miles, they went on like this, then the moor +ended, and roads and fields and houses came in sight. The black +shadow, which was really a little brown girl, stood for a moment +under the shelter of the hedge and looked hurriedly about her. +"Which'll be the safest way to go?" she gasped to herself, and wished +her heart would not thump so hard, for it made her tremble so that +she could hardly stand or move. She shaded her eyes with her little +sun-burnt hand and looked about her anxiously. + +"They'd be certain sure to take the van along the main road," she +said to herself; "and anyway somebody might see me, and tell _'im_. +He's sure to ask everybody if they've seen me." A sob caught in her +throat, and tears came very near her eyes. She had often and often +thought of running away, but had never before had the courage and the +opportunity at the same time, and now that she had got both, and had +seized them, she was horribly frightened. + +She was not so frightened by the prospect of want and loneliness and +uncertainty which lay before her, as she was by the thought of being +caught, and taken back again. The risk of capture after this bold +step of hers, and what would follow, were so terrible that the mere +thought of them made her turn off the high road at a run, and dash +into the nearest lane she came to. She had the sense to choose one +on the opposite side of the road, lest she should find herself back +on the moor again. A moor was so treacherous, there was no shelter, +and one never knew when one would be pounced on. There was no +shelter either, no food, no house, no safe hiding-place, and of +course there was no chance of finding a friend there, who might take +pity on her. + +The lane she dashed into so blindly was a steep one, it led up, and +up, and up, but the hedges were so high she could not see anything +beyond them. They shut out all the air too, and the heat was quite +stifling, her poor thin little face grew scarlet, the perspiration +ran off her brow in heavy drops. She picked up her apron at last, to +wipe them away, and then it was she found the bundle of raffia and +the two or three baskets she had brought out to sell, when the +thought had come to her that she would never go back any more--that +here was the chance she had longed for. Now, when she noticed the +baskets for the first time, her heart beat faster than ever, for she +could well picture the rage there would be, when it was discovered +that not only had she run away, but had taken with her two baskets +ready for sale! + +"They are mine! I made them," she gasped, nervously, "and I left some +behind!" but her alarm put fresh energy into her tired feet, and, in +spite of the heat and her weariness, she ran, and ran madly, she did +not know or care whither, as long as she got lost. Wherever she saw +a way, she took it; the more winding it was the better. Anything +rather than keep to a straight, direct road that they could trace. + +At one moment she thought of hiding away her baskets and raffia, but +she was very, very hungry by this time, and with the baskets lay her +only chance of being able to buy food, and oh, she needed food badly. +She needed it so much that at last, from sheer exhaustion, she had to +stop and lie down on the ground to recover herself. + +It was then that Huldah first caught sight of Dick. All the way she +had gone, he had followed her at a distance, careful never to get too +close, cautiously keeping well out of sight, running when she ran, +drawing back and half-concealing himself when she slackened her pace, +and there was a likelihood of her looking around. Now at last, +though, they had come to moorland again, with only a big boulder here +and there for shelter, and when Huldah suddenly fell down, exhausted, +Dick, in his fright at seeing her lying on the ground motionless, +forgot all about hiding away. Everything but concern for his little +mistress went out of his head. Huldah, lying flat on the ground with +her head resting on her outstretched arm, her face turned away from +the pitiless sun, saw nothing. She did not want to see anything; the +desolateness of the great bare stretch of land frightened her. +She felt terribly frightened, and terribly lonely. Should she die +here, she wondered, alone! At the prospect a sob broke from her. + +To poor Dick, who had crept up so close that he stood beside her, +this was too much. At the sound of her distress he was so overcome, +he could no longer keep his feelings under restraint. A bark broke +from him, eager, coaxing, half frightened; then, repentant and +ashamed, he thrust his hot nose into Huldah's hand, and licked it +apologetically. + +Weary, dead-beat as she was, Huldah sprang up into a sitting +position. "Dick!" she cried, "oh, Dick! How did you come here? +Oh, I am so glad, so glad!" and flinging her arms round his long +yellow neck she burst into happy tears. Dick was delighted. +Instead of being scolded, he was petted, and his little mistress was +plainly glad to see him. He was as hungry as she was, and very +nearly as tired, but nothing mattered to him now. + +"Oh, Dick, how did you come? and, oh, won't they beat us if they +catch us! and--and oh, I hope they won't beat poor old Charlie worse +than ever, because they are angry. Oh, I do wish Charlie was here +too. Poor old Charlie! he will be so lonely." + +Dick wagged his tail and looked about him. Perhaps he was thinking +that Charlie might have been able to find something to eat in that +bare spot, but that it was more than they could. Huldah realised +this too, and with a sigh she scrambled on to her aching feet again. +She must find somebody to help them--a house and food of some kind. + +"You shall lead the way this time, Dick. You are clever, and can +scent things out. You'll know which way to go to find houses." + +It took Dick a little while to understand that he was expected to run +ahead now, not to follow, and indeed it is doubtful if he did +understand it, but a rabbit popping up ahead of them at that moment +drew him on, and Huldah more slowly followed. It was a very zig-zag +way that Dick took them, for he was intent on finding rabbits, not +houses, but, fortunately, it led them at last to a house, too. + +The sun was going down in a crimson glory, and a mistiness was +creeping up over the land on all sides, when, to her great relief, +Huldah saw the welcome sight of smoke rising out of chimneys, then +other signs of life, and presently came to a farm standing in the +middle of a large yard. The yard seemed very full of animals, and +where there were no animals there were hay-ricks and corn, and empty +upturned carts and waggons. + +It was a lonely-looking place in that evening light, and the +melancholy mooing of the cows, the good-night cluckings of the hens, +the bleating of the sheep, seemed to add to the desolateness. +As Huldah and Dick drew nearer, another and more terrifying sound +arose, and that was the barking of dogs. Dogs sprang up from +everywhere, or so it seemed to poor little Huldah, and, forgetting +the coming night, her hunger and everything else, she fled from the +place, shrieking to Dick to follow her. + +Fortunately, Dick obeyed. Hunger and tiredness had taken most of his +spirit out of him, or he could never have resisted such an +opportunity for a fight; the enemy numbered six to one, too, not to +speak of the farmer, who was armed with a long whip, and two or three +workmen, who were well provided with sticks or pitchforks, and +hungry, footsore Dick did not at that moment feel equal to facing +them all, and doing himself justice. So, with an impudent flick of +his tail he followed Huldah, with the air of one who would not deign +to fight mere farm-dogs. + +It was a very weary, dejected pair, though, that at last stopped +running, and summoned courage to stand and look about them once more; +and the fright had so shaken Huldah's courage that when presently she +caught sight of more smoking chimneys, and a group of little grey +stone houses, and other signs of life not far ahead of them, she felt +almost more sorry than glad. + +When she came closer, and found the village street full of people, +she felt decidedly sorry, and wished wildly that she had gone any +other way, and so avoided them. + +After the terrible heat of the day, men, women and children had all +turned out of their close, stifling cottages, and were sitting or +lounging about on doorstep or pavement, enjoying the coolness of the +evening air; and, having nothing to do and little to talk about, and +not much to look at, they naturally took a great interest in the +odd-looking pair which came suddenly into their midst. The dusty, +shabby little girl and the lanky yellow dog. + +Huldah did not appreciate their interest. She felt ill with +nervousness, when she saw all the eyes turned towards her, and, she +longed to be out on the moor again,--anywhere, lost, hungry, lonely, +tired, rather than under this fire of eyes. She had wanted very much +to try to sell one of her baskets, that she might be able to buy some +bread, but the staring people daunted her. She felt she could not +have stopped and spoken to one of them, or have offered her wares, to +have saved her life. It was all she could do to drag her trembling +limbs past them, and out of their sight. + +The end of the street was reached at last, though the cottages grew +more and more scattered, then stopped altogether, and the pair found +themselves alone once more. Poor Dick was by this time past doing +anything but plod wearily along, his tail down, his ears drooping, +his tongue hanging out. Huldah herself was in a half-dazed state, +she scarcely knew where she was, or what she was doing. She plodded +on and on mechanically, every step becoming harder, every yard a +greater tax on her. She had almost given up hope, and decided to lie +down under a hedge for the night, when her dim eyes were attracted by +a light which suddenly shone out on the darkness, down a little lane +on her right. + +She paused in her walk, and stood gazing at it longingly. To the +exhausted, lonely, frightened child it seemed a beautiful sight. +It was like a friendly smile, a kindly welcome reaching out to her in +her hopelessness. + +"I will go and ask them to help me," she thought, dully. "They won't +kill me; perhaps they'll give me a bit of bread for one of my +baskets. They won't call the p'lice so late as this." + +Dick looked up at her and obediently followed. It was all one to him +where he went. He had no hopes and no fears, he was better off than +poor Huldah in that respect, but he roused to renewed interest and +expectation when his little mistress stopped before a cottage, and +walking timidly up the garden, knocked at the front door. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +A NIGHT SCARE. + +Silence! Seconds passed, to Huldah they seemed endless, her heart, +which at first had beat furiously, quieted down until it seemed +scarcely to beat at all. Save for the good-night calls of the birds, +and the sad mooing of a cow in a field not far away, the silence +remained unbroken. + +"Perhaps I didn't knock loud enough," thought Huldah, "or whoever's +inside may be gone to sleep." + +If her plight had been less desperate, she would never have had the +courage to knock again, but she felt ill and exhausted and +frightened, and something seemed to tell her that here she might find +help. So, after waiting a little longer, she screwed up her courage +again, and rapped once more, this time more loudly; and this time, at +any rate, her knock called forth response. There were sounds of +hasty shuffling steps across the floor, and then a voice, old and +evidently trembling, called through the door, "Who is there?" + +Huldah was puzzled how to answer. If she were to say "me," it would +be only foolish, while if she called back, "I am Huldah Bate," her +hearer would not know who Huldah Bate was. However, she had to say +something, so she called back pleadingly, "I am a little girl, Huldah +Bate, and please, ma'am, I'm starving, and--and please open the door. +I can't hurt you, I am too little." + +It was her voice even more than her words which induced Martha Perry +to open her door to the suppliant. It was such a childish voice, and +so weak, and pleading, and tired. So the bolts were drawn back, and +the door was opened. It was only opened a few inches, but wide +enough to let out a stream of light, which brought some comfort and +hope to the child's heart and the dog's heart. Huldah stepped +forward into the light to show herself. + +"You are sure you 'aven't got anybody with you?" asked the woman, +with nervous suspicion. + +"No, ma'am, no one but Dick." + +"Who's Dick?" hastily pushing the door close, in her alarm. + +"Dick's my dog. He--he followed me. He's starving, too," and a sob +broke from Huldah's throat. "We wouldn't hurt you, ma'am, for +anything; we couldn't, we're dead-beat. I haven't had anything to +eat since yesterday, and we've come miles and miles. I don't want to +come in, ma'am," she pleaded, more and more eagerly, as the door +remained rigidly closed, except for about three inches. "If only +you'll give us a bit of bread. I haven't got any money, but I'll +give you one of my baskets for it. Oh, please, ma'am, don't turn us +away!" The tears began to rain down her thin white cheeks. She had +borne all that she could bear, and she had not the strength to keep +them back any longer. + +Dick, who could never bear to see his little mistress crying, pushed +himself forward; first he licked Huldah's hand, and then seated +himself in front of her, as though to protect her from the ogress who +made her cry. Something in the ogress's face, though, told Dick that +she was not a real ogress, and he looked up at her with a world of +pleading in his big brown eyes, and his long tail waving coaxingly. + +"Poor doggie!" exclaimed the ogress. "Poor Dick, are you hungry, +too? You do look tired and thin. Yes, you shall come in;" and the +narrow stream of light became a wide river, which broke over the pair +and surrounding them drew them in, until they found themselves safely +landed in the cosiest little kitchen Huldah had ever seen. + +It was really a very humble little kitchen, with signs of poverty +everywhere, but to Huldah it was a palace. It was spotlessly clean, +and as neat as a new pin, and to a child who had spent the greater +part of her life in a dirty, untidy caravan, this was a sign of +superiority, even of luxury. + +To Dick the cleanness and neatness meant nothing, the rag mat before +the hearth was the most luxurious thing he had ever seen in the whole +of his life, and he stretched his lanky aching body on it with a deep +sigh of perfect bliss, and promptly fell asleep. + +Huldah and old Mrs. Perry meanwhile stood in the middle of the +kitchen surveying each other. + +"Sit down, child," said Martha, at last, "you look fit to drop." +She spoke brusquely but not unkindly. + +"Thank you, ma'am," said Huldah, gratefully, and perched herself, +with a long-drawn breath of excitement, on the edge of the hard chair +nearest the door. + +"Not there. Go and sit in the arm-chair by the fire-place. +Would you like a cup of tea?" + +"Oh!" gasped Huldah, almost too delighted to be able to find words to +answer with. There was more pleasure, though, in her tone than any +number of words could have conveyed. + +"The kettle is on the boil. I was just going to have a cup myself, +before I went to bed." + +"Oh, thank you, ma'am!" gasped Huldah, feebly, but again with a world +of gratitude in her tone. + +"Put down your load for a time, then, and rest your arms." Then, as +her eyes fell on the baskets the child had been carrying, "Was it one +of those you offered me for a bit of bread?" + +"Yes, ma'am," answered Huldah, shyly. + +"Well, you meant well, I don't doubt, but those baskets are worth +more than a bit of bread. They ought to sell for eighteenpence or +two shillings each, I should say." + +"Yes, ma'am, Aunt Emma always asks half-a-crown, and then comes down +to two shillings or eighteenpence," said Huldah, innocently. + +"Who's Aunt Emma?" + +Huldah hesitated a moment, somewhat at a loss how to explain. +"She isn't my real aunt, though I calls her so. She and Uncle Tom +ain't any relation to me really. They're called Smith, and my name +is Huldah Bate; but when mother died--" + +"Haven't you got any mother?" + +"No, ma'am, and father is dead too. He died when I was too little to +remember, and mother earned her living by making baskets, and when I +was big enough she taught me." + +"How long ago did your mother die?" asked Mrs. Perry, more gently. + +"Two years, ma'am, and when she died Aunt Emma and Uncle Tom said I +was to go and live with them. They said mother had said I was to." + +"Um! Did your mother think so much of them, then?" + +"No, ma'am. They was always too rough for mother, they drinks a lot, +and--and swears terrible, and they'm always fighting." + +"I wonder at your mother leaving you to such people to be took care +of." + +"I don't believe mother ever did," said Huldah, "she never told me +so, anyway," and she burst into bitter sobs; "but there wasn't +anybody else there, and they told the parish orf'cer that I was their +little girl, and then they went away as fast as they could, and took +me with them." + +"Are they kind to you?" + +"They beat me--they're always beating me, or Dick, or Charlie,-- +Charlie is the old horse that draws the van,--and I'd sooner be +beaten myself than see them being knocked about. We don't ever get +enough to eat, but that isn't so bad as the beatings." + +"Poor child! You both look as if you had never had enough to eat in +your lives. Did they make baskets too?" + +"No, ma'am, they can't. They make clothes-pegs, and they sell +brushes and mats, but my baskets brought them in as much as a pound a +week sometimes, and oh!" and she gasped at the thought, "Uncle Tom +will be angry, when he finds I don't come back!" and her eyes were +full of terror as she thought of his passion. + +Mrs. Perry disappeared into the little scullery behind the kitchen, +and opened the door of the safe where she kept her scanty store of +food. There was very little in it but a ham-bone, a few eggs, a loaf +of bread, and a tiny bit of butter. The bone she had, earlier in the +day, decided would make her some pea-soup for to-morrow's dinner, but +she thought of poor Dick and his hollow sides, and came to the +conclusion that her soup would taste just as good without the bone; +and Dick, when he really grasped the fact that the whole of the big +bone was really meant for him, soon showed her that no ham-bone in +the world had ever given more complete satisfaction. + +"Could you eat an egg?" + +Huldah stared blankly at her hostess. She could not at first realise +that the question was meant for her. "An egg! Me! Oh, yes, ma'am, +but I don't want anything so--so good as that." She could have eaten +anything, no matter how plain, or poor, or unappetizing. But an egg! +One of the greatest luxuries she had ever tasted. "A bit of dry +bread will be plenty good enough. Eggs cost a lot, and--and--" + +"My hens lay eggs for me in plenty. I don't ever have to buy one," +said the old woman, proudly. "I've got some fine hens." + +"Do you keep a farm, ma'am?" + +Mrs. Perry smiled and sighed. "No, child; a few hens don't make a +farm. I had a cow at one time, but all that's left is the house she +lived in. Now, draw over to the table and have your supper." + +At any other time Huldah would have been shy of eating before a +stranger, for in the caravan good manners were only a subject for +sneers and laughter, and she remembered enough of her mother's +teaching to know how shocking to ordinary eyes Mr. and Mrs. Smith's +behaviour would have seemed. To-night, though, she was too +ravenously hungry for shyness to have much play. She tried to +remember all she could of what her mother had taught her, and got +through fairly creditably. + +"Now," said Mrs. Perry, when that wonderful, glorious meal was at +last ended, "where did you think of going for the night?" + +"I don't know," sighed Huldah, wistfully. "I hadn't thought of +anywhere perticler. I daresay there's a rick or a hedge we can lay +down under. I don't mind where I go, so long as Uncle Tom don't find +us." + +"Well, I can't give you a bed here. I've only this room and my +bedroom, and--and--" Mrs. Perry did not like to explain that she was +too nervous, and too doubtful of Huldah's honesty to leave her alone +in the kitchen, while she herself went to bed and to sleep. +To her mind all gipsies, and all gipsy children, were thieves, and +though she was interested in Huldah, and felt very sorry for her, she +had, after all, only known her about an hour, and knew nothing of her +past history. In her heart she could not as yet believe all her +story, or bring herself to trust her. + +The child instinctively felt something of this distrust, and it hurt +her. Her eyes filled, but she forced back the tears, and spoke out +bravely. + +"I shall do all right, thank you, ma'am. We'll be going on again, +now. I ain't afraid of nothing when I've got Dick with me, and--and +thank you, ma'am, for all you've given us; but I wish you'd 'ave one +of my baskets, ma'am, please! I can easy make another, and I'd be +glad if you would, please, ma'am." + +Mrs. Perry felt a prick of conscience, and her heart melted. +She could see that the child's feelings were hurt, and that her +self-respect made her anxious to pay for all they had received. + +"If you wouldn't mind sleeping in the barn in the garden, you and +your dog, you're welcome. It's as clean as can be, and there's +plenty of nice straw there, to make a comfortable bed for you. +You'd be under shelter there, and if so be as your uncle should come +this way, he'd never find you there." + +Instead of conferring a favour, she found herself almost asking the +child to stay, and to Huldah the temptation was too great to be +resisted. To be safe from her uncle! She felt she could bear +anything, if she could only for a few hours feel quite safe. +She was so tired, too, so dead-tired, she did not know, in spite of +her brave words, how she could possibly drag her weary body a step +further. + +A few moments later the front-door had been securely bolted, and Mrs. +Perry, lantern in hand, was conducting her two strange visitors out +of the back door and down the garden. + +"That's the fowls' house," she explained, flashing her lantern over +the door of the little building as they passed it, "and here is the +barn." + +She opened the door, and threw the lantern light all over the wooden +shed. It was spotlessly clean, and sweet with the smell of the straw +which was scattered about one end of it. There were some bundles and +some loose straw lying on the ground. Huldah sank down on one of the +bundles with a little cry of relief, while Dick burrowed delightedly +in the loose straw. + +"You won't be afraid, you think?" + +"No, ma'am, thank you, not with Dick," she answered, bravely. + +She did not feel quite so brave, though, when the light had gone, and +she heard the house-door bolted, and found herself and Dick shut in +alone in the dark in that great empty strange place. She did wish +that Mrs. Perry had seen fit to leave them the lantern. Rats loved +straw, Huldah knew, so did mice, and she was dreadfully afraid of +both. The moonlight shone in through the sides of the barn, and +Huldah had a feeling that eyes were at all the chinks, watching her. + +To try to forget the rats and mice and not to see the eyes, she +nestled down in the straw, with one bundle at her head and another at +her back, and hoped she would soon fall asleep and forget everything. +But though she was so tired, or, perhaps, because she was overtired, +sleep when it did come was not sound or pleasant. Every time Dick +rustled the straw, she awoke. Every time a bird called or an owl +hooted, she started up wide awake. She woke once from a dream of her +uncle, with, as she thought, his voice echoing in her ear. +Another time she felt certain he was banging at the barn door, trying +to get in, to beat her and Dick, and take them both back. + +"Oh, I wish it was morning!" she sighed, and sat up on her straw bed, +to see if daylight was beginning to dawn yet. + +But all was dark still; even the moon had gone. She was just about +to lie wearily down again, when a real, not a dream sound, caught her +ear. The sound of nailed boots on stones, and stealthy footsteps. + +"It really is someone climbing the wall and coming up the garden," +she thought to herself, and her mouth and throat grew dry with +terror, and her heart beat suffocatingly. "Dick!" she gasped, in a +low voice. "Dick, they're coming, they've found us. Listen!" + +Dick raised himself on his haunches, with his ears cocked. Huldah +was seized with sudden fear that he would growl, and so betray their +hiding-place, for her uncle would recognise Dick's growl in a moment. +She laid her hand on his collar firmly. "Quiet!" she commanded, +firmly, and knew that he would obey. She tried to peer out through +the chinks, but it was hard to move without rustling the straw, and +all without was black as pitch. + +Then suddenly, quite close to her on the other side of the planking, +sounded a whisper, and Huldah never knew afterwards whether she was +most frightened or relieved--frightened by the nearness of somebody, +or relieved that the somebody was not her "uncle." + +"Bill, where's the sack?" the voice asked, impatiently. + +"I dunno!" answered another voice, sourly. "You had it. I've cut my +knee on that there wall; I can feel the blood running down my leg." + +"You always manages to do something," was all the sympathy Bill got. +"We've got to 'ave the sack, so you'd better find it. How're we to +carry the birds without it? In our hats?" + +"It's the fowls!" thought Huldah, thrilling with excitement. +"They're going to steal the fowls. Oh, they shan't! The lady'll +think it's me. Oh, what can I do? How can I tell her? I _must_ +stop them, somehow!" + +Bill had gone back in search of the sack, and the other thief stood +waiting for him. Huldah had time to think, but no plan came to her. +She did not know her way, nor where to turn for help; and if she +screamed, they would only find her out, and knock her about. +They would steal the fowls all the same. A slight movement beside +her recalled her thoughts, and sent her spirits up with a bound. +"Dick! why, of course Dick would help her!" + +Quick as thought she crept to the door, and with one hand on Dick's +collar she gently raised the latch with the other. Bill had +evidently found the sack, for the thieves were together again; she +heard them whispering. One even seemed to be already fumbling with +the latch of the fowls' house door. + +"Quick, Dick, catch them!" she whispered, excitedly. "Go for them, +Dick! bring them down!" With one fierce yelp Dick was out of her +grasp and out of her sight. + +It had all happened so swiftly that the thieves were bewildered, +dazed, and frightened almost beyond power of speech or movement. +They had heard nothing, and certainly had expected nothing, yet +suddenly, from somewhere quite near by, came a voice, and out of the +darkness came a large dog bounding upon them, growling savagely. +For a second they were too frightened to move; then, with an oath, +they dashed across the garden, making for the wall they had come +over. Fast though they went, Dick was after them and on them, and +Bob, as well as Bill, knew what it was to feel blood trickling down +his leg. Bob yelled, Bill groaned, Dick growled and snarled and +barked furiously with excitement. The frightened hens, startled by +the hubbub, added their share to the uproar. + +In the cottage a curtain was drawn back quickly from a window, and a +white frightened face stared out. Huldah caught sight of it, and +coming out of the shelter of the barn, raced eagerly along the path +to the house. + +"It's all right," she cried, panting. "It's all right, ma'am, some +fellows come stealing your fowls, but Dick's after them." + +Dick was after them, but he could not capture them; he was but a +young dog, and the enemy was two to one. A heavy kick sent him +rolling over, just as the thieves reached the wall, and before he +could pick himself up again they were over it, and making good their +escape. + +At the sound of Dick's cry Huldah went flying back to the spot whence +the sound came. "Oh, Dick, Dick, what have they done!" she cried, +terrified. + +Dick, though, was not one to make a fuss about anything. Kicks he +was well accustomed to. Men, according to his experience, were given +to kicking. Limping heavily, but mightily pleased with his fray, he +came running up to her. Huldah knelt down in the path beside him, +and hugged him to her. "Oh, Dick!" she cried, anxiously, passing her +little hand over him to feel for any hurt. "Poor Dick, you are +always getting knocked about by somebody!" + +But Dick was far less concerned than she was. All that really +troubled him was that his enemies had escaped him, and had got off so +lightly. + +"Huldah! Huldah!" called a frightened voice from the doorway. +"Whatever is happening? Oh, do come in, child, and bring Dick. +I am terrified to be left alone! Come in, both of you, and shut the +door;" and at the sound of her voice Dick gave up his frantic search +for his enemies, and limped quickly back. When the lady who gave him +the ham-bone called, she must never be kept waiting! + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +WHAT THE MORNING BROUGHT. + +It was a very shaken, tremulous trio which stood and faced each other +in the tiny kitchen, after they had locked and bolted the door. +Dick trembled with excitement and eagerness only, but Mrs. Perry was +really frightened. + +"But what of my poor hens!" she gasped, as Huldah poured out the +adventures of the night. "Will the thieves come back again? +What can I do? There's twelve of them; I can't bring them all +indoors, and yet--oh, poor dears, and they so tame, and knowing me so +well. I'd sooner see them all dead than in the hands of such men; +and they'll be so frightened." + +"They're all safe enough, ma'am," said Huldah, consolingly. +"The thieves didn't as much as open the door before Dick was on them, +and they won't be coming back here again in a hurry; they'll never +feel sure but what Dick's under the wall waiting for them." + +Mrs. Perry bent down, and patted Dick's head gratefully. It was the +first time she had actually touched him. "Good dog," she said, +warmly. "Oh, you good doggie, to protect a strange old woman and her +belongings!" and Dick was overcome with pride and gratitude for her +condescension. + +"Oh, I am glad it has all ended so well," she exclaimed, with a deep +sigh of thankfulness. "What with the shouting and the barking and +confusion, I couldn't make out anything, or hear what you said, and I +thought for certain they'd got away with the poor things;" and she +patted Dick's head again, to his great delight and Huldah's. +"I must sit down, I am that shaken," and she crept over to a chair +and dropped into it wearily, "and I am sure you must be too, child. +I wish the fire hadn't gone out; it seems chilly now, for all 'twas +such a hot day,--at least, I am chilly." + +"Let me light up the fire for you?" asked Huldah, eagerly. "You do +look cold, ma'am. Shall I make you a cup of tea, or get you some +milk or something?" + +The scene they had just passed through seemed to have broken down +some barrier, and drawn them as close together as though they had +known each other a long time. + +Martha Perry hesitated a moment, though not now because she +distrusted Huldah. She was thinking, ought she to afford it?" +Yes, child," she answered, at last. "I don't believe I could sleep +if I went to bed as I am, I feel all unstrung and chilled." Then her +mind went back to the thought which troubled her most--"I wonder if +the fowls will be really all right," she mused, anxiously. + +"Oh yes, ma'am." Huldah had no doubts on that point. "Those fellows +would be afraid to come back. Dick did give them a scare, springing +out of the dark on them like that, and they're too hurt about the +legs to want to walk any further than they can help, yet awhile!" + +"Oh yes, of course," in accents of great relief, "I'd forgotten. +They wouldn't want to come and face Dick again, and they wouldn't +know but what he was mine, and always living here." + +A bright idea came to Huldah. "Would you like me to let Dick out +into the garden again. He'd see that nobody came into it. +Nobody wouldn't dare touch anything with him there, I know!" + +The suggestion evidently pleased Mrs. Perry, and relieved her +greatly. "Now that would be a comfort," she said, gratefully. +"I'd feel ever so safe then. On a warm night like this he can't +hurt, can he?" + +Huldah laughed. "Dick doesn't know what 'tis to sleep in," she said. +"The most he ever had was a sack thrown down under the van, unless +when Charlie was put in a stable, and they'd let Dick go in too, but +Uncle Tom liked best to have him about, to guard the van." + +All the time she was talking she was laying in the fire quickly and +deftly. Mrs. Perry watched her interestedly. She felt the comfort +of having someone cheerful to speak to; and when she remembered that +but for this little stray waif she would have been alone now, and her +hen-house robbed, her heart was very full of gratitude. + +"Miss Rosamund will blame me when she hears about it," she said, +presently. "She was always telling me I ought to have a strong lock +on the hen-house door. She said it was tempting folk to be +dishonest,--not to have anything but just the latch, and me known to +keep good fowls always. 'Twas Miss Rose that gave them to me," she +explained. "I mean, she gave me a sitting of her prize eggs, and +every one hatched out." + +"Oh my!" exclaimed Huldah, who had filled the kettle, and was now +waiting for it to boil. She was immensely interested in all she saw +and heard, and there seemed so much to see and hear in this new life +into which she had suddenly found her way. "Is Miss Rose a--a lady?" +She only put the question in the hope of leading Mrs. Perry on to +talk more. + +"A lady! I should think she was, indeed! One of the best that ever +lived! 'Twould be a good thing for this world if there were more +like her." + +Huldah listened intently. She wondered if she should ever see this +wonderful Miss Rose, and find out what it was that made Mrs. Perry +speak so warmly about her. She thought it must be fine to be thought +much of by anybody so superior as Mrs. Perry. + +"I think you are the kindest lady in the world," she said, +impulsively, looking up at her hostess with shy, grateful eyes. +"Would Miss Rose have taken me and Dick in, if we had come to her +house like we did to yours?" + +"That she would!" declared Mrs. Perry, emphatically, "and 'twas the +thought of what she would do that made me do it." + +"I'd love to see Miss Rose," said Huldah, eagerly. "I wonder if I +ever shall!" but the kettle boiled at that moment, and Mrs. Perry's +mind was taken up with the making of the tea. + +While they sat on each side of the hearth, drinking their tea and +eating their crusts of bread, she wished Miss Rose could know about +this little waif, who seemed really not a bad little waif, but honest +and very thoughtful and kind. She wanted her advice as to what to do +about her. Already her feelings towards the child had changed so +much that she did not like to think of sending her away in the +morning, to wander on alone again, with no home, no money or food, +and no protection but Dick. + +Dick might be killed, or stolen, and then the poor little soul would +be alone in the world. Huldah looked up eagerly at her hostess more +than once, but, though she was longing to ask some more questions, +she did not like to interrupt her while she gazed with such grave, +thoughtful eyes into the fire. + +At last Mrs. Perry roused herself from her thoughts, with a tired +sigh, and brought her eyes back to Huldah again. "Have a bit more +bread," she urged, kindly, seeing that the little brown hand was +empty. "You must be hungry." + +Huldah was always hungry, but she was not accustomed to any notice +being taken of the fact. "No, thank you, ma'am," she said, politely. +She had already guessed that her kind protector was very poor, and +she knew well what a difference every slice made to a loaf, so she +said, "No, thank you, ma'am," though she could really have eaten the +whole of the nice brown crusty top. But she was more interested in +Miss Rose than in her own appetite. + +"Does Miss Rose live near here?" she asked. + +Mrs. Perry smiled. "Why, how funny!" she exclaimed. "I was thinking +of Miss Rose too. Yes; she lives at the vicarage, and that's a +little way further on in the main road. If you hadn't turned down +this lane, you'd have come to it about half-a-mile further on. +I wonder you didn't see the church tower as you came along." + +"It was too dark," said Huldah. "Oh, I was glad when I saw your +light shine out," she added, impetuously. "I didn't know what to do +or where to go, and we were so tired! I very nearly lay down under +the hedge, 'cause I felt as if I couldn't drag another step." + +"It'd have been better for you if you hadn't seen it, but had gone on +till you came to the vicarage." + +"I don't think so," said Huldah, emphatically. "P'raps the servants +would have driven us off,--anyway, they couldn't have been kinder +than you was--" + +"It wouldn't have been better for me if you'd gone on," added Mrs. +Perry, gratefully. "I shouldn't have had any hens now, if it hadn't +been for you, and I'd have been scared to death. I think I will go +up to bed now," she added presently, in a weary voice. "I had +thought I wouldn't go back again, but I am that tired." + +"You do look tired," rejoined Huldah, sympathetically. Her own +little body was aching all over, and she was so weary she could +gladly have lain down anywhere and slept, but it never occurred to +her to mention the fact. "Dick'll mind the garden, so don't you +worry about that." + +"Can you sleep on the sofa, do you think?" + +"Oh yes, ma'am!" cried Huldah, rapturously, gazing at the hard black +horse-hair covered thing as though it were the most luxurious couch +in the world. + +"I'll give you my big shawl, to wrap yourself up in, and you can use +that cushion there for a pillow." + +"Thank you, ma'am; but I think," she added, anxiously, "I'll run out +first, and see that Dick's all right. You can bolt the door after me +while I'm out." + +Martha Perry did not do that, though. She stood there with the open +door in her hand, and watched almost affectionately the little brown +figure run down the garden path, and disappear in the gloom. + +"Put Dick in the barn to sleep," she called after Huldah. "He'll be +nice and comfortable there;" but Dick, wise dog, was already there, +snugly curled up in the straw, and as happy as a dog could be. +The hens, too, had settled down to sleep again in their house, and +all was safe, so Huldah ran back again contentedly; and Martha Perry +welcomed her as gladly as though they were old friends, and when she +shut the door and bolted themselves in, it was with a sigh of relief +that she had this little companion. + +A few minutes later the old woman was stretched out comfortably in +her bed, and the child was rolled up snugly on the hard sofa, and +silence once more fell on cottage and garden, broken only by an +occasional sleepy cluck, cluck of the hens, as they moved on their +perches, or a whimper from Dick, as in his dreams he lived over again +his rout of the enemy. + +Huldah did not dream of thieves, or hens, or anything else. +She just slept, and slept, a heavy, dreamless sleep, unconscious of +everything. The hard sofa galled her poor, thin, aching body, the +round hard pillow gave her a crick in the neck, but neither of them +could make themselves felt through the sleep which held her fast in +merciful unconsciousness. + +It was broad daylight, and the sun had been shining for a long time +when at last she woke with a start, and sprang up, wondering where +she was, and what had happened. Then by degrees recollection came +back to her, and she began to wonder what she could do. The old +clock in the corner pointed to seven, but there was no sound of +movement in the house. Huldah was afraid to get up and move about, +lest Mrs. Perry should suspect her of being at some wickedness; and +she was not sorry to lie still, for her limbs ached, and she felt +very, very tired, so she stretched herself out on her hard couch, and +gave herself up to studying the little kitchen, and all that was in +it. + +It was very wonderful, she thought, and very lovely. There were some +dark green wooden chairs, and an arm-chair, and a little round table, +scrubbed to spotless whiteness. Above her head, on a window-ledge +stood some geraniums in full bloom, and on a row of shelves let into +the wall stood a large Bible, with a crochet mat over it, and some +other books, some vases and ornaments, and a box covered with shells. +The only other things to see were the grandfather's clock in the +corner, some well-polished bright things on the mantel-piece, a pair +of brass candlesticks, a couple of tea-caddies, and a pair of +snuffers on a tray. + +There were some pictures on the wall, and an almanac. One picture +showed two beautiful horses ploughing a field, a white horse and a +brown one, the other was of the same two horses going slowly home, at +the end of the day's work. The sight of the white horse brought +Charlie to Huldah's mind, and filled her eyes with tears. + +"Oh, if only Charlie was here too!" she thought, "and if only he +looked like that horse there!" + +There was indeed all the difference in the world between the +well-fed, well-groomed horse in the picture, with his erect head, his +bright eyes and glossy coat, and poor old Charlie, with his bones +showing distinctly through his rough, neglected coat, his drooping +head and sad eyes! + +Huldah looked and looked again at the pictures; she thought they were +perfectly beautiful; but by-and-by she began to fidget a little. +She was tired of lying quiet, and the silence and stillness worried +her. She slid off the sofa, and sat on the edge of it, wondering if +she might move, if she might go and see Dick, or clean up the grate +and light the fire. + +Presently there was a whine at the back door. Dick had come in +search of her. She stood up and quietly made a step or two towards +the scullery and the back door, wondering if she would be taking a +great liberty to let him in. She did long to. And then, while she +stood hesitating she heard a voice calling weakly down the stairs, +"Little girl--Huldah, are you there?" + +Huldah, greatly relieved, sprang to the foot of the stairs. She was +glad to have the silence broken at last. "Yes ma'am. It was only +Dick whining to come in." + +"Let him in, then come up to me, will you?" + +Ordering Dick to stay below, Huldah mounted the stairs, full of awe. +She had not been allowed up them before. She thought the little +winding white staircase was wonderful, and oh, how clean it all was! + +At the top was a landing about a yard square, and an open door. +Through the doorway she saw an old-fashioned bed with pretty flowered +frills and curtains, and lying on the bed was Mrs. Perry. + +"Come in, child," she said, feebly. "I've been calling to you for +ever so long, but I couldn't make you hear. I expect you were very +tired, and slept heavy." + +"I've been awake for a good bit," said Huldah, "but I didn't like to +move about till you come. I wish I'd heard you. Did you want me?" + +"Yes, I'm feeling very bad. I think I must have got a chill last +night, or else the fright upset me." + +"Oh, I _am_ sorry," cried Huldah, with genuine feeling. Mrs. Perry +really did look very white and ill, and Huldah felt quite alarmed. +"Can I get you something? What can I do? Shall I light the fire?" +she asked, eagerly. + +"Yes, if you will, I'd be very much obliged. I'd like a cup of tea, +as hot as I can drink it, and," pointing to some flannel lying on the +bed, "if you could make that very hot, and bring it up to me, I'd be +glad. Perhaps heat'll ease the pain a bit." + +"I'll be as quick as I can," said Huldah, eagerly, turning to hurry +downstairs. "Is there anything else?" + +"Oh my, yes! there's the fowls; they'll be wanting their breakfast. +It's all put ready for them in a pan in the scullery, if you'll give +it to them. Don't let them out into the garden." + +"I'll see to that," said Huldah, cheerfully. + +"Then when they're out eating their food, go into the house, and see +if there's any eggs in the nests." + +"Yes, ma'am, and please may I borrow the loan of the bucket, to have +a wash? I'm feeling all dusty and dirty." + +Mrs. Perry smiled, in spite of her pain. "Yes, of course. +You'll find a basin and soap, and a rough towel in the scullery, too. +I'm glad you reminded me." + +Huldah slipped down the stairs as blithe as a bird. This was keeping +house in real earnest, and she loved it. She set to work to light +the fire and tidy the stove first, then she went and fed the hens, +and came back triumphantly, carrying three large eggs. When she had +shown these to Mrs. Perry, and discussed their size and beauty--and +surely there never had been such eggs found before--she went down and +had her wash, and oh, how she did enjoy it! She wished she had a +clean frock or apron to put on, too. But when she remembered all she +had got, she felt ashamed of herself, for even thinking of wanting +anything more. + +In the scullery was a sweeping-brush, and the sight of it tempted her +to sweep up the kitchen. She opened the door wide, to let in the +sunshine and fresh air and the sweet scent of flowers, and then she +went sweeping away, not only the doorstep, but the tiled path down +the garden to the gate. For the moment she had forgotten her fear of +being discovered. All here seemed so different, so safe and +peaceful, and far away from her old unhappy life. + +The sun was shining radiantly, drying up the dew on the flowers, and +making the red-tiled path glow warmly; it seemed to fill the garden, +the cottage, and all Huldah's world with cheerfulness. By the time +she had finished sweeping, the kettle was singing, so Huldah got the +teapot and warmed it. She even warmed the cup and saucer too, in her +anxiety that Mrs. Perry should have her tea as hot as possible. +Then she cut a slice of bread as neatly as she could and toasted it. + +Dick was lying out in the sun, gnawing at the remains of his +ham-bone, as happy as a dog could be. Huldah glanced out at him +every now and then while she was toasting the bread, and tried to +realise that they were the same two who only yesterday morning were +thrashed so unmercifully--she, for giving Dick some bread and butter, +and Dick for eating it, after which had followed that dreadful scene +when her uncle Tom had kicked poor old helpless Charlie so cruelly, +partly because the poor old horse moved slowly, but chiefly because +he knew that it would hurt Huldah more than any beating or starving +of herself could. + +It hurt her so greatly that she felt she could not bear it any +longer, and then and there made up her mind to run away. Half of +Charlie's kicks and blows were given him, she knew, because they hurt +and angered her. Perhaps, she thought, if she were gone life would +become easier for him. So she went,--and that was only yesterday, +and the only pang of feeling or remorse that she felt for what she +had done was the loss of Charlie. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +MISS ROSE. + +"Do you think you could find your way to the vicarage?" + +Huldah had given Mrs. Perry her breakfast, and taken her own, and now +had gone up again to remove the cup and plate, and ask what more she +could do. She was longing to make herself useful, that she might +show how grateful she was for all that had been done for her. + +"Yes, I'm sure I could," she answered, readily. + +"Miss Rose said she'd come to me any time I wanted her, and I feel I +want her now, but I don't know how to let her know, unless you will +go for me." + +"I'll go," said Huldah, eagerly. "I'd like to." Then, with sudden +recollection of her uncle and aunt, her heart sank. "I--I don't +suppose I'd meet uncle that way, but--but there'd be the chance of +that, any way I went," she added, trying to be brave and sensible. + +Mrs. Perry looked anxious too. "I don't s'pose he could have got so +far by this time, even if he came this way. You see, he'd have to +keep to the road with the van, and you cut across country." + +"Oh, it's sure to be all right," said Huldah, more bravely, +determined not to be afraid. "I won't take Dick, though, if you'll +keep him, ma'am. If I did see them coming, I could hide behind a +hedge or somewhere, but Dick, he's racing everywhere, and I'd never +be able to hide him too." + +"Would they recognise him--so far from where they lost him?" + +"Oh yes, ma'am, and he'd know them and Charlie, and he'd be sure to +run up to speak to Charlie." + +"Very well; you leave Dick here with me. I'll be glad to have him +for company while you're gone; you'd better start before the day gets +any hotter. Tell Miss Rose, that if she can spare the time, and it +isn't very inconvenient I'd be very much obliged if she could come to +see me to-day. You'll remember, won't you?" + +"Yes, ma'am, I'll tell her you'm bad in bed." + +"I wish," began Mrs. Perry, then hesitated, her eyes glancing over +the shabby little maiden standing by her bedside. "I wish you +weren't quite so--I wish you were a little tidier." + +Huldah flushed under her glance. "My face and hands is clean," she +said, shyly, "and I'll put the sweeping-brush over my hair--" + +Mrs. Perry smiled, in spite of herself. "No, don't do that, child; +take and use that one over there by the looking-glass; but 'twas your +frock I was thinking about, and your apron is too ragged and dirty to +see a lady in. I don't suppose you could wear one of mine--it'd be +too long, wouldn't it?" + +"I'm 'fraid it would, ma'am, but I'll try, if you like." + +"There's one there on the chair by the door; hold it up against you, +and let me see how it looks." + +Huldah took the apron shyly, and held it round her waist. It hung +far below her frock, and reached the top of her foot, but it hid her +shabby old frock, and certainly gave her a cleaner look. + +"P'raps if I tied it round under my arms it would look better," she +suggested. She was very anxious to be a credit to her new friend, +and she was even more anxious not to shock Miss Rose, at first sight, +by her disreputable appearance. + +"Yes, that will do," agreed Mrs. Perry, approvingly, and Huldah, +quite unconscious of the funny figure she cut, started off in high +spirits. + +"Go to the top of the lane till you reach the high road, then turn to +your right, and keep straight on till you come to the church and the +vicarage. Go to the back door and knock gently, and ask to see Miss +Rose. Do you understand?" + +"Yes, ma'am. Can I do anything more for you before I go?" + +"No, thank you. Keep in the shade as much as you can; it is going to +be dreadfully hot again, I b'lieve." + +In the lane, in spite of the shade, the heat was already stifling, +the high hedges seemed to shut it in, and to keep out the air. +Huldah, hurrying along over the rough ground, felt her face growing +scarlet, and her breath coming quick. She was almost glad to get out +on the high road, for though the glare of the sun was blinding, and +there was no shade, it was less stifling there; but it was not the +discomfort that she minded so much, her great desire was to look her +best when she had to face Miss Rose. So she walked on the grass by +the road-side, to keep her from getting dusty, and every now and then +her hands went up to her cheeks, to feel if they were very, very hot; +and indeed, between nervousness, and the heat, her cheeks were very, +very scarlet by the time she reached the vicarage, and had found the +back door. + +Obedient to her orders, she knocked gently, so gently that for a time +no one heard her, and she was about to knock for the third time, when +a lady came round from the front of the house and caught sight of +her. + +She was a young lady, tall and thin and pretty, with such shining +golden hair that it made Huldah wink to look at it gleaming in the +sunshine. + +"Can't you make anyone hear? I expect cook is busy; you must knock +more loudly." She smiled kindly as she spoke, and her eyes were so +gentle and pretty that Huldah scarcely heard what she was saying, for +looking at them. "It must be Miss Rose herself," she thought to +herself. + +"Please, ma'am, I--I wanted to see Miss Rose," she stammered out at +last. "Please, ma'am, are you--" + +"I am Miss Rose Carew, yes. How did you know my name? You don't +live anywhere hereabouts, do you?" + +"No, miss." Huldah was almost glad her cheeks were so hot already, +for she felt herself blushing at this question. "No, ma'am, I--I +don't live anywhere. I'm come from Mrs. Perry, in Woodend Lane. +She's ill in bed, and if it wouldn't be putting you out very much, +please would you come and see her, miss? She'd be very much obliged, +I was to say." + +Miss Carew's quick sympathy was aroused at once. + +"Mrs. Perry ill. Oh, I am so sorry! What has caused it, I wonder? +I hope she hasn't been out in the hot sun. I warned her not to." + +"No, miss; 'twas last night that upset her, I think. Some fellows +came and tried to steal her fowls, and she was reg'larly frightened +she was, and I reckon she caught cold standing at the door in her +nightdress." + +"Some men came stealing her fowls! Oh, how wicked!" Miss Rose's +cheeks flushed with indignation, and her soft eyes sparkled with +anger. "Did they take them all?" + +"No, miss, they didn't get any. Dick frightened the thieves off, +just as they were going to open the door, and he bit their legs too. +I'll be bound they're lame enough to-day!" and Huldah chuckled aloud +at the thought, forgetting her shyness, and everything else but the +thieves. + +Miss Carew gazed at her, frankly puzzled. Who was Dick? and who was +this funny little maid with the brown skin, brown hair, golden brown +eyes, the shabby brown frock, and battered old hat? + +"Are you a young relative of Mrs. Perry?" she asked, gently. + +Huldah blushed again, and the laughter died out of her eyes. +"No, miss; I aint nobody's relative, I haven't got nobody but Dick." + +"Is Dick your brother?" + +"No, miss, he's only a dog; but he's ever such a good dog," eagerly. +"He's so clever, there's nothing he can't do. He's at home with Mrs. +Perry now, to keep her company while I'm gone, 'cause she's nervous +after last night." + +"I see," said Miss Carew, thoughtfully. "I am very glad she has Dick +to take care of her. Tell her I will come to see her this morning, +will you? and wait a moment, I must give you something for Dick, as a +reward for his care last night." + +Miss Rose opened the door near which they had been standing, and +disclosed a large wide, slate-paved passage, with large, cool-looking +slate slabs on each side. After the glare and heat outside, the +slates looked cool and restful to the eye. At the other end of the +passage a door stood open, and through it Huldah could see a big +bright kitchen, with a snowy table standing in the middle of the blue +slate floor, and a window beyond, festooned with green creepers and +roses. + +"Dinah, I want something nice for a brave dog," said Miss Rose. +"Have you got a bone with something on it?" + +Dinah produced a leg of mutton bone and some cold pudding. +Huldah's eyes gleamed, as she thought of Dick's delight. +Two bones in two days! He had never before known such a wonderful +time. Miss Rose added two large dog biscuits. "Those will come in +for his supper," she said. + +Huldah took the parcel with a joy she did not attempt to conceal. +In her pleasure she lost her shyness. "Oh, miss!" she exclaimed, +"I wish you could be there to see Dick when he knows the bone is for +him!" + +"I wish I could, but don't keep him waiting, poor doggie!" + +It was not until she put out her hand to take the parcel for Dick +that Huldah remembered the basket which she had brought with her to +sell, and which she had been holding all this time. Now, though, +when she did remember it, she could not bring herself to offer it for +sale. Indeed, she longed to give it to pretty, kind Miss Rose. + +Miss Rose, though, settled the matter for her. "What a sweetly +pretty basket!" she exclaimed. She had noticed it in Huldah's hands, +and been attracted by its prettiness. "It is too dainty to put that +clumsy parcel into. Isn't it a new one?" + +"Yes, miss; I--I made it," stammered Huldah, shyly. + +"Did you really? What a clever little girl! Do you make them to +sell?" She had begun to understand the situation. + +"Yes, miss; but I--I--" + +"Will you make one for me? I should very much like to have one; I am +always needing baskets. What do they cost?" + +"This size is--eighteenpence," said Huldah, hesitatingly. +It suddenly seemed to her that it was a great deal of money to ask +for it. "You can have this one if you like, miss. It is new; I--I +brought it out to--to sell, if I could. I do want to get some money +to give to Mrs. Perry--she's been so good to Dick and me, and--and I +hadn't got anything to give her." Then, mistaking the cause of Miss +Carew's thoughtful silence, she added, nervously, "But perhaps you'd +rather have a new one made on purpose for you, miss. This one is +quite clean, but--" + +"Yes, yes, I'd like to have this one; I'd rather have this one, +child. I was only thinking." Then, as she put the money for it into +Huldah's hand, she asked gently, "Will you tell me your story, dear, +presently, when I come to see Mrs. Perry? I should so like to know +it. Then I shall be better able to understand, and perhaps I could +help, or do something. I must not keep you now, or Mrs. Perry may +begin to worry about you." + +"Yes, miss; I think I ought to go back now, and--and thank you, miss, +very much." Huldah was so excited she scarcely knew how to get her +words out. A great sense of relief and happiness filled her heart. +If Miss Rose would help her, she felt sure she would be safe and +happy; and Dick too. + +She almost danced back over the sunny road, in spite of the scorching +sun. Her heart was lighter, she had eighteenpence in her hand to +give to Mrs. Perry, and she had a feast for Dick. Life seemed +beautiful, and happy, and hopeful. Could it have been only yesterday +morning that she was in that dreadful caravan, bruised, hungry, +miserable, and desperate to escape? It seemed impossible! + +Suddenly, around the bend of the road ahead of her, appeared the head +and shoulders of a white horse,--and instantly all her world changed. +Her heart almost stood still with fright; then, with a low cry of +despair, she scrambled over the hedge and into a field on the other +side of it. "If I'd had Dick, I couldn't have done it!" she panted, +as she scuttled along under the hedge, bending low, almost like an +animal. At the corner of the field she paused. "If I can get over +this hedge, I shall be in the lane," she thought; but the sound of +wheels made her crouch low again; the horse was just passing. +Fascinated, yet terrified, Huldah peeped through the hedge, and saw-- +a quiet old farm-horse drawing a hay-cart, and the driver sound +asleep on the shafts! Oh, how her heart thrilled with relief at the +sight! If she had known what prayer was, she would have offered up a +thanksgiving then. As it was, she scrambled out over the hedge and +into the lane in a somewhat sobered mood. The thought of what might +have been, made her heart beat fast and her limbs tremble, and her +new life seemed more than ever beautiful. + +Miss Carew meanwhile had stood watching Huldah flitting like a little +dark shadow along the road. "What an odd little brown thing she is!" +she thought to herself, half-amused, half-sad. "I ain't nobody's +relative, I haven't got nobody but Dick! She seemed so cheerful +about it, too, it makes one feel that she did not mind the want. +I wonder--but I must go and hear more about the strange pair who seem +to have dropped out of the clouds to act as good fairies to poor +Martha Perry." + +When, about an hour later, Miss Carew reached the little cottage in +Woodend Lane, she found Huldah washing the floor of the little +kitchen, Dick lying in the garden gnawing his bone, and Martha Perry +lying in bed with eighteenpence on the table beside her, and a bunch +of flowers in a jug. Huldah had taken off Mrs. Perry's apron, for +that was far too clean and precious to be worn for such work, whereas +her old dress could not possibly be made shabbier. + +When she saw Miss Carew standing on the doorstep, she looked up with +a bright smile of welcome. "Please to walk in, miss," she said, +shyly. She had hoped to have had the kitchen washed and made quite +neat before the visitor arrived, but nothing could lessen her +pleasure at seeing Miss Rose. + +Without her white apron she looked browner than ever, and Miss Rose +felt as she looked at her a great desire to dress her in pretty, +clean, dainty things, a blue, or pink, or green cotton frock, with +big white apron and white collar. She said nothing, though, but, +stepping delicately over the clean floor, made her way up the stairs +alone to visit the invalid. + +Huldah had washed the kitchen and the tiled path to the gate, and +shaken the mats, and dusted the chairs and mantelpiece, and was +sitting down to rest her hot and weary little body, before Miss Rose +came down again. When she heard the footsteps on the stairs she +started up at once. + +"Huldah, you are a veritable little brownie," said Miss Rose, "not +only in appearance, but in everything." + +Huldah smiled, but looked puzzled; then she put her hands up to her +cheeks. "My hands is brown," she laughed, "but my face feels like +fire." + +"You should not work so hard while the heat is so great. In spite of +your red cheeks, you are a real brownie. Do you know what a brownie +is?" + +"No, miss," said Huldah, with a shake of her head. "I haven't ever +been anything but a gipsy--a basket-seller, I mean." + +"Well, basket-sellers can be brownies too, especially when they come +in to help and protect poor, helpless old people, and sell their +baskets to give the money to those who need it. Have you ever heard +of fairies, Huldah?" + +Huldah shook her head again, with a puzzled look in her eyes. +"No, miss." + +"Well, fairies and piskies and brownies were supposed to be very +little people who lived underground, or in flowers and shells, or in +rocks and mines, by day, and only came out at night. Some of them +only danced and played and enjoyed themselves, but others, the +piskies and brownies, loved to come at night and help the sad and ill +and poor, and those who were good and kind. They would come when +folks were asleep, and tidy their kitchen for them, or chop their +wood, and spin their flax. Sometimes, for the very poor, they would +bake a batch of bread or cakes, and have all ready for them; and when +the poor people came down in the morning, cold and weak and hungry, +wondering how they would manage to get any food to eat, they would +find the kitchen clean, wood and coal to make a fire, and food in the +larder. Sometimes, too, there would be a piece of money at the +bottom of a cup. Can't you imagine how people would bless and love +those dear little industrious brownies?" + +"Oh yes!" gasped Huldah, "and how I'd love to be able to do things +like that!" + +"I think you are one, dear, only you don't vanish by day, and you +don't work secretly." + +Huldah flushed with joy. Never in her sad, hard life had she felt so +happy. + +"I hope, though, that you are not like the little people in one +respect,--they were so very easily offended. Such a little thing +would rouse their anger, and when they were angry they did not mind +hurting those who had offended them, or even injuring them very +greatly." + +"Oh!" cried Huldah, looking disappointed. + +"Now, little brownie, before I go I want you to trust me, and to be +quite frank and open, and not be afraid, for I want to be your +friend. I want you to tell me all about yourself and your past life, +and where you came from, and why you and Dick are quite alone in the +world. Will you? I want to help you, and do what is best for both +of you, but until I know all I can do nothing." + +"You won't send us back to Uncle Tom, will you miss?" she cried, her +face paling, her eyes wide with fear. "I'll tell you everything,-- +I--I want to, but if you send us back to Uncle Tom, he'll pretty nigh +beat us to death, me and Dick, I know he will!" And at the mere +thought of it she broke down and sobbed so violently that it was long +before Miss Rose could soothe her, or calm the trembling of the +half-starved, bruised little body. + +She herself was shocked by the terror with which the mere thought of +returning to her uncle and aunt filled the child; and her heart ached +as she realised what she must have endured to bring her to such a +state, for it was plain to see that Huldah was naturally a spirited, +brave little creature. + +In her own mind, Miss Carew determined then and there that such +persons were not fit guardians for any child, and never with her +consent should Huldah be sent back to be again at their mercy. +Her life would be one of greater suffering even than before. +She shuddered at the thought of the blows and abuse and hunger which +would be her lot. The hunger for love and kindness, too, which, now +she had had a glimpse of both, would be even greater than her hunger +for food, and even less likely to be gratified. No--oh no!--Huldah +should never face such a fate, as long as she could help her. +She would seek the protection of the law first, she decided; but, in +the meantime, until the law was necessary, she herself would do her +best to make her life happy and useful and good. So much was due to +the child. + +Everyone whose life was happy, and full of love and peace and +comfort, owed some share of her blessings to those who had none,--and +surely here was one to whom a large share was owing. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +SURPRISES. + +The confession had been made, the story told, and, to her unspeakable +joy and relief, Huldah had not been sent to Uncle Tom or to the +workhouse. The latter fate she had dreaded even more than the +former, for if she had been sent to the workhouse she certainly would +have had to part with Dick; whereas, if she had gone back to the +caravan, she would have had both him and Charlie, and she would +rather endure hunger and beatings than lose Dick. + +She had, though, escaped both fates, and life for the time seemed to +Huldah almost too beautiful to be anything but a dream, for it had +been arranged that both she and Dick were to stay on for the present +with Martha Perry in the cottage. Since the night of the attempted +robbery Mrs. Perry had been very ailing and nervous. She could not +bear Dick to leave the house, when once twilight began to fall, and +she would not have stayed there at all at night without him. She had +grown to rely on the lanky yellow creature as though he had been a +man. No harm, she felt, could come to her or her hens, as long as +Dick was about the house or garden. + +She needed company and help too, so Huldah was to stay on, to keep +the cottage tidy, and run the errands, and be at hand, in case Mrs. +Perry was ill again. + +A tiny room, which was scarcely more than a cupboard or a 'lean-to' +jutting out over the scullery, was transformed into a bedroom for +Huldah. A little iron bed was sent down from the vicarage, and +sheets and blankets, a chair, and even a little square looking-glass +to hang on the wall. Huldah was in a perfect turmoil of glad +excitement. She thought her room perfectly beautiful, and from the +little window she could look right over the back garden, and away to +a great stretch of country beyond. + +"I don't know what to do for a chest of drawers for you," said Mrs. +Perry, thoughtfully; "you ought to have something to put your clothes +in." But Huldah pooh-poohed the idea. + +"Oh, I shan't want anything," she said, cheerfully; "you see I +haven't got any clothes." + +"Ah, but wait," said Mrs. Perry, knowingly, then stopped abruptly, +and said no more. Huldah did not understand. "If I can sell some +baskets, I'll be able to get an apron or two," she said, gravely. +"I'd like fine to have some, but I could keep them on my chair." + +Mrs. Perry smiled. "A box would be better. If I could get you a +nice big box, that would do for the time, wouldn't it?" + +"Oh yes, that would do grand," agreed Huldah, readily, "but don't +you worry about it, ma'am. I've got to make my baskets first and +sell them, and then I'll have the aprons to make; there won't be any +need to worry till I've got them," she added, in her old-fashioned +thoughtful way. "Wouldn't it be lovely, ma'am," she added, a moment +later, "to have a new frock, a whole real new one?" It took a moment +for such a possibility to even enter her head. "A blue one," she +added, revelling in it, now it had come, "and a blue hat, too! +Oh my!" She looked at Mrs. Perry with clasped hands and eyes full +of rapture. "I've never had a new frock or hat, not in all my life. +I suppose some people do?" + +"Yes, some do," agreed Mrs. Perry, gravely. Then a bright smile +passed over her face, and her eyes lighted up almost as eagerly as +Huldah's had, a moment before. Miss Carew's pony-cart had come +jingling down the lane, and had drawn up before the garden gate. + +Huldah sprang forward gladly to open the door, but Mrs. Perry was at +it first. "I will go," she said, hastily, "I understand Miss Rose +wants me." + +Huldah, puzzled and disappointed, did not move another step. +Through the open door she saw the dear fat pony, and longed to pat +him; she saw Miss Rose smiling and talking, and longed to be there to +receive one of her smiles. She saw her too lifting boxes and bundles +out of the pony-cart, and piling them in Mrs. Perry's arms. + +"Why can't I go out and help?" she asked herself. Everyone was out +there, even Dick, and she felt forlorn and left out. Then she saw +Miss Carew fasten the pony to the railings by his strap, and, picking +up the last of the boxes, follow Mrs. Perry up the garden. + +"Good morning, brownie," she said, brightly, and her voice and smile +drove the "left out" feeling from Huldah's heart in a moment. + +"I am trying to pretend to be a good fairy to-day, but I am too big +and clumsy for the part." + +Huldah gazed wonderingly, not understanding. + +"I wanted you to have some new clothes, brownie, so I waved my +wand,--and here they are." + +"New--clothes!" gasped Huldah, "for me!" She looked round, and +caught sight of Mrs. Perry's face, wreathed in glad smiles. +"But I never have any, miss, I was telling Mrs. Perry so as you drove +up. Old ones is plenty good enough for me. I should be afraid to +wear new ones, for fear of spoiling them." + +"Then you must learn to, little brownie. Oh, you have lots to learn +yet. There's only one thing I am sorry for, you won't be a brownie +any longer, nor yet a fairy dressed in green"; and with the same she +whisked the cover off the big box she had been carrying, and there +lay neatly folded three little plain print frocks, one lavender, one +pink, and one blue. + +Huldah cried aloud in sheer amazement. She had never seen anything +so pretty in her life. Underneath the frocks were some plain holland +aprons. Huldah began to fear it was all a beautiful dream, from +which she would awaken presently. + +"Open that other box, please, Mrs. Perry," said Miss Rose, briskly; +and in that one was a neat sun-hat, with a black ribbon bow on it, +and beneath the hat were two little pink cotton petticoats, some +calico garments, some stockings and handkerchiefs. + +Huldah by that time was in such a state of excitement, she could no +longer exclaim, she could hardly breathe, and when the last of the +parcels was opened, and disclosed a pair of good boots and a pair of +slippers, the tears which had gradually been welling up in her eyes +fell over, and with a sob she threw her arms round Mrs. Perry and +buried her face on her breast. + +"Oh, it's too much, it's too much, I can't take it all! I can't do +anything for anybody, and I can't pay for nothing. I haven't got any +money, and you mustn't give me such a lot--" + +"Huldah, dear," said Miss Rose, softly, laying a gentle hand on the +little girl's shaking shoulders, "You have what is better than money. +You have a kind, willing heart, and a wise little head, and these are +of more value than money, for no money can buy them, but you have +given them both to us all this time, asking no return. And you know, +dear, brownies are always repaid in this way. You can soon pay for +these things, by taking care of Mrs. Perry, doing all you can to help +her, and making her happy and comfortable. Then, with your +basket-making you will be able to earn enough to clothe yourself in +the future, and perhaps help others as well. So don't cry, child, +but turn round and smile, and let us see how nice you look in one of +your new frocks." + +Huldah swung round eagerly, her cheeks flushed, her eyes sparkling +with happiness. "Oh yes, yes, so I can. I'll be able to help +by-and-by! Oh, Miss Rose, you are so kind to me, I don't hardly +know what to say, it seems as if it can't be real, its all too +beautiful." + +"It isn't too beautiful, brownie. Life can be as beautiful as any +dream, even more so. It all depends upon ourselves, and what we make +it for each other." + +"Oh, I will try to make it beautiful for those who are so good to +me," thought Huldah, with almost passionate determination, as she +arrayed herself in some of her new clothes; and her heart beat fast +and her spirits rose, as she dreamed beautiful dreams of her coming +life. + +All this had happened the day before, and now Huldah stood in the +garden in her blue print frock and holland apron, her hair well +brushed and shining, her face full of sober gladness. On the line +hung the old brown frock, which had been washed and spread out to +dry. + +"Life can be as beautiful as any dream, even more beautiful. It all +depends upon ourselves, and what we make of it for each other." +As she stood looking away from the garden to the quiet sunny stretch +of country beyond, the words echoed and re-echoed through her brain, +"What we make of it for each other." + +"Why, of course," she thought to herself, "the world is just the +same, the sun and the breeze, the earth and the sky, just the same as +they were when I was living with Uncle Tom and Aunt Emma. 'Tis Miss +Rose and Mrs. Perry who have made it all seem so beautiful. +Just fancy two people making such a difference. I wish, oh, I wish I +could make something seem beautiful to somebody, just as they have +for me." + +The busy hens had ceased their scratching, to gaze wonderingly at +the little blue figure standing so still in the path near them. +Dick sat in front of her, and stared up at her with perplexed, uneasy +eyes. It was unlike his little mistress to be dressed as she was, +and to be so quiet. A little whimper of distress broke from him, he +could bear the silence no longer. The sound roused Huldah from her +reverie. "Why, Dick, what's the matter?" she cried, throwing her arm +round him, and kissing the top of his head. "Why, there's nothing to +fret about now, it's all lovely. You and me have got a home, and +we've got work to do, and oh, Dick, we've got to do a lot, to make up +for all that's been done for us; and we'll do it, won't we, old man! +We'll never mind what we do, as long as it's to help somebody." + +Dick wriggled and wagged his tail in joyful assent, and barked +loudly, to show how much he appreciated the arrangement. + +Mrs. Perry came to the door, looking down the garden, to see if they +were there. "Huldah," she called, "Huldah! I want you to go into the +village to get some tea; we have run out, and we want some sugar, +too." + +Huldah turned and ran quickly into the house. She was quite ready to +go, but in her heart of hearts she always shrank a little from going +into the village; the people stared at her so, and asked all manner +of questions, which she found it difficult to answer. + +A little girl and a dog cannot arrive in a village as though they had +dropped out of the sky, without, of course, people wanting to know +who they are, and where they come from, and why they came, and with +whom they lived before, and with whom they are staying now, and how +long they are going to stay. + +Mrs. Perry had adopted Huldah as her niece, but a number of people in +the village did not really believe she was so, and, having very +little to do or think about, they were anxious to find out, and +Huldah, when she did go amongst them, found it very trying. + +Dick did not find it trying, though, he loved a walk, no matter in +what direction it lay, and questions and curiosity did not trouble +him at all. He looked wistfully from Huldah to Mrs. Perry, begging +with his eyes that he might be allowed to go too. + +"Yes, take him," said Mrs. Perry; "it is only three o'clock, and +you'll be back by four. I don't mind being alone in broad daylight +like this." So Huldah, not a little pleased with her appearance in +her pretty blue frock and new hat, started off, basket in hand, and +Dick, very proud and pleased, trotted off beside her. + +It was not until she drew near the village that she began to wonder +what the people would think of the change in her appearance, and a +great shyness seized her, and reluctance to go on and meet their +looks of surprise, and their open remarks. The feeling grew and grew +with every step she took, until she had begun to wonder if she could +ever bring herself to face them, when suddenly her mind was lifted +off her fears by the extraordinary behaviour of Dick. + +Growling savagely, his hair rising stiffly along his back, he was +walking more and more slowly, and drawing in closer and closer to +Huldah, as his habit was when he felt he must protect her. + +"Why, Dick," she cried, puzzled and half-alarmed, "what is it old +man? whatever is the matter?" Then, her eyes following the direction +of his, she saw, standing by a gate deep-set in the hedge, two young +men. To her they seemed harmless enough, just two ordinary-looking +strangers, and if it had not been for Dick's behaviour, she would +have passed them by without a thought. But evidently they were not +harmless in Dick's eyes, for his growls and snarls grew louder and +more forbidding the nearer he approached. + +The men looked surprised and frightened, and, like most frightened +people, they lost their tempers. "Hold in your dog, can't you?" +cried one. "You've no right to keep a brute like that." + +At the sound of the man's voice Huldah felt a shock of surprise, and +Dick's anger increased alarmingly. Where had she heard that voice +before? She was sure it sounded familiar. + +Without replying, she laid her hand on Dick's collar, and held him +close to her. + +The other man grew more threatening. "I'll go to the p'lice, and +tell 'em you've got a savage dog that ought to be shot, 'cause he +isn't safe!" he shouted out, furious with anger and fear. + +"He isn't savage, he's good-tempered," Huldah burst forth, at last. +"He won't hurt anybody unless they was up to no good, and--and +deserved it." She was very near the verge of tears, but she felt she +must not break down then. + +"Call him good-tempered, do you? We wasn't doing anything but just +standing here, and he come along ready to fly at our throats!" + +Huldah could not deny the man's statement, nor could she explain. +The men certainly seemed to be doing no harm, and Dick's behaviour +was very extraordinary. All she could do was to clutch his collar +with all her strength, and hurry away as fast as she could go. +All thoughts of the village people's looks and remarks were gone from +her mind now. She was shaking with nervousness and excitement and +fears for Dick, and could think of nothing else. + +How she did her errands she never knew, for the scare had driven +almost everything else out of her head, her one idea being to hurry +home as quickly as possible, and get herself and Dick into safety. +The men were strangers to her, and she hoped they would never find +out where she and Dick lived. + +All the way back until she got past the gateway she still clutched +Dick by the collar, much to his surprise and annoyance, for there was +much to interest him on a walk like that, and he had quite forgotten +his anger and the strangers who had aroused it. + +When they had got safely past the dreaded gateway, Huldah's fears +calmed down a little. + +The men had departed, and all the road ahead of them looked empty. + +"You may run now, Dickie," she said, with a sigh of relief, "and +don't go getting into any more rows, for I can't bear it." + +Dick, with a joyous flick of his tail and a bark of delight, bounded +forward delightedly, and Huldah, free at last to attend to other +things, looked over her parcels anxiously, to see if she had +forgotten anything, for she had really only had half her wits about +her when she was in the shop. + +"Tea, sugar, box of matches--" A sharp yell made her look up +quickly, her heart seeming to stand still with terror. It was Dick's +voice, and Dick was in the middle of the road rolling about and +crying out sharply, in evident pain. + +"Dick! Dick! Come here, what has happened? Oh, Dick!" she called +frantically, as she flew to his side; but before she could reach him +a big stone came whizzing from the hedge, and another sharp cry of +pain showed that poor Dick had been struck again. + +"Oh, Dick, Dick dear! what have they done to you?" she cried, +dropping on her knees in the dust beside him. The dog tried to +struggle to his feet, but could not; every movement caused him to +yelp with pain. He looked up at her imploringly, and licked her +hand, as she put her arm under him to raise him, and the pain and +helplessness in his loving eyes made her tears overflow. What was +she to do? He was too big and heavy for her to carry all the way +home. She looked about her helplessly, but there was no one in +sight, or likely to be at that time of the day; only those two +cowards hiding behind the hedge; for it had not taken Huldah long to +guess who Dick's assailants were. + +From time to time Dick gave a little whimper, and Huldah lifted his +head upon her lap; but she was almost afraid to touch him, lest she +should cause him more pain. How long, she wondered miserably, would +it be before help came? Would those cowards throw more stones? +It was horrible to stay there alone with that cowardly heartless pair +hidden behind the hedge, and the feeling that at any moment more +stones might be hurled at Dick. To protect him she placed herself +between him and the hedge. + +At last, at long last, when she had begun to wonder anxiously if +night would fall and still find her there; and to think how +frightened Mrs. Perry must be getting already, the sound of wheels +struck on her ears, and it seemed to her the most welcome sound she +had ever heard in her life. + +The cowards heard it too, apparently, for "Come on, Bill," called a +low voice, in the direction of the hedge. Huldah gave a great start +of surprise. Where had she heard that voice and those very words +before? Why, of course, it was all plain now. That first night at +the cottage, the barn, the fowl-robbers!--it all came back to her +with a rush. No wonder Dick had been angry when he saw them again,-- +and she, in her stupidity, had blamed him for showing temper. +Dear clever, wise, brave Dick! He, too, recognised the voice now, +and growled again with all his former spirit. Huldah's indignation +rose beyond control. "Oh, you cowards!" she called out in a shrill +angry voice, "I know you now. You came robbing a hen-roost, and the +dog drove you off. You ran away from him, but he bit your legs. +No wonder he growled when he saw you again. He knew what you were. +I wish now I hadn't held him in. I wish I'd let him go at you, then +p'raps it would have been you lying in the road howling, not him. +Oh, you thieves and cowards!" + +Her voice rang out clear and loud, but how much the men heard no one +will ever know. Probably they did not stay to hear much, for the +last thing they wanted was to meet people, or to run any risk of +being seen. + +The wheels drew nearer, then the vicarage pony-carriage came round +the bend. For one moment Miss Carew stared bewildered at the group +in the middle of the road, the little blue-clad girl, the yellow dog, +and the basket of groceries all on the ground in the dust together; +then she saw that something was wrong, and sprang out quickly to +their assistance. + +"Why, brownie! What has happened?" she cried, alarmed. "Dick, oh, +poor old doggie, whatever have you been doing?" + +Well she might ask, for poor Dick was covered with dust. He had a +lump on his head, and a cut on his shoulder, and he could not help +whining, as he made another effort to rise to greet her. + +Then, amidst sobs and tears Huldah told her story, and Dick meanwhile +looked up at her, a little protecting whimper escaping him from time +to time. Now that the strain was over, and relief had come, Huldah +broke down completely for a time. She was trembling in every limb, +and was white to the lips. Miss Rose saw that the best thing for +them both was to get them home as quickly as possible. + +Half lifting Huldah, she helped her into the carriage. Then she put +Dick in across her lap, and her basket at her feet, and finally got +in herself. + +"Now then," she said, cheeringly, "we shall soon be home, and Dick +shall have his bruises bathed and his poor leg bound up. Don't cry +any more, brownie, or you will frighten Mrs. Perry, and we mustn't do +that on any account, must we? Dick is going to be very brave--he +always is--and you are going to be as plucky as Dick. See there, he +is better already," as the invalid gave a bark of excitement, at the +sight of some sparrows in the road. + +Huldah smiled, then laughed. If Dick was all right, nothing else +seemed to matter. Dick turned his head and smiled up at her, to +assure her he was better; and so, on the whole, it was quite a +cheerful little party which drew up a few moments later before Mrs. +Perry's gate. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +HULDAH GOES SHOPPING. + +Though she made light of it to Mrs. Perry, the fright she had +received kept Huldah in a very nervous state for many a day to come. +She lived always in a constant dread of some harm coming to poor +Dick, and she was never really easy if he was out of her sight. +By day, her eyes were here, there, and everywhere, fearful that +somewhere those two dreaded figures might be lurking about, waiting +to attack or steal her Dick; and at night she lay awake hour after +hour, thinking she heard sounds in the house or the garden. +Half-a-dozen times she would get out of her bed, shaking with +nervousness, yet unable to lie still, and peer out, to see if they +really were getting over the garden wall or not, and always she +longed for the night to be over. She felt safer when she was up and +about, with Dick under her eye. + +Miss Carew grew quite troubled about her--about them both, in fact, +for Huldah's nervousness, though she tried to keep it to herself, +could scarcely be concealed from Mrs. Perry. + +Something must be done to distract the child's mind, she felt,--but +what? And then, as though to solve the difficulty for her, came an +order for half a dozen of Huldah's pretty baskets. + +No other cure she could have found would have been half so good. +Huldah's spirits went up to a pitch of delight such as she had never +known before. She was full of gratitude and of eagerness to begin, +and if Miss Rose had not been able to drive her in to Belmouth that +very day to buy the raffia, there was, as Miss Rose said, no knowing +what might have happened. + +Huldah liked the work, and she had done so little lately that the +thought of going back to it was a pleasure in itself, but best of all +was the thought of what she would do with the money when she got it. +That thought kept her in one thrill of joy. + +She was to have eighteenpence each for the baskets. Nine whole +shillings! It seemed to Huldah a perfect fortune, and she would +spend the whole of it on Mrs. Perry. She would get her in a store of +coal, in readiness for the winter; then they would be able to have +good fires, and not have to be counting the cost all the time. + +That was the first decision. After a time, though, that seemed +rather an uninteresting purchase. All her money would be gone at +once, and almost before she had realised that she had got it. +She next decided to get a large piece of bacon, two sacks of coal, +and a sack of corn for the fowls; but this plan was changed again for +others. Every day Huldah thought out some new and delightful +purchases, and what she would have bought finally nobody knows, for +Miss Rose and Mrs. Perry put an end to all her schemes, by insisting +that the money was to be spent on herself. She was to buy a new +winter coat for herself, they decided, and Huldah had to give in. +She was bitterly disappointed at first; it had never entered her head +to spend her money on anyone but Mrs. Perry, it was for her only that +she had wanted it. + +Autumn was well advanced now, the mornings and nights were cold, and +the days not really hot, and Huldah soon began to realise that she +did need a warm garment of some sort, for she had only her thin print +frocks, and a little shoulder shawl that Mrs. Perry had given her. + +So, as soon as she had got her nine shillings in her pocket, Miss +Rose came with the pony-cart and drove her in to Belmouth to hunt +through the shops in search of a coat or a cloak which would not cost +more than nine shillings, and at the same time be neat and warm, +and--at least, so Huldah hoped,--pretty. + +Such a day as that was to Huldah! Such a day as had never come into +her life before. First of all there was the drive, four whole miles +with Miss Rose in her dear little pony-carriage, and actually wearing +one of Miss Rose's old golf cloaks wrapped snugly round her. The sun +shone and the birds sang, and the air was exhilarating with the first +touch of frost; the trees glowed warmly in their autumn dress, and +the hedges too. + +Huldah was speechless with excitement, when, after leaving Rob, the +pony, at a livery-stable, she followed Miss Carew into the big +draper's shop where the purchase was to be made. She was half +frightened too, the place was so large, and there were so many people +there, who seemed to have nothing to do but stare about them. +It was quite an ordeal to walk behind the shop-walker between the +long lines of counters with so many people looking over them at her. +She kept very close indeed to Miss Rose, and tried to believe that it +was at Miss Rose they were staring, and not at herself. + +Then at last they came to the jacket department, and before she knew +what she was doing a very tall young woman was standing beside her +with a bright scarlet coat in her hands, and actually holding it out +for Huldah to try on. + +"Oh, that will not do," interposed Miss Rose, sharply. She was sorry +that Huldah should have seen it, it was so attractive, though +unsuitable, and would probably make all the others seem dull and +ugly. But Huldah knew too that it was quite unsuitable for her +purpose. What she wanted was a serviceable garment for Sundays and +week-days, wet weather and fine; she would have loved though to have +it, and for years after, one of her ambitions was to have a bright +red coat in the winter. + +Miss Rose strolled away with the girl, after that, to say a word to +her in private, and to try to help her pick out something suitable; +and very soon they came back again with black coats, blue coats, +dark green and grey coats, and one after the other Huldah tried them +on, and one after the other they were thrown aside as useless. +The shoulders came to her elbows nearly, and the cuffs beyond her +finger-tips, while the collars refused to come anywhere near her +neck! It was most disappointing. + +"She is very narrow, and thin for her height," remarked the girl, +apologetically, as one after the other the coats hung off Huldah's +shoulders like loose sacks. "I wonder if you wouldn't find a cloak +more satisfactory for her. Fit does not matter so much with a cloak. +Now this one is a very good one; it cost fifteen shillings at first, +but it is reduced very much, because it is a little out of fashion, +and slightly shop-worn," and she held up a warm brown cloak with big +bone buttons, and, oh! joy of joys in Huldah's eyes, a hood lined +with blue! "Hoods aren't being worn now," she went on; but Huldah +heard no more. + +"Not worn! Out of fashion!" All her life Huldah had longed for a +cloak with a hood! In a rapture she felt the cloak being placed on +her shoulders, and saw the girl button the big horn buttons, and in a +tumult of shy delight she looked over herself, and then up at Miss +Carew. + +"That fits her very well," said the girl, in a tone of relief. + +Miss Rose read Huldah's eager face, and almost nervously enquired the +price. It would be such a blow if it should be beyond them. + +"It is reduced to eight shillings, madam," said the girl, who was +almost as anxious to sell as they were to buy. "It is good cloth, a +real bargain." + +"Then we must have it, mustn't we, brownie?" cried Miss Rose, +promptly. "It may not be as warm as a coat, but it certainly fits +her and suits her. Why, we have turned you into a brownie again, +Huldah! Are you pleased with your purchase?" + +"Oh yes, miss! I think it is lovely, I like it better than any!" +gasped Huldah, excitedly. She could scarcely believe yet that she +was not in a dream, or that it could really be she, Huldah Bate, to +whom all this was happening. + +The young attendant stooped to unbutton the cloak, to take it away +and wrap it in a parcel, but Miss Carew stopped her. "I think she +may as well wear it home," she said. "It is cold, and it will be the +easiest way of carrying it." + +"Yes, madam. I will give you the bill." + +When the stranger's back was turned, Huldah found her tongue. +"Oh, Miss Rose, isn't it lovely! It's so warm, I can feel it +already, and--and oh, I can't believe it is mine!" + +"I am glad you like it, dear. Now get out your purse, and pay the +bill." + +That was indeed a proud moment! From the depth of her pocket, and +from beneath the wonderful cloak, Huldah produced a small, rather +shabby purse, an old one of Miss Carew's, and from its pockets she +produced all her worldly wealth. Her fingers trembled so, she could +scarcely separate the coins, but at last it was all managed; and, +still in a maze of delight, she found herself walking out of the shop +behind Miss Carew, clutching her thin little purse, in which reposed +one solitary shilling, and proudly wearing her own purchase. + +To have walked out in it between that double fire of staring eyes, +would have been an ordeal she could scarcely have endured, if it had +not been that her thoughts were more occupied with her shilling than +with herself, for with it she was going to buy something to take home +to Mrs. Perry, and what that something was to be was a matter for +grave consideration. + +However, with Miss Rose's help, the money was at last laid out on +some tea and some biscuits, and, greatest treat of all, a smoked +haddock, to make a feast for the tea which was to crown the end of +that glorious afternoon. + +The tea and the fish and some of the biscuits were for Mrs. Perry, +and some of the biscuits were for Dick, as his share of the +rejoicing, but for Miss Rose Huldah had nothing, and that was the one +cloud on that happy, wonderful day. It was rather a big cloud, too, +for she did long to do something for her, to show how grateful she +was, and the thought of it kept her very quiet and grave for a part +of the drive home. + +"Are you tired, brownie?" asked Miss Rose, presently, noticing her +silence. + +Huldah looked up with grateful, happy eyes. "Oh no, miss. I am too +happy to be tired! and it's lovely to feel the warmth of my cloak +coming in to my shoulders. I think it is so beautiful. Do you like +it, miss?" + +"Very much indeed, and I like to have our brownie in brown again; it +seems just right!" + +Huldah laughed happily. "I wish"--she began, then stopped, as a +sudden idea flashed on her mind. Why, of course, she could be a real +brownie, and by getting up very early she could, without anyone's +knowing anything about it, make one of her prettiest and nicest +baskets for Miss Rose! Her spirits went up, and up with pleasure at +the thought all her gravity left her, and when at last they drew up +before the cottage in Woodend Lane, her face was one big radiant +smile. Mrs. Perry was at the door as soon as they had reached the +gate. + +"Oh my!" she exclaimed, throwing up her hands with pleasure and +surprise at the sight of Huldah walking up the path actually wearing +her new purchase. "Oh my, how nice we do look! Now, I do call that +just perfect!" + +The child's face was glowing with health and happiness, her eyes were +beaming with affection, and eager for sympathy. Could she possibly +be the little ill-used, runaway waif who had come to her door +starving, only so short a time ago? Mrs. Perry asked herself the +question as she looked at her, and in her heart thanked God for +sending her this blessing, this chance to help another; and for +staying her tongue when she had felt tempted to bid her begone. + +Across her mind too flashed the thought of what might have happened +to Huldah, if she had turned her away that night. Would it have been +to the workhouse, or the jail she would have drifted,--this bonnie, +healthy, smiling child? But her mind was drawn back to healthier +thoughts by Huldah's little brown work-worn hands. + +"Don't you like it, ma'am?" she was asking, troubled by the gravity +on Mrs. Perry's face. + +"Like it!" she cried, coming back to the present with glad relief. +"I should think I did, and you in it, too, dear!" and for the first +time in her life she stooped and kissed the little maiden, and Huldah +returned the kiss with all the warmth of her affectionate heart +welling up to her lips. + +It was the first time anyone had kissed her since her mother died, +and the first time that she had kissed anyone but Dick and Charlie. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +A MEETING AND AN ALARM. + +Autumn had come now; late autumn with winter not so very far off, +and the days were growing very short and dark; so short and dark +that there was no chance of working early in the morning before +she went downstairs, nor after she went to bed at night, except +by candlelight, and she could not, of course, burn candles. +So Mrs. Perry had to be taken into the secret, and Huldah worked in +comfort by the fire in the afternoons, after she had done her +housework. + +And how she did love those cosy afternoons, and how the memory of +them lived with her all her life after! The wind and rain storming +outside, the snug little kitchen, where they sat so cosy and warm, +Dick lying contentedly on his rug, Mrs. Perry sitting in her armchair +by the fire, reading aloud from one of her few but precious books. +They were old, those stories, but to Huldah they were more beautiful +than any she ever came across later on. + +Then came the glad day when the basket was completed. Huldah had +taken more pains with it than with any she had ever made, and her +care was rewarded, for a prettier, daintier basket no one could wish +to possess. As soon as it was finished there arose the great +question of how, and when, and where the gift should be made. + +"I want it to seem as if it comes from a brownie," Huldah insisted, +eagerly. "I couldn't make it at night, as the brownies would have +done, but couldn't I leave it, as they left their gifts, just where +it is sure to be found? It would be much nicer, wouldn't it? +Miss Rose would laugh, and be so pleased. I am sure she would like +to have it that way." + +At last, after a great deal of thought, and a great many plans had +been made and set aside as not quite suitable, it was decided that +Huldah should get up early in the morning and walk to the vicarage, +then creeping softly into the stable, she would tie the parcel on to +Rob's back, or to his manger, where he could not reach it. +Miss Carew always went out early, to feed her hens, and to take Rob +some bread and sugar, so she would be sure to see it. + +Another plan was for Huldah to creep into Miss Rose's sitting-room +when the maid's back was turned, and leave the parcel on the table; +but they did not like this plan very well, for one thing, Huldah +did not like creeping stealthily in and out of the house, and +for another, Miss Rose might not find the basket for hours. +She was always so busy about the garden and Rob and the hen-houses +that she might not go to her room till quite late in the day. + +No; Rob, they decided, must be the medium, and Huldah thrilled with +excitement. + +When she went to bed that night, she was so full of fears that she +would not wake in good time in the morning that she tried to keep +awake all night. But, after a while the time seemed so long, the +night so endless, and the morning so far off, she longed to be able +to go to sleep, to bring it nearer more quickly, and while she was +wondering if the kitchen clock had really struck ten, or was it +really six, and time to get up, she fell asleep, and the next thing +she was conscious of was Mrs. Perry calling her, and the old clock in +the kitchen striking six as hard as it could strike. + +"You dress and get ready, and I will light the fire," she said; and +when Huldah presently went downstairs, the kitchen was bright with +lamp and firelight, the kettle was singing gaily, and Mrs. Perry was +already warming the tea-pot. + +By the time they had had their tea and Huldah was ready to start, it +was already growing light out of doors. The night had been cold, and +there was a thin layer of ice on the puddles in the road, and a +nipping little wind made Huldah glad to wrap her old shawl snugly +about her,--the shawl which Mrs. Perry had lent her, to save the new +cloak. Dick bounded along delightedly; it was not often now that he +had a walk at that hour of the morning, and he rejoiced in every inch +of it; though he was rather hurt when, on reaching the vicarage gate, +Huldah took a piece of string from her pocket and fastened it to his +collar. It was only his perfect trust in his mistress that enabled +him to bear such an indignity, and he followed her full of wonder as +to what was to happen next. + +Keeping on the grass by the side of the drive, they made their way +noiselessly round to the courtyard and stables. No one was about out +of doors, Huldah rejoiced to see, but guessed that Dinah was already +up and in the kitchen, for smoke was coming out of a chimney. + +With Dick keeping obediently close to her side, she timidly opened +the stable door and crept swiftly in. Rob knew her well enough by +this time, and only looked mildly surprised at her appearance. +He had a horse-cloth over him, fastened round him by a girth, and +while he scrunched up the sugar Huldah had brought him she secured +her basket on his back by the girth, as fast as her nervous fingers +could manage it. "Miss Rose can't help seeing it there," she +thought, delightedly, "and Rob can't harm it before she comes." +She stood for a second gazing in sheer joy at her handiwork, the +dainty basket and the big white label tied to it, with "From a +grateful Brownie," written in large letters on it. Then, fearful of +being discovered, she hurried quickly out, fastened the door behind +her, and with Dick still close at her heels raced away as quietly as +ever she could, and never paused until she had reached the top of +Woodend Lane once more. + +Stephen Lea, the groom, had been ill, and was late that morning, and +Miss Rose reached the stable first. Almost at once her eye was +caught by something unusual on the pony's back, but in the dim light +of the stable she could not make out what it was. + +"Why, Rob," she exclaimed, laughing, "what have you been doing? +Where have you been to pick up a load?" Then she searched his side, +and made out what the load really was. "Oh, that dear child!" she +cried, as she read the inscription written in a big round hand on a +sheet of paper, and her eyes grew misty, "From a grateful Brownie." +"Now when could she have brought that, and tied it there, I wonder. +Rob, you bad boy, why don't you tell me all about it? You know you +have been gobbling down sugar this morning, greedy little creature +that you are; but I should never have known it from you, if I hadn't +seen the crumbs. You are the best secret-keeper I know, but I do +wish you could tell me about this, Rob dear." + +She looked at the pretty basket with eyes full of tenderness and +admiration. "Dear, kind little brownie!" she whispered softly. + +Later that day, Rob, still looking as though he did not know what a +secret or a brownie was, trotted down Woodend Lane, and drew up as a +matter of course before the cottage gate. Indeed, his feelings would +have been quite hurt if he had been told that he must not stop there, +but must go further down the lane. + +Huldah heard his steps, and saw him arrive, watched Miss Rose get +down from the carriage and fasten Rob to the railings,--then, in a +sudden access of shyness, flew out of the back door and down to the +very bottom of the garden. + +There Miss Rose found her, a few minutes later. "Huldah," she said, +smiling, her pretty blue eyes full of pleasure, and gratitude, and +affection, "I found on Rob's back this morning, left there by the +brownies, a basket so pretty and so dainty that everyone who has seen +it wants one like it. It was a brownie's basket, and as you are the +only one of them that I know who can do work like it, I have come to +bring you the order." + +"Oh!" gasped Huldah, forgetting her shyness in her delight. + +"I am going to call them 'Brownie baskets,' to distinguish them from +any others; but the reason shall be our secret, shall it not? +Thank you very, very much little brownie, for your sweet gift," and +she stooped down and kissed Huldah on the forehead. + +The child's eyes filled with tears, glad, grateful tears. "Oh, Miss +Rose," she exclaimed, "I am so happy, I don't know what to do; it is +all too lovely. I am always afraid I shall wake up and find it a +dream." + +"It is no dream, brownie; so long as you go on trying to make others +happy you will find your own happiness is quite real. Happiness lies +in helping others and bringing sunshine into their lives. You will +have some disappointments. It will seem as though some people do not +want to be made happy, others would not admit it if they were. +Such people need a lot of patience shown them, but you must go on +trying. There is always something to be done for someone. You must +come indoors, though, or you will be taking cold, and we cannot +afford to have that happen." + +Huldah followed Miss Rose along the path, hardly conscious that her +feet touched the earth. Her heart was throbbing with joy, her eyes +were dancing. Dick followed his mistress, his tail wagging +contentedly, he knew by instinct why she was happy, and his senses +told him that she had been very happy ever since they started for +that beautiful walk that morning. + +"I am going to begin the work to-morrow morning," Huldah said, +eagerly, to Mrs. Perry that evening, as they sat over their supper +before the fire. "I expect Miss Rose would like to have the baskets +soon, and they will take a little while to make." + +Alas, though, when morning came, Huldah's eagerness received a sharp +check. She had only the least little bit of raffia left, and to get +more she would have to go into Belmouth. + +"What a pity!" she cried, disappointedly; "it will take hours to +walk there and back, and I meant to have done such a lot to-day!" +She could have wept with vexation. Belmouth was four miles off, and +one of the hilliest four miles imaginable. But it was not this that +daunted her, it was the length of time that she would be kept from +her work. However, there was no good done by worrying over it, or by +delaying, so, as soon as she had done her housework, and dinner was +over and the dishes put away, she put on her new brown cloak, and +with Dick for company she started. + +They stepped out briskly, for the days were short now, and Mrs. Perry +grew anxious if they were long away, and nervous if she were left +alone when the light began to fade. They stepped along so briskly +that by half-past two they were in the town, and making their way to +the shop where Miss Rose had bought the raffia before. The purchase +took a little time, for the shopman had not enough out, and had to +send to the stock-room to get some. But, now that she was there, +Huldah did not mind that. She loved watching the people coming in +and making their purchases; it was all so lively and new and +interesting. The shopkeeper, who had seen her come there with Miss +Carew, and had heard about her basket-making, was nice and friendly +too. He seemed to take quite an interest in her work, and promised +to get her some orders if he could, so that altogether Huldah came +out of that shop feeling extremely happy, and not in the least sorry +that she had had to come. + +"I feel almost too happy," she was saying to herself, as she stepped +out into the street, where the setting sun was flooding the place +with radiance, a dazzling, rosy radiance that shone right in Huldah's +eyes, and blinded her to all about her. + +"It is all so lovely," she added, "it seems as if it can't be true, +as if I can't be really me"--a sudden sharp, excited barking on the +part of Dick made her turn quickly. She turned her back to the sun, +and the dazzle went out of her eyes, and with it the sunshine from +her life,--or so it seemed to her,--for there, drawn up by the +opposite pavement was her uncle's van, and old Charlie! and, as +Huldah knew, the owners themselves would not be far off! + +Dick had recognised Charlie--that was the meaning of his excitement, +and therein lay the greatest danger, for he was barking and leaping +about the old horse in such delight that everyone's attention was +attracted, and it was only a question as to how soon he would attract +Uncle Tom's attention too. Huldah's own heart yearned to go over and +speak to the dear old horse, but her fears were stronger. She felt +half paralysed with terror, and for a moment her wits so forsook her +that she did not know what to do. Then inspiration came to her, and +she turned and hurried away as fast as her feet could carry her. +She did not run, she was trembling too much for that, she dared not +whistle for Dick, for that would have called attention to them both. +She could only walk away, and trust to his following her; but even as +she went she heard a dreaded voice shout out excitedly, "Why there's +our Dick! Dick, Dick, come here"--but at the sound of it Dick felt +the old fear in his heart leap to life, and with his old instinct to +fly from his master, he dashed along the street as swiftly as his +long legs could carry him, and was very quickly out of sight. +So swiftly did he race that he shot past Huldah without recognising +her, and her heart beat faster with thankfulness, for the further +away he got the better, and it was better for both of them that they +should not be seen together. + +How she got over those four long miles home Huldah never knew. +Her head swam, her legs trembled, indeed, her whole body shook with +nervous dread, so that, in spite of her anxiety to get home quickly, +she had to stand still many times, to quiet the beating of her heart, +and get breath to go on again. + +Half a mile out of the town she found Dick, running wildly backwards +and forwards looking for her, and troubled and ashamed at having lost +her. She wished, though, that he had gone all the way home, for if +they were followed and seen together she would be recognised +instantly, and she would have no power of escape such as Dick had +had. + +She took her hat off, and drew her hood over her head, but with Dick +beside her nothing would save her, she knew. So slowly had she come +that darkness was already beginning to fall. Seeing this, she tried +to hurry on more quickly, and once within sight of their own lane +relief gave her strength to run. In the lane the twilight was +deeper, and already Mrs. Perry, growing nervous, had lighted the lamp +in the kitchen. The warm glow streamed out on poor frightened +Huldah, and welcomed her. At the sound of her footsteps the house +door flew open, and Mrs. Perry came out on the step to meet her; but +instead of her usual smile and greeting, Huldah fell exhausted into +her arms and burst into a passion of bitter sobs. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +TRACKED DOWN. + +"I tell you that there's my dog! He was stolen from me, and I'm +going to 'ave the law of whoever's got 'im." + +Tom Smith went blustering back into the public-house, almost +speechless with anger. To have been so near Dick and then to have +missed him, was almost more than he could bear. If he had known he +had missed Huldah too, he would have been even more angry. + +"You can't have the law of people for taking in a stray," remarked +one man, quietly. They none of them liked Tom Smith, and most of +them wished he would go on his way and leave them to their quiet +gossip. + +"Perhaps he ran away," suggested another, drily. + +Tom Smith glowered at him sullenly. "What should he run away for?" +he asked, sharply. + +"Well, that's more'n I can say," answered the man, calmly. +"It seems to be his way, by the look of him just now. Dogs do it +sometimes, when they think they'd like a change." + +"I know he didn't run away; he was stolen, and I'd give five +shillings to know who'd got him, and where he lives." + +He did not mean what he said, and he never intended to part with five +shillings, but he did want to find Dick, and he meant to do it, too. +For once he was taken at his word. + +"Hand over your five bob. I can tell you where the dog lives." +The voice came from over by the window, and all eyes were turned in +that direction. A young man, a stranger to all there, was standing +leaning eagerly towards Tom Smith, his hand held out. He had been +sitting silent until this moment, but listening attentively to all +that was being said. + +Tom Smith turned towards him, looking very foolish; and, as usual, +when he felt small he began to bluster. "Likely tale I'm going to +hand over five shillings now! How do I know you knows anything about +the dog; what one I means, or where he lives, or anything at all +about him? Besides, I don't give the five bob unless I actually gets +hold of the dog." + +"I tell you I do know him; he's a yaller dog, a long-legged thing +with a short tail, and he goes about with a girl, and he's called +Dick. I shouldn't have said I know'd him if I didn't." + +"A girl!" Tom Smith's cruel eyes lightened with eagerness. +"Have you seen a girl with him? a kid about twelve-year old? +When? Now? Are you sure? Why, 'twas she that stole him!" + +"What should a child of that age want to steal a dog for?" asked one +of the other men. + +"Better ask her, if you want to know!" retorted the other, rudely. +"I'll give 'ee another shilling if you can help me lay my hands on +the both of them." + +"Right you are," agreed Bob, promptly, and without a single qualm of +conscience. "We'd better start; 'tis about four miles from here they +live, and it'll be dark soon." + +"Ugh!" Tom Smith looked vexed; he was a lazy man, and he did not +relish the prospect of a four miles' tramp. "I've got to wait for my +old woman to come back," he muttered. + +Emma Smith was going round the town with a big basket of tins and +brushes and things, trying to sell some, while he hung about the +public-house, enjoying himself doing nothing. Her round was a long +one, and few people seemed tempted to buy of such a slovenly, +disagreeable-looking woman, one who grew rude too, if people did not +want any of her goods. + +So it was that Huldah had got safely home without being overtaken, +and once within that cosy kitchen felt herself safe from all danger. +She little dreamed that at that moment the three persons she feared +most in the world were starting out from Belmouth in search of her. +Poor Huldah! + +It was six o'clock and quite dark by the time the trio, and Charlie +and the van, reached Wood End; and many a time before they got there +Bob Thorp would have thrown up the job, if he had not wanted the +money so badly. For the whole of the four miles Tom Smith grumbled, +bullied his wife, beat Charlie, and snapped and snarled at everyone +and everything. + +"I don't wonder at anybody's running away from you," remarked Bob at +last, losing all patience. "If I was your wife I'd do the same." + +Whereupon Tom snarled again with rage, "She'd better let me catch her +trying it on, that's all," he said, threateningly, and glared at his +wife, as though she had threatened to do so. + +A little way beyond the village they drew up, and without troubling +to ask anyone's leave Tom drove the van into a field,--where they had +no possible right to be, and poor tired Charlie and his tired +mistress were left to themselves for, at any rate, a few minutes' +peace. + +The two men walked on again in silence until they reached the top of +Woodend Lane, There Bob Thorp drew up, and showed a decided +disinclination to go any further. + +"'Tis down there they live, the first cottage you come to; you can't +mistake it. There's only an old woman, I b'lieve, besides the girl +and the dog. I'd better keep away, 'cause they knows me, leastways +the girl does, and--and the dog. If you'll hand over that six bob +now, I'll be getting home. I've got a good step to go yet." + +Tom Smith agreed almost pleasantly. "Right you are," he said, diving +his hand into an inside pocket, "and, thank 'ee, I'll manage the +rest, and I'd better manage it alone. I don't want to draw my +friends into any trouble over it,--leastways not those that have done +me a good turn." + +He fumbled for some time over the counting out of the money, but when +at last he had put it into Bob's hand, the latter turned abruptly +away, and with only a brief 'good-night' plunged hurriedly down the +dark lane. + +"Good-night," said Bob, "and thank 'ee. Three florins isn't it?" +But Tom Smith was out of sight, and Bob was glad to hurry away too, +as fast as his legs could take him. He did not feel altogether +pleased, though he did try to cheer himself by chinking his money in +his pocket, and planning how he would spend it. All the way he went +he seemed to see again Huldah's pained, sorrowful face, as she knelt +in the road beside her dog, and tried to shelter him with her own +body. How she must love the ugly yellow creature, and how he loved +her! and how they would feel it, if they were parted. What a life +they'd lead, if they had to go back to the van and that ill-tempered, +grumbling pair! + +"I couldn't wish anybody any worse harm than to have to live with +that fellow," he muttered to himself. "'Tis a poor look-out for 'em, +poor toads!" + +The thought of Huldah, and the desire not to be mixed up in the +affair, sent him home and to bed, to be out of the way. So he went +to sleep, and tried to forget what he had done, and his three florins +remained untouched in his pocket until morning. + +In the meantime Tom Smith had made his way stealthily down the lane +until he reached the little cottage. At the gate he stopped, and +peering about him, listened for a time, while he tried to plan what +his first move should be. Should he be civil and friendly, or should +he just go in and frighten them all? As he stood there debating he +looked like some mean beast of prey, waiting to spring on his victim. +A cheerful light shone out of one of the little windows, and in the +stillness of the night the sound of voices reached him. One he +recognised at once as Huldah's. A savoury smell of cooking was +wafted out to him, and roused him to greater anger. + +"That little hussy is a-selling of her baskets, I'll be bound, and +she and the old woman live on the fat of the land with the money that +they bring. My baskets, I calls 'em. It's sheer thieving! A fine +old yarn she'll have told, too, and a nice character she'll have +give'd me, ugh, the little--" + +A ripple of laughter sounded through the silence. To him it seemed +as though Huldah were mocking him. Hesitating no longer, he strode +up the path and knocked heavily on the door. Instantly the voices +and the laughter ceased. There was a spring at the door and a growl. +Dick had scented the enemy! Then after a moment's pause a voice +asked timidly, "Who is there?" + +Tom Smith heard the alarm in the voice, and rejoiced. It gave him +the greatest pleasure always to know that he inspired fear in anyone. + +"Open the door. It's me, Tom Smith, and I've come after that dog of +mine that you've stole!" + +No answer came, nor was the door opened. + +"Open the door, I say, or I'll fetch the police for you! pack of +thieves that you are!" + +The threat of the police would have made Huldah smile, if she had not +been in such a state of terror for herself, and even more so for +Dick. She knew that her "uncle" would not go within a mile of a +policeman if he could help it. Indeed, she longed and prayed for a +policeman to come along then, that she might appeal to him for +protection. + +Unfortunately for them, though, not even a bolt stood between them +and their enemy, and before Huldah could step forward to shoot it, or +turn the key, the latch was raised, and Tom Smith was in the kitchen. +With one well-aimed kick he sent Dick into the furthest corner, and +with equally sure aim he seized Huldah by the wrist. "Now, you come +along of me, and no nonsense, do you hear? A fine dance you've led +me and your poor aunt! You deserves a good hiding, both of 'ee, and +I ain't sure but what you'll get it yet." + +"Let her alone," gasped Mrs. Perry, "let her go--she isn't yours. +You've no--right--to her." Her face was grey white, her heart seemed +to have stopped beating, and she could hardly speak. + +Tom Smith took no notice of her whatever, he was not going to waste +time in arguing--bullying was more in his line. "Now then, come +along. If you makes any noise, I'll turn the p'lice on the old lady +there, for harbouring thieves and receiving stolen property. +Stop it now!" as Huldah wrenched herself away. "P'raps that'll teach +you," and he caught her a heavy blow on the ear. + +Mrs. Perry screamed. "Don't hurt her--oh, don't do them any harm!" +she pleaded. "Promise not--to beat them." It seemed to her +impossible to resist him, they were helpless there, those two alone. +Huldah and Dick must go. + +Huldah's heart sank with overwhelming sorrow. Was she really to be +given up? was she to leave her new home, her new happiness, her work, +Mrs. Perry, Miss Rose,--all to go back to the old torture? Oh no, it +could not be. She could never bear it! Mrs. Perry spoke as if she +would have to; but what would she herself do there alone? She would +be almost frightened to death. + +Poor Huldah grew frantic. "I am not going. I can't go, and Miss +Rose said you can't make me. I am not yours. Oh, Miss Rose, Miss +Rose do come and save us!" + +With a little whimper of pain Dick crawled out of his corner and came +towards her. He seemed to realise that his little mistress was in +danger, and he meant to stand by her. + +"Shut up your noise!" shouted her "uncle," and dealt her another +sharp blow on the side of the head. + +Mrs. Perry screamed, and fell fainting into the chair, and with the +same Tom Smith picked up Huldah in his arms and made for the door. + +The sound of footsteps and bitter cries died away in the lane, and a +deep oppressive silence followed. The kettle sang and boiled and +bubbled over, the supper burnt in the pan, the fire died down, and +still that senseless form lay huddled up in her chair, her white face +turned upwards to the ceiling, as though beseeching help. + +Minutes passed before any sign of life came back to her, and with a +shuddering sigh she opened her eyes again. At first she was dazed, +and her mind a blank, then the open door, the empty room, the +stillness, brought all back to her in a sudden overwhelming rush of +sorrow. + +For a few moments she sat, weak, white, and trembling, trying to +think; then rising stumblingly to her feet she picked up her shawl, +and wrapping it over her head and shoulders, she groped her way out +of the house, down the garden, and out into the darkness of the +night. + +Stumbling, tottering, having to pause every few minutes, to rest her +shaking limbs and gasp for breath, she made her way up the lane. +She must find Miss Rose. Miss Rose must know, Miss Rose would help +them! Oh it _must_ come right! She could not lose her child and +Dick. She could not live without them now! + +Tears welled up, and poured down her ashy face, as she thought of +those two, and what they might be enduring now. + +"Dear Father, protect them!" she prayed. "Dear Jesus, take care of +them!" and all the way she went her pleadings beat at Heaven's gate +for the two poor waifs she so loved. "Dear Jesus, protect them, and +bring them back to me. I love them so, and they are all I have." + +Her heart laboured so heavily she could scarcely breathe, her head +throbbed distractingly, her limbs shook so much under her that she +could scarcely drag herself along. Every now and then she fancied +she heard a scream or Huldah's sobs; then again she thought she heard +Dick's bark, and each time she stopped and listened, and gazed into +the darkness, but presently the loneliness and darkness so oppressed +her that she could not bring herself to stop again. All she could do +was to stumble onward until the vicarage was reached, and arrived +there she sank down on the doorstep exhausted. The fright and the +walk, so long for her, had nearly killed her. + +Dinah came quickly to the door, in response to the frightened frantic +knock, and as she opened it Martha Perry fell in at her feet, faint +and helpless. + +"My--Huldah"--she panted, "he's found her; he's taken her--away--and +Dick too! Help me--to--" then, as they raised her and carried her +into the kitchen, she lost consciousness entirely. + +When she opened her eyes again Miss Rose was standing beside her. +"Huldah! where's my Huldah?" she cried, her poor eyes filling with +tears. "What--can we do?" + +Miss Rose's face was very white, but her eyes were brave and smiling. +"It's all right, Martha, dear. She will be back with you to-morrow, +I hope. We have sent to the police; they are to take the matter up, +and see it through, and we have telegraphed to Belmouth, and +Woodleigh, and Crinnock, to tell the police there to look out for the +man, and stop him." + +Mrs. Perry moaned with disappointment, she could not help it, when +she thought of poor Huldah, every moment going further and further +from them all. Longing, hoping, expecting every moment that someone +would overtake them and save her, straining her ears to hear help +coming,--and then, at last, in utter hopeless despair realising that +she was left to herself, helpless, broken-hearted! She would not +know that it was only for one night, and that help was coming in the +morning. + +Martha tried to smile back at Miss Rose, and to seem pleased, but her +misery was too great. Then an idea came to her, which brought her +swiftly to her feet, with new hope in her heart. Perhaps, oh, +perhaps, Huldah and Dick might manage again to escape! If they did, +they would go to her, surely! Of course she should be at home to +receive them! She told Miss Rose, and though Miss Rose scarcely +believed it possible, she thought it kinder to humour her,--besides +which there was just the chance,--a chance which could not be missed. + +So the two went back to the cottage, where the lamplight still shone +out cheerfully through the open door. For a moment hope leaped in +their hearts, then a glance round the little kitchen assured them +that it was deserted still, and hope died down again. + +"Never mind; morning will soon be here," said Miss Rose, hopefully, +"and 'joy cometh with the morning.' Now I am going to make up a good +fire, and I will read to you, and you must try, Martha, dear, to +listen, and not to think of anything else." + +She made Martha comfortable in the old armchair, with her feet upon a +stool, and a shawl about her knees, then she took down the well-worn +Bible, and began to read. Her sweet voice rose and fell evenly, +soothingly; for more than an hour she read on, unwearied, never +faltering, selecting all the most helpful and comforting passages she +could find; and by-and-by Martha Perry's face grew less drawn and +anxious, her sad eyes grew tired, then the lids closed in a blessed, +peaceful slumber, and Miss Rose's voice ceased, and silence fell on +the little cottage. + +The night sped on, the cold grew greater, the darkness deeper. +Miss Rose sat quietly at the table, the open Bible before her, +keeping watch over the sleeping woman and the fire, her ear always +alert for a sound outside. Her hearing grew so strained that over +and over again she thought she heard footsteps coming, Huldah's +quick, brisk step and Dick's pat-pat patter; again and again she +tip-toed to the door, and opening it wide peered out into the +darkness. But no real sound broke the silence, save the hoot of an +owl, and by-and-by the chirping of the waking birds. + +Then at last day dawned, and streaks of light appeared in the sky, +turning presently to a glorious fiery radiance, as the sun rose, +flooding the sky and all the world with brightness and with hope. + +Martha Perry stirred stiffly in her chair, and opened her eyes. +"Oh, Miss Rose, I've been asleep, and left you keeping watch all by +yourself! Oh, I am ashamed!" + +"Not by myself, Martha. I had this," laying her hand on the open +Bible, "and I felt God nearer me than ever in my life before, I +think. He is going to help us, I know. I feel that He has given me +His word this night!" + +"She has not come?" sighed Martha, glancing round the kitchen, as +though expecting to see Huldah hiding somewhere. "Oh, what a night +of misery she must have endured!" + +"She has not come yet, but she is coming, and brownie is very brave, +Martha, and patient and hopeful. She has the blessed gift of making +the best of what can't be helped, and she has a wonderful faith. +Look, Martha, look at the sky, does it not already sing to us +'joy cometh with the morning'?" + +Martha Perry walked to the door and looked out, and even her timid, +doubting heart could not but feel calmed and comforted. + +"'God's in His heaven: All's right with the world,'" quoted Miss +Rose, softly, as they stood there together. And already help was on +its way to Huldah. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +TO THE RESCUE. + +When Bob Thorp awoke that same morning about six o'clock, his first +thought was that he had six shillings in his pocket. Six shillings +got without working for them, so that he had every right to look on +them as an extra, and spend them on himself. + +Having made up his mind on this point, he lay for a happy half-hour, +thinking how he should lay it out to get most pleasure out of it. +"Why, I know!" he almost exclaimed aloud, as a particularly pleasant +idea struck him. "I'll go to the big football match at Crinnock. +It's going to be a clipper, they say. Ain't I glad I thought of it! +I shall have just enough to do it comfortably." + +The idea so excited him that he jumped out of bed then and there, +and, banging at his poor mother's door, he bade her get up sharp, and +light the fire, and get the breakfast, because he had to be off +early. Then he dressed himself in the best he'd got, and presented +himself in the kitchen. + +In answer to his mother's surprised looks and questionings, he +explained that he had to go away on business, in search of a job, and +must look his best; and his mother, rejoicing in the prospect of a +day of freedom from him, cooked him the last egg she had, and gave +him as big a breakfast as he could eat; and he ate it heartily, +without a qualm of conscience for his deception towards her. + +At the railway station he met quite a crowd, all going in the same +direction as himself; neither the darkness nor the cold could affect +their energy or spirits, and Bob's spirits rose too, as he followed +the stream of travellers into the little gas-lit booking office for +his ticket. + +"Third return, Crinnock," he said, loudly, tossing a shining new +florin on to the counter. + +At the sound of it the booking clerk half hesitated in stamping the +ticket he held in his hand, glanced sharply at the florin, and +hurriedly picking it up, scanned it closely. + +"Bad 'un," he said, shortly, handing it back to Bob. "Ninepence, +please." Then, seeing the look of blank dismay on Bob's face, he +added, "Been had?" + +Bob's cheeks were white, and his hand shaking, as he dived in his +pocket for the other two florins,--the only money he possessed in the +world. He saw himself tricked, cheated out of a day's pleasure, made +to look small in everyone's eyes. + +He turned out the two other florins upon the counter, and at the +first ring of them on the wood he knew the truth, and his passion +blazed out fiercely against the man who had fooled him under cover of +the darkness. + +"I'll have the law of him!" he stammered, almost speechless with +anger. "I know where he is, or pretty near, and I'll set the p'lice +on him, I will. Why--why--I might have been had up myself for trying +to pass bad money! Oh I'll make him sorry he ever tried his games on +me, I will!" + +Back through the waiting crowd Bob elbowed his way, in search of a +policeman. His disappointment about the football match was swallowed +up in his longing for revenge. + +"Look here, bobby," he said, going up to the constable who was +standing on the platform to see the crowd off peacefully. "Look at +this!" thrusting the coins under his very nose. "Bad money, that's +what 'tis,--passed off on me last night! But I know who done it, and +where he is,--leastways where he was last night, and he can't have +got so very far. He's Tom Smith, the hawker, and he'd got his van in +a field nigh 'pon the top of Woodend Lane last night--put it there +without a with-your-leave or a by-your-leave! Trespassing, that's +what he was, and that's another thing you can have him up for. +He was there to kidnap a child and a dog what he said was his; but +I'll bet they wasn't--and that's another thing against him. +Of course he'd move on as soon as he'd got the kid, but he can't have +got so very far with that old horse of his--he looked as if he'd drop +dead if he was made to go another mile." + +The policeman stayed to see the train depart with the crowd safely +packed inside it, then turned away with Bob. He was as anxious as +Bob himself to follow up the case. Policemen did not get much chance +in little country places, and promotion came slowly. "What was he +giving you six shillings for?" he asked, as Bob and he trudged up the +hill from the station. + +Bob looked foolish. "Oh--for--for showing him the way," he +stammered. + +The policeman looked at him sharply. "What way?" he asked. + +"To--to Woodend Lane," he answered, shortly, wondering distractedly +how he could avoid giving true explanations; but the policeman, to +his relief, did not press the matter further, and whatever his +thoughts were, he kept them to himself. + +Presently he asked, casually, "Where was the child he wanted to get +hold of? In Woodend Lane?" + +"Yes--I mean I dunno. I don't know nothing about it." + +"I only asked, 'cause we've had word to keep a look-out for a man, +probably with a caravan, who has stolen a child and a dog from +Wood--" + +"Why, look, what's that over there?" interrupted Bob, in sudden +excitement. + +"That over there" was a shabby brown caravan, hung about with tins +and brushes, standing beneath a high hedge in a corner of a distant +field. From the road beneath it, it would not be visible to any +passer-by, but looking across country as they were the glitter of the +tins flashing in the rays of the morning sun caught the eye, and +discovered the van in its hiding-place. + +"Here goes!" cried the policeman, excitedly. "A chap don't get a +chance like this every day. Come along, young fellow, and don't make +a noise." + +Avoiding every possible risk of being observed approaching, Bob +Thorp, led by the constable, made his way to the field where the +caravan stood. Tethered to the hedge close by was Charlie, and +securely roped to the van lay poor Dick. + +"That's the dog," whispered Bob Thorp, excitedly. + +Dick growled slightly at the faint sounds which now reached him, and +more violently when he recognised his old enemy. + +"Lie down, can't you?" bellowed a hoarse voice, roughly; and walking +cautiously round to the front of the van they found the very man they +were in search of lying on the ground rolled in a rug, with a couple +of sacks over him. At the sight of Bob Thorp and the policeman he +sprang to his feet at once. + +"Anything you want, gentlemen? Anything I can sell you?" he asked, +impudently. "A nice scrubbing-brush or--" + +"'Tis you needs the scrubbing-brush, by the looks on you," said Bob, +cheekily. + +"And I want you," said the constable, sharply. + +"Want me? What for?" he demanded, indignantly; but his face had +suddenly turned an unhealthy gray colour, and in his eyes they could +plainly read his alarm. + +"Passing bad money," answered the policeman, quietly. + +"Who says so? Who brought that charge against me?" + +"'Im," the policeman jerked his head and his thumb towards Bob. + +"And who's he, that his word should be took agin mine? Who's to say +he hasn't been passing it himself, and--and of course he's got to put +it off on someone, when he's found out." + +"Well, you can fight that out before the magistrates. You've got to +come along of me now. If you can explain it, that is all right, and +you will soon be back again." + +"All right," said Tom, agreeing, because he saw the uselessness of +holding out. His brain was busy, though, trying to think out a plan. +"I must just step inside, and break it to my wife--" + +"Oh yes, and empty your pockets of all the rest of the bad money +you've got!" burst out Bob, unable to control himself. "Likely tale +that, eh!" + +The policeman stepped over and laid his hand on Tom Smith's +shoulder. "There's one or two other little matters too," he said. +"You're wanted for some little affair about a girl and a dog. +Is that the dog?" + +"She's my own niece--" + +"Is she? All right; you've only got to prove it, and that you're her +lawful guardian, and a fit and proper person--" + +A sharp scream suddenly rent the air, and made them all start. +Emma Smith, waking from her heavy sleep, had heard the sound of +voices, and looking cautiously out of the window, had caught sight of +the policeman grasping her husband by the arm. Day and night for +years she had been fearing this, and now it had actually happened! +The shock was too much for her. Scream after scream pierced their +ears, as she staggered out of the van and flung herself upon her +husband. + +The screams, which roused Dick to a fury of barking, and startled +even poor old worn-out Charlie, wakened Huldah from the deep sleep +into which she had fallen, exhausted by sorrow. + +Springing from her bed, she saw the policeman, and that he had his +hand on her uncle, holding him securely, in spite of Aunt Emma's +attack. But why was Bob Thorp there, too? Huldah recognised him +with a shock of surprise and fear. + +For a moment she gazed frightened yet fascinated at the group, then +across her mind flashed the thought, Here was her chance of escape! +Quick as thought she caught up a knife from the table, and slipping +down the steps cut the rope which held Dick, then, sheltered from +view by the van itself, she clambered through the hedge with the dog +at her heels, and away and away as fast as her feet could cover the +ground. Her aunt's screams deadened any other noise, and her aunt's +furious attack took all the attention of the three men, so that +escape was easy. + +It never entered Huldah's head that the policeman had come on her +account, and that she was safer now than ever in her life before. +She did not know there had been time to communicate with the police, +and the one thought that had filled her mind all these weary hours +was escape, and getting back to Mrs. Perry. + +At first she raced wildly, but before very long her strength gave +out, her excitement died down. Her pace grew slower and slower, more +and more halting, and then finally she stopped. Thoughts of her Aunt +Emma would force themselves on her mind. If her uncle was taken to +jail, her aunt would be left alone with the horse and van. +What would she do, day and night alone? How could she manage? +Could she, Huldah, go and leave her like that!--but could she live +that dreadful life again! Every day going further and further from +Miss Rose and Mrs. Perry, and the dear little cottage, never perhaps +to see them again! Huldah sat down on a bank underneath the hedge, +to try and think the matter out. Dick came back from his happy +wanderings and sat beside her, staring at her with wistful eyes, for +he saw that she was in trouble, but why she should be was more than +he could understand,--for were they not away together, and on their +way home? + +He gave a little whine, and Huldah looked up at him. "Oh, Dick, what +can I do? Mrs. Perry will be so frightened there alone, and she'll +be troubling about us so, and--and there's Miss Rose too"--more tears +trickled down Huldah's cheeks,--"yet I can't go and leave Aunt Emma +all alone now, with the van and Charlie to look after, and Uncle Tom +in jail. Oh, what can I do? what can I do!" + +Dick was puzzled too, but at that moment a fresh burst of screams +burst on her ears, terrible, noisy screams, and bitter cries and +shoutings. Tom Smith was being led away by the constable, and his +wife had flung herself on the ground in hysterics, real or feigned. + +Huldah crept back to the hedge and peered through. Her heart was +heavy as lead. Her body ached with the blows she had received the +night before, and her head throbbed painfully too, but these were as +nothing compared with the pain of her poor little aching disappointed +heart. On the other side of the hedge she saw her aunt lying on the +ground, sobbing, screaming, and beating the ground with her fists. + +Huldah crept back through the hedge, and up to her side. "Aunt Emma, +don't take on like that," she said, gently, trying to comfort her. +"He'll be back soon. They won't do anything to him, for certain." +She little dreamed how black the case was against him. + +But the sight of the girl seemed to change her aunt's overwhelming +grief to sudden and violent anger against herself. Springing to her +feet, she snatched the heavy whip from the van, and brought it down +with all the force of which she was capable across Huldah's +shoulders. + +"It's all your fault!" she screamed, "it's all your fault! It was +only to get hold of you that he offered the fellow the money, and if +you hadn't run away he'd never have had to do it. 'Tis all your +fault he's took, and I'll make you smart for it, my lady!" and +seizing the poor shrinking, frightened child, she beat her until her +arm dropped to her side exhausted. + +"Stop that!" cried a stern voice, loudly. Huldah and her aunt fell +back, shocked and startled by the sight of another policeman close to +them. In the noise and excitement they had not heard anyone +approaching. "Give me that whip." + +Huldah gave one terrified glance at the man in blue, and fell +fainting at his feet. + +Emma Smith handed over the whip meekly enough. She was thoroughly +scared now, for she never doubted that Huldah was dead, and that the +policeman would declare that she had killed the child. In her terror +for herself, her anxiety about her husband was forgotten. She began +to wail and sob and beg forgiveness. She threw herself on the +ground, calling loudly to Huldah to open her eyes and get up. +She tried coaxings and all sorts of promises, but the policeman only +thrust her aside. + +"Go and get some cold water," he said, sternly. + +She crept away meekly, and presently brought back a little drop in a +broth basin. "That's all there is," she said, apologetically. +It was very little, but with it the big man bathed the child's face +and hands, and dabbed her lips and her brow. + +"Go and get a blanket," he ordered. "She oughtn't to be lying on the +cold wet ground so long. She doesn't seem to be coming round." +He felt Huldah's pulse, and laid his hand over her heart. "It _is_ +beating," he muttered, in a tone of relief. Then he lifted her on to +the blanket, and wrapped her in it, then bathed her brow again, until +presently a faint quiver of the body and a fluttering sigh showed +that consciousness was returning. + +At last Huldah opened her eyes and looked vaguely about her, +wondering where she was. At sight of her aunt and the policeman the +old look of terror came back to her face, and she struggled to sit +up. + +"Don't you hurry yourself, now," said the policeman, kindly. +"And don't you be afraid of me. I've come to look after you, and +take you back to your friends." + +"You can't," muttered Emma Smith, sullenly. "She's mine. +The child's right enough; they all want a hiding sometimes." + +"Sometimes, perhaps, but not constant; and never as you lays it on. +I should be taking you up for murder if you did it often in your +way!" + +Emma Smith only looked more sullen. "Well, she's mine, and no one +else's, and I'm going to keep her." + +"Look here, my woman, what's the good of going on like that? +You've got to prove, first of all, that she is yours, and then that +you're a fit and proper person to have her. In the meantime I've got +my orders to fetch her away, and if you want her you can apply to the +magistrates, and prove to them all that you've been saying. +Now, then, where's her bonnet and shawl?" + +"She hasn't got any," sulkily. + +"Then you've got to provide her with some. Hurry up; but first of +all, has she had anything to eat or drink to-day?" + +"No, nor won't have. I haven't got anything for myself." + +"That seems unlucky; but if you'll come along of me you shall have a +good cup of tea and a bit of breakfast. Now then, missie, are you +ready?" + +Huldah had sat speechless all this time. She felt giddy and ill, and +quite worn out. She was so dazed too, she could not think what to +do, or what she ought to do. Things seemed to have got beyond her, +and to be taken out of her hands. + +She struggled to her feet, and let the policeman wrap her, head and +all, in the old shawl. She wondered vaguely if she would feel better +able to walk when once she had started; but even the standing on her +feet seemed too much for her, and it was with a real sense of relief +that she felt the man lift her in his arms and stride away with her. + +No word of farewell was said, but in a moment or two she heard her +aunt's rough voice calling after them, "You've no right to that dog, +and if you takes him I'll have the law of you!" + +The policeman stopped, and turned round. "Oh, by the way, I've +forgot one thing now. I want to see your dog-licence." + +But Emma Smith only walked away into the van muttering angrily, and +banging the door after her, left them to go their way in peace. + +Huldah scarcely knew how that walk passed. She was conscious now and +then of a feeling of shame, for letting herself be carried. +She felt she ought to walk, but before she could say so the old +faintness stole over her again, and she knew that to walk was beyond +her power. Now and then she heard the policeman talking in a +friendly voice to Dick, who walked close beside them, and Dick's +excited bark. She was wondering how much further they had to go, +when they drew up, and Huldah found herself being laid on a wooden +bench in a room where two or three policemen were standing round a +fire. + +To her surprise, she was no longer afraid of them, they were too kind +and gentle for that. One of those standing by the fire, an elderly +man, came over to where she lay. + +"Well, young woman," he said, cheerfully, "and when did you have +anything to eat last? Day before yesterday, by the look of you." + +Huldah tried to remember. "It wasn't quite so long ago as that," she +said, feebly. "I had some dinner--yesterday, I think. When was +yesterday?" + +The man laughed. "Don't you worry," he said, kindly; "you've been +living two days in one, and have got muddled. You will feel better +when you've had a basin of hot bread and milk. Bring her over to the +fire, Harry, she's starved with the cold." + +"Harry," her first friend, carried her over, and put her in a big +armchair by the fire, and presently one of the others brought her a +basin of hot bread and milk, and a plateful of food for Dick, and +before Huldah had taken a half of it she was feeling altogether a +different person. + +"I didn't feel hungry, but I s'pose I was," she said, simply, looking +up with grateful, friendly eyes at the old policeman. "I feel ever +so much better now." + +"Ay, ay; we don't always know what we want, nor what is good for +us,--but here's somebody as'll be good for you, unless I'm very much +mistaken!" and Huldah, following the direction of his eyes as they +travelled to the door, gave one long low cry of rapturous delight, +for there walking in to the police station were Mrs. Perry and Miss +Rose! + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +ONE SUMMER'S AFTERNOON. + +Huldah was home again, and Dick too, and more free and happy than +they had ever been in their lives before, for, from Huldah, at any +rate, there was lifted the great dread of being traced by her uncle +and taken back, a dread which had in the old days lain always like a +shadow on her life. Now, the worst had happened, and was over, for +the law had declared that neither Tom Smith nor Emma, his wife had +the slightest claim to her, not being related at all. Nor were they +fit and proper persons to have the charge of any child. And to her +great delight she was handed over to the guardianship of the vicar +and Miss Rose Carew, and to the care of Mrs. Perry, to be trained and +brought up to be an honest, truthful, industrious woman. + +Never to the end of her life would Huldah forget that home-coming, +that drive back to Woodend Lane, or those days that followed. + +"Was it really only yesterday that I was here, and Dick and I walked +into Belmouth?" she asked, incredulously, as she lay back in the +carriage. "It seems weeks and weeks ago! Oh, how lovely everything +is! It seems as if I didn't notice it enough till now;" and she drew +in long breaths of the fresh cold air, and the mingled scents of wet +earth and pine trees. "I seem to smell vi'lets, but they can't be +out yet, can they, miss?" + +Miss Carew laughed. "Lots of things have happened since yesterday, +brownie; but even the brownies could not make the violets spring up +and open in one night." + +"But God could," thought Huldah to herself. + +After all that happened in the last twenty-four hours, she felt that +nothing was beyond His power, but she was too shy to say so aloud. +A deep sense of love and gratitude for all the goodness shown to her +made her feel, a moment later, ashamed of her shyness. God had been +so good to her, how could she be so bad as to feel ashamed to speak +of Him? She had prayed and prayed, and prayed to Him all that long +night through, and He had heard her, and sent her help. + +She had been frightened, and she had been made to suffer, but it was +only that all might be made better for her presently. Young though +she was, she could see that if she had not had this trial to go +through, she would always have had the old danger, the old fear +hanging over her. She would never have felt quite safe and happy. + +Miss Rose had taught her about God, and His Son, the gentle, loving +Christ. She had taught her to pray to Him, and to read her Bible, +and to sing hymns, but only now did He become real to Huldah, her +very only loving Father, and her heart swelled with love and +gratitude to Him who had stood by her and taken care of her. +She knew now, too, that He would take care of her all her life +through. + +"Oh, it's grand!" she thought to herself, "to have a big strong +Father and a Brother to watch over one!" And she felt as though no +one could harm her any more. + +Rob was walking in leisurely fashion up the hill now, and no sound +broke the silence but the twittering of the birds in the hedge, Rob's +short, sharp steps on the hard road, and the scrunching of the gravel +under the wheels, when suddenly Miss Rose's voice sounded singing +softly but sweetly, + + "Lead Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, + Lead Thou me on; + The night is dark, and I am far from home, + Lead Thou me on. + Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see + The distant scene,--one step enough for me." + +Then Martha Perry's feeble voice joined in, and last of all Huldah's +shy, weak treble. They were all so grateful, so full of thankfulness +and faith, they could not help it. And ever after, when Huldah +passed along that road, the same lines sprang spontaneously to heart +and lips, "One step enough for me." + +Winter ended soon, and spring came early that year. In the cottage +garden the wallflowers and daffodils had sprung up and burst into +bloom before anyone had quite realised that their time had come. +In the field opposite the hedges were so lined with primroses that +the scent greeted you across the road. + +In those warm days, when school was over, and on half-holidays, +Huldah took her work across to the field, and sat in the sunshine +surrounded by the gold-starred hedges, where the ferns and violets +and ladies' smocks fought for room, and mingled in one sweet tangle +of beauty. She was very, very happy in those days, and busy from +morning till night. She had her house-work, her school-work, and +also her basket-making, and she worked very hard indeed at the last, +for by means of it she was able to buy many little comforts for +"Aunt Martha," as she had learnt to call Mrs. Perry, and was able to +clothe herself, and put something by in the bank. At least, she +hoped to be able to go on doing that, if the orders came in as they +had done. + +"When I leave school I shall have ever so much more time, too," she +thought, joyfully,--for Huldah did not love school, and longed for +the time when she would be freed from it. + +In the middle of the field rose a high hillock, over which the young +lambs loved to run and play in the spring-time, and on the top of the +hillock lay the trunk of a large tree, which had lain there ever +since a storm had blown it down years ago. + +Huldah, at any rate, was glad of the idleness which had never put the +tree to any good use, for it formed her favourite seat now. The view +from it was lovely, she could look right down over the slope of the +hill to the woods and stream at the foot, and then away up over the +moorland beyond, and she could see the road, too, and keep watch over +the cottage, and if Aunt Martha wanted her, she had only to step to +the door and wave her hand. + +Sometimes during that summer she got Mrs. Perry up to the fallen tree +too, and more than once they had their tea there. But Mrs. Perry was +not very fond of sitting out of doors, and more often Huldah was +alone, save for Dick, alone with her thoughts and hopes and dreams. + +That summer was a long and hot one, with frequent heavy +thunderstorms. Mrs. Perry could not endure the storms, they made her +feel ill, and frightened her, until all her nerves were set +quivering. Huldah herself felt no fear, but she did dread the storms +for her aunt's sake, and there seemed no end to them that summer. + +"I do believe there's another coming up," she sighed, as, suddenly +noticing that the light was going, she lifted her eyes from her work +and looked about her. "I'd better go in now, in case it does come +on; but it is vexing. I did so want to finish this." + +It was the last day of August, and the close of the holidays, and +Huldah had made up her mind to get the last of an order finished, and +ready to send away before she went back to school. She glanced down +hesitatingly at her unfinished work, and then at the gathering +blackness of the sky around her, a blackness which had a red-brown +angry glow underneath,--a glow which left no time for hesitation. + +There was no doubt about it, she must go, and go quickly, or Aunt +Martha would be worrying. She glanced across at the cottage, and +there sure enough was Mrs. Perry standing waving her hand to call her +in. + +Huldah sprang to her feet at once. "Run on, Dick, and tell her I'm +coming. Run home, that's a good dog!" + +Dick started, hesitated, but at a sign from his mistress ran on +again. Huldah collected her work and rolled it all up in her +work-apron,--one with big pockets, which Miss Rose had made for +her,--but before she was ready a sharp bark from Dick made her wheel +round quickly. A strange, shabbily dressed woman was standing +talking to Mrs. Perry. She had come so silently, so unexpectedly +that Huldah had quite a shock, it seemed almost as though she had +sprung up out of the ground. + +"Only someone begging, I suppose," she said to herself, but there was +a vague feeling of trouble at her heart that she could not account +for. The new-comer looked harmless enough, a poor, shabbily dressed +beggar-woman, thin, stooping, feeble-looking. + +When Mrs. Perry raised her head and looked up over the field again, +Huldah saw that her face was white and frightened, and in sudden +alarm she took to her heels, and ran as fast as she could to the +gate. + +At the click of the latch the new-comer turned and looked across the +road, and as she looked Huldah felt her head reel, and her heart +almost stop beating, for the tramp was Aunt Emma! Aunt Emma, come to +cross her path once more. Aunt Emma, shabbier and dirtier than ever, +and with a pinched, starved look, which showed that things had not +been going well with her. + +When she caught sight of Huldah, her face lightened a little, and she +hurried across the road to meet her. + +"I've come to know if you can help me," she began, in the same old +fretful, whining voice. "I know you don't want to see me again, +nobody does, but I'm starving. I've been starving mostly ever since +Tom was took away--" + +"Took away," gasped Huldah faintly. "Where?" + +"He's got three years. Didn't you know? And I'm left to keep +myself, and I can't do it. I'll never live till he comes out, I +know. I've sold the van and everything. I couldn't go round with it +by meself, but the man that had it off me cheated me something crool. +When Tom knows he'll--he'll--oh he'll be mad with me--" + +"And Charlie?" asked Huldah, anxiously. + +"Charlie! Oh, he's dead. He dropped down in the road one day. +'Twas lucky I'd sold him, wasn't it? He died only two days after." + +Tears sprang to Huldah's eyes. "Oh, Charlie, poor dear old Charlie!" +she cried, "and--and I never said good-bye to him, or anything!" + +"He's best off," said Emma Smith, coldly. "I wouldn't have been +sorry if I'd dropped down dead, too." + +Huldah gasped. + +"I can't get anything to do. I've tried to sell laces and buttons, +and cotton, but nobody don't seem to want any,--leastways not of me," +and neither of her listeners wondered, when they looked at her, so +dirty, so untidy, so forbidding in appearance. + +"I couldn't earn enough to get food or a bed, leave alone buy a new +stock." + +Huldah wondered why she had come. Was it only to beg? In another +moment she knew. + +"I came to see if you couldn't 'elp me a bit. You've got good +friends and a comfortable home, and plenty to eat and drink. +You surely wouldn't let me go starving--me that brought you up, and +did everything for you." + +"Everything!" Huldah's thoughts flew back over her life, from the +time her mother died until she made her escape, a year ago, and +wondered what was meant by "everything." + +"I know as you can make a good bit by your baskets, and it don't seem +fair that strangers should have it all, do it?" + +"Strangers don't have it all," said Huldah, warmly. "Even my best +friends don't. I have what I earn, to buy what I like with. +I buy my own clothes, and I give Mrs. Perry a little for keeping +me--" + +"Oh! a pretty fine thing that! Why, she ought to be paying you wages +for being a little galley-slave to her, and doing all her work!" + +"I don't!" cried Huldah, indignantly. "I don't work nearly as hard +as I did for you, when I never had a penny of my own, not even from +what my baskets made." + +In a moment, though, she was sorry she had lost her temper. +Mrs. Perry, standing at her door watching them, looked so frightened +when their words rose high, and Emma Smith herself looked so weary +and miserable one could not help pitying her. + +"I--I've got half-a-crown in my purse. I'll give you that," said +Huldah, gently. "It's all I have now, but it will get you a bed and +some food." + +Mrs. Perry came towards them. "Huldah," she said, kindly, "if your-- +if Mrs. Smith will come in and rest, I'll make her a cup of tea. +She looks fit to drop." + +The poor tramp turned to her gratefully. "I feels like it too. +I haven't tasted anything since yesterday," she added, feebly; and, +now that the eagerness and excitement had died out of her face, she +looked almost like a dying woman. + +They led the way into the cottage, and gave her the most comfortable +chair. She dropped into it with almost a groan of relief, and then, +as though the kindness overcame her, she began to weep weakly. +"I couldn't help coming to Huldah," she sobbed. "I couldn't keep +away. I haven't a friend or relation in the world but her, nor +nowhere to go,--but the workhouse, and I can't go there. I'd rather +die under a hedge. I've always been so used to the open, and my +freedom, and I couldn't bear it. But I haven't got a penny, nor no +means of getting one. Whatever I'm going to do I don't know. +Tom's put away for three years, and I shan't ever live to see him +come out, I know,--but nobody cares! It don't matter to nobody +whether I'm alive or dead." + +The storm had broken by this time, and the crashing of the thunder +seemed to add horror to the hopeless misery of her sobs and +complainings. Huldah could scarcely bear it. + +"Aunt Emma, don't say such things," she cried. "I care, I do really. +You shan't starve,--not while I can work. I'll work harder, and help +you. I'll ask Miss Rose about it." + +But the half-starved, miserable woman could not check her sobs, once +they had begun. The hunger and want and loneliness had worn her +health and spirit until a little kindness was more than she could +bear. She broke down entirely under it. + +Huldah sat with a very grave face all the time they were taking their +tea. Things had suddenly become so perplexing, she did not know what +to do or think. + +"Oh dear," she sighed, "it all seemed so lovely only an hour ago. +I thought it was going to last like it for ever and ever." +She was so lost in perplexity about Aunt Emma's future, that Mrs. +Perry was left to entertain their guest,--to listen, at least, to the +tale of her wanderings and sufferings, and the hardships she had +endured all her life. + +"I've never 'ad nobody to care for me, nor no kindness from anybody, +so I haven't got to thank anybody for anything--that's one thing!" +the poor foolish woman kept repeating, as though, instead of being +ashamed of it, it was something to be proud of. + +"As we sow, we reap," thought Aunt Martha; the truth of the words had +come home to her many times, since she had taken in the two +friendless waifs. Dick and Huldah would have loved this woman too, +if she had allowed them to. She grew a little impatient of the long +complainings. "We don't get love back, if we don't give any," she +said at last. + +"Who'd I got? Who'd want me to love them?" she demanded, peevishly. + +"Why, the child, for one, and Dick, and that poor old horse, not to +speak of your husband." + +Emma Smith was silent. It had never before entered her head that to +be loved one must love, that the way to win it is to think of others +first, and self last. She ceased her complaining, as she realised +for the first time that others besides herself had something to +complain of. She had always been one of those who are so full of +pity for themselves that they never have time to feel pity for +others. + +By the time the meal was finished Huldah's mind was made up. +She must talk to Miss Rose about things. The matter seemed so +puzzling, so complicated, she could not sort out the right and the +wrong of it at all. It was all beyond her. Aunt Martha fell in with +the plan at once. + +"Mrs. Smith can stay here with me till you come back," she said, +hospitably; and the visitor agreed eagerly. + +The storm was over by that time, but the air was oppressive, and the +heat great. Huldah walked along very soberly, for there was a sense +of depression weighing on her, a foreboding that an end was coming to +her happy, peaceful life. There was always trouble when any part of +her old life cropped up again. + +She was ashamed, too, to be troubling Miss Rose again about her +affairs; she felt she had done little but bring trouble to them all +ever since she had walked into their lives that summer's night a year +ago. She who longed to bring them nothing but pleasure! + +Just then she came to the top of the little hill up which Rob had +crawled that winter morning, and once again the words Miss Rose had +sung came back to her, as though they still lingered on the air +there, + + "Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see + The distant scene,--one step enough for me." + +Huldah sang them aloud as she descended the slope, and the load of +care slipped off her heart, leaving her with a brave determination to +face courageously whatever might have to be faced. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +HULDAH'S NEW HOME. + +And there was very much to be faced, she found as the days came and +went, for within a week of that afternoon when Emma Smith crossed her +path again, much had been discussed and arranged, and another change +was to come into Huldah's life. + +The doctor, the vicar's own doctor, had seen and examined Emma Smith, +and had given her but another year to live. He had not told her +that, but he had warned her very gravely that she was in a very bad +state of health, and that he would not answer for the consequences, +if she did not obey him; and something in his voice or manner had +stopped her peevish complainings, and set her thinking seriously. + +The doctor strongly urged that she should go to the workhouse +infirmary. "She will be well nursed and looked after there," he +said, "and she will be provided with all she requires," but she +herself showed such violent opposition that at last, in fear for her +health, they ceased to press it. Had they done so, she would surely +have run away. At the same time she had no other home, no means, and +what powers she had had of earning any were fast failing her. + +"I thought you'd be able to help me, now you'm getting on so well," +she said to Huldah. "We fed and clothed and did everything for you, +and now's your chance of returning some of it." Then her mood +changed, and she wept and moaned, and clung to the girl passionately. +"Don't you leave me!" she pleaded, hysterically; "don't you go and +turn your back on me, too. You was mine before you was hers," +nodding her head towards Mrs. Perry. + +Her clinging to Huldah was more than a passing fancy, as they found, +when they tried to get her to go into a home where she could have had +rest and change and food and nursing. She sobbed and pleaded, then +flatly refused to go, unless Huldah went too. + +"She's the only one in the world I know," she cried. "Don't send me +away with strangers, they'll all look down on me, and--and I--no, I +couldn't bear it. I won't go, I won't, I won't! I'll go off on the +tramp again, where none of you will ever find me, and I won't ever +bother any of you any more." + +At last Huldah went with tears in her eyes to Miss Carew. "I'll have +to go with her, miss," she said, piteously. "She can't go away on +the tramp all by herself. I can keep us both pretty well. I must go +with her, Miss Rose, wherever she goes; she hasn't got anybody else." + +This of course they could not allow. They could never send such a +child as Huldah out into the world, with only a dying woman as +companion and protector, to live where and how she could, in nobody +knew what dreadful haunts. So it was decided between them that Emma +Smith was to settle down amongst them, and Huldah must leave Mrs. +Perry and go to live with her. No lodgings could be found for her, +for in that village the houses were not big enough to hold in comfort +even the families that lived in them, and there was certainly no room +for a lodger. And houses were as scarce as lodgings. + +At last a brilliant idea came to Miss Carew, and with her father's +permission she hurried off with the good news. + +"You shall have the two rooms over our coach-house," she cried, +delightedly, for it was a real relief to her to feel that Huldah +would be so near her, and under her own eye. "They are a good size, +and dry and airy; and we must all pull together to get what furniture +we can." + +Huldah's face grew brighter and brighter with every word Miss Rose +uttered, for she had begun to fear that they would have to go +elsewhere. + +To be near Miss Rose, too, would help to make up for the pain of +leaving Aunt Martha and Dick and the cottage, a parting which had +been weighing on her more heavily than she would have liked anyone to +know. Dick, it was decided, was to remain with Mrs. Perry, for +without him she declared she could not live on in the cottage when +Huldah was gone. + +As soon as the rooms had been cleaned and papered, the furnishing +began, and that was really rather fun. No one was rich, and no +one could give much, but what they gave they gave with a will. +Miss Rose turned out some sheets and pillow-cases, a table and a +chair, the vicar ordered in half a ton of coal, the doctor's wife +gave them a bed, some pieces of carpet, curtains, a kettle and an old +basket chair. Mrs. Perry gave a teapot, cups and saucers, and a +rag-rug of her own making. The doctor sent in some pots and pans, +and meat and other food to put in them, and the folks in the village, +who had come to know Huldah's story, turned out something, and sent, +a jug, a brush, a sack of firewood, a bar of soap, and all manner of +odds and ends, every one of which came in usefully. Huldah's own +little bed and looking-glass and odds and ends came from her bedroom +in the cottage, and all together helped to make the two bare rooms +look home-like and comfortable. + +The furniture was scanty and shabby, but to anyone accustomed to +rough it as Emma Smith had done, the place was beautiful, and full of +comfort and rest. + +When it was ready, and she was first taken into it, she dropped into +the basket chair by the fire, and burst into grateful tears. +It was the first time she had shown any gratitude or pleasure in what +was being done for her. + +"It's like 'ome," she sobbed, weakly, "and I've never had one since I +got married, till now,--and now--how I'm ever going to thank +everybody, I don't know. I never seem able to do any good to +anybody, I don't. 'Tis all take, with me, and no give, and I'm +ashamed of it." + +Huldah felt some of the load slip off her spirits as she looked about +her. Here really was a home for Aunt Emma,--and now it rested with +herself to make it as neat and comfortable and happy as a home could +be. She would keep it as clean as a new pin, and as pretty as lay in +her power. She tried to conquer her sadness by hard work, to put +away her sorrow at leaving Aunt Martha and Dick and their happy life +together. + +"Brownies always go where there's most to be done, Miss Rose says, +not where they'll be most comfortable," she said to herself, bravely, +but her poor little face was very wistful. A few days later, though, +when, after a long day's work, she sat down and looked about her, she +remarked cheerfully, "I don't think anybody can go on feeling very +miserable when they've lots to do and somebody to take care of." +A glow of pride warmed her heart, as she sat there drying her +water-soaked hands, and glanced from the gleaming stove and +fire-irons to the speckless window, and well-scrubbed table. + +On the table stood a jar full of autumn flowers, and on the +window-sill a box full of brown earth and little roots, double +daisies, primulas, wallflowers. This last was Huldah's special joy +and pride. + +"We'll have a proper little garden there, when the spring comes," she +remarked proudly to Aunt Emma. + +Aunt Emma shook her head in melancholy fashion. "I shan't be here to +see it." + +"Oh yes you will. You'll be helping me with the spring cleaning," +said Huldah, trying to keep cheerful,--one of the hardest of her +daily tasks, for Aunt Emma's melancholy seldom left her. She never +saw the bright side of anything, poor soul, nor the best, nor did she +try to; and the depressingness of it told on the child's spirits more +than anyone knew. + +She worked very hard indeed at this time. The vicar had given them +the rooms rent-free; but Huldah's basket-making had to supply almost +everything else--food, clothing, lights, and many an extra--needed +for Aunt Emma. Their rooms were few, and there was not much in them, +but all that had to be done fell to Huldah to do. Emma Smith never +put her hand to anything, not even to wash a dish, cook a meal, or +make her own bed. She needed a great deal of waiting on, too, and +was very fretful. She did not like to be left alone, even while +Huldah went out to do the errands; and on the days when the poor +child had to go to Belmouth to deliver her work, or get more raffia, +Aunt Emma had always a very bad turn, and an attack of melancholy. + +It was quite pathetic to see the way she clung to the little waif she +had treated so cruelly when she had her in her power. She wanted no +one but Huldah now, and she wanted her always. She loved her +brightness and cheerfulness. When Huldah laughed and sang she was +quite content, but the moment she was sad or quiet, Aunt Emma would +grow peevish and uneasy. + +"You'm fretting because you've got to stay here with me, I know. +You'm longing to be back with that Mrs. Perry. I know it's 'ard to +'ave to live with a poor miserable creature like me, and I wonder you +can bear it as well as you do." + +Then she would burst into tears. It never occurred to her that she +might try to make it less miserable for Huldah, by trying to be +cheerful herself sometimes. + +"I'm not fretting. I love taking care of you," pleaded poor Huldah. +"I was only trying to think how to make a new-shaped basket that +people might take a fancy to. Shall I read to you, Aunt Emma?" + +Emma Smith loved being read to, and hour after hour Huldah spent over +a book when she knew she ought to be at her basket-making. To try to +make up the time, she got up at four or five in the morning, but in +the winter that meant burning oil, and they could not afford that. +Then one day it occurred to her to sing instead of reading, and after +that she found things easier, for she could sing while she worked. + +It was a strange medley of songs that echoed through the rooms in the +thin child-like voice. "Home, sweet Home," "Father, dear Father, +come Home," "God save the King," "The Old Folks at Home," were some +of their favourites, and if the words and air were not always +correct, they never failed to bring pleasure to both performer and +audience. + +Of hymns Huldah had a greater store in her brain, and by degrees +these ousted the songs as favourites. + +"Sing that one about the green hill without any wall round it," Aunt +Emma said one day. "It does mind me so of 'ome when we were +children. Our cottage was just at the foot of a hill like that, and +mother used to turn us out there to play together by the hour. +It was what they call a mountain. We used to dare each other to go +to the top." + +"Did you ever do it?" asked Huldah, plaiting away industriously. + +"Never; we was so afraid. It was so high up, and the top looked so +far away, and--oh, it used to frighten me! I'd dream at night that I +was lost up there, and I'd call and call, and nobody ever heard me or +came to save me." + +"_He'd_ have saved, if you'd asked Him," said Huldah, gravely. + +"I wonder why He didn't save Himself," said Aunt Emma. "I spose He +could have, couldn't He?" + +"Oh yes, He could, and He could have struck all His enemies down dead +if He'd liked, only He was always one for thinking about others, +never about Himself." + +"And that's the sort that always gets put upon," said Aunt Emma, +quickly. + + "He died that we might go to Heaven, + He died to make us good, + He died that we might be forgiven--" + +Aunt Emma's voice failed, and she suddenly burst into tears. +"I couldn't never be good enough," she sobbed, piteously. "I haven't +been good since I was a child, and now I'm going to die--I know it, I +feel it, I see it in the doctor's face, and--and everybody's. +I've got to die, and just when I'm happy for the first time. +He says He loves everybody, but nobody ever loved me, I never gave +'em reason to, and--and I'm afraid to die, Huldah! I've been so bad, +and it'll be so lonely! I wouldn't mind so much if there was +somebody over--over the other side that loved me." + +There had been a footstep on the stair, but neither of them had heard +it, and when Miss Rose entered the room neither of them saw her, for +their eyes were blinded with tears. + +"Oh, Aunt Emma!" cried Huldah, springing to her bedside, "I love you! +I do, I do, and--and oh, I wish someone would tell you all about it, +so that you'd understand, and feel happy!" + +A soft, light step crossed the room, and a gentle hand was laid on +Huldah's bowed head. "Dear, shall I try? Shall we try together?" + +Huldah sprang to her feet with a glad cry. "Oh, Miss Rose, I was +longing for you to come. You can tell Aunt Emma." + +Miss Rose sat down beside the bed, and laid her hand gently on Emma's +hand. "I wish I was more clever," she said, wistfully. "I wish I +could make you feel how dearly Jesus has always loved you, how He has +wept for you and longed for you, how He has forgiven you all the +neglect and insults you have heaped on Him, and has held out His +arms, beseeching you to come to Him! At this very moment He is +standing at the door, patiently waiting for you to let Him in. +Will you keep Him outside, dear Emma?" + +Miss Rose's voice died away, and silence reigned in the darkening +room; the fire fell together and sent up a cheerful flame, Emma Smith +lay thinking,--"Was it really true that He wanted her?" That she had +turned her back on Him, and mocked and insulted Him, she knew, knew +better than anyone else could,--and could He really love her in spite +of all? + +Miss Rose's voice broke the silence, singing softly, + + "Knocking, knocking, who is there? + Waiting, waiting, oh, how fair! + 'Tis a Pilgrim, strange and kingly, + Never such was seen before; + Ah, my soul, for such a wonder + Wilt thou not undo the door? + Knocking, knocking--what, still there? + Waiting, waiting, grand and fair, + Yes, the pierced hand still knocketh, + And beneath the crowned hair + Beam the patient eyes, so tender, + Of the Saviour, waiting there." + +Low sobs broke from the poor soul on the bed, sobs of grief and joy +and repentance. "If He really cares--if He is really like that!" she +sobbed. "Oh, I want Him! I do want Him to love and take care of me, +too!" + +Miss Rose's arms were round her, her lips were on her brow. +"My dear, He is all that, and more. He will take care of you always, +in this world and the next. He will love you so that you cannot feel +lonely any more. Put your hand in His, put all your troubles off on +His shoulders, trust Him, and follow where He leads you, and nothing +can harm you. Don't be afraid. He will lead you to a home, and love +and happiness such as no one could know in this world, where we are +all so weak and full of faults." + +"Home! Will it seem like home?" she asked, timidly. + + "I'll soon be at home, over there, + For the end of my journey I see, + Many dear to my heart over there + Are watching and waiting for me, + Over there, over there, + I'll soon be at home over there." + +sang Huldah, softly. The flame died down, and left the room very +dim, but still the three sat on, silent, thoughtful. Miss Rose sat +between them, holding a hand of each. + +"I expect 'twas Him as led me back to Huldah," said the weak voice, +presently. + +"Yes, dear. He was bringing you together, that all might be made +happy between you." + +"I am very glad He did. 'Twas more'n I deserved--after the way I'd +treated one of His." + +Huldah threw herself across the bed, her arms thrown round the dying +woman. "Aunt Emma--Aunt Emma, don't! That's all forgotten. +I deserved what I got. It's all over now; don't let's remember it +any more!" + +"Will you tell--Him you've forgiven me?" + +"Yes, oh yes; but He knows, there's no need to tell Him. He knows we +love each other now,--oh, Aunt Emma, if you can only get well, how +happy we shall be!" + +Miss Rose got up and stirred the fire to a blaze again. Her heart +was glad, yet sad. Glad that this poor soul was coming to her +Father, but at the same time sad, for she knew how little hope there +was of Huldah's wish coming to pass. It was sweet, though, to the +dying woman to hear the wish from the child she had ill-treated and +neglected so long, and she clasped her to her in a paroxysm of love. + +For a moment they lay thus, then Miss Rose put a handful of wood on +the fire, and made the blaze grow bright and brisk. + +"I am not going to talk any more now," she said, cheerily, "or let +you talk, Emma, or I shall have a scolding from the doctor, but I am +going to ask you and Huldah to give me a cup of tea, here in the +firelight. Then, after that, I am going to tell you a little piece +of news." + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +HAPPY HOURS. + +The bed was wheeled up to the fireplace, the tea table and two chairs +were grouped about the hearth, and there they had their last meal +together in happy peacefulness. + +A sense of quiet rested on them all, a shade of awe, of feelings so +deep that ordinary chatter would have seemed out of place. Emma +Smith's thoughts were still lingering about that figure standing +outside the door, "Knocking, knocking." She must have seen a picture +once of that figure with the patient, tender eyes, knocking at a +fast-closed door, but she had never troubled to ask who it was. +Now it all seemed close, He was so real. It was ordinary, everyday +life that seemed unreal now, that began to seem to her so far away. + +Huldah was drawing bright pictures in her mind of days when the +spring would come, and Aunt Emma would be stronger and able to walk +about; they would be able to go and see Aunt Martha sometimes. +Her thoughts dwelt lovingly on Aunt Martha and Dick. She saw them +seldom now, the storms and the rough roads kept Aunt Martha at home, +and Huldah could not leave her Aunt Emma. + +So busy was she with her thoughts that she forgot all about Miss +Rose's promised piece of news, until, when the tea was over, Miss +Rose spoke of it again. + +"You must light the lamp now, brownie. I want to talk to your aunt. +There is someone wanting to see her,--someone that she wants to see, +I think." + +Emma Smith turned quickly, an eager light flashing over her face. +"Is it--Tom?" she asked, excitedly. + +"Yes--your husband. He has behaved so well he got his discharge as +soon as it was possible, and he has come in search of you." + +Suddenly the light and eagerness died out of her face. "Charlie--and +the van!" she cried, growing white to the lips. "I've got to tell +him,--he'll never forgive me." Her lips quivered piteously. + +"He knows," said Miss Rose, soothingly. "I told him. I thought it +better to explain quickly what had happened, and not let him be +expecting to find them too." + +She did not tell of the scene there had been when first he had heard +of the loss, nor the difficulty they had had in persuading him to see +his wife, and be kind to her. "I don't want her; 'twas the horse and +van I wanted," he said, cruelly. + +He was not really as cruel, though, as he appeared. He seemed quite +touched when he heard of his wife's starving state when she came in +search of Huldah, and of her condition now, and expressed a desire to +see her. "I won't say nothing to upset her," he promised, when they +seemed to hesitate. + +Huldah's face had turned even whiter than Emma's, when she heard who +was near, and what he wanted, her fear of him had been so increased +since he carried her away by force that night. But when she saw how +eager her aunt was to see him, she did try to overcome her fears. + +Within a few moments of Miss Rose's telling of her "news," he was +there, in their midst. To pale, trembling Huldah, whose every nerve +had been set quivering by the mere sound of his step on the stair, he +threw only a cool nod, as, awkwardly enough, he made his way to his +wife's bedside, and sat down beside her. + +"I hear you'm bad," he said, coolly, but it was plain that her +altered appearance shocked him. Every now and again, when she was +not looking, he gave long wondering glances at her, and his eyes were +almost troubled. "So I hear you and the kid have been living +together again." + +"Huldah? Oh, Tom, she's been such a comfort to me--" + +"That's all right. I s'pose she isn't such a bad kid, on the whole." + +"She's more'n good to me." Then quickly, feverishly she began to +pour out the story of her life since he "was took away." She told +him of Charlie and the van, and how she was tricked. Of her coming +to Huldah, and their home together, and her own illness, until +gradually her voice grew weary and fainter and fainter. The flush +died out of her cheeks, the light out of her eyes. She was +exhausted, but after she could not even whisper, a smile still +hovered about her lips, and her hand held that of her husband. +He sat on, apparently content to do so. When her voice ceased, he +did not seem to notice. He appeared to be lost in thought to which +no one had the clue. + +Huldah sat as still as a mouse, never speaking, and hoping to escape +being spoken to. Occasionally she placed a piece of coal or wood on +the fire, but that was all. She could not see her aunt's face, but +she thought at last she must be asleep, she was so still and quiet. + +The silence, broken as it was only by the crackle of the fire, had +begun to grow oppressive, when suddenly it was broken by a sound of +singing, low, quivering, almost indistinct:-- + + "For the end--of my--journey--I see-- + Many dear to my heart--over there + Are watching--and waiting for me. + Over--there, over--there-- + I'll soon be--at--home--" + +Tom Smith tried to draw away his hand, but his wife's hand clung to +it, her voice died away. "Kiss me--Tom, won't you?" she gasped. + +He stooped and kissed her. She lifted her hand to touch his cheek, +but it fell back helpless. "Hark," she gasped--"the knocking! I--am +coming--" then with one long deep sigh, her voice was still for ever. + +A few moments later, Tom Smith stumbled down the stairs, and out into +the darkness and away, never to be seen by Huldah again. She knew +and realised nothing then, but that her Aunt Emma was dead, that all +her dreams had ended, all her plans for the future were fruitless, +that their living together was ended, her home broken up once more. + +"She's had such a hard life!" she sobbed. "And I thought I was going +to make her so happy when she got about a bit again." + +"But she never would have got about again, dear. She could never +have got beyond these rooms, and I feel sure she would always have +worried about her husband. She could never have gone about with him +again, and she would have fretted at being left behind. She is happy +now, brownie, and out of pain. No one who really loved her could +wish her back again. Don't grieve so, Huldah dear. You made the +last months of her life happier than any she had known." + +"But I ran away and left her, and he beat her and Charlie for it, +and--and--" + +"Brownie, dear, if you want to do what would have pleased your aunt, +you will forget all that. She loved him and forgave him everything, +and she longed for others too to forget that he was ever anything but +a kind husband." + +Huldah was silent. She understood the feeling. It was what she +wanted everyone to feel with regard to Aunt Emma,--to remember only +what was good of her. + +And she had her wish. The little group gathered in the churchyard a +few days later remembered only her suffering and her sorrows, and the +love which had lived through all, and many a pretty bunch of winter +flowers and leaves and berries were laid on her grave by kindly, +pitying hands. In the furthest corner of the little churchyard they +laid her, in a corner where the sun rested, and where a hawthorn +grew, in which a robin sang hopefully while they laid her to rest. + +Huldah, standing by the grave-side while the beautiful words of the +Burial Service were being read, thought of those other partings, so +sad, so cruel,--oh, this was better than those, and not so complete. +She could still feel that Aunt Emma was near her, and safe, and in +the best of all keeping, at peace for ever and ever. + +They thought it best that Huldah should not go back to the empty +rooms again, and she was glad; so after the service was over she +walked back to her old home once again, as though she had never left +it, and the last few months had been but a dream. And it was all so +like a dream that at the top of the lane she paused and looked about +her, half bewildered. Could she be, she asked herself, the same +Huldah who not so many months before had stood there a cowed, +frightened, hunted thing, starving, exhausted, but minding nothing as +long as--as what? + +As long as she escaped from the two she had so lately parted with, +with such an aching heart. She looked down over her black frock. +She felt the sadness in her heart, the sense of loss. Could such +changes really have come about, that now she was full of grief that +she could never again see or hear the aunt she had so feared? + +"Come home, dear; come home. I want you too, oh so badly!" + +Aunt Martha's voice broke in on her thoughts, and brought her quickly +back to the present. Aunt Martha's face was white and tired with +cold and weariness. Huldah was filled with repentance. + +"Oh, you're tired," she cried, remorsefully, "and chilled, and I'm +keeping you standing here. Oh, Aunt Martha, I hope you haven't +taken cold. We'll hurry now, and I'll make you a good fire, and some +tea, and--and I am going to take care of you now, auntie, all the +rest of my days, till I'm an old, old woman, and I'll never go and +leave you any more, for it's plain to see, looking up at her half +mischievously, you can't take care of yourself without me." + +So, for the third time Huldah came back to Woodend Lane, and to Dick, +who went nearly crazy with joy, and to the chickens, and garden and +her basket-making; and this time she stayed, if not till she was an +old woman, at any rate until someone big and strong and very fond of +her, came and built a new cottage, to join Mrs. Perry's old one, and +a new fowl's house on to the old one which Dick had guarded so well, +that he earned for his little mistress and himself a home and friends +for ever. And even then one could scarcely call it "leaving," for +presently the wall which divided them was knocked down, and the two +cottages were made one. + +Huldah's basket-making business increased and increased, until at +last she had to teach another little girl, that she might come and +help her, and then another and another; and perhaps the proudest +moment of her life was when she was able to buy the cottage she loved +so much, and present it to her dearly-loved 'Aunt Martha' as a +Christmas gift. + +By that time Huldah, the little waif, who had earned for herself the +name of "the Brownie," had made for herself so many friends, that +when her wedding took place, so many wished to attend it, they had to +borrow the field opposite for the wedding-feast. And where she had +once sat and worked and dreamed of the future, there she sat now +flushed, smiling and happy, cutting the wedding cake which old Dinah, +with great pride, had made in the vicarage kitchen. + +There she sat, with Dick close beside her, his old heart somewhat sad +with fear of another parting, Aunt Martha opposite, divided between +smiles and tears, and beside her her husband, who was not going to +divide them, but bind them more securely together; and last, but not +least, on Huldah's other hand sat Miss Rose,--no longer "Miss," but +always "Miss Rose" to everyone in Woodend,--who, if Huldah had been +the "brownie," had proved herself the fairy godmother, the best of +guides and friends to those two who had strayed into her life that +hot summer's morning years ago--those two poor loving, hungry, +friendless waifs,--Dick and the Brownie. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DICK AND BROWNIE*** + + +******* This file should be named 16969.txt or 16969.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/9/6/16969 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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