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diff --git a/23380.txt b/23380.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe67e53 --- /dev/null +++ b/23380.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10786 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fighting the Flames, by R.M. Ballantyne + +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: Fighting the Flames + +Author: R.M. Ballantyne + +Release Date: November 6, 2007 [EBook #23380] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIGHTING THE FLAMES *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Fighting the Flames, by R.M. Ballantyne. + +________________________________________________________________________ +This is one of the books by Ballantyne in which he describes one of the +main institutions of British life--the Fire Brigade. Of course he wraps +a good story into this description, but you come away with a good idea +of how the Fire Brigade functioned in those days. Bear in mind that +there were no motors--the fire-engines were drawn by galloping horses. +There were no telephones, and the alarm was raised by someone running to +the fire station. More than that, there was a system for alerting any +adjacent fire stations, so that better cover could be given to the +district as a whole. The power for the pumps was from men, and to +rescue anyone the fireman had to ascend a ladder, hunt for the person, +and carry him or her back down the ladder, all done with unsophisticated +gear. Injuries to firemen, or even their death, were frequent. + +We are also introduced to the floating fire engine, that could attend a +fire by the river-side, usually in one of the very vulnerable ware- +houses. + +________________________________________________________________________ +FIGHTING THE FLAMES, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +HOW THE FIGHT BEGAN. + +One's own fireside is, to all well-regulated minds, a pleasant subject +of contemplation when one is absent, and a source of deep gratification +when present. + +Especially may this be said to be the case in a cold, raw night in +November, when mankind has a tendency to become chronically cross out of +doors, and nature, generally, looks lugubrious; for, just in proportion +as the exterior world grows miserably chill, the world "at home," with +its blazing gas, its drawn curtains, its crackling fires, and its +beaming smiles, becomes doubly comfortable and cosy. + +Even James Auberly, pompous, stern, and ungenial though he was, appeared +to entertain some such thoughts, as he sat by his own fireside, one such +night, in his elegant mansion in Beverly Square, Euston Road, London; +and smiled grimly over the top of the _Times_ newspaper at the fire. + +Mr Auberly always smiled--when he condescended to smile--grimly. He +seldom laughed; when he did so he did it grimly too. In fact, he was a +grim man altogether; a gaunt, cadaverous, tall, careworn, middle-aged +man--also a great one. There could be no question as to that; for, +besides being possessed of wealth, which, in the opinion of some minds, +constitutes greatness, he was chairman of a railway company, and might +have changed situations with the charwoman who attended the head office +of the same without much difference being felt. He was also a director +of several other companies, which, fortunately for them, did not appear +to require much direction in the conduct of their affairs. + +Mr Auberly was also leader of the fashion, in his own circle, and an +oracle among his own parasites; but, strange to say, he was nobody +whatever in any other sphere. Cabmen, it is true, appeared to have an +immense respect for him on first acquaintance, for his gold rings and +chains bespoke wealth, and he was a man of commanding presence, but +their respect never outlived a first engagement. Cabmen seldom touched +their hats to Mr Auberly on receiving their fare; they often parted +from him with a smile as grim as his own, and once a peculiarly daring +member of the fraternity was heard blandly to request him to step again +into the cab, and he would drive him the "nine hundred and ninety-ninth +part of an inch that was still doo on the odd sixpence." That generous +man even went further, and, when his fare walked away without making a +reply, he shouted after him that "if he'd only do 'im the honour to come +back, he'd throw in a inch an' a half extra for nothink." But Mr +Auberly was inexorable. + +"Louisa, dear," said Mr Auberly, recovering from the grim smile which +had indicated his appreciation of his own fireside, "pour me out another +cup of coffee, and then you had better run away to bed. It is getting +late." + +"Yes, papa," replied a little dark-eyed, dark-haired girl, laying down +her book and jumping up to obey the command. + +It may be added that she was also dark-dressed, for Mr Auberly had +become a widower and his child motherless only six months before. + +While Louisa was pouring out the coffee, her father rose and turned his +back to the fire. + +It was really interesting, almost awe-inspiring, to behold Mr Auberly +rise; he was so very tall, and so exceedingly straight. So remarkably +perpendicular was he, so rigidly upright, that a hearty but somewhat +rude sea-captain, with whom he once had business transactions, said to +his mate on one occasion that he believed Mr Auberly must have been +born with a handspike lashed to his backbone. Yes, he was wonderfully +upright, and it would have been downright madness to have doubted the +uprightness of the spirit which dwelt in such a body; so nobody did +doubt it, of course, except a few jaundiced and sceptical folk, who +never could be got to believe anything. + +"Good-night, my love," said Mr Auberly, as the child placed the coffee +beside his chair, and then advanced, somewhat timidly, and held up her +cheek to be kissed. + +The upright man stooped, and there was a shade less of grimness in his +smile as his lips touched his daughter's pale cheek. + +Louisa, or, to use the name by which she was better known in the house, +Loo, had clasped her hands tightly together while she was in the act of +receiving this tribute of parental affection, as if she were struggling +to crush down some feeling, but the feeling, whatever it was, would not +be crushed down; it rose up and asserted itself by causing Loo to burst +into a passionate flood of tears, throw her arms round her father's +neck, and hold him tight there while she kissed his cheek all over. + +"Tut, tut, child!" exclaimed Mr Auberly, endeavouring to re-arrange the +stiff collar and cravat, which had been sadly disordered; "you must +really try to get over these--there, don't be cast down," he added, in a +kinder tone, patting Loo's head. "Good-night, dear; run away to bed +now, and be a good girl." + +Loo smiled faintly through her tears as she looked up at her father, who +had again become upright, said "Good-night," and ran from the room with +a degree of energy that might have been the result of exuberant spirits, +though possibly it was caused by some other feeling. + +Mr Auberly sat for some time, dividing his attentions pretty equally +between the paper, the fire, and the coffee, until he recollected having +received a letter that day which he had forgotten to answer, whereupon +he rose and sat down before his writing-table to reply. + +The letter was from a poor widow, a sister-in-law of his own, who had +disgraced herself for ever--at least in Mr Auberly's eyes--by having +married a waterman. Mr Auberly shut his eyes obstinately to the fact +that the said waterman had, by the sheer force of intelligence, good +conduct, courage, and perseverance, raised himself to the command of an +East Indiaman. It is astonishing how firmly some people can shut their +eyes--sew them up, as it were, and plaster them over--to some things, +and how easily they can open them to others! Mr Auberly's eyes were +open only to the fact that his sister-in-law had married a waterman, and +that that was an unpardonable sin, for which she was for ever banished +from the sunshine of his presence. + +The widow's letter set forth that since her husband's death she had been +in somewhat poor circumstances--though not in absolute poverty--for +which she expressed herself thankful; that she did not write to ask for +money, but that she had a young son--a boy of about twelve--whom she was +very anxious to get into a mercantile house of some sort, and, knowing +his great influence, etcetera, etcetera, she hoped that, forgetting, if +not forgiving, the past, now that her husband was dead, he would kindly +do what he could, etcetera, etcetera. + +To this Mr Auberly replied that it was impossible to forgive the past, +but he would do his best to forget it, and also to procure a situation +for her son (though _certainly_ not in his own office), on one +consideration, namely, that she, the widow, should forget the past +also--including his own, Mr Auberly's, existence (as she had once +before promised to do), and that she should never inform her son, or any +other member of her family--if there happened to be any others members +of it--of the relationship existing between them, nor apply to him by +visit or by letter for any further favours. In the event of her +agreeing to this arrangement, she might send her son to his residence in +Beverly Square, on Thursday next, between eleven and twelve. + +Just as he concluded this letter a footman entered softly and laid a +three-cornered note on the table. + +"Stay, Hopkins, I want you," said Mr Auberly, as he opened the note and +ran his eye over it. + +Hopkins, who was clad in blue velvet and white stockings, stood like a +mute beside his master's chair. He was very tall and very thin, and +very red in the nose. + +"Is the young woman waiting, Hopkins?" + +"Yes, sir; she's in the lobby." + +"Send her up." + +In a few seconds Hopkins reopened the door, and looked down with +majestic condescension on a smart young girl whom he ushered into the +room. + +"That will do; you may go--stay, post this letter. Come here, young +woman." + +The young woman, who was evidently a respectable servant-girl, +approached with some timidity. + +"Your name is Matty Merryon, I understand (yes, sir), at least so your +late mistress, Miss Tippet, informs me. Pray, what does Matty stand +for?" + +"Martha, sir." + +"Well, Martha, Miss Tippet gives you a very good character--which is +well, because I intend you to be servant to my child--her maid; but Miss +Tippet qualifies her remarks by saying that you are a little careless in +_some_ things. What things are you careless in?" + +"La! sir--" + +"You must not say `La!' my girl," interrupted Mr Auberly with a frown, +"nor use exclamations of any kind in my presence; what are the `some +things' referred to?" + +"Sure I don't know, sir," said the abashed Matty. "I s'pose there's +a-many things I ain't very good at; but, please, sir, I don't mean to do +nothin' wrong, sir, I don't indeed; an' I'll try to serve you well, sir, +if it wor only to plaaze my missis, as I'm leavin' against my will, for +I love my--" + +"There, that will do," said Mr Auberly somewhat sternly, as the girl +appeared to be getting excited. + +"Ring that bell; now, go downstairs and Hopkins will introduce you to my +housekeeper, who will explain your duties to you." + +Hopkins entered and solemnly marched Martha Merryon to the regions +below. + +Mr Auberly locked away his papers, pulled out his watch, wound it up, +and then, lighting a bedroom candle, proceeded with much gravity +upstairs. + +He was a very stately-looking man, and strikingly dignified as he walked +upstairs to his bedroom--slowly and deliberately, as though he were +marching at his own funeral to the tune of something even deader than +the "Dead March in Saul." + +It is almost a violation of propriety to _think_ of Mr Auberly doing +such a very undignified thing as "going to bed!" Yet truth requires us +to tell that he did it; that he undressed himself as other mortals do; +that he clothed himself in the wonted ghostly garment; and that, when +his head was last seen--in the act of closing the curtains around him-- +there was a conical white cap on it, tied with a string below the chin, +and ornamented on the top with a little tassel, which waggled as though +it were bidding a triumphant and final adieu to human dignity! + +Half an hour later, Mrs Rose, the housekeeper, a matronly, good-looking +woman, with very red cheeks, was busy in the study explaining to Matty +Merryon her duties. She had already shown her all over the house, and +was now at the concluding lesson. + +"Look here now, Merryon," began the housekeeper. + +"Oh, please don't call me Merryon--I ain't used to it. Call me Matty, +_do_ now!" + +"Very well, Matty," continued Mrs Rose, with a smile, "I've no +objection; you Irish are a strange race! Now, look here. This is +master's study, and mind, he's very partikler, dreadful partikler." + +She paused and looked at her pupil, as if desirous of impressing this +point deeply on her memory. + +"He don't like his papers or books touched; not even dusted! So you'll +be careful not to dust 'em, nor to touch 'em even so much as with your +little finger, for he likes to find 'em in the mornin' just as he left +'em at night." + +"Yes, Mrs Rose," said Matty, who was evidently giving up her whole soul +to the instruction that was being imparted. + +"Now," continued the housekeeper, "the arranging of this room will be +your last piece of work at night. You'll just come in, rake out the +grate, carry off the ashes, lay the noo fire, put the matches handy on +the chimney-piece, look round to see that all's right, and then turn off +the gas. The master is a early riser, and lights the fire his-self of a +mornin'." + +"Yes, 'm," said Matty, with a courtesy. + +"Now, go and do it," said Mrs Rose, "that I may see you understand it. +Begin with the grate an' the ashes." + +Matty, who was in truth an experienced maid-of-all-work, began with +alacrity to discharge the duties of her new station. She carried off +the ashes, and returned with the materials for next day's fire in a +shovel. Here she gave a slight indication of her so-called carelessness +(awkwardness would have been more appropriate) by letting two or three +pieces of stick and a bit of coal fall on the carpet, in her passage +across the room. + +"Be careful, Matty," said Mrs Rose gently. "It's all owin' to haste. +Take your time, an' you won't do such things." + +Matty apologised, picked up the materials, and laid the fire. Then she +took her apron and approached the writing-table, evidently with the +intention of taking the dust off the corners, but not by any means +intending to touch the books or papers. + +"Stop!" cried Mrs Rose sternly. + +Matty stopped with a guilty look. + +"Not a touch," said Mrs Rose. + +"Not even the edges, nor the legs?" inquired the pupil. + +"Neither edges nor legs," said the instructor. + +"Sure it could do no harm." + +"Matty," said Mrs Rose solemnly, "the great thing that your +countrywomen have to learn is _obedience_." + +"Thank 'ee, 'm," said Matty, who, being overawed by the housekeeper's +solemnity, felt confused, and was uncertain whether the reference to her +countrywomen was complimentary or the reverse. + +"Now," continued Mrs Rose, "the matches." + +Matty placed the box of matches on the chimney-piece. + +"Very well; now you've got to look round to see that all's right." + +Matty looked round on the dark portraits that covered the walls +(supposed to be ancestors), on the shelves of books, great and small, +new and old (supposed to be read); on the vases, statuettes, chairs, +tables, desks, curtains, papers, etcetera, etcetera, and, being utterly +ignorant of what constituted right and what wrong in reference to such +things, finally turned her eyes on Mrs Rose with an innocent smile. + +"Don't you see that the shutters are neither shut nor barred, Matty?" + +She had _not_ seen this, but she at once went and closed and barred +them, in which operation she learned, first, that the bars refused to +receive their respective "catches," with unyielding obstinacy for some +time; and, second, that they suddenly gave in without rhyme or reason +and pinched her fingers severely. + +"Now then, what next?" inquired Mrs Rose. + +"Put out the gas," suggested Matty. + +"And leave yourself in the dark," said the housekeeper, in a tone of +playful irony. + +"Ah! sure, didn't I forgit the candle!" + +In order to rectify this oversight, Matty laid the unlighted candle +which she had brought with her to the room on the writing-table, and +going to the chimney-piece, returned with the match-box. + +"Be careful now, Matty," said Mrs Rose earnestly. "There's nothink +I've such a fear of as fire. You can't be too careful." + +This remark made Matty, who was of an anxious temperament, extremely +nervous. She struck the match hesitatingly, and lighted the candle +shakily. Of course it would not light (candles never do on such +occasions), and a long red-hot end of burnt wood projected from the +point of the match. + +"Don't let the burnt end drop into the wastepaper basket!" exclaimed +Mrs Rose, in an unfortunate moment. + +"Where?" exclaimed Matty with a start that sent the red-hot end into the +centre of a mass of papers. + +"There, just at your feet; don't be so nervous, girl!" cried Mrs Rose. + +Matty, in her anxiety not to drop the match, at once dropped it into the +waste-paper basket, which was instantly alight. A stamp of the foot +might have extinguished it, but this did not occur to either of the +domestics. The housekeeper, who was a courageous woman, seized the +basket in both hands and rushed with it to the fireplace, thereby +fanning the flame into a blaze and endangering her dress and curls. She +succeeded, however, in cramming the basket and its contents into the +grate; then the two, with the aid of poker, tongs, and shovel, crushed +and beat out the fire. + +"There! I said you'd do it," gasped Mrs Rose, as she flung herself, +panting, into Mr Auberly's easy-chair; "this comes of bein' in a +hurry." + +"I was always unfort'nit," sighed Matty, still holding the shovel and +keeping her eye on the grate, as if ready to make a furious attack on +the smallest spark that should venture to show itself. + +"Come, now, we'll go to bed," said Mrs Rose, rising, "but first look +well round to see that all is safe." + +A thorough and most careful investigation was made of the basket, the +grate, and the carpet surrounding the fireplace, but nothing beyond the +smell of the burnt papers could be discovered, so the instructor and +pupil put out the gas, shut the door, and retired to the servants'-hall, +where Hopkins, the cook, the housemaid, and a small maid-of-all-work +awaited their arrival--supper being already on the table. + +Here Mrs Rose entertained the company with a graphic--not to say +exaggerated--account of the "small fire" in the study, and wound up with +an eloquent appeal to all to "beware of fire," and an assurance that +there was nothing on the face of the whole earth that she had a greater +horror of. + +Meanwhile the "little spark" among the papers--forgotten in the +excitement of the succeeding blaze of the waste-paper basket--continued +to do its slow but certain work. Having fallen on the cloth between two +bundles, it smouldered until it reached a cotton pen-wiper, which +received it rather greedily in its embrace. This pen-wiper lay in +contact with some old letters which were dry and tindery in their +nature, and, being piled closely together in a heap, afforded enlarged +accommodation, for the "spark," which in about half an hour became quite +worthy of being termed a "swell." + +After that things went on like--"like a house on fire"--if we may +venture to use that too often misapplied expression, in reference to the +elegant mansion in Beverly Square on that raw November night. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +ANOTHER LITTLE "SPARK." + +Whistling is a fine, free, manly description of music, which costs +little and expresses much. + +In all its phases, whistling is an interesting subject of study; whether +we regard its aptitude for expressing personal independence, +recklessness, and jollity; its antiquity--having begun no doubt with +Adam--or its modes of production; as, when created grandly by the +whistling gale, or exasperatingly by the locomotive, or gushingly by the +lark, or sweetly by the little birds that "warble in the flowering +thorn." + +The peculiar phase of this time-honoured music to which we wish to draw +the reader's attention at present, is that which was exemplified one +November night (the same November night of which mention has been made +in the previous chapter) by a small boy who, in his progress through the +streets of London, was arrested suddenly under the shadow of St. Paul's +by the bright glare and the tempting fare of a pastry-cook's window. + +Being hungry, the small boy, thrusting his cold hands deep into his +empty trouser-pockets, turned his fat little face and round blue eyes +full on the window, and stared at the tarts and pies like a famishing +owl. Being poor--so poor that he possessed not the smallest coin of the +realm--he stared in vain; and, being light of heart as well as stout of +limb, he relieved his feelings by whistling at the food with +inexpressible energy. + +The air selected by the young musician was Jim Crow--a sable melody high +in public favour at that time--the familiar strains of which he +delivered with shrill and tuneful precision, which intensified as he +continued to gaze, until they rose above the din of cabs, vans, and +'busses; above the house-tops, above the walls of the great cathedral, +and finally awakened the echoes of its roof, which, coming out, from the +crevices and cornices where they usually slept, went dancing upwards on +the dome, and played around the golden cross that glimmered like a ghost +in the dark wintry sky. + +The music also awakened the interest of a tall policeman whose beat that +night chanced to be St. Paul's Churchyard. That sedate guardian of the +night, observing that the small boy slightly impeded the thoroughfare, +sauntered up to him, and just as he reached that point in the chorus +where Mr Crow is supposed to wheel and turn himself about, spun him +round and gave him a gentle rap on the head with his knuckles, at the +same time advising him to move on. + +"Oh!" exclaimed the small boy, looking up with an expression of deep +concern on his countenance, as he backed off the pavement, "I _hope_ I +didn't hurt you, bobby; I _really_ didn't mean to; but accidents will +happen, you know, an' if you won't keep your knuckles out of a feller's +way, why--" + +"Come," muttered the policeman, "shut up your potato-trap for fear you +catch cold. Your mother wants you; she's got some pap ready for you." + +"Ha!" exclaimed the small boy, with his head a little on one side, as +though he were critically inspecting the portrait of some curious +animal, "a prophet it is--a blue-coated prophet in brass buttons, all +but choked with a leather stock--if not conceit. A horacle, six fut two +in its stockin's. I say, bobby, whoever brought you up carried you up +much too high, both in body and notions. Wot _wouldn't_ they give for +'im in the Guards, or the hoss-marines, if he was only eight inches +wider across the shoulders!" + +Seeing that the policeman passed slowly and gravely on without +condescending to take further notice of him, the small boy bade him an +affectionate farewell; said that he would not forget to mention him +favourably at head-quarters, and then continued his progress through the +crowded streets at a smart pace, whistling Jim Crow at the top of his +shrill pipe. + +The small boy had a long walk before him; but neither his limbs, +spirits, nor lips grew weary by the way. Indeed, his energies seemed to +increase with every step, if one might judge from the easy swagger of +his gait, and the various little touches of pleasantry in which he +indulged from time to time; such as pulling the caps over the eyes of +boys smaller than himself, winking at those who were bigger, uttering +Indian war-whoops down alleys and lanes that looked as if they could +echo, and chaffing all who appeared to be worthy of his attentions. +Those eccentricities of humour, however, did not divert his active mind +from the frequent and earnest study of the industrial arts, as these +were exhibited and exemplified in shop-windows. + +"Jolly stuff that, ain't it?" observed another small boy, in a coat much +too long for him, as they met and stopped in front of a chocolate-shop +at the top of Holborn Hill, where a steam-engine was perpetually +grinding up such quantities of rich brown chocolate, that it seemed +quite unreasonable, selfish, and dog-in-the-manger-ish of the young man +behind the counter to stand there, and neither eat it himself, nor let +anyone else touch it. + +"Yes, it's very jolly stuff," replied the first small boy, regarding his +questioner sternly. "I know you'd like some, wouldn't you? Go in now +an' buy two pen'orth, and I'll buy the half from you w'en you come out." + +"_Walker_!" replied the boy in the long coat. + +"Just so; and I'd advise you to become a walker too," retorted the +other; "run away now, your master's bin askin' after you for half an +hour, _I_ know, and more." + +Without waiting for a reply, the small boy (our small boy) swaggered +away whistling louder than ever. + +Passing along Holborn, he continued his way into Oxford Street, where +the print-shop windows proved irresistibly attractive. They seemed also +to have the effect of stimulating his intellectual and conceptive +faculties, insomuch that he struck out several new, and, to himself, +highly entertaining pieces of pleasantry, one of which consisted of +asking a taciturn cabman, in the meekest of voices: + +"Please, sir, you couldn't tell me wot's o'clock, could you?" + +The cabman observed a twinkle in the boy's eye; saw through him; in a +metaphorical sense, and treated him with silent contempt. + +"Oh, I beg pardon, sir," continued the small boy, in the same meek tone, +as he turned to move humbly away; "I forgot to remember that cabbies +don't carry no watches, no, nor _change_ neither, they're much too wide +awake for that!" + +A sudden motion of the taciturn cabman caused the small boy to dart +suddenly to the other side of the crowded street, where he resumed his +easy independent air, and his interrupted tune. + +"Can you direct me to Nottin' Hill Gate, missus?" he inquired of an +applewoman, on reaching the neighbourhood of Tottenham Court Road. + +"Straight on as you go, boy," answered the woman, who was busying +herself about her stall. + +"Very good indeed," said the small boy, with a patronising air; "quite +correctly answered. You've learnt geography, I see." + +"What say?" inquired the woman, who was apparently a little deaf. + +"I was askin' the price o' your oranges, missus." + +"One penny apiece," said the woman, taking up one. + +"They ain't biled to make 'em puff out, are they?" + +To this the woman vouchsafed no reply. + +"Come, missus, don't be cross; wot's the price o' yer apples now?" + +"D'you want one?" asked the woman testily. + +"Of course I does." + +"Well, then, they're two a penny." + +"Two a penny!" cried the small boy, with a look of surprise; "why, I'd +'a said they was a penny apiece. Good evenin', missus; I never buys +cheap fruit--cheap and nasty--no, no; good evenin'." + +It seemed as if the current of the small boy's thoughts had been +diverted by this conversation, for he walked for some time with his eyes +cast on the ground, and without whistling, but whatever the feelings +were that might have been working in his mind, they were speedily put to +flight by a facetious butcher, who pulled his hat over his eyes as he +passed him. + +"Now then, pig-sticker, what d'ye mean by that?" he shouted, but as the +butcher walked on without deigning to reply, he let off his indignation +by yelling in at the open door of a tobacco-shop and making off at a +brisk run. + +From this point in his progress, he became still more hilarious and +daring in his freaks, and turned aside once or twice into narrow +streets, where sounds of shouting or of music promised him fresh +excitement. + +On turning the corner of one of those streets, he passed a wide doorway, +by the side of which was a knob with the word FIRE in conspicuous +letters above it, and the word BELL below it. The small boy paused, +caught his breath as if a sudden thought had struck him, and glanced +round. The street was comparatively quiet; his heart beat high; he +seized the bell with both hands, pulled it full out, and bolted! + +Now it chanced that one of the firemen of the station happened to be +standing close to the door, inside, at the time. He, guessing the +meaning of the ring at once, darted out and gave chase. + +The small boy fled on the wings of terror, with his blue eyes starting +from their sockets. The fireman was tall and heavy, but he was also +strong and in his prime, so that a short run brought him up with the +fugitive, whom he seized with a grip of iron. + +"Now, then, young bottle-imp, what did you mean by that?" + +"Oh! please, sir," gasped the small boy, with a beseeching look, "I +_couldn't_ help it." + +There was such a tone of truthfulness in this "_couldn't_" that it +tickled the fireman. His mouth relaxed in a quiet smile, and, releasing +his intended victim, he returned to the station, while the small boy +darted away in the direction of Oxford Street. + +He had scarcely reached the end of the street, however, when a man +turned the corner at full speed and ran him down--ran him down so +completely that he sent him head-over-heels into the kennel, and, +passing on, darted at the fire-bell of the station, which he began to +pull violently. + +The man was tall and dishevelled, partially clad in blue velvet, with +stockings which had once been white, but were now covered from garter to +toe with mud. One shoe clung to his left foot, the other was fixed by +the heel in a grating over a cellar-window in Tottenham Court Road. +Without hat or coat, with his shirt-sleeves torn by those unfortunates +into whose arms he had wildly rushed, with his hair streaming backwards, +his eyes blood-shot, his face pale as marble, and perspiration running +down his cheeks, not even his own most intimate friends would have +recognised Hopkins--the staid, softspoken, polite, and gentle Hopkins-- +had they seen him that night pulling like a maniac at the fire-bell. + +And, without doubt, Hopkins _was_ a maniac that night--at least he was +afflicted with temporary insanity! + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +FIRE!!! + +"Hallo, that'll do, man!" cried the same stalwart fireman who had seized +the small boy, stepping out and laying his hand on Hopkins's shoulder, +whereabouts is it? + +Hopkins heard him not. One idea had burnt itself into the poor man's +brain, and that was the duty that lay on him to ring the alarm-bell! +Seeing this, the fireman seized him, and dragged him forcibly--almost +lifted him--into the station, round the door of which an eager crowd had +already begun to collect. + +"Calm yourself," said the stalwart fireman quietly, as he thrust Hopkins +down into a chair. "Consider now. You'll make us too late if you don't +speak. Where is it?" + +"B-B-Fire!" yelled Hopkins, gasping, and glaring round him on the men, +who were quietly putting on their helmets. + +Hopkins suddenly burst from the grasp of his captor, and, rushing out, +seized the bell-handle, which he began to pull more furiously than ever. + +"Get her out, Jim," said the fireman in a low tone to one of his +comrades ("her" being the engine); at the same time he went to the door, +and again seizing Hopkins, brought him back and forced him into a chair, +while he said firmly: + +"Now, then, out with it, man; where's the fire?" + +"Yes, yes," screamed Hopkins, "fire! fire that's it! B-! B-Beverly!-- +blazes!--square!--number--Fire!" + +"That'll do," said the fireman, at once releasing the temporary maniac, +and going to a book where he calmly made an entry of the name of the +square, the hour of the night, and the nature of the call. Two lines +sufficed. Then he rose, put on his helmet, and thrust a small hatchet +into his belt, just as the engine was dragged to the door of the +station. + +There was something absolutely magnificent in this scene which no pen +can describe, because more than half its force was conveyed only by the +eye and the ear. The strong contrast between human excitement and +madness coupled with imbecility, and human calmness and self-possession +coupled with vigorous promptitude, was perfect. + +Just before poor Hopkins rang his first note of alarm the station had +been wrapt in profound silence--the small boy's interruption having been +but a momentary affair. George Dale, the fireman in charge, was seated +at a desk in the watch-room (known among firemen as the "lobby"), making +an entry in a diary. All the other men--about thirteen in number--had +gone to their respective homes and beds in the immediate neighbourhood, +with the exception of the two whose turn it was to remain on duty all +night. These two (named Baxmore and Corney), with their coats, belts, +boots, and caps on, had just lain down on two low tressel couches, and +were courting sleep. The helmets of their comrades hung on the walls +round the room, with belts and hatchets underneath them. Several pairs +of boots also graced the walls, and a small clock, whose gentle tick was +the only sound that broke the silence of the night. In an outer room +the dim form of a spare engine could be seen through the doorway. + +The instant that the bell rang, however, this state of quietude was put +to flight. The two men rose from their couches, and Dale stepped to the +door. There was no starting up, no haste in their movements, yet there +was prompt rapidity. The men, having been sailors, had been trained in +the midst of alarms. The questions which were put to Hopkins, as above +described, were rapidly uttered. Before they were answered the two men +were ready, and at Dale's order, "Get her out!" they both vanished. + +One ran round the corner to the engine-house and "knocked up" the driver +in passing. The other ran from door to door of the firemen's abodes, +which were close at hand, and with a loud double-ring summoned the +sleepers. Before he got back to help the first with the engine, one and +another and another door opened, and a man darted out, buttoning braces +or coat as he ran. Each went into the station, seized his helmet, belt, +and axe, from his own peg, and in another moment all were armed +_cap-a-pie_. At the same instant that the engine appeared at the door a +pair of horses were trotted up. Two men held them; two others fastened +the traces; the driver sprang to his seat; the others leaped to their +respective places. Each knew what to do, and did it at once. There was +no hurry, no loss of time, no excitement; some of the men, even while +acting with the utmost vigour and promptitude, were yawning away their +drowsiness; and in less than ten minutes from the moment the bell first +rang the whip cracked and the fire-engine dashed away from the station +amid the cheers of the crowd. + +It may be as well to remark here in passing, that the London Fire +Brigade had, at the time of which we write, reached a high state of +efficiency, although it could not stand comparison with the perfection +of system and unity of plan which mark the organisation and conduct of +the Brigade of the present day. + +Mr Braidwood, the able Superintendent, had for many years been training +his men on a system, the original of which he had begun and proved in +Edinburgh. Modifying his system to suit the peculiarities of the larger +field to which he had been translated, he had brought the "Fire Engine +Establishment," (which belonged at that time to several insurance +companies) to a state of efficiency which rendered it a model and a +training-school for the rest of the world; and although he had not the +advantage of the telegraph or the powerful aid of the land steam +fire-engine of the present day, he had men of the same metal as those +which compose the force now. + +The "Metropolitan Fire Brigade," as it then existed under the control of +the Metropolitan Board of Works, had been carried by its chief, Captain +Eyre Massey Shaw, to a condition of efficiency little if at all short of +perfection, its only fault being (if we may humbly venture a remark) +that it was too small both in numbers of engines and men. + +Now, good reader, if you have never seen a London fire-engine go to a +fire, you have no conception of what it is; and even if you have seen +it, but have not gone with it, still you have no idea of what it is. + +To those accustomed to it, no doubt, it may be tame enough--we cannot +tell; but to those who mount an engine for the first time and drive +through the crowded thoroughfares of London at a wild tearing gallop, it +is probably the most exciting drive conceivable. It beats +steeple-chasing. It feels like driving to destruction--so wild and so +reckless is it. And yet it is not reckless in the strict sense of that +word; for there is a stern _need-be_ in the case. Every _moment_ (not +to mention minutes or hours) is of the utmost importance in the progress +of a fire. Fire smoulders and creeps at first, it may be, but when it +has got the mastery, and bursts into flames, it flashes to its work and +completes it quickly. At such times, one moment of time lost may +involve thousands of pounds--ay, and many human lives! This is well +known to those whose profession it is to fight the flames. Hence the +union of apparent mad desperation, with cool, quiet self-possession in +their proceedings. When firemen can work in silence they do so. No +unnecessary word is uttered, no voice is needlessly raised. Like the +movements of some beautiful steam-engine, which, with oiled pistons, +cranks, and levers, does its unobtrusive work in its own little chamber +in comparative stillness, yet with a power that would tear and rend to +pieces buildings and machinery, so the firemen sometimes bend to their +work quietly, though with mind and muscles strung to the utmost point of +tension. At other times, like the roaring locomotive crashing through a +tunnel or past a station, their course is a tumultuous rush, amid a +storm of shouting and gesticulation. + +So was it on the present occasion. Had the fire been distant, they +would have had to commence their gallop somewhat leisurely, for fear of +breaking down the horses; but it was not far off--not much more than a +couple of miles--so they dashed round the corner of their own street at +a brisk trot, and swept into Oxford Street. Here they broke into a +gallop, and here the noise of their progress began, for the great +thoroughfare was crowded with vehicles and pedestrians, many of whom +were retiring from the theatres and music-halls, and other places of +entertainment. + +To pass through such a crowd without coming into collision with anything +required not only the most dexterous driving, but rendered it necessary +that some of the men on the engine should stand up and shout, or rather +roar incessantly, as they whirled along, clearing everything out of +their way, and narrowly escaping innumerable crashes by a mere +hairbreadth. + +The men, as we said before, having been sailors, seemed to shout with +the memory of the boatswain strong upon them, for their tones were +pitched in the deepest and gruffest bass-key. Sometimes there was a +lull for a moment, as a comparatively clear space of a hundred yards or +so lay before them; then their voices rose like the roaring of the gale +as a stupid or deaf cabman got in their way, or a plethoric 'bus +threatened to interrupt their furious passage. + +The cross streets were the points where the chief difficulties met them. +There the cab and van drivers turned into or crossed the great +thoroughfare, all ignorant of the thunderbolt that was rushing on like a +fiery meteor, with its lamps casting a glare of light before, and the +helmets of its stern charioteers flashing back the rays of street-lamps +and windows; for, late though the hour was, all the gin-palaces, and +tobacconists' shops, and many of the restaurants were still open and +brightly illuminated. + +At the corner of Wells Street, the crowd of cabs and other vehicles was +so great that the driver of the engine began to tighten his reins, and +Jim Baxmore and Joe Corney raised their voices to a fierce shout. Cabs, +'busses, and pedestrians scattered right and left in a marvellous +manner; the driver slackened his reins, cracked his whip, and the horses +stretched out again. + +In passing Berners Street, a hansom cab swept round the corner, its +dashing driver smoking a cigar in sublime self-satisfaction, and looking +carelessly right and left for a "fare." This exquisite almost ran into +the engine! There was a terrific howl from all the firemen; the cabby +turned his smart horse with a bound to one side, and lost his cigar in +the act--in reference to which misfortune he was heartily congratulated +by a small member of the Shoe-black Brigade,--while the engine went +steadily and sternly on its way. + +"There, it shows a light," observed one of the firemen to Dale, as he +pointed to a luminous appearance in the sky away to the north-east. + +Dale was already looking in that direction, and made no reply. + +As they reached Tottenham Court Road the driver again checked the pace a +little; yet even at the reduced speed they passed everything like a +whirlwind. The traffic here was so great that it behoved them to be +more cautious. Of course, the more need that there was for caution, the +more necessity was there for shouting; and the duty of Baxmore and +Corney--standing as they did in front of their comrades beside the +driver--became severe, but they had good lungs both of them! + +At the point where Tottenham Court Road cuts Oxford Street, the +accumulation of vehicles of all sorts, from a hand-barrow to a +furniture-van, is usually very great. To one unaccustomed to the powers +of London drivers, it would have seemed nothing short of madness to +drive full tilt into the mass that blocked the streets at this point. +But the firemen did it. They reined up a little, it is true, just as a +hunter does in gathering his horse together for a rush at a stone wall, +but there was nothing like an approach to stopping. + +"Hi! Hi!! Hi!!!" roared the firemen, Baxmore and Corney high above the +rest. A 'bus lumbered to the left just in time; a hansom sprang to the +right, not a moment too soon; a luggage-van bolted into Crown Street; +the pedestrians scattered right and left, and the way was clear--no, not +quite clear! The engine had to turn at a right angle here into +Tottenham Court Road. Round it went on the two off-wheels, and came +full swing on a market-gardener and a hot-coffee woman, who were +wheeling their respective barrows leisurely side by side, and chatting +as they went. + +The roar that burst from the firemen was terrific. The driver attempted +both to pull up and to turn aside. The market-gardener dropt his barrow +and fled. The hot-coffee woman, being of a resolute nature, thrust her +barrow by main force on the footpath, and so saved her goods and herself +by a hairbreadth, while the barrow of her friend was knocked in pieces. +But the effort of the engine-driver to avoid this had well-nigh resulted +in serious consequences. In endeavouring to clear the market-gardener +he drew so near to the footpath that in another moment a lamp-post would +have been carried away, and the wheels of the engine, in all +probability, knocked off, had not Joe Corney observed the danger. + +With a truly Irish yell Joe seized the rein next him, and pulled the +horses round almost at a right angle. The nave of the hind-wheel just +shaved the post as it flew by. The whole thing passed so swiftly that +before the market-gardener recovered from his consternation the engine +was only discernible in the distance by the sparks that flew from its +wheels as it held on in its furious way. + +All along its course a momentary disturbance of London equanimity was +created. Families not yet abed rushed to their front windows, and, +looking out, exclaimed, "Ha! the firemen." Tipplers in gin-palaces ran +to the doors and said, "There they go", "That's your sort", "Hurrah, my +hearties!" or, "Go it, ye cripples!" according to the different stages +of inebriation at which they had arrived; and belated men of business +stopped to gaze, and then resumed their way with thoughts and +speculations on fire and fire insurance, more or less deep and serious +according to temperament. But the disturbance was only temporary. The +families retired to their suppers or beds, the tipplers returned to +their tipple, the belated speculators to their dreams, and in a few +minutes (no doubt) forgot what they had seen, and forgot; perchance, +that they had any personal interest in fire raising, or fire extinction, +or fire prevention, or fire in any dangerous shape or form whatever, or +indulged in the comforting belief, mayhap, that whatever disasters might +attend the rest of the London community, they and their houses being +endued with the properties of the salamander, nothing in the shape of +fire might, could, would, or should kindle upon them. So true is it +that, "all men think all men mortal but themselves!" + +Do you doubt this, reader? If so, go poll your acquaintance, and tell +us how many of them have got rope-ladders, or even ropes, to escape from +their houses should they take fire; how many of them have got +hand-pumps, or even buckets, placed so as to be handy in case of fire; +and how many of them have got their houses and furniture insured against +fire. + +Meanwhile, the fire-engine held on its way, until it turned into Beverly +Square, and pulled short up in front of the blazing mansion of James +Auberly, Esquire. + +Another engine was already at work there. It had come from a nearer +station, of the existence of which Hopkins had been ignorant when he set +out on his wild race for help. The men of this engine were already +doing their work quietly, but with perceptible effect, pouring incessant +streams of water in at the blazing windows, and watching for the +slightest lull in the ferocity of the smoke and flame to attack the +enemy at closer quarters. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +A FIERCE FIGHT WITH THE FLAMES. + +When the small boy--whose name, it may be as well to mention, was +William (_alias_ Willie) Willders--saw the fire-engine start, as has +been already described, his whole soul yearned to follow it, for, in the +course of his short life, he had never succeeded in being at the +beginning of a fire, although he had often been at the middle and end of +one--not a very difficult thing in London, by the way, seeing that there +are, on the average, between four and five fires every twenty-four +hours! + +Willie Willders was of an enquiring disposition. He wanted to know how +things were managed at a fire, from the beginning to the end, and he +found that the course of true inquiry, like another course we wot of, +never did run smooth. + +Poor Willie's heart was with that engine, but his legs were not. They +did their best, but they failed, strong and active though they were, to +keep up with the horses. So Willie heaved a bursting sigh and slackened +his speed--as he had often done before in similar circumstances-- +resolving to keep it in sight as long as he could, and trust to his +eyesight and to the flames "showing a light" for the rest. + +Just as he came to this magnanimous resolve, a strapping young gentleman +called a passing cab, leaped in, ordered the driver to follow the +engine, and offered double fare if he should keep it in view up to the +fire. + +Willie, being sharp as a needle, at once stepped forward and made as +though he would open the door for the gentleman. The youth was already +in and the door shut, but he smiled as he shouted to the driver, "All +right!" and tossed a copper to Willie, with the remark, "There, you +scamp!" The copper fell in the mud, and there Willie left it, as he +doubled nimbly behind the vehicle, and laid hold of it. + +The cabman did his best to earn his double fare, and thus it came to +pass that Willie was in time to see the firemen commencing work. + +As the young man leaped from the cab he uttered a cry of surprise and +alarm, and rushed towards the crowd of firemen nearest to the burning +house without paying his fare. Willie was a little astonished at this, +but losing sight of the youth in the crowd, and seeing nothing more of +him at that time, he became engrossed in other matters. + +There were so many men on the ground, however--for just then a third +engine dashed up to the scene of conflagration--that it was difficult +for the excited boy to appreciate fully what he saw. He got as close to +the engine, however, as the policemen would allow him, and observed that +a fire-plug had been already opened, and over it had been placed a +canvas cistern of about a yard long by eighteen inches broad, stretched +on an iron frame. The cistern was filled with water to overflowing, and +the first engine had placed its suction-pipe in it, while from the front +of the engine extended the leathern hose that conveyed the water to the +burning house. + +Willie was deeply interested in this, and was endeavouring to solve +certain knotty points in his own mind, when they were suddenly solved +for him by a communicative dustman who stood in the crowd close by, and +thus expounded the matter to his inquisitive son. + +"You see, Tommy, the use o' the cistern is hobvious. See, here's 'ow it +lies. If an ingin comes up an screwges its suction on to the plug, all +the other ingins as comes after it has to stan' by an' do nuffin. But +by puttin' the cistern over the plug an' lettin' it fill, another ingin +or mabbe two more, can ram in its suction and drink away till it's fit +to burst, d'ye see." + +Willie drank in the information with avidity, and then turned his +attention to the front of the engine, to which several lengths of hose, +each forty feet long, had been attached. Baxmore and Corney were at the +extreme end, screwing on the "branch" or nozzle by which the stream of +water is directed, and Dale was tumbling a half-drunk and riotous navvy +head-over-heels into the crowd, in order to convince him that his +services to pump were not wanted--a sufficient number having been +procured. A couple of policemen walked this navvy quietly from the +scene, as Dale called out: + +"Down with her, boys!" + +"Pump away, lads!" said one of the firemen, interpreting. + +The volunteers bent their backs, and the white clouds of steam that +issued from the burning house showed that the second engine was doing +its work well. + +Immediately after, Dale and his men, with the exception of those +required to attend the engine and the "branch," were ordered to get out +the ladders. + +He who gave this order was a tall, sinewy man, middle-aged apparently, +and of grave demeanour. His dress was similar to that of the other +firemen, but there was an air of quiet unobtrusive authority about him, +which showed that he was a leader. + +"We might get on the roof now, Mr Braidwood," suggested Dale, touching +his helmet as he addressed the well-known chief of the London +Fire-Engine Establishment. + +"Not yet, Dale, not yet," said Braidwood; "get inside and see if you can +touch the fire through the drawing-room floor. It's just fallen in." + +Dale and his men at once entered the front door of the building, +dragging the branch and hose along with them, and were lost in smoke. + +Previous to the arrival of the fire-engines, however, a scene had been +enacted which Willie Willders had not witnessed. A fire-escape was +first to reach the burning house. This was then, and still is, usually +the case, owing to the fact that escapes are far more numerous in London +than engines, so that the former, being always close at hand, often +accomplish their great work of saving life before the engines make their +appearance. + +The escape in the immediate neighbourhood of Beverly Square was under +the charge of Conductor Samuel Forest, a man who, although young, had +already saved many lives, in the service of the Society for the +Protection of Life from Fire. + +When Forest reached the field of action, Mr James Auberly was seen at +an upper window in a state of undignified _dishabille_, shouting for +help, and half suffocated with smoke, with Mrs Rose hanging round his +neck on one side and Matty Merryon at the other. Poor Auberly, having +tried the staircase on the first alarm, was driven back by smoke, and +rushed wildly to the window, where the two domestics, descending in +terror from their attic, clung to him and rendered him powerless. + +Forest at once pitched his escape--which was just a huge +scientifically-constructed ladder, set on wheels. The head of it +reached to the windows of the second floor. By pulling a rope attached +to a lever, he raised a second ladder of smaller size, which was fitted +to the head of the large one. The top of this second ladder was nearly +sixty feet from the ground, and it reached the window at which Mr +Auberly was still shouting. Forest at once sprang up. + +"Leave me; save the women," gasped Auberly, as a man entered the room, +but the dense smoke overpowered him as he spoke, and he fell forward. +The women also sank to the ground. + +Forest instantly seized Mrs Rose in his powerful arms, and hurrying +down the ladder to the top of the escape, put her into the canvas trough +or sack which was suspended below the ladder all the way. Down this she +slid somewhat violently but safely to the ground, while Forest ran up +again and rescued Matty in the same way. Mr Auberly was more difficult +to manage, being a heavy man, and his rescuer was almost overpowered by +the thick smoke in the midst of which all this was done. He succeeded, +however, but fainted on reaching the ground. + +It was at this point that the first engine arrived, and only a few +minutes elapsed when the second made its appearance, followed by the cab +from which the young man leapt with the exclamation of surprise and +alarm that had astonished Willie Willders. + +Pushing his way to the place where Mr Auberly and the others lay, the +youth fell on his knees. "My father!" he exclaimed wildly. + +"He's all right, lad," said Mr Braidwood, coming up at that moment, and +laying his hand kindly on the youth's shoulder; "he's only choked with +smoke, and will be better in a minute. Any more in the house?" he added +quickly. + +Young Auberly leaped up with a shout. + +"My sister! is she not saved? Are _all_ here?" + +He waited not for a reply, but in another moment was on the fire-escape. + +"After him, two of you," said Braidwood, turning to his men. + +Two at once obeyed. In fact, they had leaped forward almost before the +brief command was uttered. One of these firemen was conspicuous for his +height and strength. He was first up the ladder. Close upon him +followed Baxmore with a lantern. + +Nothing but smoke had yet reached the room into which young Auberly +entered, so that he instantly found himself in impenetrable darkness, +and was almost choked as well as blinded. + +"Have a care, Frank; the floor must be about gone by this time," said +Baxmore, as he ran after his tall comrade. + +The man whom he called Frank knew this. He also knew that it was not +likely any one had been left in the room from which the master of the +house had been rescued, and he thought it probable that his daughter +would occupy a room on the same floor with her father. Acting on this +supposition, and taking for granted that the room they were about to +enter was Mr Auberly's bedroom, the tall fireman dashed at once through +the smoke, and tumbled over the prostrate form of young Auberly. + +"Look after him, Baxmore," he gasped, as he seized the lamp from his +comrade's hand, and darted across the room and out into the passage, +where he went crash against a door and burst it open. Here the smoke +was not so dense, so that he could breathe, though with difficulty. + +One glance showed him where the bed was. He felt it. A female form was +lying on it. The light weight and the long hair which swept across his +face as he raised it gently but swiftly on his shoulder, told him that +it was that of a girl. + +At that moment he heard a loud shout from the crowd, which was followed +by a crash. Dashing once more across the passage, he saw that a lurid +flame was piercing the smoke in the other room. The staircase he knew +was impassable; probably gone by that time; but he had not time to +think, so he drew the blanket over the girl's head and bounded towards +the window. There was a feeling of softness under his feet, as if the +floor were made of pasteboard. He felt it sinking beneath him. Down it +went, just as he laid hold of the head of the fire-escape, from which he +hung suspended in the midst of the smoke and sparks that rose from the +falling ruin. + +Strong though the young fireman was, he could not raise himself by one +arm, while the other was twined round Louisa Auberly. At that moment, +Baxmore, having carried young Auberly down in safety, again ascended and +appeared at the window. He seized Frank by the hair of the head. + +"Let go my hair, and catch the girl!" shouted Frank. + +"All right," said Baxmore, seizing Loo and lifting her over the window +sill. + +Frank being thus relieved, swung himself easily on the sill, and +grasping Loo once more, descended to the street, where he was met by Mr +Auberly, who had recovered from his state of partial suffocation, and +who seized his child and hurried with her into a neighbouring house. +Thither he was followed by Mrs Rose and Matty, who had also recovered. + +During these episodes, the firemen had continued at their work with cool +and undistracted attention. And here the value of organisation was +strikingly and beautifully brought out; for, while the crowd swayed to +and fro, now breathless with anxiety lest the efforts of the bold +conductor of the fire-escape should fail; anon wild with excitement and +loud in cheers when he succeeded, each fireman paid devoted and +exclusive attention to his own prescribed piece of duty, as if nothing +else were going on around him, and did it with all his might--well +knowing that every other piece of work was done, or point of danger +guarded, by a comrade, while the eagle eyes of Mr Braidwood and his not +less watchful foremen superintended all, observed and guided, as it +were, the field of battle. + +And truly, good generalship was required, for the foe was fierce and +furious. The "devouring element" rushed onward like a torrent. The +house was large and filled with rich furniture, which was luxurious food +for the flames as they swept over the walls, twined round the +balustrades, swallowed the paintings, devoured the woodwork, and melted +the metal in their dread progress. But the foe that met them was, on +this occasion, more than a match for the flames. It was a hand-to-hand +encounter. The men followed them foot by foot, inch by inch--sometimes +almost singeing their beards or being well-nigh choked and blinded by +dense volumes of smoke, but, if driven back, always returning to the +charge. The heat at times beat on their helmets so fiercely that they +were forced to turn their faces aside and half-turn their backs on the +foe, but they _always_ kept their weapons--the "branches"--to the front, +and continued to discharge upon him tons and tons of aqueous artillery. + +"Get up to the windows now; use the escape," said Mr Braidwood; and as +he said this he passed through the doorway of the burning house. + +Some of the men rushed up the escape and let down a line, to which one +of the branches was made fast. + +"Avast pumpin', number two!" shouted Baxmore from the midst of clouds of +smoke that were bursting out from the window. + +Number two engine was stopped. Its branch was pulled up and pointed +inside _straight at the fire_; the signal given, "Down with number two!" +and a hiss was followed by volumes of steam. + +The work of extinction had at last begun in real earnest. As long as +they could only stand in the street and throw water in through the +windows at haphazard, they might or might not hit the fire--and at all +events they could not attack its strong points; but now, Baxmore at one +window, and one of the men of the first engine at another, played +point-blank into the flames, and, wherever the water hit, they were +extinguished. Presently they got inside and began to be able to see +through the smoke; a blue glimmer became visible, the branch was +pointed, and it was gone. By this time the second floor had partly +given way, and fire was creeping down the rafters to the eaves of the +house. Baxmore observed this; and pointed the branch straight up. The +fire at that part was put out, and a heavy shower of water fell back on +the fireman, drenching him to the skin. + +The attack had now become general. The firemen swarmed in at the doors +and windows the moment that it was possible for a human being to breathe +the smoke and live. One of the engines attached two additional lengths +of hose, dragged the branch through the first floor to the back of the +house, got upon an outhouse, in at a back window, and attacked the foe +in rear. On the roof, Frank and Dale were plying their hatchets, their +tall figures sharply defined against the wintry sky, and looking more +gigantic than usual. The enemy saved them the trouble of cutting +through, however, for it suddenly burst upwards, and part of the roof +fell in. It would certainly have taken Frank prisoner had not Dale +caught him by the collar, and dragged him out of danger. Instantly a +branch was pointed downwards, and the foe was beaten back; from above, +below, before, and behind, it was now met with deluges of water, which +fell on the shoulders of the men in the lower floor in a continuous hot +shower, while they stood ankle-deep in hot water. + +In ten minutes after this the fire was effectually subdued, the lower +floor having been saved, although its contents were severely damaged by +water. + +It was only necessary now, that one of the engines should remain for a +time, to make good the victory. The others rolled up their hose, and +prepared to depart. The King Street engine was the first to quit the +field of battle. While the men were getting ready, Mr Auberly, muffled +in a long cloak, stepped from the crowd and touched Frank, the tall +fireman, on the shoulder. + +"Sir," said he in a low voice, "you saved my child. I would show my +sense of gratitude. Will you accept of this purse?" + +Frank shook his head and a smile played on his smoke-begrimed +countenance as he said: + +"No, Mr Auberly. I am obliged to you, but I cannot accept of it. I do +not want it, and besides, the men of the brigade are not allowed to take +money." + +"But you will let me do something for you?" urged Mr Auberly. "Is +there nothing that I can do?" + +"Nothing, sir," said Frank. He paused for a moment, and then +resumed--"Well, there _is_ something that perhaps you could do, sir. I +have a little brother out of employment; if you could get him a +situation, sir." + +"I will," said Mr Auberly with emotion. "Send him to me on Thursday +forenoon. He will find me living next door to my--to my late home. I +shall stay with a friend there for some time. Good-night." + +"Men of King Street engine get up," cried Dale. "Stay--what is your +name?" said Mr Auberly turning round. + +But Frank was gone. He had leaped to his place on the engine and was +off at a rattling pace through the now silent and deserted streets of +the sleeping city. + +Although they drove on at great speed there was no shouting now, for +neither 'bus, cab, nor foot-passenger blocked up the way, and the men, +begrimed with smoke and charcoal, wet, and weary with two hours of +almost uninterrupted labour of a severe as well as dangerous character, +sat or stood in their places in perfect silence. + +On reaching the fire-station they leaped to the ground, and all went +quickly and silently to their neighbouring homes and beds, except the +two men on duty. These, changing their coats and boots, lay down on the +trestles, and at once fell fast asleep--the engine and horses having +been previously housed--and then Dale sat down to make an entry of the +event in his day-book. + +The whole thing might have been only a vivid dream, so silent was the +room and so devoid of any evidence of recent excitement, while the +reigning tranquillity was enhanced rather than decreased by the soft +breathing of the sleepers, the ticking of the clock, and the scratching +of Dale's pen as he briefly recorded the facts of the fire that night in +Beverly Square. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +WILLIE WILLDERS IN DIFFICULTIES. + +During the progress of the fire, small Willie Willders was in a state of +the wildest, we might almost say hilarious, excitement; he regarded not +the loss of property; the fire never struck him in _that_ light. His +little body and big spirit rejoiced in the whole affair as a magnificent +display of fireworks and heroism. + +When the fire burst through the library windows he shouted; when Sam +Forest, the conductor of the fire-escape, saved Mr Auberly and the +women, he hurrahed; when the tall fireman and Baxmore rescued Louisa +Auberly he cheered and cheered again until his shrill voice rose high +above the shouting of the crowd. When the floors gave way he screamed +with delight, and when the roof fell in he shrieked with ecstasy. + +Sundry and persevering were the efforts he made to break through the +police by fair means and foul; but, in his energy, he over-reached +himself, for he made himself so conspicuous that the police paid special +attention to him, and wherever he appeared he was snubbed and thrust +back, so that his great desire to get close to the men while they were +at work was frustrated. + +Willie had a brother who was a fireman, and he wished earnestly that he +might recognise him, if present; but he knew that, being attached to the +southern district of the City, he was not likely to be there, and even +if he were, the men were all so much alike in their uniform, that it was +impossible at a distance to distinguish one from another. True it is +that his brother was uncommonly tall, and very strong; but as the London +firemen were all picked men, many of them were very tall, and all of +them were strong. + +Not until the last engine left the ground, did Willie Willders think it +advisable to tear himself away, and hasten to his home in Notting Hill, +where he found his mother sitting up for him in a state of considerable +anxiety. She forebore to question him that night, however. + +When Willie appeared next morning--or rather, the same morning, for it +was nearly four o'clock when he went to bed--he found his mother sitting +by the fire knitting a sock. + +Mrs Willders was a widow, and was usually to be found seated by the +fire, knitting a sock, or darning one, or mending some portion of male +attire. + +"So you were at a fire last night, Willie?" said the widow. + +"Yes, I was," replied the boy, going up to his mother, and giving her +what he styled a "roystering" kiss, which she appeared to like, although +she was scarcely able to bear it, being thin and delicately formed, and +somewhat weak from bad health. + +"No lives lost, I hope, Willie?" + +"No; there ain't often lives lost when Sam Forest, the fire-escape-man, +is there. You know Forest, mother, the man that we've heard so much of? +Ah, it _was_ sitch fun! You've no notion! It would have made you +split your sides wi' laughin' if you'd seen Sam come out o' the smoke +carryin' the master o' the house on his shoulder in his shirt and +drawers, with only one sock on, an' his nightcap tied so tight under his +chin that they had to cut it off--him in a swound, too, hangin' as limp +as a dead eel on Sam's shoulder, with his head down one side, an' his +legs down the other. Oh, it _was_ a lark!" + +The boy recalled "the lark" to his own mind so vividly, that he had to +stop at this point, in order to give vent to an uproarious fit of +laughter. + +"Was Frank there?" inquired the widow, when the fit subsided. + +"Not that I know of, mother; I looked hard for him, but didn't see him. +There was lots o' men big enough to be him; but I couldn't get near +enough to see for the bobbies. I wonder what them bobbies were made +for!" continued Willie, with a look of indignation, as he seated himself +at the table, and began to eat a hearty breakfast; "the long lamp-posts! +that are always in the way when nobody wants 'em. I do believe they was +invented for nothin' else than to aggravate small boys and snub their +inquiring minds." + +"Where was the fire, Willie?" + +"In Beverly Square. I say, mother, if that there grocer don't send us +better stuff than this here bacon in future, I'll--I'll have to give him +up." + +"I can't afford to get better, dear," said the widow meekly. + +"I know that, mother; but _he_ could afford to _give_ better. However, +it's down now, so it don't much matter." + +"Did you hear whose house was burned, Willie?" + +"A Mr Oberly, or somethin' like that." + +"Auberly!" exclaimed the widow, with a start. + +"Well, p'raps it is Auberly; but whichever it is, he's got a pretty +kettle o' fish to look after this mornin'. You seem to have heard of +him before, mother?" + +"Yes, Willie, I--I know him a--at least I have met with him often. You +see I was better off once, and used to mingle with--but I need not +trouble you with that. On the strength of our former acquaintance, I +thought I would write and ask him to get you a situation in an office, +and I have got a letter from him, just before you came down to +breakfast, saying that he will do what he can, and bidding me send you +to him between eleven and twelve to-morrow." + +"Whew!" whistled Willie, "an' he burnt out o' house and home, without a +coat to his back or a shoe to his foot. It strikes me I'll have to try +to get _him_ a situation." + +"He won't be found at the house, now, I dare say, my son, so we'll have +to wait a little; but the burning of his house and furniture won't +affect him much, for he's rich." + +"Humph! p'raps not," said Willie; "but the burnin' of his little girl +might have--" + +"You said that _no_ lives were lost," cried Mrs Willders, turning pale. + +"No more there was, mother; but if it hadn't bin for one o' the firemen +that jumped in at a blazin' winder an' brought her out through fire an' +smoke, she'd have bin a cinder by this time, an' money wouldn't have +bought the rich man another daughter, _I_ know." + +"True, my son," observed Mrs Willders, resting her forehead on her +hand; then, as if suddenly recollecting something, she looked up and +said, "Willie, I want you to go down to the City with these socks to +Frank. This is his birthday, and I sat late last night on purpose to +get them finished. His station is a long way _off_, I know, but you've +nothing else to do, so--" + +"Nothin' else to do, mother!" exclaimed Willie; with an offended look. +"Haven't I got to converse in a friendly way with all the +crossin'-sweepers an' shoeblacks an' stall-women as I go along, an' +chaff the cabbies, an' look in at all the shop-windows, and insult the +bobbies? I _always_ insult the bobbies. It does me good. I hurt 'em, +mentally, as much as I can, an' I'd hurt 'em bodily if I could. But +every dog has his day. When I grow up _won't_ I pitch into 'em!" + +He struck the table with his fist, and, shaking back his curly hair, +lifted his blue eyes to his mother's face with a stern expression, which +gradually relaxed into a smile. + +"Ah, you needn't grin, mother, an' tell me that the `_policemen_' are a +fine set of men, and quite as brave and useful in their way as the +firemen. I know all you respectable sort of people think that; but _I_ +don't. They're my natural enemies, and I hate 'em. Come, mother, give +me the socks and let me be off." + +Soon the vigorous urchin was on his way to the City, whistling, as +usual, with all his might. As he passed the corner of the British +Museum a hand touched him on the shoulder, and its owner said: + +"How much are ye paid a week, lad, for kicking up such a row?" + +Willie looked round, and his eyes encountered the brass buckle of the +waist-belt of a tall, strapping fellow in a blue uniform. Glancing +upwards, he beheld the handsome countenance of his brother Frank looking +down at him with a quiet smile. He wore no helmet, for except when +attending a fire the firemen wear a sailor-like blue cloth cap. + +"Hallo, Blazes! is that you?" cried the boy. + +"Just so, Willie; goin' down to Watling Street to attend drill." + +Willie (who had styled his brother "Blazes" ever since he joined the +fire brigade) observed that he happened to be going in the same +direction to deliver a message from his mother to a relation, which he +would not speak about, however, just then, as he wished to tell him of a +fire he had been at last night. + +"A fire, lad; was it a big one?" + +"Ay, that it was; a case o' burnin'-out almost; _and there were lives +saved_," said the boy with a look of triumph; "and that's more than you +can say you've seen, though you _are_ a fireman." + +"Well, you know I have not been long in the brigade, Willie, and as the +escapes often do their work before the engines come up, I've not had +much chance yet of seeing lives saved. How was it done?" + +With glowing eyes and flushed cheeks Willie at once launched out into a +vivid description of the scene he had so recently witnessed, and dwelt +particularly on the brave deeds of Conductor Forest and the tall +fireman. Suddenly he looked up at his brother. + +"Why, what are you chucklin' at, Blazes?" + +"Nothing, lad. Was the fireman _very_ tall?" + +"That he certainly was--uncommon tall." + +"Something like _me_?" said Frank. + +A gleam of intelligence shot across the boy's face as he stopped and +caught his brother by the sleeve, saying earnestly: + +"It wasn't _you_, Frank, _was_ it?" + +"It was, Willie, and right glad am I to have been in such good luck as +to save Miss Auberly." + +Willie grasped his brother's hand and shook it heartily. + +"You're a brick, Blazes," said he, "and this is your birthday, an' I +wish you luck an' long life, my boy. You'll do me credit yet, if you go +on as you've begun. Now, I'll go right away back an' tell mother. +Won't she be fit to bu'st?" + +"But what about your message to the relation in the City?" inquired +Frank. + +"That relation is yourself, and here's the message, in the shape of a +pair o' socks from mother; knitted with her own hands; and, by the way, +that reminds me--how came you to be at the fire last night? It's a long +way from your station." + +"I've been changed recently," said Frank; "poor Grove was badly hurt +about the loins at a fire in New Bond Street last week, and I have been +sent to take his place, so I'm at the King Street station now. But I +have something more to tell you before you go, lad, so walk with me a +bit farther." + +Willie consented, and Frank related to him his conversation with Mr +Auberly in reference to himself. + +"I thought of asking leave and running out this afternoon to tell you, +so it's as well we have met, as it will--Why, what are _you_ chuckling +at, Willie?" + +This question was put in consequence of the boy's eyes twinkling and his +cheeks reddening with suppressed merriment. + +"Never mind, Blazes. I haven't time to tell you just now. I'll tell +you some other time. So old Auberly wants to see me to-morrow +forenoon?" + +"That's what he said to me," returned Frank. + +"Very good; I'll go. Adoo, Blazes--farewell." + +So saying, Willie Willders turned round and went off at a run, chuckling +violently. He attempted to whistle once or twice, but his mouth refused +to retain the necessary formation, so he contented himself with +chuckling instead. And it is worthy of record that that small boy was +so much engrossed with his own thoughts on this particular occasion that +he did not make one observation, bad, good, or indifferent, to any one +during his walk home. He even received a question from a boy smaller +than himself as to whether "his mother knew he was out," without making +any reply, and passed innumerable policemen without even a thought of +vengeance! + +"Let me see," said he, muttering to himself as he paused beside the +Marble Arch at Hyde Park, and leaned his head against the railings of +that structure; "Mr Auberly has been an' ordered two boys to be sent to +him to-morrow forenoon--ha! he! sk!" (the chuckling got the better of +him here)--"very good. An' my mother has ordered one o' the boys to go, +while a tall fireman has ordered the other. Now, the question is, which +o' the two boys am I--the _one_ or the _t'other_--ha! sk! ho! Well, of +course, _both_ o' the boys will go; they can't help it, there's no +gittin' over that; but, then, which of 'em will git the situation? +There's a scruncher for you, Mr Auberly. You'll have to fill your +house with tar an' turpentine an' set fire to it over again 'afore +you'll throw light on _that_ pint. S'pose I should go in for _both_ +situations! It _might_ be managed. The first boy could take a +well-paid situation as a clerk, an the second boy might go in for +night-watchman at a bank." (Chuckling again interrupted the flow of +thought.) "P'raps the two situations might be got in the same place o' +business; that would be handy! Oh! if one o' the boys could only be a +girl, _what_ a lark that would--sk! ha! ha!" + +He was interrupted at this point by a shoe-black, who remarked to his +companion: + +"I say, Bob, 'ere's a lark. 'Ere's a feller bin an got out o' Bedlam, a +larfin' at nothink fit to burst hisself!" + +So Willie resumed his walk with a chuckle that fully confirmed the +member of the black brigade in his opinion. + +He went home chuckling and went to bed chuckling, without informing his +mother of the cause of his mirth. Chuckling he arose on the following +morning, and, chuckling still, went at noon to Beverly Square, where he +discovered Mr Auberly standing, gaunt and forlorn, in the midst of the +ruins of his once elegant mansion. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +"WHEN ONE IS ANOTHER WHO IS WHICH?" + +"Well, boy, what do you want? Have you anything to say to me?" + +Mr Auberly turned sharp round on Willie, whose gaze had gone beyond the +length of simple curiosity. In fact, he was awe-struck at the sight of +such a very tall and very dignified man standing so grimly in the midst +of such dreadful devastation. + +"Please, sir, I was sent to you, sir, by--" + +"Oh, you're the boy, the son of--that is to say, you were sent to me by +your mother," said Mr Auberly with a frown. + +"Well, sir," replied Willie, hesitating, "I--I--was sent by--by--" + +"Ah, I see," interrupted Mr Auberly with a smile that was meant to be +gracious, "you were sent by a fireman; you are not the--the--I mean +you're the _other_ boy." + +Poor Willie, being of a powerfully risible nature, found it hard to +contain himself on hearing his own words of the previous evening +re-echoed thus unexpectedly. His face became red, and he took refuge in +blowing his nose, during which process--having observed the smile on Mr +Auberly's face--he resolved to be "the other boy." + +"Yes, sir," he said, looking up modestly, "I was sent by a fireman; I +_am_ the other boy." + +Mr Auberly smiled again grimly, and said that the fireman was a brave +fellow, and that he had saved his daughter's life, and that he was very +glad to do anything that lay in his power for him, and that he +understood that Willie was the fireman's brother; to which the boy +replied that he was. + +"Well, then, come this way," continued Mr Auberly, leading Willie into +the library of the adjoining house, which his friend had put at his +disposal, and seating himself at a writing-table. "You want a situation +of some sort--a clerkship, I suppose?" + +Willie admitted that his ambition soared to that tremendous height. + +"Let me see," muttered Mr Auberly, taking up a pen and beginning to +write; "yes, she will be able to help me. What is your name, boy?" + +"Willie, sir." + +"Just so, William; and your surname--your other name?" + +"Willders, sir." + +Mr Auberly started, and looked Willie full in the eyes. Willie, +feeling that he was playing a sort of double part without being able to +avoid it, grew red in the face. + +"What did you say, boy?" + +"Willders," replied Willie stoutly. + +"Then you're _not_ the other boy," said Mr Auberly, laying down his +pen, and regarding Willie with a frown. + +"Please, sir," replied Willie, with a look of meekness which was mingled +with a feeling of desperation, for his desire to laugh was strong upon +him, "please, sir, I don't rightly know _which_ boy I am." + +Mr Auberly paused for a moment. + +"Boy, you're a fool!" + +"Thank 'ee, sir," said Willie. + +This reply went a long way in Mr Auberly's mind to prove the truth of +his assertion. + +"Answer me, boy," said Mr Auberly with an impressive look and tone; +"were you sent here by a fireman?" + +"Yes, sir," replied Willie. + +"What is his name?" + +"Same as mine, sir--Willders." + +"Of course, of course," said Mr Auberly, a little confused at having +put such an unnecessary question. "Does your _mother_ know you're +here?" + +This brought the slang phrase, "Does your mother know you're out?" so +forcibly to the boy's mind, that he felt himself swell internally, and +had recourse again to his pocket-handkerchief as a safety-valve. + +"Yes, sir," said he, on recovering his composure; "arter I saw Blazes-- +Frank, I mean, that's my brother, sir--I goes right away home to bed. I +stops with my mother, sir, an' she saw me come off here this mornin', +sir. She knows I was comin' here." + +"Of course; yes, yes, I see," muttered Mr Auberly, again taking up his +pen. "I see; yes, yes; same name--strange coincidence, though; but, +after all, there are many of that name in London. I suppose the _other_ +boy will be here shortly. Very odd, very odd indeed." + +"Please, sir," observed Willie, in a gentle tone, "you said _I_ was the +other boy, sir." + +Mr Auberly seemed a little annoyed at his muttered words being thus +replied to, yet he condescended to explain that there was another boy of +the same name whom he expected to see that morning. + +"Oh, then there's _another_ other boy, sir?" said Willie with a look of +interest. + +"Hold your tongue!" said Mr Auberly in a sharp voice; "you're a fool, +and you're much too fond of speaking. I advise you to keep your tongue +quieter if you wish to get on in life." + +Willie once more sought relief in his pocket-handkerchief, while his +patron indited and sealed an epistle, which he addressed to "Miss +Tippet, Number 6, Poorthing Lane, Beverly Square." + +"Here, boy, take this to the lady to whom it is addressed--the lane is +at the opposite corner of the square--and wait an answer." + +"Am I to bring the answer back to you, sir?" asked Willie with much +humility. + +"No; the answer is for yourself," said Mr Auberly testily; "and hark +'ee, boy, you need not trouble me again. That note will get you all you +desire." + +"Thank you, sir," said Willie, making a bow, and preparing to retire; +"but please, sir, I don't very well know, that is to say--ahem!" + +"Well, boy?" said the patron sternly. + +"Excuse me, sir; I can't help it, you know; but please, sir, I wish to +explain about that other boy--no, that's me, but the _other_ other boy, +you know--" + +"Begone, boy!" cried Mr Auberly in a voice so stern that Willie found +himself next moment in the street, along which he ran chuckling worse +than ever. + +A little reflection might have opened Mr Auberly's eyes to the truth in +regard to Willie, but a poor relation was to him a disagreeable subject +of contemplation, and he possessed the faculty, in an eminent degree, of +dismissing it altogether from his mind. Having care enough on his mind +at that time, poor man, he deliberately cast the confusion of the two +boys out of his thoughts, and gave himself up to matters more +interesting and personal. + +We may add here that Mrs Willders was faithful to her promise, and +never more addressed her brother-in-law by word or letter. When Willie +afterwards told her and Frank of the absurdity of his interview, and of +the violent manner in which Mr Auberly had dismissed him when he was +going to explain about the "other" boy, his mother thought it best to +let things rest as they stood, yet she often wondered in her own quiet +way what Mr Auberly would think of her and of the non-appearance of the +"other" boy; and she felt convinced that if he only put things together +he _must_ come to understand that Willie and Frank were her sons. But +Mrs Willders did not know of the before-mentioned happy facility which +her kinsman possessed of forgetting poor relations; so, after wondering +on for a time, she ceased to wonder or to think about it at all. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +THOUGHTS IN REGARD TO MEN. + +Miss Emelina Tippet was a maiden lady of pleasing countenance and +exceedingly uncertain age. + +She was a poor member of a poor branch of an aristocratic family, and +feeling an unconquerable desire to breathe, if not the pure +unadulterated atmosphere of Beverly Square, at least as much of it as +was compatible with a very moderate income, she rented a small house in +a very dark and dismal lane leading out of that great centre of +refinement. + +It is true that Beverly Square was not exactly the "West End," but there +are many degrees of West-endiness, so to speak, in the western +neighbourhood of London, and this square was, in the opinion of Miss +Tippet, the West-endiest place she knew, because there dwelt in it, not +only a very genteel and uncommonly rich portion of the community, but +several of her own aristocratic, though distant, relations, among whom +was Mr Auberly. + +The precise distance of the relationship between them had never been +defined, and all records bearing on it having been lost in the mists of +antiquity, it could not now be ascertained; but Miss Tippet laid claim +to the relationship, and as she was an obliging, good-humoured, chatty, +and musical lady, Mr Auberly admitted the claim. + +Miss Tippet's only weakness--for she was indeed a most estimable woman-- +was a tendency to allow rank and position to weigh too much in her +esteem. She had also a sensitive abhorrence of everything "low and +vulgar," which would have been, of course, a very proper feeling had she +not fallen into the mistake of considering humble birth lowness, and +want of polish vulgarity--a mistake which is often (sometimes even +wilfully) made by persons who consider themselves much wiser than Miss +Tippet, but who are not wise enough to see a distinct shade of true +vulgarity in their own sentiments. + +The dark, dismal lane, named Poorthing Lane, besides forming an asylum +for decayed and would-be aristocrats, and a vestibule, as it were, to +Beverly Square, was a convenient retreat for sundry green-grocers and +public-house keepers and small trades-people, who supplied the +densely-peopled surrounding district, and even some of the inhabitants +of Beverly Square itself, with the necessaries of life. It was also a +thoroughfare for the gay equipages of the square, which passed through +it daily on their way to and from the adjoining stables, thereby +endangering the lives of precocious babies who could crawl, but could +not walk away from home, as well as affording food for criticism and +scandal, not to mention the leaving behind of a species of secondhand +odour of gentility such as coachmen and footmen can give forth. + +Miss Tippet's means being small, she rented a proportionately small +residence, consisting of two floors, which were the upper portion of a +house, whose ground floor was a toy-shop. The owner of the toy-shop, +David Boone, was Miss Tippet's landlord; but not the owner of the +tenement. He rented the whole, and sublet the upper portion. Miss +Tippet's parlour windows commanded a near view of the lodging opposite, +into every corner and crevice of which she could have seen, had not the +windows been encrusted with impenetrable dirt. Her own domestic +arrangements were concealed from view by small green venetian blinds, +which rose from below, and met the large venetians which descended from +above. The good lady's bedroom windows in the upper floor commanded a +near view--much too near--of a stack of chimneys, between which and +another stack, farther over, she had a glimpse of part of the gable end +of a house, and the topmost bough of a tree in Beverly Square. It was +this prospect into paradise, terrestrially speaking, that influenced +Miss Tippet in the choice of her abode. + +When William Willders reached the small door of Number 6, Poorthing +Lane, and raised his hand to knock, the said door opened as if it had +been trained to admit visitors of its own accord, and Miss Matty Merryon +issued forth, followed by a bright blue-eyed girl of about twelve years +of age. + +"Well, boy, was ye comin' here?" inquired Matty, as the lad stepped +aside to let them pass. + +"Yes, I was. Does Miss Tippet live here?" + +"She does, boy, what d'ye want with her?" + +"I want to see her, young 'ooman, so you'd better cut away up an' tell +her a gen'lm'n requests a few words private conversation with her." + +The little girl laughed at this speech, and Matty, addressing Willie as +a "dirty spalpeen," said he had better go with her to a shop first, and +she'd then take him back and introduce him to Miss Tippet. + +"You see I can't let ye in all be yer lone, cushla; for what would the +neighbours say, you know! I'm only goin' to the toy-shop, an' won't +kape ye a minit, for Miss Emma don't take long to her bargains." + +Willie might probably have demurred to this delay; but on hearing that +the blue-eyed girl wanted to make purchases, he at once agreed to the +proposal, and followed them into the toy-shop. + +David Boone, who stepped out of the back-shop to serve them, was, if we +may say so, very unlike his trade. A grave, tall, long-legged, +long-nosed, raw-boned, melancholy-looking creature such as he, might +have been an undertaker, or a mute, or a sexton, or a policeman, or a +horse-guardsman, or even a lawyer; but it was the height of impropriety +to have made him a toy-shopman, and whoever did it had no notion +whatever of the fitness of things. One could not resist the idea that +his clumsy legs would certainly upset the slender wooden toys with which +the floor and counters were covered, and his fingers seemed made to +break things. The figure of Punch which hung from the ceiling appeared +inclined to hit him as he passed to and fro, and the pretty little dolls +with the sweet pink faces, and very flaxen hair and cerulean eyes were +evidently laughing at him. + +Nevertheless, David Boone was a kind-hearted man, very fond of children, +and extremely unlike, in some respects, what people imagined him at +first sight to be. + +"Well, Miss Ward, what can I supply you with to-day?" said he blandly. + +"Please, Mr Boone, I want a slate and a piece of slate-pencil." Emma +looked up with a sweet smile at the tall shopman, who looked down upon +her with grave benignity, as he produced the articles required. + +"D'you kape turpentine?" said Matty, as they were about to quit the +shop. + +Boone started, and said almost testily, "No, I _don't_. Why do you +ask?" + +"Sure, there's no sin in askin'," replied Matty in surprise at the man's +changed manner. + +"Of course--of course not," rejoined Boone with a slight look of +confusion, as he made a sudden assault with his pocket-handkerchief on +the cat, which was sleeping innocently in the window; "git out o' that, +you brute; you're always agoin' in the winder, capsizin' things. There! +you've been an' sat on the face o' that 'ere wax doll till you've a'most +melted it. Out o' that with you! No, Miss Merryon," he added, turning +to the girl with his wonted urbanity, "I don't keep turpentine, and I +was only surprised you should ask for it in a toy-shop; but you'll get +it of Mr White next door. I don't believe there's anythink in the +world as he can't supply to his customers." + +David Boone bowed them out, and then re-entered the back-shop, shaking +his head slowly from side to side. + +"I don't like it--I don't even like to think of it, Gorman," he said to +a big low-browed man who sat smoking his pipe beside the little +fireplace, the fire in which was so small that its smoke scarcely +equalled in volume that of the pipe he smoked: "No, I _don't_ like it, +and I _won't do it_." + +"Well, well, you can please yourself," said Gorman, knocking the ashes +out of his pipe, and placing it in his vest pocket as he rose and +buttoned his thick pea-jacket up to the chin; "but I'll tell you what it +is, if you _are_ a descendant of the hunter of the far west that you +boast so much about, it's precious little of his pluck that you've got; +an' so I tell 'ee to your face, David Boone. All I've got to say is, +that you'd better be wise and take my advice, and think better of it." + +So saying, Gorman went out, and slammed the door after him. + +Meanwhile, Miss Matty Merryon, having purchased a small phial of +turpentine, returned to Number 6, and ushered Willie Willders into the +presence of her mistress. + +Miss Emelina Tippet was neither tall nor stiff, nor angular nor bony; on +the contrary, she was little and plump, and not bad-looking. And people +often wondered why Miss Tippet _was_ Miss Tippet and was not Mrs +Somebody-else. Whatever the reason was, Miss Tippet never divulged it, +so we won't speculate about it here. + +"A note, boy, from Mr Auberly?" exclaimed Miss Tippet, with a beaming +smile; "give it me--thank you." + +She opened it and read attentively, while Master Willie glanced round +the parlour and took mental notes. Miss Emma Ward sat down on a stool +in the window, ostensibly to "do sums," but really to draw faces, all of +which bore a strong caricatured resemblance to Willie, at whom she +glanced slyly over the top of her slate. + +Matty remained standing at the door to hear what the note was about. +She did not pretend to busy herself about anything. There was no +subterfuge in Matty. She had been Miss Tippet's confidential servant +before entering the service of Mr Auberly, and her extremely short stay +in Beverly Square had not altered that condition. She had come to feel +that she had a right to know all Miss Tippet's affairs, and so waited +for information. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Miss Tippet, still reading, "yes; `get him a situation +in your brother's office,' (oh, certainly, I'll be sure to get that); +`he seems smart, I might almost say impu--' Ahem! Yes, well--." + +"Boy," said Miss Tippet, turning suddenly to Willie, "your name is +William Willders, I believe?" + +"Yes, ma'am." + +"Well, William, Mr Auberly, my relative, asks me to get you into my +brother's--my brother's, what's 'is name--office. Of course, I shall be +happy to try. I am always extremely happy to do anything for--yes, I +suppose of course you can write, and, what d'ye call it--count--you can +do arithmetic?" + +"Yes, ma'am," replied Willie. + +"And you can spell--eh? I hope you can _spell_, Edward, a--I mean +Thomas--is it, or William?" + +Miss Tippet looked at Willie so earnestly and put this question in tones +so solemn that he was much impressed, and felt as if all his earthly +hopes hung on his reply, so he admitted that he could spell. + +"Good," continued Miss Tippet. "You are, I suppose, in rather poor +circumstances. Is your father poor?" + +"He's dead, ma'am; was drowned." + +"Oh! shocking, that's very sad. Was your mother drowned, too?" + +"No, ma'am, she's alive and well--at least she's well for _her_, but she +an't over strong. That's why I want to get work, that I may help her; +and she wants me to be a clerk in a office, but I'd rather be a fireman. +You couldn't make me a fireman, could you, ma'am?" + +At this point Willie caught Miss Ward gazing intently at him over the +top of her slate, so he threw her into violent confusion by winking at +her. + +"No, boy, I can't make you a fireman. Strange wish--why d'you want to +be one?" + +"'Cause it's such jolly fun," replied Willie; with real enthusiasm, +"reg'lar bangin' crashin' sort o' work--as good as fightin' any day! +An' my brother Frank's a fireman. Such a one, too, you've no notion; +six fut four he is, an' as strong as--oh, why, ma'am, he could take you +up in one hand, ma'am, an' twirl you round his head like an old hat! He +was at the fire in Beverly Square last night." + +This speech was delivered with such vehemence, contained so many +objectionable sentiments, and involved such a dreadful supposition in +regard to the treatment of Miss Tippet's person, that the worthy lady +was shocked beyond all expression. The concluding sentence, however, +diverted her thoughts. + +"Ah! was he indeed at that sad fire, and did he help to put it out?" + +"Sure, an' he did more than that," exclaimed Matty, regarding the boy +with sudden interest. "If that was yer brother that saved Miss Loo he's +a ra'al man--" + +"Saved Loo!" cried Miss Tippet; "was it _your_ brother that saved Loo?" + +"Yes, ma'am, it was." + +"Bless him; he is a noble fellow, and I have great pleasure in taking +you by the hand for his sake." + +Miss Tippet suited the action to the word, and seized Willie's hand, +which she squeezed warmly. Matty Merryon, with tears in her eyes, +embraced him, and said that she only wished she had the chance of +embracing his brother, too. Then they all said he must stay to lunch, +as it was about lunchtime, and Miss Tippet added that he deserved to +have been born in a higher position in life--at least his brother did, +which was the same thing, for he was a true what's-'is-name, who ought +to be crowned with thingumyjigs. + +Emma, who had latterly been looking at Willie with deepening respect, +immediately crowned him with laurels on the slate, and then Matty rushed +away for the lunch-tray--rejoicing in the fire, that had sent her back +so soon to the old mistress whom she never wanted to leave; that had +afforded scope for the display of such heroism, and had brought about +altogether such an agreeable state of unwonted excitation. + +Just as the party were on the point of sitting down to luncheon, the +street-door knocker was applied to the door with an extremely firm +touch. + +"Miss Deemas!" exclaimed Miss Tippet. "Oh! I'm _so_ glad. Rush, +Matty." + +Matty rushed, and immediately there was a sound on the wooden passage as +of a gentleman with heavy boots. A moment later, and Matty ushered in a +very tall, broad-shouldered, strapping lady; if we may venture to use +that expression in reference to one of the fair sex. + +Miss Deemas was a sort of human eagle. She had an eagle eye, an +aquiline nose, an eagle flounce, and an eagle heart. Going up to Miss +Tippet, she put a hand on each of her shoulders, and stooping down, +pecked her, so to speak, on each cheek. + +"How are you, my dear?" said Miss Deemas, not by any means tenderly; but +much in the tone in which one would expect to have one's money or one's +life demanded. + +"Quite well, dear Julia, and _so_ glad to see you. It is _so_ good of +you to take me by surprise this way; just at lunch-time, too. Another +plate and knife, Matty. This is a little boy--a friend--not exactly a +friend, but a--a thingumy, you know." + +"No, I _don't_ know, Emelina, what is the precise `thingumy' you refer +to this time," said the uncompromising and matter-of-fact Miss Deemas. + +"You're _so_ particular, dear Julia," replied Miss Tippet with a little +sigh; "a what's-'is-n-, a _protege_, you know." + +"Indeed," said Miss Deemas, regarding Willie with a severe frown, as if +in her estimation all _proteges_ were necessarily villains. + +"Yes, dear Julia, and, would you believe it, that this boy's +brother-in-law--" + +"Brother, ma'am," interrupted Willie. + +"Yes, brother, actually saved my darling's life last night, at the--the +thing in Beverly Square." + +"What `darling's life,' and what `thing' in Beverly Square?" demanded +Miss Deemas. + +"What! have you not heard of the fire last night in Beverly Square--my +relative, James Auberly--living there with his family--all burnt to +ashes--and my sweet Loo, too? A what's-'is-name was brought, and a +brave fireman went up it, through fire and water and smoke. Young +Auberly went up before him and fell--heat and suffocation--and saved her +in his arms, and his name is Frank, and he's this boy's brother-in-law!" + +To this brief summary, given with much excitement, Miss Deemas listened +with quiet composure, and then said with grim sarcasm, and very slowly: + +"Let me see; there was a fire in Beverly Square last night, and James +Auberly, living there with his family, were all burned to ashes." + +Miss Tippet here interrupted with, "No, no;" but her stern friend +imposing silence, with an eagle look, continued: + +"All burned to ashes, and also your sweet Loo. A `what's-his-name' +having been brought, a brave fireman goes up it, and apparently never +comes down again (burned to ashes also, I fancy); but young Auberly, who +went up before him, and fell--heat and suffocation being the result-- +saved some one named `her' in his arms; his name being Frank (owing no +doubt to his having been re-baptised, for ever since I knew him he has +been named Frederick), and he is this boy's brother-in-law!" + +By way of putting an extremely fine point on her sarcasm, Miss Deemas +turned to Willie, with a very condescending air, and said: + +"Pray, when did your sister marry Mr Frederick Auberly?" + +Willie, with a face of meekness, that can only be likened to that of a +young turtle-dove, replied: + +"Please, ma'am, it isn't my sister as has married Mr Auberly; but it's +my brother, Frank Willders, as hopes to marry Miss Loo Auberly, on +account o' havin' saved her life, w'en she comes of age, ma'am." + +Miss Deemas stood aghast, or rather sat aghast, on receiving this reply, +and scanned Willie's face with one of her most eagle glances; but that +small piece of impudence wore an expression of weak good-nature, and +winked its eyes with the humility of a subdued pup, while Miss Tippet +looked half-horrified and half-amused; Matty grinned, and Emma squeaked +through her nose. + +"Boy," said Miss Deemas severely, "your looks belie you." + +"Yes, ma'am," answered Willie, "my mother always said I wasn't half so +bad as I looked; and she's aware that I'm absent from home." + +At this point Willie allowed a gleam of intelligence to shoot across his +face, and he winked to Emma, who thereupon went into private convulsions +in her handkerchief. + +"Emelina," said Miss Deemas solemnly, "let me warn you against that boy. +He is a bad specimen of a bad sex. He is a precocious type of that +base, domineering, proud and perfidious creature that calls itself `lord +of creation,' and which, in virtue of its superior physical power, takes +up every position in life worth having," ("except that of wife and +mother," meekly suggested Miss Tippet), "_worth having_" (repeated the +eagle sternly, as if the position of wife and mother were _not_ worth +having), "worth having, and leaves nothing for poor weak-bodied, though +not weak-minded woman to do, except sew and teach brats. Bah! I hate +men, and they hate _me_, I know it, and I would not have it otherwise. +I wish they had never been made. I wish there had been none in the +world but women. What a blessed world it would have been _then_!" + +Miss Deemas hit the table with her hand, in a masculine manner, so +forcibly, that the plates and glasses rattled, then she resumed, for she +was now on a favourite theme, and was delivering a lecture to a select +audience. + +"But, mark you, _I'm_ not going to be put down by men. I mean to fight +'em with their own weapons. I mean to--" + +She paused suddenly at this point, and, descending from her platform, +advised Miss Tippet to dismiss the boy at once. + +Poor Miss Tippet prepared to do so. She was completely under the power +of Miss Deemas, whom, strange to say, she loved dearly. She really +believed that they agreed with each other on most points, although it +was quite evident that they were utterly opposed to each other in +everything. Wherein the bond lay no philosopher could discover. +Possibly it lay in the fact that they were absolute extremes, and, in +verification of the proverb, had met. + +Be this as it may, a note was quickly written to her brother, Thomas +Tippet, Esquire, which was delivered to Willie, with orders to take it +the following evening to London Bridge, in the neighbourhood of which +Mr Tippet dwelt and carried on his business. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +A HIDDEN FIRE. + +In the afternoon of the following day Willie set off to the City in +quest of Mr Thomas Tippet. Having to pass the King Street fire +station, he resolved to look in on his brother. + +The folding-doors of the engine-house were wide open, and the engine +itself, clean and business-like, with its brass-work polished bright, +stood ready for instant action. Two of the firemen were conversing at +the open door, while several others could be seen lounging about inside. +In one of the former Willie recognised the strong man who had collared +him on a well-remembered occasion. + +"Please, sir," said Willie, going up to him, "is Frank Willders inside?" + +"Why, youngster," said Dale, laying his hand on Willie's head, "ain't +you the boy that pulled our bell for a lark the other night?" + +"Yes, sir, I am; but you let me off, you know, so I hope you won't bear +me ill-will _now_." + +"That depends on how you behave in future," said Dale with a laugh; "but +what d'you want with Frank Willders?" + +"I want to see him. He's my brother." + +"Oh, indeed! You'll find him inside." + +Willie entered the place with feelings of interest, for his respect for +firemen had increased greatly since he had witnessed their recent doings +at the Beverly Square fire. + +He found his brother writing at the little desk that stood in the +window, while five or six of his comrades were chatting by the fire, and +a group in a corner were playing draughts, and spinning yarns of their +old experiences. All assisted in loading the air with tobacco-smoke. + +The round cloth caps worn by the men gave them a much more sailor-like +and much less fireman-like appearance than the helmets, which, with +their respective hatchets, hung on the walls, rendering the apartment +somewhat like a cavalry guard-room. This change in the head-piece, and +the removal of the hatchet, was the only alteration in their costume in +what may be styled "times of peace." In other respects they were at all +times accoutred, and in readiness to commence instant battle with the +flames. + +"Hallo, Blazes! how are ye?" said Willie, touching his brother on the +shoulder. + +"That you, Willie?" said Frank, without looking up from his work. +"Where away now?" + +"Come to tell ye there's a _fire_," said Willie, with a serious look. + +"Eh? what d'ye mean?" asked Frank, looking at his brother, as if he half +believed he was in earnest. + +"I mean what I say--a fire here," said Willie, solemnly striking his +breast with his clenched fist, "here in Heart Street, Buzzum Square, +ragin' like fury, and all the ingins o' the fire brigade, includin' the +float, couldn't put it out, no, nor even so much as squeanch it!" + +"Then it's of no use our turning out, I suppose?" said Frank with a +smile, as he wiped his pen; "what set it alight, lad?" + +"A wax doll with flaxen hair and blue eyes," answered Willie; "them's +the things as has all along done for me. When I was a boy I falled in +love with a noo wax doll every other day. Not that I ever owned one +myself; I only took a squint at 'em in toy-shop winders, and they always +had flaxen hair and blue peepers. Now that I've become a man, I've bin +an' falled in love with a livin' wax doll, an' she's got flaxen hair an' +blue eyes; moreover, she draws." + +"Draws--boy! what does she draw--corks?" inquires Frank. + +"_No_!" replied Willie, with a look of supreme contempt; "nothin' so +low; she draws faces an' pictures like--like--a schoolmaster, and," +added Willie, with a sigh, "she's bin an' drawed all the spirit out o' +this here buzzum." + +"She must have left a good lot o' combustible matter behind, however, if +there's such a fire raging in it. Who may this pretty fire-raiser be?" + +"Her name is Emma Ward, and she b'longs to a Miss Tippet, to whom she's +related somehow, but I don't know where she got her, nor who's her +parents. This same Miss Tippet is some sort of a relation o' Mr +Auberly, who sent me to her with a note, and she has sent me with +another note to her brother near London Bridge, who, I s'pose, will send +me with another note to somebody else, so I'm on my way down to see him. +I thought I'd look in to ask after you in passin', and cheer you on to +dooty." + +A violent fit of somewhat noisy coughing from one of the men at the +fireplace attracted Willie's attention at this point in the +conversation. + +"Wot a noisy feller you are, Corney," remarked one of the men. + +"Faix," retorted Corney, "it's noisy you'd be too av ye had the cowld in +yer chist that I have. Sure, if ye had bin out five times in wan night +as I wos on Widsenday last, wid the branch to howld in a smoke as 'ud +choke Baxmore hisself (an' it's well known _he_ can stand a'most +anything), not to spake o' the hose bu'stin' right betune me two feet." + +"Come, come, Paddy," said Dale, interrupting; "don't try to choke us, +now; you know very well that one of the fires was only a cut-away +affair; two were chimneys, and one was a false alarm." + +"True for ye!" cried Corney, who had a tendency to become irascible in +argument, or while defending himself; "true for ye, Mister Dale, but +they _was_ alarms for all that, false or thrue, was they not now? +Anyhow they alarmed me out o' me bed five times in a night as cowld as +the polar ragions, and the last time was a raale case o' two flats burnt +out, an' four hours' work in iced wather." + +There was a general laugh at this point, followed by several coughs and +sneezes, for the men were all more or less afflicted with colds, owing +to the severity of the weather and the frequency of the fires that had +occurred at that time. + +"There's some of us can sing chorus to Corney," observed one of the +group. "I never saw such weather; and it seems to me that the worse the +weather the more the fires, as if they got 'em up a purpose to kill us." + +"Bill Moxey!" cried another, "you're _always_ givin' out some truism +with a face like Solomon." + +"Well, Jack Williams," retorted Moxey, "it's more than I can say of you, +for you never say anything worth listenin' to, and you couldn't look +like Solomon if you was to try ever so much.--You're too stoopid for +that." + +"I say, lads," cried Frank Willders, "what d'ye say to send along to the +doctor for another bottle o' cough mixture, same as the first?" + +This proposal was received with a general laugh. + +"He'll not send us more o' _that_ tipple, you may depend," said +Williams. + +"No, not av we wos dyin'," said Corney, with a grin. + +"What was it?" asked Williams. + +"Didn't you hear about it?" inquired Moxey. "Oh, to be sure not; you +were in hospital after you got run over by the Baker Street engine. +Tell him about it, Corney. It was you that asked the doctor, wasn't it, +for another bottle?" + +Corney was about to speak, when a young fireman entered the room with +his helmet hanging on his arm. + +"Is it go on?" he inquired, looking round. + +"No, it's go back, young Rags," replied Baxmore, as he refilled his +pipe; "it was only a chimney, so you're not wanted." + +"Can any o' you fellers lend me a bit o' baccy?" asked Rags. "I've +forgot to fetch mine." + +"Here you are," said Dale, offering him a piece of twist. + +"Han't ye got a bit o' hard baccy for the tooth?" said Rags. + +"Will that do?" asked Frank Willders, cutting off a piece from a plug of +cavendish. + +"Thank'ee. Good afternoon." + +Young Rags put the quid in his cheek, and went away humming a tune. + +In explanation of the above incident, it is necessary to tell the reader +that when a fire occurred in any part of London at the time of which we +write, the fire-station nearest to it at once sent out its engines and +men, and telegraphed to the then head or centre station at Watling +Street. London was divided into four districts, each district +containing several fire stations, and being presided over by a foreman. +From Watling Street the news was telegraphed to the foremen's stations, +whence it was transmitted to the stations of their respective districts, +so that in a few minutes after the breaking out of a fire the fact was +known to the firemen _all over London_. + +As we have said, the stations nearest to the scene of conflagration +turned out engines and men; but the other stations furnished a man each. +Thus machinery was set in motion which moved, as it were, the whole +metropolis; and while the engines were going to the fire at full speed, +single men were setting out from every point of the compass to walk to +it, with their sailors' caps on their heads and their helmets on their +arms. + +And this took place in the case of every alarm of fire, because fire is +an element that will not brook delay, and it does not do to wait to +ascertain whether it is worth while to turn out such a force of men for +it or not. + +In order, however, to prevent this unnecessary assembling of men when +the fire was found to be trifling, or when, as was sometimes the case, +it was a false alarm, the fireman in charge of the engine that arrived +first, at once sent a man back to the station with a "stop," that is, +with an order to telegraph to the central station that the fire turns +out to be only a chimney or a false alarm, and that all hands who have +started from the distant stations may be "stopped." The "stop" was at +once telegraphed to the foremen, from whom it was passed (just as the +"call" had been) to the outlying stations, and this second telegram +might arrive within quarter of an hour of the first. + +Of course the man from each station had set out before that time, and +the "stop" was too late for _him_, but it was his duty to call at the +various fire stations he happened to pass on the way, where he soon +found out whether he was to "go on" or to "go back." + +If no telegram had been received, he went on to the fire; sometimes +walking four or five miles to it, "at not less than four miles an hour." +On coming up to the scene of conflagration, he put on his helmet, +thrust his cap into the breast of his coat, and reported himself to the +chief of the fire brigade (who was usually on the spot), or to the +foreman in command, and found, probably, that he had arrived just in +time to be of great service in the way of relieving the men who first +attacked the flames. + +If, on the other hand, he found that the "stop" had been telegraphed, he +turned back before having gone much more than a mile from his own +station, and so went quietly home to bed. In the days of which we write +the effective and beautiful system of telegraphy which now exists had +not been applied to the fire stations of London, and the system of +"stops" and "calls," although in operation, was carried out much less +promptly and effectively by means of messengers. + +Some time before the entrance of Willie Willders into the King Street +station the engine had been turned out to a fire close at hand, which +proved to be only a chimney on fire, and which was put out by means of a +hand-pump and a bucket of water, while Moxey was sent back with the +"stop" to the station. The affair was over and almost forgotten, and +the men had resumed their pipes, as we have seen, when young Rags +entered and was told to go back. + +Apologising for this necessary digression, we return to Joe Corney. + +"The fact was," said he, "that we had had a fearful time of it that +winter--blowin' great guns an' snow nearly every night, an' what wi' +heat at the fires an' cowld i' the streets, an' hot wather pourin' on us +at wan minnit an' freezin' on us the nixt, a'most every man Jack of us +was coughin' an' sneezin', and watherin' so bad at our eyes an' noses, +that I do belave if we'd held 'em over the suction-pipes we might ha' +filled the ingins without throublin' the mains at all. So the doctor he +said, says he, `Lads, I'll send ye a bottle o' stuff as'll put ye +right.' An' sure enough down comes the bottle that night when we was +smokin' our pipes just afther roll-call. It turned out to be the best +midcine ever was. `Musha!' says I, `here's the top o' the marnin' to +ye, boys!' Baxmore he smacks his lips when he tastes it, opens his +eyes, tosses off the glass, and holds it out for another. `Howld on; +fair play!' cried Jack Williams, so we all had a glass round. It was +just like lemonade or ginger-beer, it was. So we sat down an' smoked +our pipes over it, an' spun yarns an' sung songs; in fact we made a +jollification of it, an' when we got up to turn in there warn't a dhrop +left i' the bottle. + +"`You'd better go to the doctor for another bottle,' says Moxey, as he +wint out. + +"`I will,' says I; `I'll go i' the marnin'.' + +"Sure enough away I goes i' the marnin' to Doctor Offley. `Doctor,' +says I, howldin' out the bottle, `we all think our colds are much the +better o' this here midcine, an' I comed, av ye plaze, for another o' +the same.' + +"Musha! but ye should ha' seen the rage he goes off into. `Finished it +all?' says he. `Ivery dhrop, doctor,' says I, `at wan sittin'.' At +that he stamped an' swore at me, an' ordered me away as if I'd bin a +poor relation; an' says he, `I'll sind ye a bottle to-night as'll cure +ye!' Sure so he did. The second bottle would have poison'd a rat. It +lasted us all six months, an' I do belave ye'll find the most of it in +the cupboard at this minnit av ye look." + +"Come, Willie," said Frank, while the men were laughing at the +remembrance of this incident. "I'm going down your way and will give +you a convoy. We can take a look in at the gymnastics as we pass, if +you choose." + +"All right, Blazes, come along." So saying they left the station, and +set off at a brisk pace in the direction of the City. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +AUCTIONS AND GYMNASTICS. + +As the brothers drew near to the busy region of the City which lies to +the north of London Bridge; Frank turned aside into one of the narrow +streets that diverge from the main thoroughfare. + +"Where are ye goin'?" inquired Willie. + +"There was a fire here last night," said Frank; "I want to have a look +at the damage." + +"A fire!" exclaimed Willie. "Why, Blazes, it strikes me there's bin +more fires than usual last night in London." + +"Only two, lad." + +"_Only_ two! How many would you have?" asked Willie with a laugh. + +"Don't you know," said Frank, "that we have about four fires _every_ +night? Sometimes more, sometimes fewer. Of course, we don't _all_ of +us turn out to them; but some of the brigade turn out to that number, on +an average, every night of the year." + +"Are ye jokin', Frank?" + +"Indeed I am not. I wish with all my heart I could say that I was +joking. It's a fact, boy. You know I have not been long in the force, +yet I've gone to as many as six fires in one night, and we _often_ go to +two or three. The one we are going to see the remains of just now was +too far from us for our engine to turn out; but we got the call to send +a man on, and I was sent. When I arrived and reported myself to Mr +Braidwood, the two top floors were burnt out, and the fire was nearly +got under. There were three engines, and the men were up on the +window-sills of the second-floor with the branches, playin' on the last +of the flames, while the men of the salvage-corps were getting the +furniture out of the first floor. Conductor Brown was there with his +escape, and had saved a whole family from the top floor, just before I +arrived. He had been changed from his old station at the West End that +very day. He's a wonderful fellow, that conductor! Many a life he has +saved; but, indeed, the same may be said of most of the men in the +force, especially the old hands. Here we are, lad. This is the house." + +Frank stopped, as he spoke, in front of a ruined tenement, or rather, in +front of the gap which was now strewn with the charred and blackened +_debris_ of what had once been a house. The street in which it stood +was a narrow, mean one, inhabited by a poor, and, to judge from +appearance, a dissipated class. The remains of the house were guarded +by policemen, while a gang of men were engaged in digging among the +ruins, which still smoked a little here and there. + +"What are they diggin' for?" asked Willie. + +"I fear they are looking for dead bodies. The house was let out to +lodgers, and swarmed with people. At first it was thought that all were +saved; but just before I was ordered home after the fire was got under, +some one said that an old man and his grandchild were missing. I +suppose they're looking for them now." + +On inquiring of a policeman, however, Frank learned that the remains of +the old man and his grandchild had already been found, and that they +were searching for the bodies of others who were missing. A little +beyond the spot where the fire had occurred, a crowd was gathered round +a man who stood on a chair haranguing them, with apparently considerable +effect, for ever and anon his observations were received with cries of +"Hear, hear," and laughter. Going along the middle of the narrow +street, in order to avoid the smell of the old-clothes'-shops and +pawnbrokers, as well as the risk of contact with their wares, Frank and +Willie elbowed their way through the crowd to within a few yards of the +speaker. + +"What is he?" inquired Frank of a rather dissipated elderly woman. + +"He's a clown or a hacrobat, or somethink of that sort, in one of the +theatres or music-'alls. He's bin burnt out o' his 'ome last night, +an's a-sellin' off all he's been able to save, by hauction." + +"Come; now, ladies an' gents," cried the clown, taking up a rather +seedy-looking great-coat, which he held aloft with one hand, and pointed +to it with the other, "Who's agoin' to bid for this 'ere garment--a +hextra superfine, double-drilled, kershimere great-coat, fresh from the +looms o' Tuskany--at least it was fresh from 'em ten years ago (that was +when my grandfather was made Lord Mayor of London), an' its bin renewing +its youth (the coat, not the Lord Mayor) ever since. It's more glossy, +I do assure you, ladies and gents, than w'en it fust comed from the +looms, by reason of the pile havin' worn off; and you'll obsarve that +the glossiness is most beautiful and brightest about the elbows an' the +seams o' the back. Who bids for this 'ere venerable garment? Six bob? +Come now, don't all bid at once. Who said six bob?" + +No reply being made to this, except a laugh, the clown (who, by the way, +wore a similarly glossy great-coat, with a hat to match) protested that +his ears must have deceived him, or his imagination had been whispering +hopeful things--which was not unlikely, for his imagination was a very +powerful one--when he noticed Frank's tall figure among the crowd. + +"Come now, fireman, this is the wery harticle you wants. You comed out +to buy it, I know, an' 'ere it is, by a strange coincidence, ready-made +to hand. What d'ye bid? Six bob? Or say five. I know you've got a +wife an' a large family o' young firemen to keep, so I'll let it go +cheap. P'raps it's too small for you; but that's easy put right. +You've only got to slit it up behind to the neck, which is a' infallible +cure for a tight fit, an' you can let down the cuffs, which is double, +an' if it's short you can cut off the collar, an' sew it on to the +skirts. It's water-proof, too, and fire-proof, patent asbestos. W'en +it's dirty you've got nothin' to do but walk into the fire, an' it'll +come out noo. W'en it's thoroughly wet on the houtside, turn it hinside +hout, an' there you are, to all appearance as dry as bone. What! you +won't have it at no price? Well, now, I'll tempt you. I'll make it +_two_ bob." + +"Say one," cried a baker, who had been listening to this, with a broad +grin on his floury countenance. + +"Ladies and gents," cried the clown, drawing himself up with dignity; +"there's an individual in this crowd--I beg parden, this assemblage--as +asks me to say `one.' I _do_ say `one,' an' I say it with melancholy +feelin's as to the liberality of my species. One bob! A feller-man as +has bin burnt hout of 'is 'ome an' needs ready money to keep 'im from +starvation, offers his best great-coat--a hextra superfine, +double-drilled (or milled, I forget w'ich) kershimere, from the looms o' +Tuskany--for one bob!" + +"One-an'-six," muttered an old-clothes-man, with a black cotton sack on +his shoulder. + +"One-an'-six," echoed the clown with animation; "one-an'-six bid; +one-an'-six. Who said one-an'-seven? Was it the gent with the red +nose?--No, one-an'-six; goin' at the ridiculously low figure of +one-an'-six--gone! as the old 'ooman said w'en her cat died o' +apple-plexy. Here you are; hand over the money. I can't knock it down +to you, 'cause I haven't a hauctioneer's 'ammer. Besides, it's agin' my +principles. I've never knocked nothin' down, not even a skittle, since +I joined the Peace Society. + +"Now, ladies an' gents, the next thing I've got to hoffer is a +harm-chair. Hand up the harmchair, Jim." + +A very antique piece of furniture was handed up by a little boy, whom +Willie recognised as the little boy who had once conversed with him in +front of the chocolate-shop in Holborn Hill. + +"Thank you, my son," said the clown, taking the chair with one hand and +patting the boy's head with the other; "this, ladies and gents," he +added in a parenthetical tone, "is my son; _he's_ bin burnt hout of +'ouse an' 'ome, too! Now, then, who bids for the old harm-chair? the +wery identical harm-chair that the song was written about. In the +embrace o' this 'ere chair has sat for generations past the family o' +the Cattleys--that's _my_ name, ladies an gents, at your service. Here +sat my great-great-grandfather, who was used to say that his +great-grandfather sat in it too. Here sat his son, and his son's son-- +the Lord Mayor as was--and his son, my father, ladies and gents, who +died in it besides, and whose son now hoffers it to the 'ighest bidder. +You'll observe its antiquity, ladies an' gents. That's its beauty. +It's what I may call, in the language of the haristocracy, a harticle of +_virtoo_, w'ich means that it's a harticle as is surrounded by virtuous +memories in connection with the defunct. Now then, say five bob for the +hold harm-chair!" + +While the clown was endeavouring to get the chair disposed of, Willie +pushed his way to the side of Jim Cattley. + +"I say, youngster, would you like a cup o' chocolate?" began Willie by +way of recalling to the boy their former meeting. + +Jim, whose face wore a sad and dispirited look, turned angrily and said, +"Come, I don't want none o' your sauce!" + +"It ain't sauce I'm talkin' of, it's chocolate," retorted Willie. "But +come, Jim, I don't want to bother ye. I'm sorry to see you an yer dad +in sitch a fix. Have you lost much?" + +"It's not what we've lost that troubles us," said Jim, softened by +Willie's sympathetic tone more than by his words; "but sister Ziza is +took bad, an' she's a fairy at Drury Lane, an' takin' her down the +fire-escape has well-nigh killed her, an' we've got sitch a cold damp +cellar of a place to put her in, that I don't think she'll get better at +all; anyhow, she'll lose her engagement, for she can't make two speeches +an' go up in a silver cloud among blue fire with the 'flooenzer, an 'er +'air all but singed off 'er 'ead." + +Jim almost whimpered at this point, and Willie, quitting his side +abruptly, went back to Frank (who was still standing an amused auditor +of the clown), and demanded a shilling. + +"What for, lad?" + +"Never you mind, Blazes; but give me the bob, an' I'll pay you back +before the week's out." + +Frank gave him a shilling, with which he at once returned to Jim, and +thrusting it into his hand, said: + +"There, Jim, your dad's hard up just now. Go you an' get physic with +that for the fairy. Them 'floo-enzers is ticklish things to play with. +Where d'ye stop?" + +"Well, you _are_ a queer 'un; thank'ee all the same," said Jim, +pocketing the shilling. "We've got a sort o' cellar just two doors east +o' the burnt 'ouse. Why?" + +"'Cause I'll come an' see you, Jim. I'd like to see a live fairy in +plain clo'se, with her wings off--" + +The rest of the sentence was cut short by the clown, who, having +disposed of the old arm-chair to a chimney-sweep, ordered Jim to "'and +up another harticle." At the same moment Frank touched Willie on the +shoulder, and said, "Let's go, lad; I'll be late, I fear, for the +gymnastics." + +At the period of which we write, the then Chief of the London Fire +Brigade, Mr Braidwood, had introduced a system of gymnastic training +among the firemen, which he had found from experience to be a most +useful exercise to fit the men for the arduous work they had to perform. +Before going to London to take command of and reorganise the brigade +which then went by the name of the London Fire-Engine Establishment, and +was in a very unsatisfactory condition, Mr Braidwood had, for a long +period, been chief of the Edinburgh Fire Brigade, which he had brought +to a state of great efficiency. Taking the requirements and conditions +of the service in Edinburgh into consideration, he had come to the +conclusion that the best men for the work in that city were masons, +house-carpenters, slaters, and suchlike; but these men, when at their +ordinary employments, being accustomed to bring only certain muscles +into full play, were found to have a degree of stiffness in their +general movements which prevented them from performing their duty as +firemen with that ease and celerity which are so desirable. To obviate +this evil he instituted the gymnastic exercises, which, by bringing all +the muscles of the body into action, and by increasing the development +of the frame generally, rendered the men lithe and supple, and in every +way more fitted for the performance of duties in which their lives +frequently depended on their promptitude and vigour. + +In addition to these advantages, it was found that those exercises gave +the men confidence when placed in certain situations of danger. "For +example," writes Mr Braidwood, "a fireman untrained in gymnastics, on +the third or fourth floor of a burning house, with the branch in his +hands, who is uncertain as to his means of escape, in the event of his +return by the stair being cut off, will be too much concerned about his +own safety to render much service, and will certainly not be half so +efficient as the experienced gymnast, who, with a hatchet and eighty +feet of rope at his waist, and a window near him, feels himself in +comparative security, knowing that he has the means and the power of +lowering himself easily and safely into the street"--a knowledge which +not only gives him confidence, but enables him to give his undistracted +attention to the exigencies of the fire. + +It was to attend this gymnastic class that Frank now turned aside, and +proposed to bid Willie goodbye; but Willie begged to be taken into the +room. Frank complied, and the boy soon found himself in an apartment +fitted up with all the appliances of a gymnasium, where a number of +powerful young men were leaping, vaulting, climbing, and in other ways +improving their physical powers. Frank joined them, and for a long time +Willie stood in rapt and envious contemplation of the busy scene. + +At first he could not avoid feeling that there seemed a good deal more +of play than business in their doings; but his admiration of the scene +deepened when he remembered the bold acts of the firemen at Beverly +Square, and recognised some of the faces of the men who had been on duty +there, and reflected that these very men, _who seemed thus to be playing +themselves_, would on that very night, in all probability, be called +upon to exert these powers sternly and seriously, yet coolly, in the +midst of scenes of terror and confusion, and in the face of imminent +personal danger. + +Brooding over these things, Willie, having at length torn himself away, +hastened on his pilgrimage to London Bridge. + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +DIFFICULTIES AND DISSIPATIONS. + +In a very small office, situate in a very large warehouse, in that great +storehouse of the world's wealth, Tooley Street, sat a clerk named +Edward Hooper. + +Among his familiar friends Edward was better known by the name of Ned. + +He was seated on the top of a tall three-legged stool, which, to judge +from the uneasy and restless motions of its occupant, must have been a +peculiarly uncomfortable seat indeed. + +There was a clock on the wall just opposite to Ned's desk, which that +young gentleman was in the habit of consulting frequently--very +frequently--and comparing with his watch, as if he doubted its veracity. +This was very unreasonable, for he always found that the two timepieces +told the truth; at least, that they agreed with each other. +Nevertheless, in his own private heart, Ned Hooper thought that clock-- +and sometimes called it--"the slowest piece of ancient furniture he had +ever seen." + +During one of Ned's comparisons of the two timepieces the door opened, +and Mr Auberly entered, with a dark cloud, figuratively speaking, on +his brow. + +At the same moment the door of an inner office opened, and Mr Auberly's +head clerk, who had seen his employer's approach through the dusty +window, issued forth and bowed respectfully, with a touch of condolence +in his air, as he referred with much regret to the fire at Beverly +Square, and hoped that Miss Auberly was not much the worse of her late +alarm. + +"Well, she is not the better for it," said Mr Auberly; "but I hope she +will be quite well soon. Indeed, the doctor assures me of this, if care +is taken of her. I wish that was the only thing on my mind just now; +but I am perplexed about another matter, Mr Quill. Are you alone?" + +"Quite alone, sir," said Quill, throwing open the door of the inner +office. + +"I want to consult with you about Frederick," said Mr Auberly as he +entered. + +The door shut out the remainder of the consultation at this point, so +Edward Hooper consulted the clock again and sighed. + +If sighs could have delivered Hooper from his sorrows, there is no doubt +that the accumulated millions of which he was delivered in that office, +during the last five years, would have filled him with a species of +semi-celestial bliss. + +At last, the hands of the clock reached the hour, _the_ hour that was +wont to evoke Ned's last sigh and set him free; but it was an +aggravating clock. Nothing would persuade it to hurry. It would not, +for all the untold wealth contained in the great stores of Tooley +Street, have abated the very last second of the last minute of the hour. +On the contrary, it went through that second quite as slowly as all the +others. Ned fancied it went much slower at that one on purpose; and +then, with a sneaking parade of its intention to begin to strike, it +gave a prolonged hiss, and did its duty, and nothing _but_ its duty; by +striking the hour at a pace so slow, that it recalled forcibly to Ned +Hooper's imaginative mind, "the minute-gun at sea." + +There was a preliminary warning given by that clock some time before the +premonitory hiss. Between this harbinger of coming events, and the +joyful sound which was felt to be "an age," Ned was wont to wipe his pen +and arrange his papers. When the hiss began, he invariably closed his +warehouse book and laid it in the desk, and had the desk locked before +the first stroke of the hour. While the "minute-gun at sea" was going +on, he changed his office-coat for a surtout, not perfectly new, and a +white hat with a black band, the rim of which was not perfectly +straight. So exact and methodical was Ned in these operations, that his +hand usually fell on the door-latch as the last gun was fired by the +aggravating clock. On occasions of unusual celerity he even managed to +drown the last shot in the bang of the door, and went off with a +sensation of triumph. + +On the present occasion, however, Ned Hooper deemed it politic to be so +busy, that he could not attend to the warnings of the timepiece. He +even sat on his stool a full quarter of an hour beyond the time of +departure. At length, Mr Auberly issued forth. + +"Mr Quill," said he, "my mind is made up, so it is useless to urge such +considerations on me. Good-night." + +Mr Quill, whose countenance was sad, looked as though he would +willingly have urged the considerations referred to over again, and +backed them up with a few more; but Mr Auberly's tone was peremptory, +so he only opened the door, and bowed the great man out. + +"You can go, Hooper," said Mr Quill, retiring slowly to the inner +office, "I will lock up. Send the porter here." + +This was a quite unnecessary permission. Quill, being a good-natured, +easy-going man, never found fault with Ned Hooper, and Ned being a +presumptuous young fellow, though good-humoured enough, never waited for +Mr Quill's permission to go. He was already in the act of putting on +the white hat; and, two seconds afterwards, was in the street wending +his way homeward. + +There was a tavern named the "Angel" at the corner of one of the streets +off Tooley Street, which Edward Hooper had to pass every evening on his +way home. Ned, we grieve to say, was fond of his beer; he always found +it difficult to pass a tavern. Yet, curiously enough, he never found +any difficulty in passing this tavern; probably because he always went +in and slaked his thirst _before_ passing it. + +"Good evening, Mr Hooper," said the landlord, who was busy behind his +counter serving a motley and disreputable crew. + +Hooper nodded in reply, and said good evening to Mrs Butler, who +attended to the customers at another part of the counter. + +"Good evenin', sir. W'at'll you 'ave to-night, sir?" + +"Pot o' the same, Mrs B," replied Ned. + +This was the invariable question and reply, for Ned was a man of +regularity and method in everything that affected his personal comforts. +Had he brought one-tenth of this regularity and method to bear on his +business conduct, he would have been a better and a happier man. + +The foaming pot was handed, and Ned conversed with Mrs Butler while he +enjoyed it, and commenced his evening, which usually ended in +semi-intoxication. + +Meanwhile, Edward Hooper's "chum" and fellow-lodger sat in their mutual +chamber awaiting him. + +John Barret did not drink, but he smoked; and, while waiting for his +companion, he solaced himself with a pipe. He was a fine manly fellow, +very different from Ned; who, although strong of limb and manly enough, +was slovenly in gait and dress, and bore unmistakable marks of +dissipation about him. + +"Very odd; he's later than usual," muttered Barret, as he glanced out at +the window, and then at the tea-table, which, with the tea-service, and, +indeed everything in the room, proved that the young men were by no +means wealthy. + +"He'll be taking an extra pot at the `Angel,'" muttered John Barret, +proceeding to re-light his pipe, while he shook his head gravely; "but +he'll be here soon." + +A foot on the stair caused Barret to believe that he was a true prophet; +but the rapidity and firmness of the step quickly disabused him of that +idea. + +The door was flung open with a crash, and a hearty youth with glowing +eyes strode in. + +"Fred Auberly!" exclaimed Barret in surprise. + +"Won't you welcome me?" demanded Fred. + +"Welcome you? Of course I will, most heartily, old boy!" cried Barret, +seizing his friend's hand and wringing it; "but if you burst in on a +fellow unexpectedly in this fashion, and with such wild looks, why--" + +"Well, well, don't explain, man; I hate explanations. I have come here +for sympathy," said Fred Auberly, shutting the door and sitting down by +the fire. + +"Sympathy, Fred?" + +"Ay, sympathy. When a man is in distress he naturally craves for +sympathy, and he turns, also naturally, to those who can and will give +it--not to _everybody_, John Barret--only to those who can feel _with_ +him as well as _for_ him. I am in distress, John, and ever since you +and I fought our first and last battle at Eton, I have found you a true +sympathiser. So now, is your heart ready to receive the flood of my +sorrows?" + +Young Auberly said the latter part of this in a half-jesting tone, but +he was evidently in earnest, so his friend replied by squeezing his hand +warmly, and saying, "Let's hear about it, Fred," while he re-lighted his +pipe. + +"You have but a poor lodging here, John," said Auberly, looking round +the room. + +Barret turned on his friend a quick look of surprise, and then said, +with a smile: + +"Well, I admit that it is not _quite_ equal to a certain mansion in +Beverly Square that I wot of, but it's good enough for a poor clerk in +an insurance office." + +"You are right," continued Auberly; "it is _not_ equal to that mansion, +whose upper floors are at this moment a _chevaux-de-frise_ of charcoal +beams and rafters depicted on a dark sky, and whose lower floors are a +fantastic compound of burned bricks and lime, broken boards, and +blackened furniture." + +"You don't mean to say there's been a fire?" exclaimed Barret. + +"And _you_ don't mean to tell me, do you, that a clerk in a fire +insurance office does not know it?" + +"I have been ill for two days," returned Barret, "and have not seen the +papers; but I'm very sorry to hear of it; indeed I am. The house is +insured, of course?" + +"I believe it is," replied Fred carelessly; "but _that_ is not what +troubles me." + +"No?" exclaimed his friend. + +"No," replied the other. "If the house had not been insured my father +has wealth enough in those abominably unpicturesque stores in Tooley +Street to rebuild the whole of Beverly Square if it were burnt down. +The fire costs me not a thought, although, by the way, it nearly cost me +my life, in a vain attempt I made to rescue my poor dear sister Loo--" + +"_Vain_ attempt!" exclaimed Barret, with a look of concern. + +"Ay, vain, as far as I was concerned; but a noble fireman--a fellow that +would make a splendid model for Hercules in the Life Academy--sprang to +the rescue after me and saved her. God bless him! Dear Loo has got a +severe shake, but the doctors say that we have only to take good care of +her, and she will do well. But to return to my woes. Listen, John, and +you shall hear." + +Fred Auberly paused, as though meditating how he should commence. + +"You know," said he, "that I am my father's only son, and Loo his only +daughter." + +"Yes." + +"Well, my father has disinherited me and left the whole of his fortune +to Loo. As far as dear Loo is concerned I am glad; for myself I am sad, +for it is awkward, to say the least of it, to have been brought up with +unlimited command of pocket-money, and expectations of considerable +wealth, and suddenly to find myself all but penniless, without a +profession and without expectations, at the age of twenty-two." + +He paused and looked at his friend, who sat in mute amazement. + +"Failing Loo," continued Fred calmly, "my father's fortune goes to some +distant relative." + +"But why? wherefore?" exclaimed Barret. + +"You shall hear," continued Auberly. "You are aware that ever since I +was able to burn the end of a stick and draw faces on the nursery-door, +I have had a wild, insatiable passion for drawing; and ever since the +memorable day on which I was whipped by my father, and kissed, +tearfully, by my beloved mother, for caricaturing our cook on the +dining-room window with a diamond-ring, I have had an earnest, +unextinguishable desire to become a--a painter, an artist, a dauber, a +dirtier of canvas. D'ye understand?" + +"Perfectly," said Barret. + +"Well, my father has long been resolved, it seems, to make me a man of +business, for which I have no turn whatever. You are aware that for +many years I have dutifully slaved and toiled at these heavy books in +our office--which have proved so heavy that they have nearly squeezed +the soul out of me--and instead of coming to like them better (as I was +led to believe I should), I have only come to hate them more. During +all this time, too, I have been studying painting late and early, and +although I have not gone through the regular academical course, I have +studied much in the best of all schools, that of Nature. I have urged +upon my father repeatedly and respectfully, that it is possible for me +to uphold the credit of the family as a painter; that, as the business +can be carried on by subordinates, there is no necessity for me to be at +the head of it; and that, as he has made an ample fortune already, the +half of which he had told me was to be mine, I would be quite satisfied +with my share, and did not want any more. But my father would never +listen to my arguments. The last time we got on the subject he called +me a mean-spirited fellow, and said he was sorry I had ever been born; +whereupon I expressed regret that he had not been blessed with a more +congenial and satisfactory son, and tried to point out that it was +impossible to change my nature. Then I urged all the old arguments over +again, and wound up by saying that even if I were to become possessor of +the whole of his business to-morrow, I would sell it off, take to +painting as a profession, and become the patron of aspiring young +painters from that date forward! + +"To my surprise and consternation, this last remark put him in such a +towering rage, that he vowed he would disinherit me, if I did not then +and there throw my palette and brushes into the fire. Of course, I +declined to do such an act, whereupon he dismissed me from his presence +for ever. This occurred on the morning of the day of the fire. I +thought he might perhaps relent after such an evidence of the mutability +of human affairs. I even ventured to remind him that Tooley Street was +not made of asbestos, and that an _occasional_ fire occurred there! But +this made him worse than ever; so I went the length of saying that I +would, at all events, in deference to his wishes, continue to go to the +office at least for some time to come. But, alas! I had roused him to +such a pitch that he refused to hear of it, unless I should `_throw my +palette and brushes into the fire_!' Flesh and blood, you know, could +not do that, so I left him, and walked off twenty miles into the country +to relieve my feelings. There I fell in with _such_ a splendid `bit;' a +sluice, with a stump of a tree, and a winding bit of water with +overhanging willows, and a peep of country beyond! I sat down and +sketched, and forgot my woes, and _rejoiced_ in the fresh air and +delightful sounds of birds, and cows, and sheep, and _hated_ to think of +Tooley Street. Then I slept in a country inn, walked back to London +next day, and, _voila_! here I am!" + +"Don't you think, Fred, that time will soften your father?" + +"No, I don't think it. On the contrary, I know it won't. He is a good +man; but he has an iron will, which I never saw subdued." + +"Then, my dear Fred, I advise you to consider the propriety of throwing +your palette and brushes into--" + +"My dear John, I did not come here for your advice. I came for your +sympathy." + +"And you have it, Fred," cried Barret earnestly. "But have you really +such an unconquerable love for painting?" + +"Have I really!" echoed Fred. "Do you think I would have come to such a +pass as this for a trifle? Why, man, you have no idea how my soul longs +for the life of a painter, for the free fresh air of the country, for +the poetry of the woods, the water, and the sky, for the music of bird +and beast and running brook. You know the true proverb, `Man made the +town; but God made the country!'" + +"What," asked Barret, "would become of the town, if all men thought as +you do?" + +"Oh! John Barret, has town life so marred your once fine intellect, +that you put such a question in earnest? Suppose I answer it by +another: What would become of the country if all men thought and acted +as you do?" + +Barret smiled and smoked. + +"And what," continued Auberly, "would become of the fine arts if all men +delighted in dirt, dust, dullness, and desks? Depend upon it, John, +that our tastes and tendencies are not the result of accident; they were +given to us for a purpose. I hold it as an axiom that when a man or a +boy has a strong and decided bias or partiality for any particular work +that he knows _something_ about, he has really a certain amount of +capacity for that work beyond the average of men, and is led thereto by +a higher power than that of man. Do not misunderstand me. I do not say +that, when a boy expresses a longing desire to enter the navy or the +army, he has necessarily an aptitude for these professions. Far from +it. He has only a romantic notion of something about which, +experimentally, he knows nothing; but, when man or boy has put his hand +to any style of work, and _thereafter_ loves it and longs after it, I +hold that that is the work for which he was destined, and for which he +is best suited." + +"Perhaps you are right," said Barret, smoking harder than ever. "At all +events, I heartily sympathise with you, and--" + +At this point the conversation was interrupted by a loud burst of +whistling, as the street-door opened and the strains of "Rule Britannia" +filled the entire building. The music was interrupted by the sudden +opening of another door, and a rough growl from a male voice. + +"Don't get waxy, old feller," said the performer in a youthful voice, "I +ain't a-goin' to charge you nothink for it. I always do my music +gratis; havin' a bee-nevolient turn o' mind." + +The door was slammed violently, and "Rule Britannia" immediately burst +forth with renewed and pointed emphasis. + +Presently it ceased, and a knock came to Barret's door. + +"Well, what d'ye want, you noisy scamp?" said Barret, flinging the door +open, and revealing the small figure of Willie Willders. + +"Please, sir," said Willie, consulting the back of a note; "are you +Mister T-Tom--Tupper, Esquire?" + +"No, I'm not." + +"Ain't there sitch a name in the house?" + +"No, not that I know of." + +Willie's face looked blank. + +"Well, I was told he lived here," he muttered, again consulting the +note. + +"Here, let me look," said Barret, taking the note from the boy. "This +is Tippet, not Tupper. He lives in the top floor. By the way, +Auberly," said Barret, glancing over his shoulder, "Isn't Tom Tippet a +sort of connection of yours?" + +"Yes; a distant one," said Fred carelessly, "too distant to make it +worth while our becoming acquainted. He's rich and eccentric, I'm told. +Assuredly, he must be the latter if he lives in such a hole as this. +What are you staring at, boy?" + +This question was put to Willie. + +"Please, sir, are _you_ the Mr Auberly who was a'most skumfished with +smoke at the Beverly Square fire t'other day, in tryin' to git hold o' +yer sister?" + +Fred could not but smile as he admitted the fact. + +"Please, sir, I hope yer sister ain't the wuss of it, sir." + +"Not much, I hope; thank you for inquiring; but how come you to know +about the fire, and to be interested in my sister?" + +"'Cause I was there, sir; an' it was _my brother_, sir, Frank Willders, +as saved your sister." + +"Was it, indeed!" exclaimed Fred, becoming suddenly interested. "Come, +let me hear more about your brother." + +Willie, nothing loth, related every fact he was acquainted with in +regard to Frank's career, and his own family history, in the course of +which he revealed the object of his visit to Mr Tippet. When he had +finished, Frederick Auberly shook hands with him and said: + +"Now, Willie, go and deliver your note. If the application is +successful, well; but if it fails, or you don't like your work, just +call upon me, and I'll see what can be done for you." + +"Yes, sir, and thankee," said Willie; "where did you say I was to call, +sir?" + +"Call at--eh--ah--yes, my boy, call _here_, and let my friend Mr Barret +know you want to see me. He will let me know, and you shall hear from +me. Just at present--well, never mind, go and deliver your note now. +Your brother is a noble fellow. Good-night. And you're a fine little +fellow yourself," he added, after Willie closed the door. + +The fine little fellow gave vent to such a gush of "Rule Britannia" at +the moment, that the two friends turned with a smile to each other. + +Just then a man's voice was heard at the foot of the stair, grumbling +angrily. At the same moment young Auberly rose to leave. + +"Good-night, Barret. I'll write to you soon as to my whereabout and +what about. Perhaps see you ere long." + +"Good-night. God prosper you, Fred. Good-night." + +As he spoke, the grumbler came stumbling along the passage. + +"Good-night again, Fred," said Barret, almost pushing his friend out. +"I have a particular reason for not wishing you to see the fr-, the man +who is coming in." + +"All right, old fellow," said Fred as he passed out, and drew up against +the wall to allow a drunken man to stumble heavily into the room. + +Next moment he was in the street hastening he knew not whither; but +following the old and well-known route to Beverly Square. + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +WONDERFUL PLANS. + +When Willie Willders knocked at Tom Tippet's door, at the top of the +house, a rich jovial bass voice cried, "Come in." So Willie went in, +and stood before a stout old gentleman, whose voluminous whiskers, +meeting below his chin, made ample amends for the total absence of hair +from the top of his head. + +Mr Tippet stood, without coat or vest, and with his braces tied round +his waist, at a carpenter's bench, holding a saw in his right hand, and +a piece of wood in his left. + +"Well, my lad, what's _your_ business?" he inquired in the voice of a +stentor, and with the beaming smile of an elderly cherub. + +"Please, sir, a note--from a lady." + +"I wish your message had been verbal, boy. It's so difficult to read +ladies' hands; they're so abominably angular, and--where _are_ my specs? +I've a mind to have 'em screw-nailed to my nose. Ah! here they are." + +He found them under a jack-plane and a mass of shavings; put them on and +read the note, while Willie took the opportunity of observing that Mr +Tippet's room was a drawing-room, parlour, dining-room, workshop, and +old curiosity-shop, all in one. A half-open door revealed the fact that +an inner chamber contained Mr Tippet's bed, and an indescribable mass +of machinery and models in every stage of progression, and covered with +dust, more or less thick in exact proportion to their respective ages. +A dog and cat lay side by side on the hearth asleep, and a small fire +burned in a grate, on the sides of which stood a variety of crucibles +and such-like articles and a glue-pot; also a tea-pot and kettle. + +"You want a situation in my office as a clerk?" inquired Mr Tippet, +tearing up his sister's letter, and throwing it into the fire. + +"If you please, sir," said Willie. + +"Ha! are you good at writing and ciphering?" + +"Middlin', sir." + +"Hum! D'you know where my office is, and what it is?" + +"No, sir." + +"What would you say now," asked Mr Tippet, seating himself on his +bench, or rather on the top of a number of gimblets and chisels and +files and pincers that lay on it; "what would you say now to sitting +from morning till night in a dusty ware-room, where the light is so +feeble that it can scarcely penetrate the dirt that encrusts the +windows, writing in books that are so greasy that the ink can hardly be +got to mark the paper? How would you like that, William Willders--eh?" + +"I don't know, sir," replied Willie, with a somewhat depressed look. + +"Of course you don't, yet that is the sort of place you'd have to work +in, boy, if I engaged you, for that is a correct description of my +warehouse. I'm a sleeping partner in the firm. D'ye know what that is, +boy?" + +"No, sir." + +"Well, it's a partner that does no work; but I'm wide-awake for all +that, an' have a pretty good notion of what is going on there. Now, +lad, if I were to take you in, what would you say to 5 pounds a year?" + +"It don't sound much, sir," said Willie bluntly, "but if you take me in +with the understandin' that I'm to work my way up'ards, I don't mind +about the pay at first." + +"Good," said Mr Tippet, with a nod of approval. "What d'ye think of my +workshop?" he added, looking round with a cherubic smile. + +"It's a funny place," responded Willie, with a grin. + +"A funny place--eh? Well, I daresay it is, lad, in your eyes; but let +me tell you, it is a place of deep interest, and, I may add without +vanity, importance. There are inventions here, all in a state bordering +more or less upon completion, which will, when brought into operation, +modify the state of society very materially in many of its most +prominent phases. Here, for instance, is a self-acting +galvano-hydraulic engine, which will entirely supersede the use of +steam, and, by preventing the consumption of coal now going on, will +avert, or at least postpone, the decline of the British Empire. Able +men have calculated that, in the course of a couple of hundred years or +so, our coal-beds will be exhausted. I have gone over their +calculations and detected several flaws in them, which, when corrected, +show a very different result--namely, that in seventeen or eighteen +years from this time there will not be an ounce of coal in the kingdom!" + +Mr Tippet paused to observe the effect of this statement. Willie +having never heard of such things before, and having a thoughtful and +speculative as well as waggish turn of mind, listened with open eyes and +mouth and earnest attention, so Mr Tippet went on: + +"The frightful consequences of such a state of things you may conceive, +or rather they are utterly inconceivable. Owing to the foundations of +the earth having been cut away, it is more than probable that the +present coal districts of the United Kingdom will collapse, the ocean +will rush in, and several of our largest counties will become salt-water +lakes. Besides this, coal being the grand source of our national +wealth, its sudden failure will entail national bankruptcy. The +barbarians of Europe, taking advantage of our condition, will pour down +upon us, and the last spark of true civilisation in our miserable world +will be extinguished--the last refuge for the hunted foot of persecuted +Freedom will be finally swept from the face of the earth!" + +Here Mr Tippet brought the saw down on the bench with such violence, +that the dog and cat started incontinently to their legs, and Willie +himself was somewhat shaken. + +"Now," continued Mr Tippet, utterly regardless of the sensation he had +created, and wiping the perspiration from his shining head with a +handful of shavings; "now, William Willders, all this may be, _shall_ +be, prevented by the adoption of the galvano-hydraulic engine, and the +consequent restriction of the application of coal to the legitimate +purposes of warming our dwellings and cooking our victuals. I mean to +bring this matter before the Home Secretary whenever I have completed my +invention, which, however, is not _quite_ perfected. + +"Then, again," continued Mr Tippet, becoming more and more enthusiastic +as he observed the deep impression his explanations were making on +Willie, who stood glaring at him in speechless amazement, "here you have +my improved sausage-machine for converting all animal substances into +excellent sausages. I hold that every animal substance is more or less +good for food, and that it is a sad waste to throw away bones and hair, +etcetera, etcetera, merely because these substances are unpalatable or +difficult to chew. Now, my machine gets over this difficulty. You cut +an animal up just as it is killed, and put it into the machine--hair, +skin, bones, blood, and all--and set it in motion by turning on the +galvano-hydraulic fluid. Delicious sausages are the result in about +twenty minutes. + +"You see my dog there--Chips I call him, because he dwells in the midst +of chips and shavings; he sleeps upon chips, and if he does not exactly +eat chips, he lives upon scraps which have a strong resemblance to them. +The cat has no name. I am partial to the time-honoured name of `Puss.' +Besides, a cat is not worthy of a name. Physically speaking, it is +only a bundle of living fur--a mere mass of soft animated nature, as +Goldsmith would express it. Intellectually it is nothing--a sort of +existent nonentity, a moral void on which a name would be utterly thrown +away. Well, I could take these two animals, Chips and Puss, put them in +here (alive, too, for there is a killing apparatus in the instrument +which will effectually do away with the cruel process of slaughtering, +and with its accompanying nuisances of slaughter-houses and butchers)-- +put them in here, I say, and in twenty minutes they would be ground up +into sausages. + +"I know that enemies to progress, ignorant persons and the like, will +scoff at this, and say it is similar to the American machine, into one +end of which you put a tree, and it comes out at the other end in the +shape of ready-made furniture. But such scoffs will cease, while my +invention will live. I am not bigoted, William. There may be good +objections to my inventions, and great difficulties connected with them, +but the objections I will answer, and the difficulties I will overcome. + +"This instrument," continued Mr Tippet, pointing to a huge beam, which +leant against the end of the small apartment, "is only a speculative +effort of mine. It is meant to raise enormous weights, such as houses. +I have long felt it to be most desirable that people should be able to +raise their houses from their foundations by the strength of a few men, +and convey them to other localities, either temporarily or permanently. +I have not succeeded yet, but I see my way to success; and, after all, +the idea is not new. You can see it partially carried out by an +enterprising company in this city, whose enormous vans will remove the +whole furniture of a drawing-room, almost as it stands, without packing. +My chief difficulty is with the fulcrum; but that is a difficulty that +met the philosopher of old. You have heard of Archimedes, William--the +man who said he could make a lever big enough to move the world, if he +could only get a fulcrum to rest it on. But Archimedes was weak in that +point. He ought to have known that, even if he did get such a fulcrum, +he would still have required another world as long as his lever, to +enable him to walk out to the end of it. No, by the way, he might have +walked _on_ the lever itself! That did not occur to me before. He +might even have ridden along it. Come, that's a new idea. Let me see." + +In order the better to "see," Mr Tippet dropt the piece of wood from +his left hand, and pressed his fingers into both eyes, so as to shut out +all earthly objects, and enable him to take an undistracted survey of +the chambers of his mind. Returning suddenly from the investigation, he +exclaimed: + +"Yes, William, I don't quite see my way to it; but I can perceive dimly +the possibility of Archimedes having so formed his lever, that a line of +rails might have been run along the upper side of it, from the fulcrum +to the other end." + +"Yes, sir," exclaimed Willie, who, having become excited, was entering +eagerly into his patron's speculations, and venting an occasional remark +in the height of his enthusiasm. + +"Such a thing _might_ be done," continued Mr Tippet emphatically; "a +small carriage--on the galvano-hydraulic principle, of course--might run +to and fro--" + +"With passengers," suggested Willie. + +"Well--with passengers," assented Mr Tippet, smiling. "Of course, the +lever would be very large--extremely large. Yes, there _might_ be +passengers." + +"An' stations along the line?" said Willie. + +Mr Tippet knitted his brows. + +"Ye-yes--why not?" he said slowly. "Of course, the lever would be very +long, extremely long, and it might be necessary to stop the carriages on +the way out. There might be breadth sufficient on the lever to plant +small side stations." + +"An' twenty minutes allowed for refreshments," suggested Willie. + +"Why, as to that," said Mr Tippet, "if we stop at all, there could be +no reasonable objection to refreshments, although it is probable we +might find it difficult to get anyone sufficiently enterprising to +undertake the supply of such a line; for, you know, if the lever were to +slip at the fulcrum and fall--" + +"Oh!" exclaimed Willie, "_wouldn't_ there be a smash; neither!" + +"The danger of people falling off, too," continued Mr Tippet, "might be +prevented by railings run along the extreme edges of the lever." + +"Yes," interrupted Willie, whose vivid imagination, unused to such +excitement, had taken the bit in its teeth and run away with him; "an' +spikes put on 'em to keep the little boys from swinging on 'em, an' +gettin' into mischief. Oh! what jolly fun it would be. Only think! +we'd advertise cheap excursion trains along the Arkimeedis Line, Mondays +an' Toosdays. Fares, two hundred pounds, fust class. No seconds or +parleys allowed for love or money. Starts from the Fuddlecrum Sta--" + +"Fulcrum," said Mr Tippet, correcting. + +"Fulcrum Station," resumed Willie, "at 2:30 a.m. of the mornin' +precisely. Stops at the Quarter, Half-way, an' Three-quarter Stations, +allowin' twenty minutes, more or less, for grub--weather permittin'." + +"Your observations are quaint," said Mr Tippet, with a smile; "but +there is a great deal of truth in them. No doubt, the connection of +such ideas, especially as put by you, sounds a little ludicrous; but +when we come to analyse them, we see their possibility, for, _if_ a +lever of the size indicated by the ancient philosopher were erected (and +theoretically, the thing _is_ possible), then the subordinate +arrangements as to a line of railway and stations, etcetera, would be +mere matters of detail. It might be advertised, too, that the balance +of the lever would be so regulated, that, on the arrival of the train at +the terminus, the world would rise (a fact which might be seen by the +excursionists, by the aid of enormous telescopes, much better than by +the people at home), and that, on the return of the train, the world +would again sink to its ancient level. + +"There would be considerable risk, no doubt," continued Mr Tippet +meditatively, "of foolish young men and boys getting over the rails in +sport or bravado, and falling off into the depths of illimitable +profundity, but--" + +"We could have bobbies stationed along the line," interrupted Willie, +"an' tickets put up warnin' the passengers not to give 'em money on no +account wotsomedever, on pain o' bein' charged double fare for the +first offence, an' pitched over the rails into illimidibble +pro-what's-'is-name for the second." + +"I'll tell you what it is, William," said Mr Tippet suddenly, getting +off the bench and seizing the boy's hand, "your talents would be wasted +in my office. You'll come and assist me here in the workshop. I'm +greatly in want of an intelligent lad who can use his hands; but, by the +way, can you use your hands? Here, cut this piece of wood smooth, with +that knife." + +He handed Willie a piece of cross-grained wood and a blunt knife. + +Willie looked at both, smiled, and shook his head. + +"It would take a cleverer feller than me to do it; but I'll try." + +Willie did try; after a quarter of an hour spent in vain attempts, he +threw down the wood and knife exclaiming, "It's impossible." + +Mr Tippet, who had been smiling cherubically, and nodding approval, +said: + +"I knew it was impossible, my lad, when I gave it to you, and I now know +that you are both neat-handed and persevering; so, if you choose, I'll +engage you on the spot to come on trial for a week. After that we will +settle the remuneration. Meanwhile, shake hands again, and allow me to +express to you my appreciation of the noble character of your brother, +who, I understand from my sister's letter, saved a young relative of +mine from the midst of imminent danger. Good-night, William, and come +to me on Monday next, at nine o'clock in the morning." + +Willie was somewhat perplexed at this prompt dismissal (for Mr Tippet +had opened the door), especially after such a long and free-and-easy +conversation, and he felt that, however much license Mr Tippet might +permit, he was a man of stern will, who could not be resisted with +impunity; so, although he was burning to know the object and nature of +innumerable strange pieces of mechanism in the workshop, he felt +constrained to make a polite bow and depart. + +On his way downstairs, he heard the voices of men as if in angry +disputation; and on reaching the next floor, found Mr Barret standing +at the open door of his room, endeavouring to hold Ned Hooper, who was +struggling violently. + +"I tell you," said the latter, in a drunken voice, "that I w-will go +out!" + +"Come, Ned, not to-night; you can go to-morrow" said Barret soothingly, +yet maintaining his hold of his friend. + +"W-why not? ain't night the best time to--to--be jolly?--eh! L-me go, I +shay." + +He made a fierce struggle at this point; and Barret, ceasing to +expostulate, seized him with a grasp that he could not resist, and +dragged him forcibly, yet without unnecessary violence, into the room. + +Next instant the door was shut with a bang and locked; so Willie +Willders descended to the street, and turned his face homewards, +moralising as he went on the evils of drink. + +It was a long way to Notting Hill; but it was not long enough to enable +Willie to regain his wonted nonchalance. He had seen and heard too much +that night to permit of his equilibrium being restored. He pursed his +mouth several times into the form of a round O, and began "Rule +Britannia"; but the sounds invariably died at the part where the +"charter of the land" is brought forward. He tried "The Bay of Biscay, +O!" with no better success, never being able to get farther than +"lightning's vivid powers," before his mind was up in the clouds, or in +Mr Tippet's garret, or out on the Archimedes-Lever Railway. + +Thus wandering in dreams he reached home, talked wildly to his anxious +mother, and went to bed in a state of partial insanity. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +A LITTLE DOMESTIC CHIT-CHAT. + +One night, not long after the events narrated in the last chapter, Frank +Willders was standing with the fireman-in-charge in the King Street +Station. He had just removed his helmet, and the perspiration on his +brow showed that he had been but recently engaged in some active duty; +as indeed was the case, for he had just returned from a "walk" to a fire +in Whitechapel. + +"It was only a small affair," said Frank, hanging up his helmet and axe, +and sitting down to fill his pipe; "a low beer-shop in Brook Street; the +taproom burnt out, and the rest of the house damaged by smoke. It was +pretty well over before I got there, and I left half an hour after. +Where are the rest o' the lads?" + +"They're out wi' both engines," said Baxmore, who was busy making a +memorandum on a slate. + +"With both engines!" said Frank. + +"Ay, both," replied Baxmore, with a laugh, as he sat down in front of +the fire. "Let me see; it's now nine o'clock, so they've bin off an +hour; one to Walton Street, Brompton; the other to Porchester Terrace, +Bayswater. The call was the queerest I've seen for many a day. We was +all sittin' here smokin' our pipes, as usual, when two fellers came to +the door, full split, from opposite pints o' the compass, an' run slap +into each other. They looked like gentlemen; but they was in such a +state it wasn't easy to make out what sort o' fish they was. One had +his coat torn and his hat gone; the other had his tile pretty well +knocked down on his eyes--I s'pose by the people he run into on the +way--an' both were half-mad with excitement. They both stuttered, too-- +that was the fun o' the thing, and they seemed to think each was takin' +off the other, and got into a most awful rage. My own opinion is, that +one stuttered by nature, an' the other stuttered from fright. Anyhow, +they both stuttered together, and a precious mess they made of it. + +"`F-F-F-Fire!' roared one. + +"`F-F-F-Fire!' yelled the other. + +"`Where away?' asked Mr Dale, looking quietly at the two men, who were +gasping for breath. + +"`B-B-B-Brompton,' `B-B-B-Bayswater!' they shouted together; and then, +turnin' fiercely on each other, the one said `N-N-N-No!' and the other +said `N-N-N-No!' `Now, _which_ is it?' said Dale, `an' _be_ quick--do.' + +"`B-B-B-Brompton!' + +"`B-B-B-Bayswater!' in a breath; then says one, `I--I s-s-say +_Brompton_!' an' the other, he says, `I--I s-s-say _Bayswater_!' + +"At this they grew furious, and Dale tried to calm them and settle the +question by asking the name of the street. + +"`W-W-Walton S-Street!' cried one. + +"`P-P-P-Porchester T-T-Terrace!' shouted the other. + +"`N-N-No!' `Y-Y-Yes!' `N-No!' an' with that, one up fist an' hit the +other a crack between the eyes. T'other returned on the nob, and then +they closed. + +"Before this Mr Dale had ordered out one o' the engines, an' when he +heard the two streets named it occurred to him that there might be _two_ +fires, so he ordered out the other engine; and before we got the +stutterers separated both engines were off full swing, one to Brompton, +the other to Bayswater; but whether there are two fires or no is yet to +be seen." + +Just as Baxmore concluded, the rattle of a returning engine was heard. +Next moment it dashed up to the door, and the firemen, leaping off, +streamed into the station, where; amid much comment and some laughter at +the scene they had so recently witnessed, they hung up their helmets and +crowded round the fire. + +"So it _was_ in Brompton, after all," said Jack Williams, stirring the +coals; "but it was a small affair in a baker's shop, and we soon got it +out." + +"Is the other engine back?" inquired Moxey. + +"Here she comes to answer for herself," said Mason, as the second engine +dashed up to the station, and the men were joined by their comrades. + +"We've got it out," said Dale, sitting down before the desk to enter the +particulars in his diary; "it was a private house, and well alight when +we got there, but the Paddington engine was playing on it, and we soon +got it under." + +"Faix, it's well them stutterers didn't kape us longer, else the whole +house would have bin burnt out intirely," observed Joe Corney, binding +up a slight wound in his thumb, which he had received from a splinter. + +Most of the men were more or less begrimed with charcoal and smoke, and +otherwise bore marks of their recent sharp though short skirmish, but +none of them deemed it necessary to remove these evidences of devotion +to duty until they had refreshed themselves with a pipe. + +"Were there people in the house?" inquired Frank. + +"Ay, but Pickford was there with the escape, an' got 'em all out before +we came up," said one. + +"Pickford said he couldn't help laughing after he got 'em out, at the +remembrance o' their faces. When he first went in they was all sound +asleep in the top floor, for the smoke was only beginnin' to show there, +an' the surprise they got when he jump in among 'em an' shouted was +wonderful to behold." + +"Not so wonderful," observed Bill Moxey, "as the surprise I seed a whole +man-o'-war's crew get by consequence o' the shout o' one of her own +men." + +"When was that? Let's hear about it, Bill," said Corney, stuffing down +the tobacco in his pipe, and firing a battery of cloudlets into the air. + +"We was in the Red Sea at the time," said Moxey, clearing his throat, +"layin' at anchor, and a precious hot time we had of it. There was +never a cloud a'most in the sky, and the sun was nigh hot enough to fry +the decks off the ship. Cook said he'd half a mind to try to roast a +junk o' beef at it, but I never heard that he managed that. We slep' on +deck o' nights, 'cause you might as well have tried to sleep in a +baker's oven as sleep below. The thing that troubled us most at that +time was a tiger we had on board. It did kick up such a shindy +sometimes! We thought it would break its cage an make a quid o' some of +us. I forget who sent it to us--p'raps it was the Pasha of Egypt; +anyhow we weren't sorry when the order was given to put the tiger +ashore. + +"Well, the same day that we got rid o' the tiger we was sent aboard a +Malay ship to flog one o' the men. He'n bin up to some mischief, an' +his comrades were afraid, I s'pose, to flog him; and as the offence he +had committed was against us somehow (I never rightly understood it +myself), some of us went aboard the Malay ship, tied him up, an' gave +him two dozen. + +"That night the whole ship's company slep' on deck as usual--officers as +well--all but the cap'n, who had gone ashore. It was a _tremendous_ hot +night, an' a good deal darker than usual. There was one man in the ship +named Wilson; but we called him Bob Roarer, because of a habit he had of +speakin' an' sometimes roarin' in his sleep. Bob lay between me an' the +purser that night, an' we slep' on all right till it was getting pretty +late, though there was two or three snorers that got their noses close +to the deck an' kep' up a pretty fair imitation of a brass band. +Suddenly Bob began to dream, or took a nightmare or somethin', for he +hit straight out with both fists, givin' the purser a tap on the nob +with his left, an' diggin' his right into my bread-basket with such good +will that he nearly knocked all the wind out o' me, at the same time he +uttered a most appallin' yell. + +"The confusion that followed is past description. + +"Some of us thought it was the tiger had broke loose,--forgettin' that +it had been sent ashore. Bob sneaked off the moment he found what he'd +done, and the purser, thinkin' it was pirates, grabbed the first he +could lay hold of by the throat, and that was me, so to it we went tooth +an' nail, for I had no notion who was pitchin' into me, it was so dark. +Two of the men in their fright sprang up the main shrouds. Two others, +who were asleep in the main-top, were awoke by the row, looked down on +the starboard side, an' saw the two comin' up. Thinking it was the +friends of the Malay who had been flogged coming to be revenged, they +ran down the port shrouds like mad, and one o' them rushed along the +port-deck, stickin' his feet into the bread-baskets of all the sleepers +that hadn't been woke by the yell, rousin' them up an' causin' them to +roar like bo'suns. The row woke the cook, who was a nigger; he, +thinkin' it was a sudden jollification, seized one o' the coppers an' +began to beat it with an iron spoon. This set up the quartermaster, who +rushed along the starboard deck, trampin' upon the breasts and faces of +all and sundry. The gunner thought it was the tiger, and took to the +top of the awning; while the doctor and bo's'n's-mate they jumped over +the side, and hung on by ropes up to their waists in water! + +"At the worst o' the confusion the cap'n came aboard. We didn't see +him, but he ordered silence, an' after a while we discovered that there +was no reason whatever for the shindy. It wasn't till a long time +afterwards that we found out the real cause of the false alarm; but the +only man that got no fright that night, and kep' quite cool, was the man +who set it all agoin'--Bob Roarer." + +"_What_ a feller you are, Bill, to talk blarney," said Corney, rising +and knocking the ashes out of his pipe; "sure, aither yer father or yer +mother must have bin an Irishman." + +"Blarney or no blarney, them's the facts," said Moxey, yawning, "an' I'm +off to bed." + +"Ditto," said Frank, stretching himself. + +The two tressels, which were always removed from the room during the +day, had been brought in, and were by this time occupied by Mason and +Williams, whose duty it was to keep watch that night. Baxmore, the +sub-engineer of the station, sat down at the desk to read over the +events of the day, and the others rose to leave. + +"By the way, Baxmore," said Dale, "what was that false alarm at 2 p.m. +when I was down at Watling Street?" + +"Only a chemist in Kensington, who, it seems, is mad after makin' +experiments, and all but blew the roof off his house with one of 'em." + +"Ah! only smoke, I suppose," said Dale. + +"That was all," said Baxmore, "but there was sitch a lot of it that some +fellows thought it was a fire, an' came tearin' down here wi' the news, +so we had a ride for nothing." + +"If I'm not mistaken you'll have a ride for something ere long," +observed Dale, turning his head aside, while he listened attentively. +"Hold on, lads, a minute!" + +There was a sound of wheels in the distance, as if some vehicle were +approaching at a furious pace. On it came, louder and louder, until it +turned the corner of the street, and the horses' feet rattled on the +stones as they were pulled up sharp at the station. Instantly the bell +was rung violently, and a severe kicking was bestowed on the door. + +It is needless to say that the summons was answered promptly. Some of +the men quietly resumed the helmets they had just hung up, well knowing +that work lay before them. + +A cabman darted through the door the instant it was opened, shouting-- + +"Fire!" + +"Where?" asked Dale. + +"Forth Street, Holborn, sir!" cried the cabman. Again, for the third +time that night, the order was given to "get her out." While this was +being done, Baxmore took a leathern purse from the cupboard, and gave +the cabman a shilling for being first to "give the call." + +As the men were already accoutred, the engine left the station on this +occasion in less than five minutes. The distance was short, so the pace +was full speed, and in an incredibly short space of time they drew up in +front of a large, handsome shop, from the first-floor windows of which +thick smoke and a few forked flames were issuing. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +WILD DOINGS AND DARING DEEDS. + +Quick though they were, however, in reaching the scene of the fire, the +escape was there before them. It had a shorter way to travel, and was +already pitched, with its head resting against a window of the second +floor, and the fly ladder raised to the third. + +The people who had crowded round the building at the first alarm of +fire, were looking on as if in suspense, and the firemen knew that +Conductor Forest, or one of his lion-hearted comrades, was inside, doing +his noble and dangerous work. But they had no time to pay attention to +what was going on. + +While some of the firemen got the engine into play, the others ran in a +body to the front-door of the burning house, the lower part of which was +a coach-builder's warehouse. It was a heavy double door, locked and +barred, and the owner had not yet arrived with the key. It was evident +that the fire had originated in one of the upper floors, for there was +no light in the wareroom. + +"Get the pole-axe," said Dale, as soon as he found the door was fast. + +Frank Willders sprang off at the word, and returned with an axe of the +largest size attached to a handle nearly four feet long. + +"Drive it in, Willders," said Dale. + +Frank's powerful blows at once thundered on the massive door; but they +fell on it in vain, for it was unusually strong. Seeing this, Dale ran +back to the engine, and got out the pole. + +"Come, lay hold some of you!" said he. Immediately eight firemen, Frank +and Dale being at the front, charged the door like a thunderbolt with +this extemporised battering-ram. It gave way with a prodigious crash, +and the whole party fell over each other into the warehouse. + +There was a burst of laughter from themselves, as well as from the +crowd; but in another moment they were up and swarming through the +premises among the smoke, searching for a point of attack. + +"Send the branch up here," cried Mason, coughing violently. + +"Sure, my peepers is out entirely!" gasped Corney, rushing to the window +for air; while showers of water fell on his head, for the engine was +already in full play. + +Just then there was a noise outside, as if men were disputing violently. +Dale guessed at once what it was, and ran down the staircase, calling +out as he passed: "Here, Willders, Corney, Baxmore, lend a hand, will +you?" + +On reaching the engine, they found about a dozen roughs of the lowest +character, disputing fiercely as to which of them was to pump the +engine! As each man received one shilling an hour for this work, it +became a desirable means of earning a good night's wages to these +broad-shouldered rascals; who, in their anger, and in spite of the +police, and the solitary fireman who superintended the engine, had +actually caused the men already at work to cease pumping. + +We may remark in passing, that this would not have been the case, but +for the police force, from some unknown cause, being not very strong at +that fire, and having an excited and somewhat turbulent crowd to keep in +order. As a general rule, the police of London are of the most +essential service at fires; and not a few of them have obtained the +medals of the Society for the protection of life from fire, and other +rewards for gallantry displayed in saving life at the risk of their own +lives. + +On the present occasion, however, the few policemen present could barely +hold their ground against such a band of stalwart desperadoes, so the +firemen came to the rescue. In the front of the roughs stood a man who +was stronger made and better dressed than the others. He had not been +pugnacious at first; but having got involved in the riot, he struck out +with the rest. Dale sprang at this man, who was none other than the +half-nautical individual already introduced to the reader by the name of +Gorman, and launched a left-hander at his head; but Gorman stepped +aside, and one of his comrades was felled instead. At this, the others +made a rush in a body at Dale; but Frank, Corney, and Baxmore come up at +the moment, and each knocked down a man. Instantly Dale seized an +instrument from the engine, named a "preventer," like a large boat-hook, +and, raising it at the full stretch of his powerful arms, he brought it +swoop down on the heads of the roughs--six of whom, including Gorman, +measured their length on the ground. + +Meanwhile, Bill Moxey and Jack Williams, who had charge of the branch-- +which is considered the post of honour at a fire--had paid no attention +whatever to this little episode; but the instant the order was given, +had conveyed their branch into the building, and up to the first floor, +where they thought they could reach the fire more directly; for it is an +axiom in fire brigades to get into a burning building _without delay_, +and attack the fire at its heart. + +They got the hose up a staircase, and began to play through a doorway at +the head of it; but, to their surprise, did not make any impression +whatever. Two other engines, however, were at work by this time--so the +fire was kept in check. + +"Something wrong here," said Moxey, speaking with difficulty, owing to +the dense smoke. + +Owing to the same cause, it was impossible to see what was wrong. + +"I'll go in an' see," said Mason, dropping on his hands and knees, and +creeping into the room with his mouth as close to the ground as +possible. This he did, because in a room on fire there is always a +current of comparatively fresh air at the floor. + +Presently the sound of Mason's small hatchet was heard cutting up +woodwork, and in a few seconds he rushed out almost choking. + +"There," said he, "stick the branch through that hole. You've bin +playin' all this time up agin' a board partition!" + +Moxey and Williams advanced, put the branch through the partition, and +the result was at once obvious in the diminution of smoke and increase +of steam. + +While these incidents were occurring outside and inside the building, +the crowd was still waiting in breathless expectation for the +re-appearance of Conductor Forest of the fire-escape; for the events +just narrated, although taking a long time to tell, were enacted in a +few minutes. + +Presently Forest appeared at the window of the second floor with two +infants in his arms. Instead of sending these down the canvas trough of +the escape in the usual way--at the risk of their necks, for they were +very young--he clasped them to his breast, and plunging into it himself +head-foremost, descended in that position, checking his speed by +spreading out his knees against the sides of the canvas. Once again he +sprang up the escape amid the cheers of the people, and re-entered the +window. + +At that moment the attention of the crowd was diverted by the sudden +appearance of a man at one of the windows of the first floor. + +He was all on fire, and had evidently been aroused to his awful position +unexpectedly, for he was in such confusion that he did not observe the +fire-escape at the other window. After shouting wildly for a few +seconds, and tossing his arms in the air, he leaped out and came to the +ground with stunning violence. Two policemen extinguished the fire that +was about him, and then, procuring a horse-cloth lifted him up tenderly +and carried him away. + +It may perhaps surprise the reader that this man was not roused sooner +by the turmoil and noise that was going on around him, but it is a fact +that heavy sleepers are sometimes found by the firemen sound asleep, and +in utter ignorance of what has been going on, long after a large portion +of the houses in which they dwell have been in flames. + +When Forest entered the window the second time he found the smoke +thicker than before, and had some difficulty in groping his way--for +smoke that may be breathed with comparative ease is found to be very +severe on the eyes. He succeeded, however, in finding a woman lying +insensible on the floor of the room above. In carrying her to the +window he fell over a small child, which was lying on the floor in a +state of insensibility. Grasping the latter with his left hand, he +seized its night-dress with his teeth, and, with the woman on his +shoulder, appeared on the top of the fly-ladder, which he descended in +safety. + +The cheers and shouts of the crowd were deafening as Forest came down; +but the woman, who had begun to recover, said that her brother was in a +loft above the room in which she had been found. + +The Conductor, therefore, went up again, got on the roof of the house, +broke through the tiles, and with much difficulty pulled the man through +the aperture and conveyed him safely to the ground. [See note 1]. + +The firemen were already at Forest's heels, and as soon as he dragged +the man through the hole in the roof, Frank and Baxmore jumped into it +with the branch, and immediately attacked the fire. + +By this time all the engines of the district in which the fire had +occurred, and one from each of the two adjoining districts, had arrived, +and were in full play, and one by one the individual men from the +distant stations came dropping in and reported themselves to Dale, Mr +Braidwood not being present on that occasion. There was thus a strong +force of fresh firemen on the ground, and these, as they came up, were +sent--in military parlance--to relieve skirmishers. The others were +congregated in front of the door, moving quietly about, looking on and +chatting in undertones. + +Such of the public as arrived late at the fire no doubt formed a very +erroneous impression in regard to these men, for not only did they +appear to be lounging about doing nothing, but they were helped by one +of their number to a glass of brandy--such of them at least as chose to +take it. But those who had witnessed the fire from the beginning knew +that these men had toiled, with every nerve and muscle strained, for +upwards of an hour in the face of almost unbearable heat, +half-suffocated by smoke, and drenched by hot water. They were resting +now, and they had much need of rest, for some of them had come out of +the burning house almost fainting from exposure to heat and smoke. +Indeed, Mason _had_ fainted; but the fresh air soon revived him, and +after a glass of brandy he recovered sufficiently to be fit for duty +again in half an hour. + +Frank and Baxmore were the last to be relieved. When two fresh men came +up and took the branch they descended the stairs, and a strange descent +it was. The wooden stair, or flight of open steps, which they had to +descend first, was burnt to charcoal, and looked as if it would fall to +pieces with a touch. + +"I hope it'll bear," said Frank to Baxmore, who went first. + +"Bear or not bear, we _must_ go down," said Baxmore. + +He went unhesitatingly upon it, and although the steps bent ominously, +there was enough of sound wood to sustain him. + +The second stair, also of wood, had not been quite so much charred; but +so great was the quantity of water poured continuously into the house, +that it formed a regular water-course of the staircase, down which heaps +of plaster and bricks and burnt rubbish had been washed, and had stuck +here and there, forming obstructions on which the water broke and round +which it roared in the form of what might have been a very respectable +mountain-torrent, with this striking difference, that the water which +rushed down it was _hot_, in consequence of its having passed through +such glowing materials. + +The lower staircase was a stone one--the worst of all stairs in a fire, +owing to its liability to crack at its connection with the wall, from +the combined influence of heat and cold water. Just as the two men +reached the head of it, it fell, without warning, in a mass of ruins. + +"Never mind," said Baxmore, "the fire-escape is still at the window." + +So saying, he ran through the smoke and reached it. Frank was about to +follow, when he observed a shut door. Without having any definite +intention, he laid hold of the handle, and found that it was locked on +the inside--he knew that, for he saw the end of the key sticking through +the key-hole. At once he threw his weight on it, and burst it open. To +his amazement, he found a little old lady sitting quietly, but in great +trepidation, in an easy-chair, partially clothed in very scanty +garments, which she had evidently thrown on in great haste. + +"Go away, young man!" she screamed, drawing a shawl tightly round her. +"Go away, I say! how _dare_ you, sir?" + +"Why, ma'am," cried Frank, striding up to her; "the house is on fire! +Come, I'll carry you out." + +"No--No!" she cried, pushing him resolutely away. "What! carry me--me +out _thus_! I know it's on fire. Leave me, sir, I command you--I +entreat you; I will die rather than appear as I am--in public." + +The poor lady finished off with a loud shriek; for Frank, seeing how +matters stood, and knowing there was not a moment to lose, plucked a +blanket from the bed, overwhelmed her in it, and exclaiming, "Forgive +me, ma'am," lifted her gently in his arms, bore her through the smoke, +down the escape, to the street; carried her into a neighbouring house +(the door of which was opportunely open), and laid her like a bundle on +one of the beds, where he left her, with strict injunctions to the +people of the house to take care of her! Frank then went out to rejoin +his comrades, and refreshed himself with a glass of beer; while Baxmore, +being a teetotaller, recruited his energies with a glass of water. + +By this time the fire had been pretty well subdued; but there were some +parts smouldering about the roof and upper floor, that rendered it +necessary to keep the engines going, while the firemen hunted their foe +from room to room, and corner to corner--extinguishing him everywhere; +not, however, before he had completely gutted the whole house, with the +exception of part of the ground floor. + +"Keep away from the walls, men," said Dale, coming up to the group, who +were resting. + +At that moment there was a cry raised that some one was in the cellars. + +At the word, Baxmore ran into the house, and descended to the basement. +There was little smoke here; but from the roof, water was running down +in a thick, warm shower, which drenched him in a few minutes. He ran +through the whole place, but found no one, until he opened the door of a +closet, when he discovered two old women who had taken refuge there; one +being deaf and the other lame, as her crutches testified. They were up +to the knees in water, and the same element was pouring in continuous +streams on their heads--yet, like the old lady up-stairs, they refused +to move or be moved. + +Finding that persuasion was useless, Baxmore ran up for a horse-cloth, +and, returning, threw it over the head of the deaf old woman, whom he +bore, kicking violently, into the street. The other was carried out in +the same fashion--only that she screamed violently, being unable to +kick. + +Soon after that, the fire was completely extinguished, and the engines +and men returned to their several stations, leaving London once again in +comparative repose. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. It is perhaps right to state here, that a deed similar to this +in nearly every point was performed by Conductor Samuel Wood, a member +of the London Fire-Escape Brigade, for which he received a testimonial +signed by the then Lord Mayor, and a silver watch with 20 pounds from +the inhabitants of Whitechapel. Wood saved nearly 200 lives by his own +personal exertions. Many of his brave comrades have also done deeds +that are well worthy of record, but we have not space to do more than +allude to them here. + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +JOE CORNEY'S ADVENTURE WITH GHOSTS. + +When we said that the firemen returned to their respective stations, it +must not be supposed that the house which had been burnt was left in +forlorn wretchedness. No; one of the firemen remained to watch over it, +and guard against the upstarting of any sneaking spark that might have +managed to conceal itself. + +The man selected for this duty was Joe Corney. + +Unfortunately for Joe, this was the only part of a fireman's duty that +he did not relish. + +Joe Corney was, both by nature and education, very superstitious. He +believed implicitly in ghosts, and knew an innumerable host of persons, +male and female, who had seen people who said they had seen ghosts. He +was too honest to say he had ever seen a ghost himself; but he had been +"very near seein' wan two or three times," and he lived in perpetual +expectation and dread of meeting one face to face before he died. Joe +was as brave as a lion, and faced danger, and sometimes even what +appeared to be certain death, with as much unflinching courage as the +bravest of his comrades. Once, in particular, he had walked with the +branch in his hands along the burning roof of a tottering warehouse, +near the docks, in order to gain a point from which he could play on the +flames so as to prevent them spreading to the next warehouse, and so +check a fire which might have easily become one of the "great fires of +London." + +Joe was therefore a man who could not be easily frightened; yet Joe +trembled in his shoes when he had the most distant prospect of meeting +with a ghost! + +There was no help for it, however. He had been appointed to watch the +ruin; and, being a man who cherished a strong sense of duty, he set +himself doggedly to make the most of his circumstances. + +It was past one o'clock when the fire was finally extinguished. A few +night-birds and late revellers still hung about it, as if in the hope +that it would burst forth again, and afford them fresh excitement; but +before two o'clock, everyone had gone away, and Joe was left alone with +his "preventer" and lantern. Even the policeman on the beat appeared to +avoid him; for, although he passed the ruin at regular intervals in his +rounds, he did not stop at it beyond a few moments, to see that the +fireman's lantern was burning and all right. + +"Corney, me lad," said Joe to himself, "it's bad luck has befallen ye +this night; but face yer luck like a man now, and shame it." + +Encouraging himself thus, he grasped his preventer, and pulled about the +_debris_ in various places of which he had some suspicion; but the +engines had done their work so effectually that not a spark remained. +Then Joe walked up and down, and in and out for an hour; studied the +half-consumed pictures that still hung on the walls of one of the lower +rooms, which had not been completely destroyed; moralised on the dire +confusion and ruin that could be accomplished in so short a space of +time; reflected on the probable condition of the unfortunates who had +been burnt out; on the mutability of human affairs in general, and +wondered what his "owld mother" would think of him, if she saw him in +his forlorn situation. + +This latter thought caused his mind to revert to ghosts; but he was +comforted by hearing the slow, distant foot-fall of the policeman. On +it came, not unlike the supposed step of an unearthly visitant, until +the guardian of the night stood revealed before him on the other side of +the road. + +"It's a cowld night intirely," cried Corney. + +"It is," responded the policeman. + +"How goes the inimy?" inquired the fireman. + +"Just gone three," replied the other. + +The policeman's voice, although gruff, was good-humoured and hearty; but +he was evidently a strict disciplinarian, for he uttered no other word, +and passed on. + +"Faix, I'm gettin' slaipy," remarked Joe to himself, with a loud yawn. +"I'll go and rest a bit." + +So saying, he re-entered the ruin, and with the aid of his lantern +sought about for the least uncomfortable apartment on the ground floor. +He selected one which was comparatively weather-tight. That is to say, +only one of the windows had been dashed out, and the ceiling was entire, +with the exception of a hole about four feet wide, through which the +charred beams above could be seen depicted against the black sky. There +was about an inch of water on the floor; but this was a small matter, +for Joe's boots were thick and strong. The door, too, had been burst +off its hinges, and lay on the floor; but Joe could raise this, and +place it in its original position. + +The room had been a parlour and there were several damaged prints +hanging on the walls, besides a quantity of detached paper hanging from +them. Most of the furniture had been removed at the commencement of the +fire; but a few broken articles remained, and one big old easy-chair, +which had either been forgotten, or deemed unworthy of removal, by the +men of the Salvage Corps. [See note 1.] + +Joe wheeled the chair to the fireplace--not that there was any fire in +it; on the contrary, it was choked up with fallen bricks and mortar, and +the hearth was flooded with water; but, as Joe remarked to himself, "it +felt more homelike an' sociable to sit wid wan's feet on the finder!" + +Having erected the door in front of its own doorway, Joe leaned his +preventer against the wall, placed his lantern on the chimney-piece, and +sat down to meditate. He had not meditated long, when the steady +draught of air from the window at his back began to tell upon him. + +"Och! but it's a cowld wind," said he. "I'll try the other side. +There's nothin' like facin' wan's inimies." + +Acting on this idea, he changed his position, turning his face to the +window and his back to the door. + +"Well," he remarked on sitting down again, "there's about as much +draught from the door; but, sure, ye've improved yer sitivation, Corney, +for haven't ye the illigant prospect of over the way through the windy?" + +Not long after this, Joe's mind became much affected with ghostly +memories. This condition was aggravated by an intense desire to sleep, +for the poor man had been hard worked that day, and stood much in need +of repose. He frequently fell asleep, and frequently awoke. On falling +asleep, his helmet performed extremely undignified gyrations. On +awaking, he always started, opened his eyes very wide, looked round +inquiringly, then smiled, and resumed a more easy position. But, awake +or asleep, his thoughts ran always in the same channel. + +During one of those waking moments, Joe heard a sound which rooted him +to his seat with horror; and would doubtless have caused his hair to +stand on end, if the helmet would have allowed it. The sound was simple +enough in itself, however; being slight, slow, and regular, and was only +horrible in Joe's mind, because of his being utterly unable to account +for it, or to conceive what it could be. + +Whatever the sound was, it banished sleep from his eyes for at least a +quarter of an hour. At last, unable to stand the strain of uncertainty, +he arose, drew his hatchet, took down his lantern, and, coughing loudly +and sternly--as though to say: + +"Have a care, I'm coming!"--removed the door and went cautiously into +the passage, where the sound appeared to come from. It did not cease on +his appearing; but went on slowly and steadily, and louder than before. +It appeared to be at his very elbow; yet Joe could see nothing, and a +cold perspiration broke out on him. + +"Och! av I could only _see_ it!" he gasped. + +Just as he said this he _did_ see it, for a turn of his lantern revealed +the fact that a drop of water fell regularly from one of the burnt beams +upon a large sheet of paper which had been torn from the passage wall. +This, resting on the irregular rubbish, formed a sort of drum, which +gave forth a hollow sound. + +"Ah, then, but ye _are_ a goose, Joe Corney, me boy!" said the fireman, +as he turned away with an amiable smile and resumed his seat after +replacing the door. + +About this time the wind began to rise, and came in irregular gusts. At +each gust the door was blown from the wall an inch or so, and fell back +with a noise that invariably awoke Joe with a start. He looked round +each time quickly; but as the door remained quiet he did not discover +the cause of his alarm. After it had done this several times Joe +became, so to speak, desperately courageous. + +"Git out wid ye!" he cried angrily on being startled again, "wasn't the +last wan all a sham? an' sure ye're the same. Go 'long in pace--an' +goodnight!" + +As he said this the over-taxed man fell asleep; at the same moment a +heavy gust of wind drove the door in altogether, and dashed it down on +his head. Fortunately, being somewhat charred, the panel that struck +his helmet was driven out, so that Joe came by no greater damage than +the fright, which caused his heart to bound into his throat, for he +really believed that the ghost had got him at last! + +Relieving himself of the door, which he laid on the floor lest it should +play him the same prank over again, Joe Corney once more settled himself +in the easy-chair and resolved to give his mind to meditation. Just +then the City clocks pealed forth the hour of four o'clock. + +This is perhaps the quietest hour of the twenty-four in London. Before +this most of the latest revellers have gone home, and few of the early +risers are moving. + +There was one active mind at work at that hour, however--namely, that of +Gorman--who, after recovering from the blow given him by Dale, went to +his own home on the banks of the Thames, in the unaristocratic locality +of London Bridge. + +Gorman owned a small boat, and did various kinds of business with it. +But Gorman's occupations were numerous and not definite. He was +everything by turns, and nothing long. When visible to the outward eye +(and that wasn't often), his chief occupations were loafing about and +drinking. On the present occasion he drank a good deal more than usual, +and lay down to sleep, vowing vengeance against firemen in general, and +Dale in particular. + +Two or three hours later he awoke, and leaving his house, crossed London +Bridge, and wended his way back to the scene of the fire without any +definite intention, but with savage desires in his breast. He reached +it just at that point where Joe Corney had seated himself to meditate, +as above described. + +Joe's powers of meditation were not great at any time. At that +particular time they were exerted in vain, for his head began to sway +backward and forward and to either side, despite his best efforts to the +contrary. + +Waiting in the shadow of a doorway until the policeman should pass out +of sight and hearing, and cautiously stepping over the debris that +encumbered the threshold of the burnt house, Gorman peeped into the +room, where the light told him that some one kept watch. Great was his +satisfaction and grim his smile when he saw that a stalwart fireman sat +there apparently asleep. Being only able to see his back, he could not +make certain who it was,--but from the bulk of the man and breadth of +the shoulders he concluded that it was Dale. Anyhow it was one of his +enemies, and that was sufficient, for Gorman's nature was of that brutal +kind that he would risk his life any day in order to gratify his +vengeance, and it signified little to him which of his enemies fell in +his way, so long as it was one of them. + +Taking up a brick from the floor, he raised himself to his full height, +and dashed it down on the head of the sleeping man. Just at that moment +Corney's nodding head chanced to fall forward, and the brick only hit +the comb of his helmet, knocking it over his eyes. Next moment he was +grappling with Gorman. + +As on previous occasions, Joe's heart had leaped to his throat, and that +the ghost was upon him "at last" he had no manner of doubt; but no +sooner did he feel the human arm of Gorman and behold his face than his +native courage returned with a bound. He gave his antagonist a squeeze +that nearly crushed his ribs together, and at the same time hurled him +against the opposite wall. But Gorman was powerful and savage. He +recovered himself and sprang like a tiger on Joe, who received him in a +warm embrace with an Irish yell! + +The struggle of the two strong men was for a few moments terrible, but +not doubtful, for Joe's muscles had been brought into splendid training +at the gymnastics. He soon forced Gorman down on one knee; but at the +same moment a mass of brickwork which had been in a toppling condition, +and was probably shaken down by the violence of their movements, fell on +the floor above, broke through it, and struck both men to the ground. + +Joe lay stunned and motionless for a few seconds, for a beam had hit him +on the head; but Gorman leaped up and made off a moment or two before +the entrance of the policeman, who had run back to the house on hearing +Joe's war-whoop. + +It is needless to add that Joe spent the remainder of his vigil that +night in an extremely wakeful condition, and that he gave a most graphic +account of his adventure with the ghosts on his return to the station! + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. The Salvage Corps is a body of men appointed by the insurance +offices to save and protect goods at fires, and otherwise to watch over +their interests. They wear a uniform and helmets, something like those +of the firemen, and generally follow close in their wake--in their own +vans--when fires break out. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +A NEW PHASE OF LIFE. + +"Mother," said Master William Willders one night to his parent, as he +sat at supper--which meal consisted of bread and milk; "he's the +jolliest old feller, that Mr Tippet, I ever came across." + +"I'm glad you like him, Willie," said Mrs Willders, who was busy +patching the knees of a pair of small unmentionables; "but I wish, dear, +that you would not use slang in your speech, and remember that fellow is +not spelt with an e-r at the end of it." + +"Come now, mother, don't you go an' get sarcastic. It don't suit you; +besides, there's no occasion for it,--for I do my best to keep it down, +but I'm so choke full of it that a word or two will spurt up now and +then in spite o' me." + +Mrs Willders smiled and continued her patching; Willie grinned and +continued his supper. + +"Mother," said Willie, after an interval of silence. + +"Well, my son?" + +"What d'ye think the old feller--ah! I mean fellow--is up to just now?" + +"I don't know, Willie." + +"He's inventin' a calc'latin' machine, as is to do anythin' from simple +addition to fractions, an' he says if it works well he'll carry it on to +algebra an' mathematics, up to the fizmal calc'lus, or somethin' o' that +sort. Oh, you've no notion how he strains himself at it. He sits down +in his shirt-sleeves at a writin'-table he's got in a corner, an' tears +away at the little hair he has on the sides of his head (I do believe he +tore it all off the top with them inventions), then he bangs up an' +seizes his tools, and shouts, `Look here, Willie, hold on!' an' goes +sawin' and chisellin' and hammerin' away like a steam-engine. He's all +but bu'st himself over that calc'latin' machine, and I'm much afraid +that he'll clap Chips into the sausage-machine some day, just to see how +it works. I hope he won't, for Chips an' I are great friends, though +we've only bin a month together." + +"I hope he's a good man," said Mrs Willders thoughtfully. + +"Well, I'm sure he must be!" cried Willie with enthusiasm, "for he is +very kind to me, and also to many poor folk that come about him +regularly. I'm gettin' to know their faces now, and when to expect 'em. +He always takes 'em into his back room--all sorts, old men and old +women an' children, most of 'em seedy enough, but some of 'em well off +to _look_ at. What he says to 'em I don't know, but they usually come +out very grave, an go away thankin' him, and sayin' they won't forget +his advice. If the advice is to come back soon they certainly _don't_ +forget it! And he's a great philosopher, too, mother, for he often +talks to me about my int'lec's. He said jist t'other day, `Willie,' +said he, `get into a habit o' usin' yer brains, my boy. The Almighty +put us into this world well-made machines, intended to be used in all +our parts. Now, you'll find thousands of people who use their muscles +and neglect their brains, and thousands of others who use their brains +and neglect their muscles. Both are wrong, boy; we're machines, lad-- +wonderful machines--and the machines won't work well if they're not used +_all_ over.' Don't that sound grand, mother?" + +Willie might have received an answer if he had waited for one, but he +was too impatient, and went rattling on. + +"And who d'ye think, mother, came to see old Tippet the other day, but +little Cattley, the clown's boy. You remember my tellin' you about +little Cattley and the auction, don't you?" + +"Yes, Willie." + +"Well, he came, and just as he was goin' away I ran out an' asked him +how the fairy was. `She's very ill,' he said, shakin' his head, and +lookin' so mournful that I had not the heart to ask more. But I'm goin' +to see them, mother." + +"That's right, my boy," said Mrs Willders, with a pleased look; "I like +to hear you talk of going to see people in distress. `Blessed are they +that consider the poor,' Willie." + +"Oh, as to that, you know, I don't know that they _are_ poor. Only I +feel sort o' sorry for 'em, somehow, and I'm awful anxious to see a real +live fairy, even though she _is_ ill." + +"When are you going?" inquired Mrs Willders. + +"To-morrow night, on my way home." + +"Did you look in at Frank's lodging in passing to-night?" + +"Yes, I did, and found that he was in the station on duty again. It +wasn't a bad sprain, you see, an' it'll teach him not to go jumpin' out +of a first-floor window again." + +"He couldn't help it," said the widow. "You know his escape by the +stair had been cut off, and there was no other way left." + +"No other way!" cried Willie; "why didn't he _drop_? He's so proud of +his strength, is Blazes, that he jumped off-hand a' purpose to show it! +Ha! he'd be the better of some o' my caution. Now, mother, I'm off to +bed." + +"Get the Bible, then," said Mrs Willders. + +Willie got up and fetched a large old family Bible from a shelf, and +laid it on the table before his mother, who read a chapter and prayed +with her son; after which Willie gave her one of his "roystering" kisses +and went to bed. + +The lamps had been lighted for some time next night, and the +shop-windows were pouring forth their bright rays, making the streets +appear as light as day, when Willie found himself in the small +disreputable street near London Bridge in which Cattley the clown dwelt. + +Remembering the directions given to him by little Jim Cattley, he soon +found the underground abode near the burnt house, the ruins of which had +already been cleared away and a considerable portion of a new tenement +erected. + +If the stair leading to the clown's dwelling was dark, the passage at +the foot of it was darker; and as Willie groped his way carefully along, +he might have imagined it to be a place inhabited only by rats or cats, +had not gleams of light, and the sound of voices from sundry closed +doors, betokened the presence of human beings. Of the compound smells +peculiar to the place, those of beer and tobacco predominated. + +At the farther end of this passage, there was an abrupt turn to the +left, which brought the boy unexpectedly to a partially open door, where +a scene so strange met his eyes that he involuntarily stood still and +gazed. + +In a corner of the room, which was almost destitute of furniture, a +little girl, wan, weary, and thin, lay on a miserable pallet, with +scanty covering over her. Beside her stood Cattley--not, as when first +introduced, in a seedy coat and hat; but in full stage costume--with +three balls on his head, white face, triangular roses on his cheeks, and +his mouth extended outward and upward at the corners, by means of red +paint. Little Jim sat on the bed beside his sister, clad in pink +skin-tights, with cheeks and face similar to his father, and a red crest +or comb of worsted on his head. + +"Ziza, darling, are you feeling better, my lamb?" said the elder clown, +with a gravity of expression in his real mouth that contrasted strangely +with the expression conveyed by the painted corners. + +"No, father, not much; but perhaps I'm gettin' better, though I don't +feel it," said the sweet, faint voice of the child, as she opened her +large hollow eyes, and looked upward. + +"So, that's the fairy!" thought Willie sadly, as he gazed on the child's +beautiful though wasted features. + +"We'll have done d'rectly, darling," said the clown tenderly; "only one +more turn, and then we'll leave you to rest quietly for some hours. +Now, then, here we are again!" he added, bounding into the middle of the +room with a wild laugh. "Come along, Jim, try that jump once more." + +Jim did not speak; but pressing his lips to his sister's brow, leaped +after his sire, who was standing an a remarkably vigorous attitude, with +his legs wide apart and his arms akimbo, looking back over his shoulder. + +"Here we go," cried Jim in a tiny voice, running up his father's leg and +side, stepping lightly on his shoulder, and planting one foot on his +head. + +"Jump down," said the clown gravely. + +Jim obeyed. + +"That won't do, Jim. You must do it all in one run; no pausing on the +way--but, whoop! up you go, and both feet on my head at once. Don't be +afeard; you can't tumble, you know." + +"I'm not afeard, father," said Jim; "but I ain't quite springy in my +heart to-night. Stand again and see if I don't do it right off." + +Cattley the elder threw himself into the required attitude; and Cattley +junior, rushed at him, ran up him as a cat runs up a tree, and in a +moment was standing on his father's head with his arms extended. +Whoop!--next moment he was turning round in the air; and whoop! in +another moment he was standing on the ground, bowing respectfully to a +supposed audience. + +To Jim's immense amazement, the supposed audience applauded him +heartily; and said, "Bravyo! young 'un," as it stepped into the room, in +the person of William Willders. + +"Why! who may _you_ be?" inquired the clown senior, stepping up to the +intruder. + +Before Willie could answer the clown junior sprang on his father's +shoulders, and whispered in his ear. Whatever he said, the result was +an expression of benignity and condescension on the clown's face--as far +as paint would allow of such expression. + +"Glad to meet you, Master Willders," he said. "Proud to know anyone +connected with T. Tippet, Esquire, who's a trump. Give us your flipper. +What may be the object of your unexpected, though welcome visit to this +this subterraneous grotto, which may be said to be next door to the +coral caves, where the mermaids dwell." + +"Yes, and there's one o' the mermaids singing," remarked the clown +junior, with a comical leer, as a woman's voice was heard in violent +altercation with some one. "She's a sayin' of her prayers now; +beseechin' of her husband to let her have her own way." + +Willie explained that, having had the pleasure of meeting with Jim at an +auction sale some weeks ago, he had called to renew his acquaintance; +and Jim said he remembered the incident--and that, if he was not +mistaken, a desire to see a live fairy in plain clo'se, with her wings +off, had something to do with his visit. + +"Here she is;--by the way, what's your name?" + +"Bill Willders." + +"Here she is, Bill; this is the fairy," he said, in quite an altered +tone, as he went to the bed, and took one of his sister's thin hands in +both of his. "Ziza, this is the feller I told ye of, as wanted to see +you, dear; b'longs to Mr Tippet." + +Ziza smiled faintly, as she extended her hand to Willie, who took it and +pressed it gently. + +Willie felt a wonderfully strong sensation within his heart as he looked +into the sufferer's large liquid eyes; and for a few seconds he could +not speak. Suddenly he exclaimed, "Well, you ain't one bit like what I +expected to see. You're more like a angel than a fairy." + +Ziza smiled again, and said she didn't feel like either the one or the +other. + +"My poor lamb," said the clown, sitting down on the bed, and parting the +dark hair on Ziza's forehead, with a hand as gentle as that of a mother, +"we're goin' now. Time's up. Shall I ask Mrs Smith to stay with you +again, till we come back?" + +"Oh, no, no!" cried the child hurriedly, and squeezing her fingers into +her eyes, as if to shut out some disagreeable object. "Not Mrs Smith. +I'd rather be alone." + +"I _wish_ I could stay with you, Ziza," said Jim earnestly. + +"It's of no use wishin', Jim," said his father, "you can't get off a +single night. If you was to fail 'em you'd lose your engagement, and we +can't afford that just at this time, you know; but I'll try to get Mrs +James to come. She's a good woman, I know, and--" + +"Mister Cattley," interrupted Willie, "if you'll allow a partic'larly +humble individual to make a observation, I would say there's nothin' in +life to prevent me from keeping this 'ere fairy company till you come +back. I've nothin' particular to do as I knows on, an' I'm raither fond +of lonely meditation; so if the fairy wants to go to sleep, it'll make +no odds to me, so long's it pleases her." + +"Thankee, lad," said the clown; "but you'll git wearied, I fear, for we +won't be home till mornin'--" + +"Ah!" interrupted Willie, "till daylight does appear. But that's no +odds, neither--'cause I'm not married yet, so there's nobody awaitin' +for me--and" (he winked to Jim at this point) "my mother knows I'm out." + +The clown grinned at this. "You'd make one of _us_, youngster," said +he, "if ye can jump. Howsever, I'm obliged by your offer, so you can +stay if Ziza would like it." + +Ziza said she _would_ like it with such goodwill, that Willie adored her +from that moment, and vowed in his heart he would nurse her till she--he +did not like to finish the sentence; yet, somehow, the little that he +had heard and seen of the child led him irresistibly to the conclusion +that she was dying. + +This having been satisfactorily arranged, the Cattleys, senior and +junior, threw cloaks round them, exchanged their wigs for caps; and, +regardless of the absurd appearance of their faces, hurried out to one +of the minor theatres, with heavy hearts because of the little fairy +left so ill and comfortless at home. + +In a few minutes they were tumbling on the stage, cracking their jokes, +and convulsing the house with laughter. + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +WILLIE IN A NEW LIGHT. + +Left alone with the fairy, Willie Willders began his duties as +sick-nurse, a sphere of action into which he had never thought of being +introduced, even in his wildest dreams. + +He began by asking the fairy if she was all right and comfortable, to +which she replied that she was not; upon which he explained that he +meant, was she as right and comfortable as could be expected in the +circumstances; could he do anything for her, in fact, or get her +anything that would make her more comfortable than she was--but the +fairy shook her poor head and said, "No." + +"Come now, won't you have somethin' to eat? What had you for dinner?" +said Willie, in a cheery voice, looking round the room, but not +discovering any symptoms of food beyond a few empty plates and cups (the +latter without handles), and a tea-pot with half a spout. + +"I had a little bread and butter," said the fairy. + +"No tipple?" inquired the nurse. + +"No, except water." + +"Ain't there none in the house?" + +"No." + +"D'ye git nothin' better at other times?" inquired Willie in surprise. + +"Not often. Father is very poor. He was ill for a long time, too, and +if it hadn't been for your kind master I think we should all have +starved. He's better now, but he needs pretty good living to keep him +up to his work--for there's a deal of training to be done, and it wears +him out if he don't get meat. But the pantomimes began and we were +getting on better, when the fire came and burnt everything we had +almost, so we can't afford much meat or beer, and I don't like beer, so +I've got them persuaded to let me live on bread and butter and water. I +would like tea better, because it's hot, but we can't afford that." + +Here was a revelation! The fairy lived upon bread and butter and water! +Willie thought that, but for the interpolation of the butter, it would +have borne marvellous resemblance to prison fare. + +"When had you dinner?" inquired Willie suddenly. + +"I think about four o'clock." + +"An' can't you eat nothin' now?" + +Again the fairy shook her head. + +"Nor drink?" + +"Look if there's anything in the tea-pot," said the fairy. + +Willie looked, shook his head, and said, "Not a drop." + +"Any leaves?" + +"Why, y-yes," he brought the pot nearer to the candle; "there are a few +used-up ones." + +"Oh, _do_ pour some hot water into it; but I fear the water is cold, and +the fire's too low to boil it, and I know the coals are done; but father +gets paid his salary to-morrow, and he'll give me some tea then. He's +very kind to me, father is, and so is Jim." + +She sighed as she spoke, and shut her eyes. + +"Ziza," said Willie in a careless tone, "you won't object to my leavin' +you for a few minutes; only a few; I want to get a little fresh air, an' +see what sort of a night it is; I won't be long gone." + +Ziza, so far from objecting, said that she was used to being left alone +for long, long hours at a time, and wouldn't mind it. So Willie put the +candle nearer to her bedside, placed a tea-cup of water within reach, +went out, shut the door softly behind him, groped his way through the +passage and up the stair, and got into the street. + +That day his eccentric employer had paid him his first month's wage, a +sovereign, with many complimentary remarks as to his usefulness. The +golden coin lay in his pocket. It was the first he had ever earned. He +had intended to go straight home and lay the shining piece in his +mother's lap, for Willie was a peculiar boy, and had some strange +notions in regard to the destination of "first-fruits." Where he had +got them nobody could tell. Perhaps his mother knew, but nobody ever +questioned her upon the point. + +Taking this gold piece from his pocket, he ran into the nearest +respectable street, and selected there the most respectable grocer's +shop, into which he entered, and demanded a pound of the shopman's best +tea, a pound of his best sugar, a pound of his best butter, a cut of his +best bacon, and one of his best wax-candles. Willie knew nothing about +relative proportion in regard to such things; he only knew that they +were usually bought and consumed together. + +The shopman looked at the little purchaser in surprise, but as Willie +emphatically repeated his demands he gave him the required articles. On +receiving the sovereign he looked twice at Willie, rung the piece of +money three times on the counter, and then returned the change. + +Gathering the packages in his arms, and putting the candle between his +vest and bosom, he went into a baker's shop, purchased a loaf, and +returned to the "subterraneous grotto" laden like the bee. To say that +the fairy was surprised when he displayed these things, would be a +feeble use of language. She opened her large eyes until Willie begged +her in alarm not to open them wider for fear they should come out, at +which sally she laughed, and then, being weak, she cried. + +After that she fell in with her nurse's humour, and the two proceeded to +"have a night of it." Ziza said she'd be a real fairy and tell him what +to do, and Willie said he'd be a gnome or a he-fairy and do it. + +At the outset Willie discovered that he had forgotten coals, but this +was rectified by another five minutes' airing, and a rousing fire was +quickly roaring in the chimney, while the kettle sang and spluttered on +it like a sympathetic thing, as no doubt it was. Willie cleared the +small table that stood at the invalid's bed side, and arranged upon it +the loaf, the tea-pot, two cracked tea-cups, the butter and sugar, and +the wax-candle--which latter was stuck into a quart bottle in default of +a better candle-stick. + +"Now, ain't that jolly?" said the nurse, sitting down and rubbing his +hands. + +"Very!" replied the patient, her eyes sparkling with delight. + +"It's so like a scene in a play," continued Willie. + +"Only much more real," suggested the fairy. + +"Now, then, Ziza, have a cup o' tea, fresh from the market o' Chiny, as +your dad would say, if he was sellin' it by auction. He's a knowin' +codger your dad is, Ziza. There. I knowed I forgot somethin' else--the +cream!" + +"I don't mind it, indeed I don't," said Ziza earnestly. + +Willie had started up to run out and rectify this omission, but on being +assured that the fairy liked tea almost as well without as with cream, +and that there was no cream to be got near at hand, he sat down again +and continued to do the honours of the table. First he made the fairy +sit up in bed, and commented sadly on her poor thin neck as she did it, +observing that she was nothing better than a skeleton in a skin. Then +he took off his own jacket and put it on her shoulders, tying the arms +round her neck. Next he placed a piece of board in front of her, saying +that it was a capital tray, and on this he arranged the viands neatly. + +"Now, then, go at it, Ziza," he said, when all was arranged. + +Ziza, who received his attentions with looks that were wonderfully +gleeful for one in her weak state of health, went at it with such vigour +that the bread was eaten and the tea drunk in a few minutes, and the +supply had to be renewed. When she was in the middle of her second +round of buttered toast (for Willie had toasted the bread), she stopped +suddenly. + +"Why don't you go on?" asked Willie. + +"Because you have not eaten or drunk one mouthful yet." + +"But I'm lookin' at you, and ain't that better? Howsever, if ye won't +go on, I'll not keep you back," and with that Willie set to work, and, +being uncommonly hungry, did what he styled "terrible execution among +the wittles." + +For some time the nurse and patient ate in comparative silence, but by +degrees they began to talk, and as they became more confidential their +talk became more personal. + +"D'you like bein' a fairy?" said Willie, after a lull in the +conversation. + +"No, I don't," replied Ziza. + +"Why not?" + +"Because--because--I don't like the kind of things we have to do, and-- +and--in short, I don't like it at all, and I often pray God to deliver +me from it." + +"That's strange, now," said Willie, "I would have thought it great fun +to be a fairy. I'd rather be a little clown or a he-fairy myself, now, +than anything else I know of, except a fireman." + +"A fireman, Willie?" + +"Yes, a fireman. My brother, Blaz--a--Frank, I mean, is one, and he +saved the lives of some people not long since." + +Of course Willie here diverged into a graphic account of the fire in +Beverly Square, and, seeing that Ziza listened with intense earnestness, +he dilated upon every point, and went with special minuteness into the +doings of Frank. + +When he concluded, Ziza heaved a very deep sigh and closed her eyes. + +"I've tired you, Ziza," exclaimed Willie, jumping up, with a look of +anxiety, and removing the tea-board and jacket, as the child slipped +down under the clothes. He asked if she wanted to go to sleep. + +"Yes, for I'm _very_ tired," she sighed languidly; then added, "but +please read to me a little first." + +"What book am I to read you?" said Willie, looking round the room, where +no book of any kind was to be seen. + +"Here, it's under the pillow." + +Willie put his hand under the pillow and pulled out a small +pocket-Bible. + +"Read the third chapter of Saint John's Gospel," said the child, closing +her eyes. + +Willie read in the monotonous tones of a schoolboy's voice until he came +to the sixteenth verse, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His +only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, +but have everlasting life." + +"Stop at _that_ verse," whispered Ziza. "I'll go to sleep now." + +Her deep breathing soon proclaimed that she was in the land of dreams, +so Willie removed the candle a little further away from her, and then, +resting his elbows on the table and his head in his hands, began to read +the Bible. He turned over a few pages without much intention of finding +any particular place, for he was beginning to feel sleepy. + +The first words his eyes fell upon were, "Blessed are they that consider +the poor." + +He roused up a little at this, and read the verse again, for he +connected it with the fact that the fairy was poor. Then he pondered it +for some time, and, falling asleep, dropt his head on the Bible with +such force that he woke up for a little and tried to read again, but do +what he would he could not get beyond that verse; finally he gave up the +attempt, and, laying his forehead down upon it, quickly fell sound +asleep. + +In this state the couple were discovered an hour or two later by Messrs. +Cattley senior and junior on their return from the theatre. + +"Inscrutable mysteries! say, what is this?" exclaimed the elder clown, +advancing into the room on tiptoe. + +Apostrophising his eye and one Betty Martin, the younger clown said that +it was a "rare go and no mistake," whereupon his father laid his hand on +Willie's shoulder and gently shook him. + +"Eh! another cup, Ziza?" exclaimed the self-accused nurse, as he put out +his hand to seize the tea-pot. "Hallo! I thought it was the fairy," he +added, looking up with a sleepy smile; "I do believe I've gone and fell +asleep." + +"Why, lad, where got ye all those things?" inquired the senior Cattley, +laying aside his cloak and cap, and speaking in a low tone, for Ziza was +still sleeping soundly. + +"Well, I got 'em," replied Willie in a meditative tone, "from a friend +of mine--a very partikler friend o' mine--as declines to let me mention +his name, so you'll have to be satisfied with the wittles and without +the name of the wirtuous giver. P'r'aps it was a dook, or a squire, or +a archbishop as did it. Anyway his name warn't Walker. See now, you've +bin an' woke up the fairy." + +The sick child moved as he spoke, but it was only to turn, without +awaking, on her side. + +"Well, lad," said the clown, sitting down and looking wistfully in the +face of his daughter, "you've got your own reasons for not tellin' me-- +mayhap I've a pretty good guess--anyhow I say God bless him, for I do +b'lieve he's saved the child's life. I've not seen her sleep like that +for weeks. Look at her, Jim; ain't she like her old self?" + +"Yes, father, she don't need no paint and flour to make a fairy on her +just now. She's just like what she was the last time I seed her go up +in a gauze cloud to heaven, with red and blue fire blazin' all round +her." + +"I'll bid ye good-night now," said Willie, buttoning up his jacket to +the chin, and pulling his cap down on his brows with the air of a man +who has a long walk before him. + +"You're off, are you--eh?" said the elder clown, rising and taking +Willie by the hand, "well, you're a good lad. Thank'ee for comin' here +an' takin' care of Ziza. My subterranean grotto ain't much to boast of, +but such as it is you're welcome to it at all times. Good-night." + +"Good-night," said Willie; "good-night, Jim." Jim replied good-night +heartily, and then Willie stepped into the dark passage. He glanced +back at the fairy before shutting the door, but her eyes were closed, so +he said good-night to her in his heart, and went home. + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +HOME LIFE. + +"My dear Miss Tippet, I shall never, no never, get over it." + +So said, and so undoubtedly thought, a thin little old lady with +remarkably bright eyes, and a sweet old face, as she sat sipping tea at +Miss Tippet's elbow. + +It was in the drawing-room of Miss Deemas that she sat, and the Eagle +sat opposite to her. + +"It was very dreadful," responded Miss Tippet with a sigh--"very." + +"It was awful. I know I shall never get over it,--never," repeated the +little old lady, finishing her tea, and asking for another cup in the +calmest possible voice, with the sweetest possible smile. + +"Oh yes, you will, Mrs Denman," said Miss Deemas snappishly. + +"No, indeed, I won't," repeated Mrs Denman; "how can I? Just think of +the situation. Sitting in my chair in dishabille, when a man--a Man, +Miss Dee--" + +"Well, I know what a _man_ is," said the Eagle bitterly; "why don't you +go on?" + +"Burst himself through my bedroom-door," continued Mrs Denman, "with +lime and charcoal and brick-dust and water streaming down his face-- +f-fo-olded me in his arms, bore me out into the street--the _street_! +Oh! I shall never, _never_ get over it; and so little, so _very_ little +clothing on me--" + +"How much had you on?" asked Miss Deemas in a deep voice, the calmness +of which contrasted forcibly with Mrs Denman's excited tones. + +"Really, Miss Deemas, I see no necessity for going into particulars. It +is sufficient to know that I was carried by a _man_ into the _street_ in +the face of some thousands of people, for I heard them cheering though I +saw them not. I know I shall never get over it--another cup, my love; +not _quite_ so much sugar--no, not if I were to live to the age of +Methusaleh." + +"I don't wonder, indeed I don't," murmured the sympathetic Miss Tippet. +"I think, Julia dear, you are a little too hard on Mrs Denman. How +would _you_ like to have been carried out of a burning house in such a +way by a big rough man?" + +"Oh, my dear," interposed Mrs Denman, "I did not say he was rough. Big +he certainly was, and strong, but I must do him the justice to say that +the man li--lif--oh me! lifted me up very tenderly, and carried me as +though I had been an infant and he my mother, through smoke and fire and +water, into the street, before the eyes of the--whole--oh, it's too +awful to think of!" + +"Stuff!" ejaculated Miss Deemas, pecking a piece of cake out of her +fingers as she would, metaphorically of course, have pecked the eyes out +of the head of Frank Willders, or any other man. "Didn't you say he put +a blanket round you?" + +"Of course, Miss Deemas; I should have died otherwise of pure shame." + +"No, you wouldn't," retorted the Eagle. "You would probably have been +half suffocated and a good deal dirtied, and you might have been singed, +but you wouldn't have died; and what need you care now, for the people +saw nothing but a bundle. You might have been a bundle of old clothes +for all they knew or cared. All they wanted to see was the bravery, as +they call it, of the man; as if there were not hundreds upon hundreds of +women who would do the same thing if their muscles were strong enough, +and occasion served." + +"But it _was_ a brave act, you know," said Miss Tippet timidly. + +"I don't know that," retorted Miss Deemas, helping herself to more cake +with as much decision of manner as if she had been carrying it off by +force of arms from before the very muzzles of a masculine battery. "I +don't know that. He had to escape, you know, for his own life, and he +might as well bring a bundle along with him as not." + +"Yes; but then," said Miss Tippet, "he first went up the--the thingumy, +you know." + +"No, he didn't," retorted Miss Deemas smartly; "he was in the house at +the time, and only came down the `thingumy,' as you call it!" + +It was a peculiarity of Miss Deemas's character, that she claimed the +right to be as rude as she chose to people in her own house, and rather +prided herself on this evidence of independence. + +"In my opinion," said Mrs Denman, "his being in the burning house at +all of his own accord, was of itself evidence of courage. I think the +fireman is a brave young man." + +Thus much Mrs Denman said with dignity to Miss Deemas. The remainder +of her speech she addressed to Miss Tippet. + +"But, my dear, I feel that although I owe this young man a debt of +gratitude which I can never repay, I shall never be able to look my +preserver in the face. I _know_ that his mind will always revert, when +he sees me, to the fi--fig--the figure that he lifted out of that +easy-chair. But there is one thing I have resolved on," continued the +little old lady in more cheerful tones, as she asked for another cup of +tea, "and that is, to get a fireman to instruct me as to the best method +of saving my own life should fire again break out in my dwelling." + +The Eagle gave a hysterical chuckle at this. + +"I have already written to one who has been recommended to me as a +shrewd man, and he is coming to call on me this very evening at seven +o'clock." + +Mrs Denman started, as if her own remark had recalled something, and +pulled out her watch. + +"Why, it is almost half-past six!" she exclaimed, rising hastily. +"Excuse a hurried departure, Miss Deemas. Your society and sympathy" +(she looked pointedly at Miss Tippet here) "have been so agreeable that +I did not observe how time was flying. Good-bye, Miss Deemas. Good +evening, _dear_ Miss Tippet." + +Miss Deemas bowed. + +"Good-bye, my love," said Miss Tippet, bustling round her friend. "I'm +_so_ glad to have met you, and I hope you'll come and see me soon; 6 +Poor-thing Lane, remember. Come whenever you please, dear Mrs Denman. +Yes, yes, time does indeed fly, as you say; or as my friend, Sir +Archibald What's-his-name used to remark, `Tempit fugus something +re-what's-'is-name.' _Good-bye_, dear Mrs Denman." + +While the ladies were thus engaged, one whom the Eagle would have tossed +her beak at with supreme contempt was enjoying himself in the bosom of +his family. This was none other than Joe Corney himself, who, having +received a "stop" for a distant fire, had looked in on his wife to tell +her of the note he had received from Mrs Denman. + +The family bosom resided in a small portion of a small house in the +small street where the fire-engine dwelt. + +Joe had laid his helmet on the table, and, having flung himself into a +chair, seized his youngest child, a little girl, in his arms, raised her +high above his head and laughed in her face; at which the child chuckled +and crowed to the best of its ability. + +Meanwhile his eldest son, Joe junior, immediately donned the helmet, +seized the poker, thrust the head of it into a bucket of water, and, +pointing the other end at a supposed fire, began to work an imaginary +hand-pump with all his might. + +"It's goin' out, daddy," cried the urchin. + +"Sure, he's a true chip o' the owld block," observed his mother, who was +preparing the evening meal of the family; "he's uncommon fond o' fire +an' wather." + +"Molly, my dear," said the fireman, "I'd have ye kape a sharp eye on +that same chip, else his fondness for fire may lead to more wather than +ye'd wish for." + +"I've bin thinkin' that same meself, honey," replied Mrs Corney, +placing a pile of buttered toast on the table. "Shure didn't I kitch +him puttin' a match to the straw bed the other day! Me only consolation +is that ivery wan in the house knows how to use the hand-pump. Ah, +then, ye won't believe it, Joe, but I catched the baby at it this +mornin', no later, an' she'd have got it to work, I do believe, av she +hadn't tumbled right over into the bucket, an' all but drownded herself. +But, you know, the station's not far off, if the house did git alight. +Shure ye might run the hose from the ingin to here without so much as +drawin' her out o' the shed. Now, then, Joe, tay's ready, so fall to." + +Joe did fall to with the appetite of a man who knows what it is to toil +hard, late and early. Joe junior laid aside the helmet and poker, and +did his duty at the viands like the true son of a fireman--not to say an +Irishman--and for five minutes or so the family enjoyed themselves in +silence. After that Joe senior heaved a sigh, and said that it would be +about time for him to go and see the old lady. + +"What can it be she wants?" asked Mrs Corney. + +"Don't know," replied her husband. "All I know is that she's the old +lady as was bundled neck and crop out o' the first-floor windy o' the +house in Holborn by Frank Willders. She's a quare owld woman that. +She's got two houses, no less; wan over the coachmaker's shop--the shop +bein' her property--an' wan in Russell Square. They say she's rich +enough to line her coffin with goold an inch thick. Spakin' o' that, +Molly my dear, a quare thing happened to me the other night. It's what +ye call a coinsidence." + +"What's that, Joe?" + +"Well, t'ain't easy to explain, but it means two things happenin' +together in a most onlikely way--d'ye see?" + +"No, I don't, Joe," replied Mrs Corney, helping herself to another +slice of toast. + +"Well, it don't matter much," resumed Joe, "but this is what it was: Mr +Dale an' me was sittin', about two in the mornin', at the station fire +smokin' our pipes (for it was my turn on duty) an' chattin' away about +one thing an' another, when somehow we got upon tellin' our experiences, +an' Dale he tells me a story o' how he was once called to a fire in a +cemetary, an' had to go down among the coffins--for they was afire--an' +what a fright some o' his men got, when, just as he had finished, an' +all my flesh was creepin' at wot I'd heard, there comes a ring at the +bell an' a call to a fire in Portland Street. I runs an' gets out the +ingin, an' Frank (he was my mate that night) he rings up the boys, an' +away we wint in tin minutes. It wasn't far, an' when we got there in we +wint into the house, which was full o' smoke, but no fire to be seen. +We wint coughin' and sneezin' an' rubbin' our eyes down into a cellar, +where the lads of another ingin was at work before us wi' the +hand-pumps, an', would ye belaive it? but the walls o' that cellar was +lined wi' coffins! True for ye, there they was, all sizes, as thick as +they could stand. I thought I was dramin', but it was no drame, for it +was an undertaker's shop; an' when I wint upstairs, after we diskivered +the fire an' put it out, I sees two coffins on tressels lyin' ready for +use. Wan was black-painted wood, no doubt for a poor man, an' nothin' +inside o't. The other alongside was covered wid superfine black cloth +an' silver-mounted handles, an' name-plate, an' it was all padded inside +an' lined wid white satin!" + +"White satin, Joe? You're jokin'." + +"As sure as your name's Molly, it was white satin," repeated Joe; "I +wouldn't have belaived it av I hadn't seen it; but that's the way the +quality goes to their graves. I looks at the two coffins as I was +comin' away, an' thinks I to myself, I wonder whether the poor man or +the rich man'll be most comfortable when they're laid there?" + +"Now, Molly, I'll bid ye good-night an' be off to see this owld lady, +this Mrs Denman. Look afther that boy, now, an kape the matches out of +his way, whativer ye do." + +With this very needful warning, Joe Corney kissed his wife and the baby, +and went off to the station to obtain leave of absence for a couple of +hours. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +JOE CORNEY'S ADVICE. + +Wending his way through the crowded streets, Joe soon reached the door +of the house in Russell Square which belonged to Mrs Denman. + +The good lady had made use of a cab after quitting Miss Deemas, so that +she was at home and seated in a luxuriously easy chair in her splendidly +furnished drawing-room when the fireman applied the knocker. + +"Does Mrs Denman stop here, my dear?" said Joe to the smart +servant-girl who opened the door. + +"Yes," replied the girl, "and she told me to show you up to the +drawing-room whenever you came. Step this way." + +Joe pulled off his cap and followed the maid, who ushered him into the +presence of the little old lady. + +"Pray take a chair," said Mrs Denman, pointing to one which had +evidently been placed close to hers on purpose. "You are a fireman, I +understand?" + +"Yes, ma'am," replied Joe, "I've bin more nor tin years at the business +now." + +"You must find it a very warm business, I should imagine," said Mrs +Denman, with a smile. + +"True for ye, ma'am. My body's bin a'most burnt off my sowl over and +over again; but it's cowld enough, too, sometimes, specially when ye've +got to watch the premises after the fire's bin put out of a cowld winter +night, as I had to do at _your_ house, ma'am." + +Mrs Denman started and turned pale. + +"What! d'you mean to say that you were at the fire in--in Holborn that +night?" + +"Indeed I do, ma'am. Och! but ye must be ill, ma'am, for yer face is as +white as a ghost. Shure but it's _red_ now. Let me shout for some +wather for ye, ma'am." + +"No, no, my good man," said Mrs Denman, recovering herself a little. +"I--I--the fact is, it did not occur to me that you had been at _that_ +fire, else I would never--but no matter. You didn't see--see--any one +saved, did you?" + +"See any one saved, is it? Shure, I did, an' yerself among the lot. +Och! but it's Frank Willders as knows how to do a thing nately. He +brought ye out o' the windy, ma'am, on his showlder as handy as if ye'd +bin a carpet-bag, or a porkmanty, ma'am--" + +"Hush, _man_!" exclaimed poor Mrs Denman, blushing scarlet, for she was +a very sensitive old lady; "I cannot bear to think of it. But how +could--you know it was me? _It--it--might_ have been anything--a +bundle, you know." + +"Not by no manes," replied the candid Joe. "We seed your shape quite +plain, ma'am, for the blankit was tight round ye." + +Mrs Denman covered her face with her hand at this point, and resting +her elbow on the arm of her chair, reflected that the thing was beyond +remedy, and that, as the man had come and was now looking at her, +matters could not be worse; so she resolved to carry out her original +intention, and question him as to the best course of action in the event +of fire. + +"My good man," she said, "I have taken the liberty of asking you to come +here to tell me what I should do to guard against fire in future." + +Joe rubbed his nose and looked at the ground; then he stroked his chin +and looked at the old lady; then a look of intelligence lighted up his +expressive countenance as he said abruptly-- + +"Is yer house an' furniture insured, ma'am?" + +"No, it is not," replied Mrs Denman. "I have never insured in my life, +because although I hear of fires every day in London, it has never +occurred to me until lately that there was any probability of _my_ house +being burned. I know it was very foolish of me, but I shall see to +having it done directly." + +"That's right, ma'am," said Joe, with an approving nod. "If you seed +the heaps an' heaps o' splendid furnitur' an' goods an' buildin's as is +burnt every day a'most in London, an' lost to the owners 'cause they +grudged the few shillin's of insurance, or 'cause they was careless an' +didn't b'lieve a fire would ever come to them, no matter how many might +come to other folk, you'd insure yer house an' furnitur' first thing i' +the mornin', ma'am." + +"I have no doubt you say what is quite correct, Mr Corney, and I will +certainly attend to this matter in future; but I am more particularly +anxious to know how I should act if the house in which I live were to +take fire." + +"Get out of it as fast as possible," said Joe promptly, "an' screech out +_fire_! till yer sides is sore." + +"But suppose," said Mrs Denman, with a faint smile, "that the fire is +burning in the stair, and the house full of smoke, what am I to do?" + +"Och! I see yer drift now, ma'am," said Joe, with a knowing look. "Av +it's that what ye wants to know, I'll just, with your lave, ma'am, give +ye a small discourse on the subjic'." + +Joe cleared his throat, and began with the air of a man who knows what +he is talking about. + +"It's as well, ma'am, to begin by tryin' to prevent yer house ketchin' +fire--prevention bein' better nor cure. If ye'd kape clear o' that, +there's two or three small matters to remimber. First of all, take +oncommon good care o' your matches, an' don't let the childer git at +'em, if you've any in the house. Would you believe it, ma'am, there was +above fifty fires in London last year that was known to ha' bin set +alight by childers playin' wid matches, or by careless servants lettin' +'em drop an' treadin' on 'em?" + +"How many?" asked Mrs Denman in surprise. + +"Fifty, ma'am." + +"Dear me! you amaze me, fireman; I had supposed there were not so many +fires in London in a year." + +"A year!" exclaimed Joe. "Why, there's nearly three fires, on the +average, every twinty-four hours in London, an' that's about a thousand +fires in the year, ma'am." + +"Are you sure of what you say, fireman?" + +"Quite sure, ma'am; ye can ax Mr Braidwood if ye don't b'lieve me." + +Mrs Denman, still in a state of blank amazement, said that she did not +doubt him, and bade him go on. + +"Well, then," resumed Joe, "look well arter yer matches, an' niver read +in bed; that's the way hundreds o' houses get a light. When you light a +candle with a bit o' paper, ma'am, don't throw it on the floor an' tramp +on it an' think it's out, for many a time there's a small spark left, +an' the wind as always blows along the floor sets it up an' it kitches +somethin', and there you are--blazes an' hollerin' an' ingins goin' full +swing in no time. Then, ma'am, never go for to blow out yer gas, an' if +there's an escape don't rest till ye get a gasfitter and find it out. +But more particularly don't try to find it yerself with a candle. Och! +if ye'd only seen the blows up as I've seen from gas, ye'd look better +arter it. Not more nor two weeks gone by, ma'am, we was called to +attend a fire which was caused by an escape o' gas. W'en we got there +the fire was out, but sitch a mess you niver did see. It was a house, +ma'am, in the West End, with the most illigant painted walls and +cornices and gimcracks, idged all with goold. The family had just got +into it--noo done up for 'em, only, by good luck, there wasn't much o' +the furnitur' in. They had smelled a horrid smell o' gas for a good +while, but couldn't find it. At last the missis, she goes with a +workman an a _candle_ to look for it, an' sure enough they found it in a +bathroom. It had been escapin' in a small closet at the end o' the +bath, and not bein' able to git out, for the door was a tight fit, it +had gone away an' filled all the space between the ceilin's an' floors, +an' between the lath, and plaster, and the walls. The moment the door +in the bath-room was opened all this gas took light an' blowed up like +gunpowder. The whole inner skin o' the beautiful drawing-room, ma'am, +was blowed into the middle of the room. The cook, who was in the +drawin'-room passage, she was blow'd down stairs; the workman as opened +the little door, he was blow'd flat on his back; an' the missis, as was +standin' with her back to a door, she was lifted off her legs and blow'd +right through the doorway into a bedroom." + +"Gracious!" exclaimed the horrified Mrs Denman, "was she killed?" + +"No, ma'am, she warn't killed. Be good luck they was only stunned an' +dreadful skeared, but no bones was broken." + +Mrs Denman found relief in a sigh. + +"Well, ma'am," continued Joe, "let me advise you to sweep yer chimleys +once a month. When your chimley gets afire the sparks they get out, and +when sparks get out of a windy night there's no tellin' what they won't +light up. It's my opinion, ma'am, that them as makes the laws should +more nor double the fines for chimleys goin' afire. But suppose, ma'am, +your house gets alight in spite of you--well then, the question is +what's best to do?" + +Mrs Denman nodded her old head six or seven times, as though to say, +"That is precisely the question." + +"I'll tell you, ma'am,"--here Joe held up the fore-finger of his right +hand impressively. "In the first place, every one in a house ought to +know all the outs and ins of it, 'cause if you've got to look for things +for the first time when the cry of `Fire' is raised, it's not likely +that you'll find 'em. Now, d'ye know, or do the servants know, or does +anybody in the house know, where the trap in the roof is?" + +Mrs Denman appeared to meditate for a minute, and then said that she +was not sure. She herself did not know, and she thought the servants +might be ignorant on the point, but she rather thought there was an old +one in the pantry, but they had long kept a cat, and so didn't require +it. + +"Och!" exclaimed Joe, with a broad grin, "sure it's a trap-door I'm +spakin' of." + +Mrs Denman professed utter ignorance on this point, and when told that +it ought to be known to every one in the house as a mode of escape in +the event of fire, she mildly requested to know what she would have to +do if there were such a trap. + +"Why, get out on the roof to be sure," (Mrs Denman shivered) "and get +along the tiles to the next house," (Mrs Denman shut her eyes and +shuddered) "an' so make yer escape. Then you should have a ladder fixed +to this trap-door so as it couldn't be took away, and ye should have +some dozen fathoms o' half-inch rope always handy, cause if ye was cut +off from the staircase by fire an' from the roof by smoke ye might have +to let yourself down from a windy. It's as well, too, to know how to +knot sheets and blankets together, so that the ties won't slip, for if +you have no rope they'd be better than nothin'. You should also have a +hand-pump, ma'am, and a bucket of water always handy, 'cause if you take +a fire at the beginnin' it's easy put out. An' it's as well to know +that you should go into a room on fire on your hands and knees, with +your nose close to the ground--just as a pinter-dog goes--'cause there's +more air there than overhead; an' it's better to go in wi' the hand-pump +the first thing. Don't wait to dress, ma'am." + +"Stop, stop, Mr Corney!" cried Mrs Denman, holding up her hand. + +The little lady was stunned with the rapid utterance of the enthusiastic +fireman, and with the dreadful suggestion that she, Mrs Denman, should, +in the dead of night, get upon the roof of her dwelling and scramble +over the tiles, or let herself down by a rope from a window into the +public street, or creep into a burning room on her hands and knees with +her nose to the ground like a pointer, and all this, too, in her +night-dress, so she begged of him to stop, and said: + +"But you forget, fireman, it is impossible for _me_ to do any of these +dreadful things." + +"Well, ma'am," returned Joe coolly, "it wouldn't be easy--though, for +the matter o' that, it's wonderful what people will do for their lives; +but I was tellin' ye, ma'am, what ought to be done, so as somebody else +in the house might do it, if you couldn't. + +"But suppose, ma'am," continued Joe, without waiting for a reply; +"suppose that the house is alight. Well, the first thing you've got to +do, is not to get into a fluster. That can't do no good, you know, and +is sure to do mischief. Keep cool. That's the first thing, ma'am; and +be deliberate in all ye do. The second thing is, to wrap a blanket +round ye, an' get out of the house as fast as ye can without stoppin' to +dress. It's of no use lookin' put out, ma'am; for it's better to escape +without yer clo'es than to be burnt alive in 'em. Then be careful to +_shut all doors after ye_ as ye go. This keeps the air from gittin' at +the fire, and so smothers it down till the ingines come up. Also keep +all windows shut. If the smoke is like to choke ye, git yer nose as +near the ground as possible, an' go along on yer hands and knees. A bit +o' flannel or a worsted sock held over yer mouth an' nose, will help you +to bear it better. + +"If ye can't escape by the street-door, or the trap in the roof, then +get into a front room, where you will be more easy to be got at wid +ladders or fire-escapes, an' see that _every mimber o' the household_ is +there. Many a wan has bin forgotten in the hurry-skurry of a fire, and +left asleep in bed, ignorant o' the danger till too late; when a cool +head might have missed 'em, and wakened 'em in time. Whatever ye do, +ma'am--keep cool." + +The probability of poor Mrs Denman keeping cool in such circumstances +was uncommonly small; for she was at that moment hot all over, and her +face flushed at the mere recital of such horrors! + +Joe then went on to state, that the very last thing she should do was to +jump from a window (a somewhat unnecessary piece of advice, poor Miss +Denman thought), and that, when she was compelled to take such a step, +she should first of all pitch over all the blankets and bedding she +could lay hold of to make her fall easy. He wound up with an emphatic +reiteration of the assurance that her only chance lay in "keeping cool." + +That night, poor Mrs Denman, in a condition of mind that is utterly +indescribable, because inconceivable, went through the whole of the +dreadful processes which Joe had described; and did it, too, with +miraculous presence of mind and energy--in her dreams. + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +DARK PLOTS ARE HATCHED. + +Gorman was one of those peculiar characters who, in personal appearance, +are totally devoid of peculiarity. He was a middle-sized, thick-set, +commonplace, grave, quiet man; very powerful--but not apparently so; one +whom it was impossible to "find out" unless he chose to let himself be +found out. Above all, he was a reserved man. + +Everybody knew well enough, at least among his intimates, that he was +named Gorman; but not one of the number knew what his Christian name +was. A few were aware that he signed himself "D. Gorman"; but whether +the "D" represented David, dastard, drunkard, or demon, was a matter of +pure speculation to all, a few of his female acquaintance excepted (for +he had no friends), who asserted roundly that it represented them all, +and some were even willing to go the length of saying that it +represented more, and stood for dirty, drivelling, desperate, and a few +other choice words which it is quite unnecessary to mention. Only a +few, and these were among the knowing and peculiarly observant ones of +Gorman's intimates, said that "D" stood for "deep." But then, many of +those who thus pronounced their opinion, were comparatively worthless +characters, given to scandal and slander; so the reader must not allow +himself to be biassed too much by their report. + +Certain it is, however, that when Gorman was asked on one occasion what +his Christian name was, he replied that he had no Christian name; +because he didn't believe in Christianity, and that he signed himself +"D," to be distinguished from the other Gormans who might chance to +exist in the universe. + +People were not at all shocked at his bold statement of unbelief; +because, in the circle in which he moved, the same disbelief was pretty +general. + +Besides many other traits and qualities, definable and indefinable, +Gorman had the power of assuming the appearance either of a burglar of +the lowest type, or a well-to-do contractor or tradesman. A slight +change in dress and manner were sufficient to metamorphose him beyond +recognition. + +Everybody knew, also, that Gorman was the landlord of a small +public-house at the corner of a dirty street, not far from London +Bridge; and that he kept a stout, middle-aged man on the premises to do +the duty of host, while he himself went about "other business," which +nobody knew of, and which no one could find out, although many had tried +to do so with all their might. + +Every day in the year, Gorman might have been seen at the "Golden Swan"; +but never for longer than a few minutes at a time, when he inspected the +books, received the cash drawn the day before; and made an impression on +all in the premises, that tended to convince them they were well looked +after. + +"Humph!" ejaculated Gorman, as he finished counting the dirty coppers +and pieces of silver which his agent had delivered to him, and dropped +them from his dirty fingers into a dirty leather bag: "Business is dull, +I think." + +"It ain't brisk just now, sir," replied the deputy-landlord of the +"Golden Swan." + +Gorman received this reply with another "Humph," and then, putting the +bag in his coat pocket, prepared to leave. + +"No one bin askin' for me?" inquired Gorman. + +"No, sir; no one." + +"I'll be back to-morrow about this time." + +The deputy knew that this was false, for his employer invariably came at +a different hour each day, in order to take "the house" by surprise; but +he said, "Very well, sir," as usual. + +"And mind," continued Gorman, "that you put the lights out. You're +uncommon careful about that, I hope?" + +It is worthy of remark, in reference to Gorman's anxiety about putting +out lights, that he had been burned out of several sets of premises in +the course of a few years. He was quite a martyr, as it were, to fire. +Unaccountably worried, pursued, and damaged by it--no, not damaged, by +the way; because Gorman was a prudent man, and always insured to the +full amount. His enemies sometimes said _above_ it; but neither they +nor we have any means of proving or disproving that. + +The deputy protested that he always exercised the utmost precaution in +putting everything out every night--from the last beery lingerer, to the +gas--and that he felt quite put out himself at being asked the question, +as it implied a doubt of his care and attention to business. Hereupon +Gorman said "Good-night," and the deputy returned to the counter, where +besotted men and drunken women awaited his attendance. + +Three-quarters of an hour sufficed to convey Gorman from the east to the +west end of London. Here he sought the well-known precincts of +Poorthing Lane, and entered the shop of Mr David Boone. + +That worthy received him with a look of glad surprise; but with a +feeling of the deepest misery. + +"Anyone inside?" asked Gorman. + +"No," said Boone, "'cept the boy. I'll call him to mind the shop, and +then we can be alone." + +As Gorman did not vouchsafe a reply, but walked straight into the little +room behind the shop, Boone called the boy, and bade him mind the shop, +while he held private consultation with his friend. + +The shop-boy enjoyed the name of Robert Roddy. He was a soft-faced, +washed-out youth, with a disposition to wink both eyes in a meek manner. +Rough-spoken people called him an idiot, but Roddy was not quite such +an idiot as they took him for. He obeyed his master's mandate by +sitting down on a tall stool near the window, and occupied himself in +attempting to carve a human face on the head of a walking-stick. + +"Glad to see you, Mr Gorman," said Boone, seating his tall body on a +low stool at the side of his friend, who, with his hat on, had thrown +himself into an armchair, and spread out both legs before the fire. +"Very glad to see you, indeed, in my--little sanctum, my withdrawing +room, if I may venture to use the name, to which I retire during the +intervals of business." + +Boone said this with an air of pleasantry, and smiled, but his visitor +did not encourage him. + +"Pretty long intervals, I should suppose," he growled, pulling out his +pipe and lighting it. + +Boone admitted, with a sigh, that they were, and observed that trade was +extremely dull--astonishingly dull. + +"Why, would you believe it, sir, I have not sold twenty shillings' worth +o' goods all last week, and only one wax-doll within the month, although +it's gettin' well on for Christmas-time? One would a'most fancy the +childr'n was about to give up such vanities an' devote themselves to +serious business. It's a serious business for the like of us, anyhow." + +Again Mr Boone smiled, and again failed to make an agreeable impression +on his visitor, who demanded in a surly tone if he had been thinking +over it, and made up his mind to do it. + +Boone's face changed at this indefinite question, and became a shade +paler than it was by nature, as he replied, hesitatingly, that he _had_ +been thinking over it, and that he had made up his mind _not_ to do it. + +"Oh, you have, have you?" said Gorman in a tone of irony. "Very good; +then I'll trouble you to pay me the three hundred pounds you owe me by +this day next week, and the rent of this here tenement for last half." + +Boone's face became still paler. + +"You're a hard landlord," said he. + +"You're a soft tenant," retorted Gorman. + +"You know what the punishment is by law," continued Boone. + +"Yes--death," said the other drily; "but you know as well as I do that +it's never carried out nowadays." + +"But penal servitude for ten or twenty years ain't much better." + +"Some men think it's worse," replied Gorman, with a savage grin; "but +you've no need to fear. If you only take the right precautions it's +impossible to find it out, an' I'll engage to put ye up to doin' it in +such a way that there won't be a scrap the size of a sixpence left to +convict you. Only put a bold face on it and the thing's done, and your +fortune made as well as mine." + +The man's voice and manner softened a little as he said this, for he +thought he perceived symptoms of wavering in his tenant, who covered his +face with his large thin hands and sighed deeply. + +"Come, don't be hard on me," he said at length; "I really haven't got +courage to go through with this. Only give me a little more time, and +I'll--" + +"Very good," interrupted Gorman, with an oath, as he rose and dashed his +pipe into fragments on the hearth; "if you won't burn yourself out o' +this scrape." + +"Hush! hush, man!" said Boone in a hoarse whisper; "not so loud; my lad +will hear you. Come, I'll think of it." + +"Will you _do_ it?" demanded the other fiercely. "You know the +alternative if you don't?" + +"Ruination?" + +"Exactly so; and that without delay." + +"Ruination either way," murmured Boone sadly to himself, as though he +were counting the cost. + +"Tut, man," said his landlord, becoming more gentle, "it's nothing of +the sort. If you only take my advice, it'll be a jolly blaze, which, +instead of ending in smoke will end in some thousands of pounds and +commencing business again on fresh capital. Come, I've not got time to +waste with you. There's no escape for you, so you'd better say yes, +else I'll go and have a talk with a legal friend of mine who is used to +screwing gold out of most unpromising mines." + +David Boone's face had by this time become so pale that it could not +become paler, so it turned somewhat green instead. His teeth, too, had +a tendency to chatter when he spoke, but by a strong mental effort he +prevented this, and said in a subdued voice that he was willing to do +whatever his landlord pleased to command. + +"That's all right," said Gorman, resuming his seat in front of the fire; +"now you speak like a man. Sit down and I'll go over the matter with +you, and make your mind easy by showing you that it ain't either a +difficult or risky piece of work. Bless you, it ain't the first time +I've been up to that sort o' thing." + +It did not require the diabolical leer that accompanied this remark to +convince his hearer of its truth. + +"Now, then," said Gorman, with a business air, "first of all, how stands +the stock in the shop?" + +"Rather low," answered Boone, who had reseated himself on the stool; "in +fact, I've got little or nothing more than what is visible. I've bin so +hard-up of late that I've had to crowd everything into view an' make the +most of appearances. All the dressed dolls has got their frocks spread +out, and the undressed ones their arms an' legs throwed about to make +'em take up as much room as possible. The lids of all the work boxes is +open, the slates and puzzle boxes stuck up in single rows, with their +broadsides to the front, and the collapsin' worlds is all inflated. +Everything in the front is real, but all behind is sham dummies an' +empty boxes." + +Gorman opened his eyes a little on hearing this. + +"Good," he said, after a pause; "you're a cleverer fellow than I took +you for. I thought you was well off, and I'm sure the neighbours think +the same, for the place looks pretty full an' thrivin'. I suppose, now, +if it was all sold off you wouldn't have enough to pay up my loans?" + +"Nothink like it," said Boone earnestly. "I've slaved night and day, +an' done my best, but luck's again' me." + +"Ah, that's 'cause you've bin faint-hearted in time past; you're goin' +to be bold in time to come, my good fellow; you'll have to be bold, you +will. Come, I'll explain how. But first, let me ask how much you think +the stock is worth." + +"Not much above fifty pounds." + +"Hum! it looks like more." + +"That's true, an' the people about think it's worth two or three +hundred, for you see I have a lot o' cheap jewellery, and some of the +inquisitive ones have been trying to pump me of late. They all think +I'm thriving," said Boone, shaking his head sorrowfully. + +"So you are, so you are, man," said Gorman jocosely, "and you're going +to make your fortune soon, and so am I, though at present I'm poor +enough. However, that don't matter. Here's your course for the future, +which you're to steer by. You'll go an' begin chatting with your +neighbours at odd times, and your conversation, curiously enough, will +always be about the times bein' better than usual, an' about the +approach of Christmas, an' the stock you mean to lay in against that +festive season. After that you'll lay in the stock--fifty pounds' +worth; and it won't be sham; it'll be real--" + +"But where is the money to come from?" asked Boone. + +"Oh, don't you trouble about the money; I'll provide that. I've a +curious power of raisin' the wind on easy terms. Fifty pounds' worth of +real goods will be bought by you, my thriving shopman, and you'll let +some of the neighbours, partiklerly these same inquisitive 'uns, see the +goods and some of the invoices, and you'll tell them that you've laid in +150 pounds worth of stock, and that you think of layin' in more. On the +strength of the press o' business you'll get another shop-lad, and +you'll keep 'em employed a good deal goin' messages, so that they won't +get to know much about the state o' things, and I'll take care to send +you a rare lot o' customers, who'll come pretty often for small +purchases, and give the shop an uncommon thrivin' look. Oh, we'll make +a splendid appearance of doin' business, and we'll have lots of +witnesses ready to bother these sharp lawyers if need be--won't we, +Boone?" + +Poor Boone, whose colour had not yet improved much, smiled in a ghastly +way, but said nothing. + +"Well, then," resumed Gorman, after a few minutes' meditation, "when +this thriving trade is in full swing we'll get it insured. You know it +would never do to risk the loss of such valuable stock by fire--eh, +Boone? common prudence pints that out! You say what you have is worth +fifty, and what you'll lay in is fifty more, makin' a hundred, so we'll +insure for five hundred; there's a clear gain of four hundred per cent, +only think of that! Well, the house I have already insured for five +hundred, that makes nine hundred, and we'll insure the furniture and +fixings for fifty; that'll look business-like, you know. Then the goods +laid in will be carefully removed in the night at various times before +the fire, so you had better see that they are small and portable +objects; that'll make another fifty pounds, if not more. So I see my +way to a thousand pounds. That's a neat sum, ain't it, Boone?" + +Still Boone made no reply, but favoured his visitor with another ghastly +smile. + +"Well, then," pursued Gorman, "all you've got to do is, on a certain +night that I will fix, to set the shop alight, and the thing's done +quite easy. But that's not all. You've got an old mother, I believe; +well, it would be very unnatural in you to run the risk of being burned +to death, an' leaving her penniless; so you'll insure your life for five +hundred pounds, and I'll pay the first premium on it, and then you'll +die--" + +"Die!" exclaimed Boone, with a start. + +"Ay; why not, if you're to get a small fortune by it." + +"But how's that to be managed?" inquired Boone, with a look of doubt. + +"Managed? Nothing easier. You'll be so desperately upset by the fire-- +perhaps singed a little too--that you'll be taken ill and won't get +better. I'll look carefully after you as your loving friend, and when +you're about dead you'll get up and clear off in a quiet way. I'll make +arrangements to have a corpse as like you as possible put in your bed, +and then you'll be buried comfortably, and we'll share the insurance. +Of course you'll have to leave this part of the town and disguise +yourself, but that won't be difficult. Why, man, if you were only fond +of a joke you might even attend your own funeral! It's not the first +time that sort of thing has bin done. So, then, you'll have your life +insured, but not yet. Your first business is to set about the purchase +of the stock, and, let me tell you, there's no time to lose, so I advise +you to write out the orders this very night. I'll fetch you fifty +pounds in a day or two, and you'll pay up at once. It'll look well, you +know, and after it's all settled we'll divide the plunder. Now then, +good-night. I congratulate you on your thriving business." + +Gorman opened the door of the inner room as he said the last words, so +that the lad in the shop might hear them. As he passed through the shop +he whispered in his friend's ear, "Mind the consequences if you fail," +and then left him with another hearty good-night. + +Poor David Boone, having sold himself to the tempter, went about his +duties like an abject slave. He began by ordering goods from various +wholesale dealers in the city, after which he took occasion to stand a +good deal at his shop door and accost such of his neighbours as chanced +to pass. The conversation at such times invariably began with the +interesting topic of the weather, on which abstruse subject Boone and +his friends displayed a surprising profundity of knowledge, by stating +not only what the weather was at the time being, and what it had been in +time past, but what it was likely to be in time to come. It soon +diverged, however, to business, and usually ended in a display of fresh +goods and invoices, and in references, on the part of Boone, to the +felicitous state of trade at the time. + +Do what he would, however, this thriving tradesman could not act his +part well. In the midst of his prosperity his smiles were ghastly and +his laughter was sardonic. Even when commenting on the prosperity of +trade his sighs were frequent and deep. One of his friends thought and +said that prosperity was turning the poor man's brain. Others thought +that he was becoming quite unnatural and unaccountable in his +deportment; and a few, acting on the principle of the sailor's parrot, +which "could not speak much, but was a tremendous thinker," gave no +outward indication of their thoughts beyond wise looks and grave shakes +of the head, by which most people understood them to signify that they +feared there was a screw loose somewhere. + +This latter sentiment, it will be observed, is a very common one among +the unusually wise ones of the earth, and is conveniently safe, inasmuch +as it is more or less true of every person, place, and thing in this sad +world of loose screws. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +A LITTLE MORE HATCHING. + +One night Edward Hooper, having consulted his watch frequently, and +compared it with the clock of slow notoriety in the warehouse in Tooley +Street, until his patience was almost gone, at last received the warning +hiss, and had his books shut and put away before the minute-gun began to +boom. He was out at the door and half-way up the lane, with his hat a +good deal on one side of his head and very much over one eye, before the +last shot was fired. + +"It's a jolly time of day this--the jolliest hour of the twenty-four," +muttered Ned to himself, with a smile. + +His speech was thick, and his smile was rather idiotic, by reason of his +having drunk more than his usual allowance at dinner that day. + +By way of mending matters, Ned resolved to renew his potations +immediately, and announced his intentions to himself in the following +words: + +"Com--mi--boy--y-you'll go--ave an--urrer por-o-porer--thash yer sort!" + +At a certain point in the drunkard's downward career he ceases to have +any control over himself, and increases his speed from the usual +staggering jog-trot to a brisk zigzag gallop that generally terminates +abruptly in the grave. + +Ned Hooper, a kind-hearted fellow enough, and thinking himself not so +bad as he seemed because of that same kind-heartedness, had reached the +galloping point, and was travelling unusually fast along the high road +to ruin. + +Being of a generous nature, Ned was in the habit of extending his +patronage to various beer-shops, among others to that one near London +Bridge which has been described as the property of Gorman. Business, +pleasure, or fancy led him to that shop on the evening in question. He +was standing at the counter steadying himself with his left hand and +holding a pewter-pot in his right, when the door of the inner room +opened, and Gorman crossed the floor. He was in a thoughtful mood, and +was about to pass out without raising his eyes, when Ned arrested him +with: + +"Good ev-n'in', Misher Gorm'n." + +Gorman glanced back, and then turned away as if in contempt, but, +suddenly checking himself, returned, and going up to Hooper with as +affable a smile as his countenance would admit of, said that he was +delighted to shake hands with him, and that he was the very man he +wanted to see, as he wished to have a word of conversation with him. + +"Conv'shas'n wi' me?" said Ned, swaying himself to and fro as he +endeavoured to look steadily in the face of his friend; "fire away, +shen. I'm sh' man f'r conv'shash'n, grave or gay, comic--'r--shublime, +'s all the shame to me!" + +He finished the pot, and laid it, with an immense assumption of care, on +the counter. + +"Come out, we'll walk as we talk," said Gorman. + +"Ha! to b'shure; 'at's poetical--very good, very good, we'll wa-alk as +we talk--ha! ha! very good. Didn't know you wash a poet--eh? don't look +like 'un." + +"Come along, then," said Gorman, taking him by the arm. + +"Shtop!" said Ned, drawing himself up with an air of drivelling dignity, +and thrusting his hand into his trouser-pocket. + +"What for?" asked the other. + +"I haven't p-paid for my b-beer." + +"Never mind the beer. I'll stand that," said Gorman, dragging his +friend away. + +Ned consented to be dragged, and said something to the effect that he +hoped to have the pleasure of standing treat on some future occasion. + +"Now, then," said Gorman, somewhat firmly, though not sternly, for he +knew that Ned Hooper was not to be browbeat; "are you sober enough to +attend to what I've got to say?" + +"Shober as a dudge," answered Ned. + +Gorman looked earnestly in his face for a few moments, and then began to +talk to him in a continuous strain by way of testing him. + +"C'found these cabs an' b-busseses; a feller c-can't hear a word," said +Ned. + +"Your lodgin's an't far off, are they?" + +"Close 't 'and," answered Ned. + +"Let's go to 'em," said Gorman. + +In silence Ned Hooper led the way, and, conducting his friend into his +"chamber," as he styled his poor abode, begged him to be seated, and +threw himself into an armchair beside the little fire. There was a pipe +on the chimney-piece, which Ned began to fill, while Gorman opened the +conversation. + +"You're hard up, rather, just now?" said the latter. + +"'Xactly so, that's my c'ndition to a tee." + +Ned smiled as he said this, as though it were the most satisfactory +state of things possible, and lighted his pipe. + +"Of course you've no objection to make a fifty pound note or so?" asked +Gorman. + +"None in sh' wo'ld; always," he became very earnest here, "_always_ +sh'posin' that I make it honestly." + +"Of course, of course," rejoined the other; "I would never propose +anything that would lead you into a scrape. You don't suppose I would +do that, I hope?" + +"Shertenly not," replied Ned with a smile; "fire away." + +"Well, then, I'm anxious just now to procure a dead corpse." + +Ned Hooper, drunk as he was, felt somewhat startled by this, but, being +a man of wandering and lively imagination, turned from the point in +question to an idea suggested by it. + +"I sh'pose a living corpse wouldn't do, would it? It must be a dead +one--eh?" + +"Be serious if you can," said Gorman angrily. "I want a corpse." + +Ned Hooper, who, like many good-humoured men, was easily roused when in +a state of intoxication, fired at the tone of Gorman's voice, and looked +at him as sternly as he could, while he replied: + +"What have _I_ got to do with yer wants an' yer co'pses--eh? You don't +sh'pose I keep a stock of 'em on hand ready-made, do you--eh?" Then +relapsing into a placid frame, he smiled, and added, "But fire away, ol' +feller, I'm yer man for conv'sashin, specially w'en it's in the comic +line." + +"That's right," said Gorman, clapping Ned on the shoulder and +endeavouring to conciliate him; "now, then, the question is, how am I to +get 'un?" + +"Ah, thash the question, if Shakspr's to be b'lieved." + +"Well, but couldn't you think?" said Gorman. + +"Think!" exclaimed the other, "what am I paid a salary for? What are my +brains doin' night an day--eh? Of course I can think; thash's my +pr'feshion, is thinking." + +Gorman cast a scornful look at his friend, but he deemed it prudent to +admit the truth of what he said, and suggested that he might perhaps +remember a certain medical student with whom he had once held pleasant +converse in his (Gorman's) house of entertainment. + +"R'member him, of course," hiccuped Ned. + +"Well, then, he could get us a corpse, you know--couldn't he?" + +Ned looked uncommonly knowing at this point, and admitted that he rather +thought he could--a dozen of them, if necessary. + +"Well, I want one, and I'll pay well for it if it's of the right sort. +It must be at least six-foot two, thin about the jaws, with lanky black +hair, and a yellow complexion." + +Ned smiled facetiously, but at the same time shook his head. + +"Six f't two," said he, "an't a common height; it won't be easy to get +'un so tall; but--but," he pondered here with a grave expression of +countenance, "but it might be stretched a bit, you know--eh? As to thin +jaws, most of 'em is thin about sh' jaws, an' black hair ain't un-- +uncommon." + +Ned yawned at this point, and looked very sleepy. + +"Well, you'll speak to him, won't you, and I'll make it worth while for +both of you?" + +"Oh yesh, I'll shpeak to him," said Ned, as his head fell on the table +and his senses utterly forsook him. + +"Bah! you beast," muttered Gorman, casting a glance of scorn on his +friend as he rose to leave. He had the sense, before going, to +extinguish the candle, lest Ned should overturn it and set the house on +fire; not that he cared either for Ned or the house, but as the former +happened to be necessary to him just then, he did not wish him to be +burned too soon. Then he went out, closing the door softly after him. + +Half an hour afterwards Ned's friend and fellow-lodger, John Barret, +entered the room, accompanied by Fred Auberly. + +"Come, Fred," said the former, "we can chat here without interr-- +hallo--" + +"What's wrong?" inquired Fred, endeavouring to make out objects by the +feeble flicker of the fire, while his friend struck a light. + +Barret did not reply, but the light soon revealed Ned's disreputable +figure half sprawling on and half clinging to the table. + +"Surely this is not your chum, John?" asked Fred in surprise. + +"Yes, that's him," answered Barret in a low sad voice. "Help me to get +him into bed, like a good fellow." + +Without a word the young men raised the drunken figure in their arms, +and laid it like some loathsome object on one of the beds in the +adjoining room. + +"How can you stay with him?" asked Auberly, after they had returned to +the other room and seated themselves at the fire. + +"He is an old schoolfellow of mine," said Barret in a low voice. "I'm +sorry you've seen him in this state. He was a very different fellow +once, I assure you; and if it were not for that accursed drink he would +be as pleasant a companion as exists. You know I have no friends in +London save yourself, Fred, and this young fellow.--I came to stay with +him at first, not knowing his character, and now I remain to try to-- +to--save him; but I fear his case is hopeless. Come, Fred, we won't +talk of it. You were saying, as we came along, that your father is +sterner than ever, were you not?" + +"Ay," said Fred, with a sigh, "he won't even let me call to see my +sister too--that's the worst of it. For the rest I care not; my brush +has sustained me hitherto, and my love for my profession increases every +hour. I feel towards it, John, as a man may be supposed to feel towards +the sweet, young girl whom wicked guardians had for a long time refused +to let him wed. Nothing but death shall separate us now!" + +Barret smiled, and was about to make some rejoinder, but he checked +himself and changed the subject. + +"How is your sister?" said he, "I have not heard of her for a long +time." + +"Not well," answered Fred; "the doctors shake their heads and speak of +the shock having been too much for her. Dear Loo, she never was strong, +and I'm afraid that she has received fatal injury on the night of the +fire. I'm told that my poor father is sadly cut up about her--attends +on her night and day, and humours her every whim. This is so unlike him +that it fills me with anxiety on account of dear Loo, whom I have not +seen since I went to live at Kensington." + +"Kensington, Fred? I did not know you had gone to live there." + +"I was just going to mention that when we came in. I have got a very +comfortable lodging with--who do you think? you'll never guess--Mrs +Willders, the mother of our young friend Willie who works with old Tom +Tippet upstairs. You may well look surprised. I came upon the lodging +quite accidentally, and, finding that it suited my inclinations and my +purse, I took it at once for a few weeks. It's in a very poor locality, +no doubt, but you know a man must cut his coat according to his cloth, +and my cloth is not broad at present. But then," continued Fred, with +sudden animation, "it's a splendid place for a painter! There are such +picturesque regions and bits near it. Why, Kensington Gardens are +sufficient to make the fortune of a landscape-painter--at least in the +way of trees; then an hour's walk takes you to rural scenery, or canal +scenery, with barges, bridges, boats, old stores, cottages, etcetera. +Oh! it's a magnificent spot, and I'm hard at work on a picturesque old +pump near Shepherd's Bush Common, with a bit of old brick wall behind +it, half-covered with ivy, and a gipsy-like beggar-girl drinking at it +out of her hand; that--that'll make an impression, I think, on the Royal +Academy, if--if _they take it in_." + +"Ah! _if_ they take it in," said John Barret, smiling. + +"Well," retorted Fred Auberly, "I know that is a point of uncertainty, +and I'm not very sanguine, because there is great lack of room. +Nevertheless, I mean to send it. And you know, John, `faint heart never +won fair lady,' so--" + +At this point the conversation was interrupted by a shrill whistle at +the top of the house, which, as it drew nearer, became identified with +the air of "Rule Britannia!" + +"That's Willie Willders," said Barret, laughing. + +"I guessed as much, and with your leave I'll call him in. He knows of +my having become an inmate of his mother's house, and as he is probably +going home I would like to send a message to his mother. Hallo, +Willie." + +"Ay, ay, sir!" answered the youth, in the tones of a thoroughbred +seaman. Not that Willie had ever been at sea, but he was so fond of +seamen, and had mingled with them so much at the docks, as well as those +of them who had become firemen, that he tried to imitate their gait and +tones. + +"Come here, you scamp, and stop your noise." + +"Certainly, sir," said Willie, with a grin, as he entered the room, cap +in hand. + +"Going home, lad?" asked Fred. + +"Yes, sir--at least in a permiscuous sort of way entertainin' myself as +I goes with agreeable talk, and improvin' obsarvation of the shop +winders, etceterrer." + +"Will you take a message to your mother?" + +"Sure-ly," answered Willie. + +"Well, say to her that I have several calls to make to-night and may be +late in getting home, but she need not sit up for me as I have the +door-key; tell her not to forget to leave the door on the latch." + +"Wery good, sir," said Willie. "May I make so bold as to ask how Miss +Loo was when you seed her last?" + +"Not well, I regret to say," replied Fred. + +"Indeed! I'm surprised to hear that, for she's agoin' out to tea +to-morrow night, sir." + +"My surprise is greater than yours, lad; how d'you know that, and where +is she going to?" asked Auberly. + +Here Willie explained in a very elaborate manner that a note had arrived +that forenoon from Miss Tippet, inviting Mr Tippet to tea the following +evening, and expressing a hope that he would bring with him his clerk, +"_Mister_" Willders, the brother of the brave fireman who had saved +Loo's life, and that Miss Louisa Auberly was to be there, and that Mr +Tippet had written a note accepting the same. + +"Then you'll have to take another message from me, Willie. Tell Miss +Tippet when you go to-morrow that I will give myself the pleasure of +looking in on her in the course of the evening," said Fred. "Mr +Auberly is not to be there, is he?" + +"No, not as I knows of." + +"Well, good-night, Willie." + +Willie took his departure, marching to the usual national air, and soon +after Fred Auberly bade his friend good-night and left him. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +A SMALL TEA-PARTY. + +Miss Tippet's tea-party began by the arrival of Willie Willders, who, +being fond of society, and regardless of fashion, understood his hostess +literally when she named her tea-hour! For full half an hour, +therefore, he had the field to himself, and improved the occasion by +entertaining Miss Tippet and Emma Ward with an account of the wonderful +inventions that emanated from the fertile brain of Mr Thomas Tippet. + +Strange to say, a deep and lasting friendship had sprung up between the +eccentric old gentleman and his volatile assistant. Willie sympathised +so fully with his master in his wild schemes, and displayed withal such +an aptitude for mechanical contrivance, and such a ready appreciation of +complex theories, that Mr Tippet soon came to forget his extreme youth, +and to converse with him, propound schemes and new ideas to him, and +even to ask his advice; with as much seriousness as though he had been a +full-grown man. + +This was of course very gratifying to Willie, who repaid his master's +condescension and kindness by devoting himself heart and soul to the +duties of what he styled his "profession." He was a good deal put out +when his brother Frank asked him one day what his "profession" was, and +resolving never again to be placed in such an awkward position of +ignorance, asked his employer what was the name of his business, to +which the employer replied that it had no particular name; but, on being +urged by his assistant to give it a name, he suggested that he might, if +so disposed, style himself a poly-artist, which, he explained, meant an +artist of many occupations. Willie felt that this might be translated +"jack-of-all-trades," but on mature consideration he resolved to adopt +it, in the belief that few people would understand what it meant, and +that thereby he would be invested with a halo of mystery, which was, +upon the whole, a gratifying reflection. + +Gradually, however, Willie was led to diverge from his employer to his +brother Frank, in regard to whom Miss Tippet entertained the strongest +feelings of admiration, because of his courageous conduct in saving +Louisa Auberly. Willie pursued this theme all the more willingly that +Emma appeared to be deeply interested in it. + +Emma Ward was very romantic in her nature; yet she had a keen +appreciation of the ludicrous,--which caused her to appear somewhat +light-headed and giddy in the eyes of superficial observers; but she +possessed an underlying earnestness of soul, which displayed itself in a +thousand ways to those who had much intercourse with her. She was an +ardent hero-worshipper; and while Miss Tippet was her heroine, Frank +Willders was, at that time, her _beau ideal_ of a hero, although she +only knew him from description. + +Willie was still in the middle of a glowing account of a fire, in which +Frank and his friends Dale and Baxmore were the chief actors; and Emma +was listening with heightened colour, parted lips, and sparkling eyes, +when Matty Merryon opened the door and announced Mr Tippet. + +That gentleman was still in the act of shaking his sister's hands with +both of his, and kissing her on both cheeks heartily, when Matty +announced Miss Deemas. + +Matty, being Irish, allowed her soul to gush out too obviously in her +tones; so that her feelings towards the Eagle, though unexpressed, were +discernible. + +Miss Deemas strode up to Miss Tippet, and pecked her on the right cheek, +much as an eagle might peck a tender rabbit, which it could slay and +devour if it chose, but which it preferred to spare for a time. She was +immediately introduced to Mr Tippet, whom she favoured with a stiff +bow, intended to express armed neutrality in the meantime; with a +possibility, if not a probability, of war in the future. The eccentric +gentleman felt chilled, but ventured to express an opinion in regard to +the weather, glancing for confirmation of the same towards the window, +through which he naturally enough expected to see the sky; but was +baffled by only seeing the green venetian blinds, which ruled off the +opposite houses in narrow stripes. Before he had recovered himself to +make any further observation, Miss Deemas had attempted, in a +condescending way, to peck the cheek of Emma Ward; but that young lady, +feeling disinclined, so managed that she received the peck on her +forehead. + +On Willie, Miss Deemas bestowed a glance of utter indifference, which +Willie replied to with a gaze of desperate defiance. + +Then Miss Deemas seated herself on the sofa, and asked her "dear friend" +how she did, and how she felt, and whether things in general were much +as usual; from which elevated region of generalities she gradually +descended into the more particular sphere of gossip and scandal. + +It is only just to Miss Tippet to say that the Eagle did not find her a +congenial bird of prey in this region. On the contrary, she had to drag +her unwilling friend down into it; and as Miss Tippet was too +conscientious and kind-hearted to agree with her in her sweeping +censures and caustic observations and wilful misconstructions, it is +difficult to conceive wherein she (the Eagle) found pleasure in her +society. Probably it was because she found in her one who would submit +meekly to any amount of contradiction, and listen patiently to any +amount of vituperative declamation. + +"So it seems Mr Auberly has disinherited and dismissed his son, my +dear," said Miss Deemas, smoothing her dress with both hands, as though +she were about to lay Mr Auberly in her lap, and analyse him. + +"I'm sorry to say that it is too true, Julia," answered Miss Tippet, +with a sigh. + +"Ha! it's so like one of these creatures," said Miss Deemas, pursing her +thin lips; "so domineering, so towering, in their pride of mere physical +power." + +Mr Tippet glanced at the Eagle in surprise, not being able to +understand to what sort of "creatures" she made reference. + +"Poor Frederick," sighed Miss Tippet, "I don't know what he'll do (ring +the bell, Emma, darling); he's such a bold, high-spirited young man, and +it's all owing to his determination to take to--to what's-'is-name as a +profession (bring the tea, Matty). It's very sad." + +"That must be a new sort of profession," observed Miss Deemas pointedly. + +"Oh! I mean painting, you know. It's impossible to arrange one's +things in such very correct language, you know, dear Julia; you are +really too--oh! did you hear of Joe Corney, and what's-his--fireman's +visit to Mrs Denman? To be sure you did; I forgot it was in your +house. It was such a funny account; you heard of it, brother (ring the +bell again, dear), didn't you?" + +Mr Tippet, whose wonted vivacity was quite subdued by the freezing +influence of the Eagle, said that he had not heard of it; whereupon Miss +Tippet said that she had heard of it, and so had Willie Willders, who +had heard of it from his brother Frank, who had heard of it from Joe +Corney himself; and then she attempted to relate the matter, but failed, +and finally asked Willie to tell the story, which Willie did with much +gusto; looking at Miss Deemas all the time, and speaking in a very +positive tone, as if he thought she was doubting every word he said, and +was resolved to hurl it in her teeth, whether she chose to believe it or +not. + +"Capital!" exclaimed Mr Tippet, laughing heartily, when Willie had +concluded; "what an energetic old lady she must be! Really, I must get +introduced to her, and show her the self-acting fire-extinguisher I have +just invented. You remember it, Willie?" Willie nodded. "I've laid it +aside for some time; but it is very nearly complete now. A little more +work on it will finish it. My only difficulty in regard to it is, +madam," he addressed himself to Miss Deemas here, "that it is apt to +burst, and I am uncertain whether or not to add a safety-valve to +prevent such a catastrophe, or to make the metal so very strong, that +nothing short of gunpowder would burst it; but then, you see, that would +make the whole affair too heavy. However, these are only minor +difficulties of detail, which a little thought will overcome." + +Miss Deemas received all this with a sinister smile, and replied with +the single word, "Oh!" after which she turned immediately to Miss +Tippet, and remarked that the weather had been unusually warm of late +for the season of the year, which remark so exasperated Willie Willders +that he turned with a face of crimson to Emma, and asked her if she +didn't feel a draught of cold air coming over her from somewhere, and +whether she would not sit nearer the fire, and farther away from the +window! + +Willie meant this for an uncommonly severe cut; for Miss Deemas sat at +the end of the sofa, near the window! + +Fortunately, at this point, Matty Merryon ushered in Loo Auberly, who +was instantly enfolded in Miss Tippet's arms, and thence transferred to +Emma's, in which she was led to the sofa, and gently deposited in the +softest corner. + +"Darling Loo!" exclaimed Miss Tippet, with tears in her eyes; "you look +_so_ thin and pale." + +There could be no doubt on that point. Little Loo, as Emma styled her, +was worn to a shadow by sickness, which had hitherto baffled the +doctor's skill. But she was a beautiful shadow; such a sweet, gentle +shadow, that one might feel thankful, rather than otherwise, to be +haunted by it. + +"Pray don't mind me; I'm too tired to speak to you yet; just go on +talking. I like to listen," said Loo softly. + +With ready kindness, Miss Tippet at once sought to draw attention from +the child, by reverting to Mrs Denman; and Matty created a little +opportune confusion by stumbling into the room with the tea. + +Matty usually tripped over the carpet at the door, and never seemed to +become wiser from experience. + +"Poor Mrs Denman," said Miss Tippet, pouring out the tea; "it must have +been an awful shock; think of a (Sugar, brother? I always forget), what +was I--oh, yes; think of a fireman seizing one round the (Cream, Willie? +I know you have a sweet tooth, so I don't need to ask if you take +sugar)--yes, he carried her down that dreadful what-d'ye-call-it, and +into the next house with nothing (A little more sugar, Julia? No? )-- +nothing on but her what's-'is-name. Oh! it was sad; sad to lose all her +fine things, too--her furniture, and--and thingumies. Do try a piece of +cake, brother." + +"I know a worse case than hers," said Willie, with a knowing look. + +"Do you?" exclaimed Miss Tippet. + +"Oh! do tell it," cried Emma earnestly; "he's just been telling it to +me, and it is _so_ sad and interesting." + +"Come, let's hear about it, lad," said Mr Tippet. + +Thus encouraged, Willie related his adventure with the clown's family, +and told his tale with such genuine feeling, that Miss Tippet, Loo, and +Emma found their eyes moist when he had concluded. + +There was a good deal of comment upon this subject, and Miss Deemas +animadverted very strongly upon actors in general and clowns in +particular. As to ballet-girls, she could not find words to express her +contempt for them; but in reference to this Miss Tippet ventured to +rebuke her friend, and to say that although she could not and would not +defend the position of these unfortunates, yet she felt that they were +very much to be pitied, seeing that they were in many cases trained to +their peculiarly indelicate life by their parents, and had been taught +to regard ballet-dancing as quite a proper and legitimate +what's-its-name. No doubt this was only a palliation of the life they +led, but she thought that if anyone was to be severely blamed in the +matter it was the people who went to witness and encourage such wicked +displays. + +Miss Deemas dissented generally from all her friend's observations, and, +wishing to change the subject, asked Loo if her father was coming to +fetch her home. + +"No," said Loo; "dear papa is not well to-night, but he is to send the +carriage for me. Oh, I wish," she continued, reverting to the previous +subject, "I _wish_ I could do something for these poor people. I'm so +very, very sorry for the fairy." + +"So you can, if you choose," said Miss Deemas sharply. + +"No, indeed I cannot," replied Loo in an earnest voice; "I'm too ill and +weak now to be of any use to anyone. Once I was useful to dear papa, +but ever since the fire I have not been of use to anybody; only a +hindrance to them. Since I have been ill I have thought much more about +what I read in the Bible, and I've had a great desire to do good in some +way or other, but how can I--so weak and helpless?" + +Loo almost sobbed, for her sympathies had been awakened by Willie, and a +chord had been touched which had been vibrating in her breast for some +weeks past. + +"Your father is rich, is he not?" asked the Eagle. + +"Yes, I believe so." + +"Well, a word to him may be the cause of much good, in the shape of +money at least, to people in distress; but rich people don't always like +to spend their money in that way." + +Loo hung down her head and made no reply, for she knew that her father +did not like to part with money. She had often heard him refuse to do +so in days gone by, even when very pathetic appeals (as she thought) +were made to him; and experience told her that it was in vain to look +for help in that quarter. + +The party was now increased by the arrival of Frederick Auberly, who at +once infused life into everybody, except Miss Deemas, who had life +enough of her own, and would by no means accept the loan of any from +anyone else. Fred therefore ignored her altogether, and told stories +and cracked jokes and sang songs as if no such female iceberg were +present. + +Poor Loo was overjoyed to see him, and laying her head on his breast, +bade him speak away and not ask questions; only speak, and allow her to +listen and rest. + +Fred obeyed, and at once began an earnest discussion with Willie as to +the best method of getting a stout gentleman out of a third-floor window +in case of fire, when Matty Merryon entered with a flushed face and said +that a fireman who would not give his name wished to see Willie Willders +for a minute; and she was inclined to think it was his brother. + +"What! Frank?" exclaimed Willie, rising to go downstairs. + +"Stay, Willie," cried Miss Tippet eagerly; "don't go down. Pray let me +have him up; I should so like to see him, and I'm sure so would Loo; the +man, you know, who went up the what's-its-name, and brought you--yes, +send him up, Matty." + +"Plaze, mim, he won't come," replied the girl, "I know'd ye would like +to see him, an' axed him in." + +"Tell him," said Miss Tippet, "that I request it as a favour." + +While Matty was delivering this message, the Eagle took occasion to +sniff once or twice in a contemptuous manner, and wondered why people +worshipped men just because they happened to be big, and what they +called handsome. For her part, she hated all men, but if she were to be +obliged to choose between any class (which she was thankful to say was +_not_ necessary in her case), she would certainly give the preference to +ugly men and small. + +Willie Willders nodded his head approvingly, and, being exasperated into +a savage serio-comic condition, as well by the Eagle's voice and aspect +as by her sentiments, he said that she was quite right, and that if _he_ +were a lady like her he would hold the same opinions, because then, said +he, "being stout, I could wallop my husband an' keep him down, an' the +contrast of his ugly face with mine would not be so obvious." + +Frank's step on the stair fortunately prevented this open and desperate +attack being noticed. Next moment all turned their eyes in breathless +expectation towards the door. + +Being on duty, Frank appeared in fireman's costume, with the sailor-like +undress cap in his hand. He bowed to the company, and apologised to +Miss Tippet for intruding, but he had wished to ask his brother Willie +to call at the fire station on his way home to convey a letter to his +mother, and merely meant to see him at the door. + +"I'm _very_ glad you came, Mr Willders," said Miss Tippet, "for I +assure you we all regard you as the preserver of our dear Miss Auberly's +life when you went up the--the--thing. Here she is. You must shake-- +that's it--so nice!" + +The last part of Miss Tippet's remark referred to Loo stretching out her +hand to Frank, who advanced promptly and shook it with great tenderness. +He then shook hands with Fred, who expressed his regard for him in warm +terms; also with Mr Tippet, who paid him some enthusiastic compliments, +and said something to the effect that the parent stem from which two +such branches as he and Willie had grown must be a prime plant. + +As he turned from Mr Tippet--who, being very short, appeared to be +looking up at a steeple while he delivered this opinion--Frank's eyes +encountered those of Emma Ward, who was gazing at him in such +undisguised admiration, that, being a somewhat bashful man, he felt a +little confused, and dropped his eyes, figuratively, on the floor. Emma +blushed scarlet with shame at being caught in this way, and thereafter +became rigidly grave and indifferent. + +When Frank again raised his eyes--which, by the way, he did +immediately--they encountered the eagle glance of Miss Deemas frowning +defiance on him, as being a sort of type or pattern specimen of his +highly objectionable race. Had Miss Deemas been a man (which would have +gratified her more than she could have expressed) Frank could have met +the frown with a smile of pity. As it was, he turned to the little +eager countenance of Miss Tippet, and felt deeper respect than ever for +the sex; thus showing that just as an exception proves a rule, so an +unfavourable contrast strengthens a cause. + +"Pray sit down, Mr Willders," entreated Miss Tippet earnestly; "I +should like _so_ much to hear how you did it from your own lips, and how +you can possibly venture up such dreadful things, just like going up the +outside of the Monument. Dear Loo, and you came down it, too; but, to +be sure, your eyes were shut, which was as well, for you were only in +your night--Ah, well, yes, _do_ sit down Mr Firem---Willders, I mean." + +Frank thanked her, but declined, on the ground that he was on duty, and +that he feared he was doing wrong in even looking in on them for the few +minutes he had stayed. "Good-night, ma'am," he continued, "good-night. +You'll call at the station on your way home, Willie?" + +Willie said he would, and then all the company, excepting the Eagle, +shook hands with the stalwart fireman, looking up at him as if he were a +hero just returned from the proverbial "hundred fights." Even Emma Ward +condescended to shake hands with him at parting. + +"Perhaps you'll be in the middle of a fire this very night," cried Tom +Tippet, following him to the door. + +"It is quite possible," said Frank, with a smile. + +Miss Deemas was heard to snort contemptuously at this. + +"Perhaps you may even save more lives!" cried Miss Tippet. + +"It may be so," answered Frank, again smiling, but evidently feeling +anxious to make his escape, for he was not one of those men who like to +be lionised. + +"Only think!" exclaimed Miss Tippet as Frank quitted the room. + +"Ha!" ejaculated the Eagle, in a tone which was meant to convey her +well-known opinion that women would do such things quite as well as men +if their muscles were a little stronger. + +It is but justice to Miss Deemas to explain that she did not champion +and exalt women out of love to her sex. Love was not one of her strong +points. Rampant indignation against those whom she bitterly termed +"lords of creation" was her strong tower of refuge, in which she +habitually dwelt, and from the giddy summit of which she hurled would-be +destruction on the doomed males below. Among her various missiles she +counted the "wrongs of her sex" the most telling shaft, and was in +consequence always busy sharpening and polishing and flourishing this +dread weapon in the eyes of her friends as well as her enemies, +although, of course, she only launched it at the latter. + +Perched on her self-exalted eyrie, Miss Deemas did not know that there +was a pretty large number of her own sex in the comparatively humble +multitude below, who, while they clearly recognised the "wrongs of +women" (and preferred to call them "misfortunes") did not attribute them +solely, or even largely, to the wickedness of men, but to the combined +wickedness and folly of society in general, and who were of opinion that +such matters were to be put right by patient, persevering, laborious, +and persistent efforts on the part of men and women acting in concert, +and not by the unwomanly acts and declamation of ladies of the Deemas +stamp, whom they counted the worst enemies of the good cause--some +wittingly, others unwittingly so. These people among the comparatively +humble multitude below, also had the penetration to perceive that the +so-called "wrongs" did not lie all on one side, but that there was a +pretty large class of the so-called "lords" who went about the world +habitually in a sad and disgraceful state of moral semi-nakedness, in +consequence of their trousers having been appropriated and put on by +their better-halves, and that therefore it was only meet that men and +women should be united (as indeed they were from the first intended to +be) in their efforts to put each other's "wrongs" to "rights." + +In addition to all this, these weak-minded (shall we call them?) people, +moving in the comparatively humble multitude below, entertained the +belief that rising in antagonism to the male sex in this matter was not +only unnecessary and unjust and impolitic, but also ungenerous, for they +reflected with much calm satisfaction that the "lords" are, after all, +"under woman's control." + +But Miss Deemas and all the ladies of the Eagle stamp did not think so. +They did not believe that a strong mind means a mind strong enough to +exercise its own powers to the ascertainment and reception of truth and +the rejection of falsehood and fallacy; strong enough, under the +influence of God's love, to perceive the paths of duty in all their +ramifications, and to resolve to follow them. They did not believe that +a high spirit, in the true sense of the word, meant a spirit broken down +altogether and brought into subjection to its owner's, not another's, +will. By no means. A strong mind with the Deemas-eagles meant +unutterable and unalterable obstinacy, blind as a bat, with the great +guns blazing all round, and the colours nailed to the mast. High spirit +with them meant the inclination--ever present, always strong, and often +asserted--to seize all the rest of the world, male and female, and lead +it by the nose! + +The Deemas-eagles as a class receive ready-made opinions, fabricated by +someone else, and call them their own--receiving them originally and +holding them subsequently, not because they are true, but because they +are pleasant to their eyes and sweet to their taste. They hold them +stoutly, too, probably because, having no foundation, they would be apt +to fall and get broken if not upheld. + +Having said thus much in behalf of the Deemas eagles, we now dismiss +them, with an apology to the reader. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +A FIREMAN'S LIFE. + +The clocks were striking nine when Frank issued from Miss Tippet's +dwelling and walked briskly away. On turning a corner he came upon one +of the numerous fire-escapes that nightly rear their tall heads against +the houses all over London, in a somewhat rampant way, as though they +knew of the fires that were about to take place, and, like mettlesome +war-horses, were anxious to rush into action without delay. + +On the pavement, close by the escape, stood a small sentry-box, and the +moment Frank came in sight of it he remembered that it was the nocturnal +habitation of his friend Conductor Samuel Forest. Sam himself was +leaning his arms on the lower half of his divided door, and gazing +contemplatively along the street. + +"Well, Sam, what news?" inquired Frank as he came up. + +"That you, Willders?" said Sam, a quiet smile of recognition playing on +his good-humoured features. "I thought it must be the giant they're +exhibitin' in Saint James's Hall just now, takin' a stroll at night to +escape the boys. Why, when do you mean to stop growing?" + +"I don't mean to interfere with Nature at all," replied Frank; "and I +believe the world will be big enough to hold me, whatever size I grow +to." + +"Well, what's the news?" inquired Sam, emerging from his narrow +residence, and proving in the act, that, though not quite so tall as his +friend, he was one who required a pretty fair share of room in the world +for himself. + +"Nothing particular," said Frank, leaning against the escape; "only a +chimney and a cut-away affair last night, and a false alarm and a +first-floor burnt out the day before." + +"How's Thompson?" asked Forest. + +"Poorly, I fear," said Frank, with a shake of his head. "The sprained +ankle he got when he fell off the folding-board is getting well, but the +injury to his spine from the engine is more serious." + +"Ah! poor fellow!" said Forest, "he's just a little too reckless. How +came he by the sprain?" + +"It was in the basement of a bookbinder's in Littleton Street," said +Frank, lighting a cigar. "We got the call about 11 p.m., and on getting +there found three engines at work. Mr Braidwood ordered our fellows to +go down into the basement. It was very dark, and so thick of smoke that +I couldn't see half-an-inch before my nose. We broke through the +windows, and found ourselves ankle-deep in water. The engines had been +at work flooding the place for some time, and there was more water than +we expected; but we had got on the folding-boards without knowing it, +an' before we knew where we were, down went Thompson into water four +feet deep. I think myself some of the water-pipes had burst. He rose +gasping, and I caught him by the collar and hauled him out. It was in +trying to recover himself when he fell that he got the sprain. You've +heard how he came by the other mishap?" + +"Yes, it was gallopin' down Ludgate Hill, wasn't it?" + +"Ay; the engine went over a barrow, and the jolt threw him off, and +before he got up it was on him. By good fortune it did not go over him; +it only bruised his back; but it's worse than we thought it would be, I +fear." + +"Ah! one never knows," said Forest gravely. "There's one man Jackson, +now, only two weeks ago he was up in a third floor in Lambeth, and had +brought down two women and a child, and was in the back-rooms groping +for more, when the floor above gave way and came down on him. We all +thought he was done for, but some of the beams had got jammed, and not +five minutes after he steps out of a window all right--only a scratch or +two, not worth mentioning; yet that same man fell down a flight of +stairs at the same fire, with a boy on his shoulder, and sprained his +ankle so bad that he's bin laid up for three weeks; but he saved the +boy." + +"Ah! it was worth the sprain," said Frank. + +"It was," responded Forest. + +"Well, good-night," said Frank, resuming his walk. + +Samuel Forest responded "good-night," and then, getting into his box, +sat down on its little seat, which was warranted not to hold two, +trimmed the lamp that hung at his side, and, pulling out a book from a +corner, began to peruse it. + +Sam was of a literary turn of mind. He read a great deal during his +lonely watches, and used often to say that some of his happiest hours +were those spent in the dead of night in his sentry-box. His helmet +hung on a peg beside him. His hatchet was in his girdle, and a small +cap covered his head. Looking at him in his snug and brightly +illuminated little apartment, he appeared--by contrast with the +surrounding darkness--inexpressibly comfortable. Nevertheless, Sam +Forest could have told you that appearances are often deceptive, and +that no matter how it looked, his box was but a cold habitation on a +biting December night. + +While deeply immersed in his book, Sam heard the sound of approaching +footsteps, and pricked up his ears. He was a good judge of such sounds. +As they drew near, he quietly took off his cap, put on his helmet, and +stepped from his box. The street was very silent; and, perhaps, not one +of the hundreds of sleepers there thought of the solitary man who held +vigil, and was so alert to do them service, if the hour of their +extremity should come. + +But a cry arose that startled them--"Fire! fire!!" + +Another moment, and two men dashed round the corner, yelling at the top +of their voices. Gasping for breath, they named the locality. Almost +before they had done so, two policemen were on the spot, and in another +moment the fire-escape was in motion. Instructed by the conductor, the +two strangers and the policemen lent their willing aid. Before ten +minutes had passed, the tall machine was run up to a burning house, the +lower part of which was blazing; while, from the upper windows, frantic +cries were heard for help, and sundry figures in dishabille were seen +waving their arms. The escape was run up, and one after another the +inmates were rescued from their perilous position. + +While this scene was enacting Frank was pursuing his way to the Regent +Street Fire Station; but news of the fire got there before him. He +arrived just in time to don his helmet and take his place on the engine. +Away they went, and in ten minutes after the arrival of the +fire-escape, they dashed up, almost running into an engine which +appeared from an opposite direction. + +The fire was blazing brightly by this time, and the whole neighbourhood +was in a state of commotion and excitement. + +The two engines were got to work with as little delay as possible. A +body of police kept the gathering crowd back, and soon volumes of steam +began to mingle with the black smoke of the burning building. The +superintendent was early on the scene, and he directed Frank and another +fireman to try to persuade the people in the adjoining houses to remain +quiet, and not throw their furniture over the window; but this, some of +them would not consent to do. It was plain that one or two were mad +with fear and excitement; and as the ruling passion is strong in death, +so it would seem to be by no means weak in the midst of danger from +fire; for many of them bent their whole energies to the saving of their +goods and chattels--regardless of their lives. + +One stout old gentleman, in particular, was seen at a third-floor +window, heaving out chairs and stools and books, and small tables, and +clocks, and even quantities of crockery, with desperate energy, to the +great danger of the onlookers, at whose feet the various articles fell, +and were dashed to atoms! + +Frank darted up the stairs that led to this man's apartments, and burst +in upon him. + +"Oh! come along, fireman; help me to save my things," he exclaimed, as +he struggled with superhuman efforts to thrust a table through the +window, which was too small to permit its passage. + +"Stop, sir, are you mad?" cried Frank sternly. + +"Help me! help me! Oh! fireman, it will be all burned. Fire! fire! +fire!!!" + +His voice rose into a fierce yell, as he strove in vain with the table. + +"You're quite safe," cried Frank, holding him; "_your_ house ain't +alight, and the engines have got it almost under." + +But Frank spoke to deaf ears; so he coolly lifted the man in his arms, +carried him kicking downstairs, and placed him in charge of a policeman. + +Just then, a cry was raised that there were two kegs of gunpowder in one +of the shops on the ground floor. The owner of the shop came up in a +frantic state, and corroborated this statement. + +"It'll blow the house to bits, sir," he said to Mr Braidwood. + +"Of course it will," remarked the latter in a quiet voice. "Come here, +my man," he added, taking the shopkeeper apart from the crowd, and +questioning him closely. + +Immediately after, he ordered the engines to play on a particular part +of the building. + +Just then, Frank came up to the superintendent. + +"There's gunpowder in the back-shop somewhere, I'm told, sir; shall I go +in for it?" + +"No, Willders; you couldn't find it in the smoke. Take the branch, lad, +and get up into that window above the door." + +Frank sprang to obey. At the same time, Mr Braidwood suddenly seized a +horse-cloth, and dashed in through the smoke. In a few seconds, he +returned with one of the kegs of powder in his arms. Giving it to one +of his men, he darted in again, and speedily re-issued with the second +keg of powder, amid the frantic cheering of the crowd. Having done +this, he continued to superintend the men until the fire was got under, +which was soon accomplished, having been attacked promptly and with +great vigour soon after it broke out. + +"You needn't wait, Mr Dale," said Braidwood, going up to his foreman. +"It's all safe now. I'll keep one engine; but you and your lads get off +to your beds as fast as ye can." + +Dale obeyed, and a few minutes after, the engine was galloping +homewards. + +Willie Willders was in the station when it arrived, and so was Fred +Auberly, who, having accompanied Willie, had got into such an +interesting talk with the sub-engineer in charge, that he forgot time, +and was still in animated conversation when the wheels were heard in the +distance. + +The three were out at the door in an instant. + +On came the engine, the horses' feet and the wheels crashing harshly in +the silent night. They came round the corner with a sharp swing. +Either the driver had become careless, or he was very sleepy that night, +for he dashed against an iron post that stood at the corner, and carried +off two wheels. The engine went full thirty yards on the two +off-wheels, before it came to the ground, which it did at last with a +terrific crash, throwing the firemen violently to the ground. + +The sub-engineer and Fred and Willie sprang forward in great alarm; but +the most of the men leaped up at once, and one or two of them laughed, +as if to show that they had got no damage. But one of them lay extended +on the pavement. It needed not a second glance to tell that it was +Frank Willders. + +"Lift him gently, lads," said Dale, who was himself severely bruised. + +"Stop," exclaimed Frank in a low voice; "I've got no harm except to my +left leg. It's broken, I think. There's no use of lifting me till you +get a cab. I'll go straight home, if--" He fainted as he spoke. + +"Run for a cab, Willie," said Fred Auberly. + +Willie was off in a moment. At the same instant, a messenger was +despatched for Dr Offley, and in a short time after that, Frank +Willders was lying on his mother's sofa, with his left leg broken below +the knee. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +MR JAMES AUBERLY. + +With a very stiff cravat, and a dreadfully stiff back, and a painfully +stiff aspect, Mr James Auberly sat by the side of a couch and nursed +his sick child. + +Stiff and starched and stern though he was, Mr Auberly, had a soft +point in his nature, and this point had been reached at last, for +through all the stiffness and starch there shone on his countenance an +expression of deep anxiety as he gazed at Loo's emaciated form. + +Mr Auberly performed the duties of a nurse awkwardly enough, not being +accustomed to such work, but he did them with care and with an evident +effort to please, which made a deep impression on the child's heart. + +"Dear papa," she said, after he had given her a drink and arranged her +coverings. "I want you to do me a favour." She said this timidly, for +she knew from past experience that her father was not fond of granting +favours, but since her illness he had been so kind to her that she felt +emboldened to make her request. + +"I will do it, dear," said the stiff man, bending, morally as well as +physically, as he had never bent before--for the prospect of Loo's death +had been presented to him by the physicians. "I will do it, dear, if I +can, and if the request be reasonable." + +"Oh, then, do forgive Fred, and let him be an artist!" cried Loo, +eagerly stretching out one of her thin hands. + +"Hush, darling," said Mr Auberly, with a look of distress; "you must +not excite yourself so. I have forgiven Fred long ago, and he has +become an artist in spite of my objections." + +"Yes, but let him come home, I mean, and be happy with us again as he +used to be, and go to the office with you," said Loo. + +Mr Auberly replied somewhat coldly to this that Fred was welcome to +return home if he chose, but that his place in the office had been +filled up. Besides, it was impossible for him to be both a painter and +a man of business, he said, and added that Loo had better not talk about +such things, because she did not understand them. All he could say was +that he was willing to receive Fred, if Fred was willing to return. He +did not say, however, that he was willing to restore Fred to his former +position in regard to his fortune, and as Loo knew nothing about her +brother having been disinherited, she felt that she must be satisfied +with this cold concession. + +"Can you not ask some other favour, such as I could grant?" said Mr +Auberly, with a smile, which was not nearly so grim as it used to be +before "the fire." (The family always talked of the burning of Mr +Auberly's house as "the fire," to the utter repudiation of all other +fires--the great one of monumental fame included.) + +Loo meditated some time before replying. + +"Oh, yes," she exclaimed suddenly, "I _have_ another favour to ask. How +stupid of me to forget it. I want you very much to go and see a fairy +that lives--" + +"A fairy, Loo!" said Mr Auberly, while a shade of anxiety crossed his +face. "You--you are rather weak just now; I must make you be quiet, and +try to sleep, if you talk nonsense, dear." + +"It's not nonsense," said Loo, again stretching out the thin hand, which +her father grasped, replaced under the coverings, and held there; "it's +quite true, papa," she continued energetically! "it _is_ a fairy I want +you to go and see--she's a pantomime fairy, and lives somewhere near +London Bridge, and she's been very ill, and is so poor that they say +she's dying for want of good food." + +"Who told you about her, Loo?" + +"Willie Willders," she replied, "he has been to see her and her father +the clown a good many times." + +Mr Auberly, frowned, for the name of Willie Willders did not sound +pleasantly in his ears. + +"_Do_ go to see her, pray, dear papa," pleaded Loo with much +earnestness, "and give her some money. You know that darling mamma +said, just before she was taken away," (the poor child persistently +refused to use the expression "when she died"), "she wanted you to take +me sometimes to see poor people when they were sick, and I've often +thought of that since--especially when I have come to the verse in my +Bible which tells me to `consider the poor,' and I have often--oh, so +very often--longed to go, but you were always so busy, dear papa, that +you never had time, you know," (the stiff man winced a little at this) +"but you seem to have more time now, papa, and although I'm too weak to +go with you, I thought I would ask you to go to see this poor fairy, and +tell her I will go to see her some day--if--if God makes me strong +again." + +The stiff man winced still more at this, but it was only a momentary +wince, such as a man gives when he gets a sudden and severe twinge of +toothache. It instantly passed away. Still, as in the case of +toothache, it left behind an uneasy impression that there might be +something very sharp and difficult to bear looming in the not distant +future. + +Mr Auberly had covered his face with his hand, and leant his elbow on +the head of the couch. Looking up quickly with a smile--still tinged +with grimness, for evil habits and their results are not to be got rid +of in a day--he said: + +"_Well_, Loo, I will go to see this fairy if it will please you; but +somewhere near London Bridge is not a very definite address." + +"Oh, but Willie Willders knows it," said Loo. + +"But where is Willie Willders?" objected her father. + +"Perhaps at home; perhaps at Mr Tippet's place." + +"Well, we shall soon find out," said Mr Auberly, rising and ringing the +bell. + +Hopkins answered the summons. + +Stiff, thin, tall, sedate, powdered, superfine Hopkins, how different +from the personage we saw but lately plunging like a maniac at the +fire-bell! Could it have been thee, Hopkins? Is it possible that +anything so spruce, dignified, almost stately, could have fallen so very +low? We fear it is too true, for human nature not unfrequently +furnishes instances of tremendous contrast, just as material nature +sometimes furnishes the spectacle of the serene summer sky being +engulfed in the black thunderstorm! + +"Hopkins!" said Mr Auberly, handing him a slip of paper, "go to this +address and ask for the boy William Willders; if he is there, bring him +here immediately; if not, find out where he is, search for him, and +bring him here without delay. Take a cab." + +Hopkins folded the paper delicately with both his little fingers +projecting very much, as though they wished it to be distinctly +understood that they had no connection whatever with the others, and +would not on any account assist the low-born and hard-working +forefingers and thumbs in such menial employment. Hopkins's nose +appeared to be affected with something of the same spirit. Then Hopkins +bowed--that is to say, he broke across suddenly at the middle, causing +his stiff upper man to form an obtuse angle with his rigid legs for one +moment, recovered his perpendicular--and retired. + +Oh! Hopkins, how difficult to believe that thy back was once as round +as a hoop, and thy legs bent at acute angles whilst thou didst lay +violent hands on--well, well; let bygones be bygones, and let us all, in +kindness to thee, learn the song which says-- + + "Teach, O teach me to forget." + +Hailing a cab with the air of six emperors rolled into one, Hopkins +drove to Mr Tippet's residence, where he learned that Willie had gone +home, so he followed him up, and soon found himself at Notting Hill +before the door of Mrs Willders' humble abode. The door was opened by +Willie himself, who stared in some surprise at the stately visitor. + +"Is William Willders at 'ome?" said Hopkins. + +"I rather think he is," replied Willie, with a grin; "who shall I say +calls on him--eh? You'd better send up your card." + +Hopkins frowned, but, being a good-natured man, he immediately smiled, +and said he would walk in. + +"I think," said Willie, interposing his small person in the way, "that +you'd as well stop where you are, for there's a invalid in the +drawing-room, and all the other rooms is engaged 'cept the kitchen, +which of course I could not show _you_ into. Couldn't you deliver your +message? I could manage to carry it if it ain't too heavy." + +In a state of uncertainty as to how far this was consistent with his +dignity, Hopkins hesitated for a moment, but at length delivered his +message, with which Willie returned to the parlour. + +Here, on the little sofa, lay the tall form of Frank Willders, arrayed +in an old dressing-gown, and with one of his legs bandaged up and +motionless. His face was pale, and he was suffering great pain, but a +free-and-easy smile was on his lips, for beside him sat a lady and a +young girl, the latter of whom was afflicted with strong sympathy, but +appeared afraid to show it. Mrs Willders, with a stocking and +knitting-wires in her hands, sat on a chair at the head of the bed, +looking anxious, but hopeful and mild. An open Bible which lay on a +small table at her side, showed how she had been engaged before the +visitors entered. + +"My good sir," said the lady, with much earnestness of voice and manner, +"I assure you it grieves me to the heart to see you lying in this state, +and I'm quite sure it grieves Emma too, and all your friends. When I +think of the risks you run and the way you dash up these dreadful fire-- +fire--things--what-d'ye-call-ums. What _do_ you call them?" + +"Fire-escapes, ma'am," answered Frank, with a smile. + +"Ah, fire-escapes (how you ever come down them alive is a mystery to me, +I'm sure!) But as I was saying, it makes one shudder to think of; and-- +and--how does your leg feel _now_?" said Miss Tippet, forgetting what +she had intended to say. + +"Pretty well," replied Frank; "the doctor tells me it has broken without +splintering, and that I'll be all right in a few weeks, and fit for duty +again." + +"Fit for duty, young man!" exclaimed Miss Tippet; "do you mean to say +that you will return to your dreadful profession when you recover? Have +you not received warning enough?" + +"Why, madam," said Frank, "some one must look after the fires, you know, +else London would be in ashes in a few months; and I like the work." + +"Like the work!" cried Miss Tippet, in amazement; "like to be almost +smoked to death, and burned alive, and tumbled off roofs, and get upset +off what's-its-names, and fall down fire--fire--things, and break all +your legs and arms!" + +"Well--no, I don't like all that," said Frank, laughing; "but I like the +vigour and energy that are called forth in the work, and I like the +object of the work, which is to save life and property. Why," exclaimed +Frank enthusiastically, "it has all the danger and excitement of a +soldier's life without the bloody work, and with better ends in view." + +"Nay, nay, Frank," said the peaceful Mrs Willders, "you must not say +`better ends,' because it is a great and glorious thing to defend one's +native land." + +"A very just observation," said Miss Tippet, nodding approval. + +"Why, mother, who would have expected to hear _you_ standing up for the +red-coats in this fashion?" said Frank. + +"I stand up for the blue-jackets too," observed Mrs Willders meekly; +"they fight for their country as well." + +"True, mother," rejoined Frank; "but I did not refer to ultimate ends, I +only thought of the immediate results in connection with those engaged. +The warrior fights, and, in so doing, destroys life and property. The +fireman fights, and in doing so protects and preserves both." + +"Hear! hear!" interrupted Willie; "but the copy-book says `Comparisons +are _odiows_!' don't it? Mother, here's a fathom and two inches or so +of humanity as wants me to go with him to Mr Auberly. I s'pose Frank +can get along without me for a little while--eh?" + +"Certainly, my son; why does he want you?" + +"Don't know. P'raps he's goin' to offer to make me his secretary. But +you don't seem at all alarmed at the prospect of my being carried off by +a flunkey." + +"You'll come back, dearie, I doubt not." + +"Don't you? Oh, very well; then I'll just look after myself. If I +don't return, I'll advertise myself in the _Times_. Good-bye." + +Willie returned to the door and announced that he was ready to go. + +"But where is William?" asked Hopkins. + +"Mister William Willders stands before you," said the boy, placing his +hand on his heart and making a bow. "Come now, Long-legs," he added, +seizing Hopkins by the arm and pushing him downstairs and into the cab. +Leaping in after him he shut the door with a bang. "Now then, cabby, +all right, Beverly Square, full split; sixpence extra if you do it +within the half!" + +Away they went, and in a few seconds were in the Mall driving at a +rattling pace. + +"See that house?" asked Willie, so suddenly as to startle Hopkins, who +was quite overwhelmed by the vigour and energy of his young companion. + +"Eh! which! the one with the porch before the door?" + +"No, no, stoopid! the old red-brick house with the limbs of a vine all +over the front of it, and the skeleton of a Virginia creeper on the +wall." + +"Yes, I see it," said Hopkins, looking out. + +"Ah, a friend o' mine lives there. I'm on wisitin' terms there, I am. +Now then, mind your eye, pump-handle," cried Willie; "the turn's rather +sharp--hallo!" + +As they swung round into the Bayswater Road the cab came in contact with +a butcher's cart, which, being the lighter vehicle, was nearly upset. +No serious damage resulted, however, and soon after they drew up at the +door of the house next Mr Auberly's; for that gentleman still occupied +the residence of his friend. + +"Master Willders," said Hopkins, ushering him into the presence of Mr +Auberly, who still sat at the head of the couch. + +Willie nodded to Loo and then to her father. + +"Boy," said the latter, beckoning Willie to approach, "my daughter +wishes me to go and visit a poor family near London Bridge. She tells +me you know their name and address." + +"The fairy, you know," said Loo, explaining. + +"Ah, the Cattleys," answered Willie. + +"Yes," resumed Mr Auberly. "Will you conduct me to their abode?" + +In some surprise Willie said that he would be happy to do so, and then +asked Loo how she did. + +While Mr Auberly was getting ready, Willie was permitted to converse +with Loo and Mrs Rose, who was summoned to attend her young mistress. +Presently Mr Auberly returned, bade Mrs Rose be very careful of the +invalid, and then set off with Willie. + +At first the boy felt somewhat awed by the remarkably upright figure +that stalked in silence at his side, but as they continued to thread +their way through the streets he ventured to attempt a little +conversation. + +"Weather's improvin', sir," said Willie, looking up. "It is," replied +Mr Auberly, looking down in surprise at the boldness of his small +guide. + +"Good for the country, sir," observed Willie. + +Mr Auberly, being utterly ignorant of rural matters, thought it best to +say nothing to this. + +We may add that Willie knew just as little (or as much), and had only +ventured the remark because he had often heard it made in every possible +variety of weather, and thought that it would be a safe observation, +replete, for all he knew to the contrary, with hidden wisdom. + +There was silence after this for some time. + +"D'you know Mr Tippet well, sir?" inquired Willie suddenly. + +"Ye--yes; oh yes, I know him _pretty_ well." + +"Ah, he's a first-rater," observed Willie, with a look of enthusiasm; +"you've no notion what a trump he is. Did you hear ever of his noo +machine for makin' artificial butter?" + +"No," said Mr Auberly, somewhat impatiently. + +"Ah, it's a wonderful invention, that is, sir." + +"Boy," said Mr Auberly, "will you be so good as to walk behind me?" + +"Oh, _cer'nly_, sir," said Willie, with a profound bow, as he fell to +the rear. + +They walked on in silence until they came to the vicinity of the +Monument, when Mr Auberly turned round and asked Willie which way they +were to go now. + +"Right back again," said Willie. + +"How, boy; what do you mean?" + +"We've overshot the mark about half a mile, sir. But, please, I thought +you must be wishin' to go somewhere else first, as you led the way." + +"Lead the way, _now_, boy," said Mr Auberly, with a stern look. + +Willie obeyed, and in a few minutes they were groping in the dark +regions underground which Mr Cattley and his family inhabited. With +some difficulty they found the door, and stood in the presence of "the +fairy." + +Thin though the fairy had been when Willie saw her last, she might have +been called fat compared with the condition in which they now found her. +She appeared like a mere shadow, with a delicate skin thrown over it. +A bad transparency would have been more substantial in appearance. She +lay alone on her lonely pallet with a farthing candle beside her, which +cast a light sufficient only to make darkness visible. Being near the +poor invalid, it caused her large dark eyes to glitter in an awful +manner. + +Willie at once forgot his companion, and running up to the fairy, seized +her hand, and asked her how she did. + +"Pretty well, Willie. It's kind of you to come and see me so often." + +"Not a bit, Ziza; you know I like it; besides, I've only come to-day to +show a gentleman the way." + +He pointed to Mr Auberly, who had stopped short in the doorway, but who +now advanced and sat down beside the invalid, and put to her several +formal questions in a very stately and stiff manner, with a great +assumption of patronage. But it was evident that he was not accustomed +to the duty of visiting the sick, and, like little boys and girls when +they sit down to write a letter, was very much at a loss what to say! +He began by asking the fairy about her complaint, and exhausted every +point that entered into his imagination in reference to that. Then he +questioned her as to her circumstances; after which he told her that he +had been sent to see her by his daughter Louisa, who was herself very +ill, owing to the effects of a fire in his own house. + +At this point the child became interested, and came to his relief by +asking a great many eager and earnest questions about Loo. She knew +about the fire in Beverly Square and its incidents, Willie having often +related them to her during his visits; and she knew Mr Auberly by name, +and was interested in him, but his frigid manner had repelled her, until +he spoke of Loo having sent him to see her. + +"Oh, I've been so sorry about Miss Loo, sir," said Ziza, raising her +large eyes full in Mr Auberly's face; "I've heard of her, you know, +from Willie, and when I've been lying all alone here for hours and hours +together, I have wondered how she spent her time, and if there were kind +people about her to keep up her spirits. It's so strange that she and I +should have been both hurt by a fire, an' both of us so different every +way. I _do_ hope she'll get better, sir." + +Mr Auberly became suddenly much interested in the fairy, for just as +"love begets love," so does interest beget interest. His feelings +having been roused, his tongue was loosed, and forthwith he enjoyed a +delightful conversation with the intelligent child; not that there was +any remarkable change as to the matter of what was spoken, but there was +a vast change in the manner of speaking it. + +Willie also chimed in now and then, and volunteered his opinions in a +way that would have called forth a sharp rebuke from his patron half an +hour before; but he was permitted to speak, even encouraged, now, for +Mr Auberly was being tickled pleasantly; he was having his feelings and +affections roused in a way that he had never thought of or tried before; +he was gathering golden experiences that he had never stooped to touch +before, although the mine had been under his feet all his life, and his +path had been strewn with neglected nuggets from the cradle--fortunately +not, as yet, to the grave! Ziza's Bible lay on the counterpane close to +her wasted little hand. While she was talking of Loo, with deep +sympathy beaming out of her eyes and trembling in her tones, Mr Auberly +laid his hand inadvertently on it. She observed the action, and said-- + +"Are you going to read and pray with me, sir?" + +Mr Auberly was taken very much aback indeed by this question. + +"Well--no," said he, "that is--if--fact, I have not brought my +prayer-book with me; but--but--I will read to you if you wish it." + +Sympathy was gone now; the fairy felt that, and, not clearly +understanding why, wondered at it. She thanked her visitor, however, +and shut her eyes, while Mr Auberly opened the Bible and cleared his +voice. His confusion was only momentary; still the idea that he could +be confused at all by two mere children in such a wretched cellar so +nettled the worthy man, that he not only recovered his self-possession, +but read a chapter with all the solemn dignity of tone and manner that +he would have assumed had he been officiating in Saint Paul's or +Westminster Abbey. This was such a successful essay, and overawed his +little congregation so terribly, that for a moment he thought of +concluding with the benediction; but, being uncertain whether he could +go correctly through it, he wisely refrained. + +Thereafter he rose, and bade the fairy good-night. + +"Your father does not return till late, I suppose?" he said, while he +held her hand. + +"No; it is morning generally before he gets away. The pantomimes are +hurting him, I fear, for he's not so active as he once was, and he says +he feels the falls very bad." + +"Poor man! It's very sad; but I suppose it's the usual way with that +class of men. Well, goodnight again." + +"Good-night, sir!" responded the fairy, with a bright smile, "and thank +you very much for your visit. Good-night, Willie." + +Willie said good-night in such a sulky tone, and followed Mr Auberly to +the door with such a reckless swagger, that the fairy gazed after him in +unutterable surprise. After shutting the door with a bang, he suddenly +opened it again, and said in a loud voice-- + +"I say, I'll get my wages day arter to-morrow. I'll bring you a couple +o' bobs then. It's all I can afford just now, for cigars are dear. If +you're hard up for wittles in the meantime, just grin and bear it; +you'll not die, you know, you'll only get thinner. I _have_ heard that +a bit o' boiled shoe-leather ain't a bad thing to keep one easy till +relief comes." + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Mr Auberly in the distance, and bustling back as +lie spoke; "I quite forgot; how stupid of me! I was directed by my +daughter to give you this." + +He took a ten-pound note from his purse, and put it into the fairy's +hand. + +"This is from Louisa," he continued, "and I may add that it is the +savings from her pocket-money. I did not wish the dear child to part +with it, and said I would give it to you from myself; but she was so +urgent, and seemed so distressed when I refused my consent, that I gave +in; so you have to thank my daughter, not me." + +Mr Auberly smiled and nodded as he turned to go, and there was really +very little grimness in the smile on this occasion--very little indeed! +Willie also nodded with great violence and frequency; he likewise winked +with one eye, and otherwise sought to indicate that there were within +him sundry deep and not easily expressed thoughts and feelings, which +were, upon the whole, of a satisfactory nature. + +As for the fairy, she never once smiled or thanked Mr Auberly, but +simply stared at him with her lustrous eyes open to their very widest, +and she continued to stare at the door, as though she saw him through +it, for some time after they were gone. Then she turned suddenly to the +wall, thanked God, and burst into tears--glad tears, such as only those +can weep who have unexpectedly found relief when their extremity was +greatest. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +A CHANGE IN FORTUNE. + +There is nothing more surprising in regard to sublunary matters than the +way in which unexpected events arise out of what may be called +unintentional causes. + +When David Boone and his friend Gorman planned the insurance and +destruction of the toy shop and its contents, they no more expected that +the very first steps towards that end would result in the conversion of +a poor into a flourishing business, than they expected that the +expression of a wish would convert Poorthing Lane into Beverly Square; +yet so it was. + +Poor David was rendered so desperate by his straits, and so anxious to +escape from the crime into which his friend sought to plunge him, that +he meditated suicide; but, lacking the courage to accomplish this, he +relieved his feelings by carrying out the details of his business and +the preliminary steps of his plan, with the wild and reckless energy of +a maniac. The more he thought of the meshes which Gorman had cast +around him, the more did he regard escape impossible. He therefore +sought relief in action. He not only talked to his neighbours (as per +agreement) about his rapidly increasing business, but he made purchases +on a scale more extensive than he had ever before contemplated, even in +his dreams. Being convinced that ruin, sooner or later, was his doom, +he indulged in the most extravagant excesses, with much of the feeling +which prompts some seamen, when the ship is sinking, to break into the +spirit room and spend the short remnant of life in jollity. He +experienced a sort of savage delight in ordering right and left from +wholesale dealers in town and country, and even went so far as to write +to Germany for toys, using the name of a well-known London house which +had hitherto (and justly) believed him to be an honest man. The result +of this was that Poorthing Lane was besieged for some time by railway +vans, and waggons so huge that apparently an inch more added to their +bulk would have rendered their passage impossible. Great deal boxes +were constantly being unpacked in front of Mr Boone's door, much to the +annoyance of Miss Tippet, who could not imagine how it happened that her +sedate and slow-going landlord had got such a sudden increase of +business. Little did she think, poor lady, that this was the fuel with +which it was intended to roast her alive! + +Some of the smaller accounts for goods thus purchased Boone paid at once +with the money furnished to him by Gorman, and thus got credit for being +a capitalist. Others he deferred payment of until a more convenient +season. + +His friend Gorman, who would not have bent the joint of his little +finger to have saved him from destruction, was so anxious to get up a +good appearance, for the sake of getting the insurance effected +advantageously, that he did his best to carry out his part of the plan, +and, being a man of energy who in the paths of virtue might have risen +to a high position among men, he succeeded beyond his expectation. +Crowds of purchasers were sent by him to the shop of "the celebrated +toy-man." Some were mere decoy-ducks, who came and went (for a +consideration) pretty frequently, and only "priced" the goods. Others +were genuine purchasers, and between the two they created so much +traffic in the toy-shop, that the multitude--so difficult to move by +mere suasion, but so prone to follow blindly in the wake of a senseless +rush, when once the rush takes place--began to move in the direction of +the toyshop, and shortly before Christmas the demand for toys was so +great, that Boone had to engage two assistants to carry on the business, +and even the lane itself began to feel the benefit of the sudden +increase of traffic. + +All this was patent to the eyes of David Boone, but he was so +overwhelmed with a sense of the guilt he was about to incur, and the +deception he was even then practising, that he regarded the whole affair +as a hollow bubble, which would soon burst and leave nothing behind. +Even the rapid increase of the credit-balance in his bank-book did not +affect his opinion, for he was not much of a financier, and, knowing +that his transactions were founded on deception, he looked on the +balance as being deceptive also. + +Not so thought Gorman. That wily individual perceived, to his +amazement, that things were taking a turn which had never been +contemplated, so he silently looked on and wondered, and chuckled and +resolved to abide his time. + +As prosperity flowed in upon him, David Boone became more insane--for +his condition of mind was little, if at all, short of temporary +insanity--and his proceedings became more eccentric than ever. Among +other things, he became suddenly smitten with a desire to advertise, and +immediately in the columns of the tapers appeared advertisements to the +effect that "The Celebrated Toy Emporium" was to be found in Poorthing +Lane. Finding that this increased his business considerably, he hit +upon a plan of advertising which has been practised rather extensively +of late years in London. He sent out an army of boys with pots of +whitewash and brushes, with directions to print in rough but large +legible letters the words, "Who's Boone?" on all the blank walls of the +metropolis, and in the papers he answered the question by having printed +under the same title, "Why, the manager of the Toy Emporium, to be sure, +in Poorthing Lane." He also advertised specially that he had in stock, +"an assortment of 500 golden-haired dolls from Germany, full-dressed, +half-dressed, and naked." + +This last was irresistible. Thousands of young hearts beat high at the +mere thought of such numbers--"with _golden_ hair too!" and dozens of +mammas, and papas too, visited Poorthing Lane in consequence. + +In course of time David Boone's eyes began to open to the fact that he +was rapidly making a fortune. + +It was after the bustle of the Christmas season was over that he made +this discovery. One of his new assistants, a young man named Lyall, was +the means of opening his employer's eyes to the truth. Lyall was a +clever accountant, and had been much surprised from the first that Boone +kept no regular system of books. At the end of the year he suggested +that it would be well to take stock and find out the state of the +business. Boone agreed. Lyall went to work, and in a short time the +result of his labours showed, that after all debts were paid, there +would remain a satisfactory credit-balance at the bank. + +On the evening of the day on which this marvellous fact was impressed on +Boone's mind, Gorman called, and found his friend rubbing his hands, and +smiling benignantly in the back room. + +"You seem jolly," said Gorman, sitting down, as usual, by the fire, and +pulling out, as usual, the short pipe. "Business gittin' on well?" + +"It is," said Boone, standing with his back to the fire, and swaying +himself gently to and fro; "things don't look so bad. I can pay you the +arrears of rent now." + +"Oh, can you?" said Gorman. "Ah!" + +"Yes, and I'm in a position to pay you fifty pounds of the debt I owe +you besides," said Boone. + +"And a bill at three months for the balance?" inquired Gorman. + +No, he could not venture to do that exactly, but he hoped to pay a +further instalment before the end of three months. + +"Humph! How much may the profits be?" + +Boone could not say precisely, not having had all his accounts squared, +but he believed they were considerable. + +"I'll be bound they are," said Gorman with a growl; "you won't want to +set things alight now, I daresay." + +"Well, I think it'll be as well to wait a bit, and let us make hay while +this sunshine goes on." + +"Let _you_ make hay, you mean?" + +"Oh, as to that, the most of it will go to your stack for some time to +come, Gorman." + +"H'm! and what about the insurance?" + +"Well, you know," observed Boone, "it's of no use paying the premium for +nothing. As we don't mean to set the place alight, you know." + +"Ay, but the life insurance, I mean," said Gorman. + +Boone laughed, and observed that he thought it best not to die just at +that particular time, whereupon Gorman laughed, too, and said he was +about right, and that it would be as well to delay both events in the +meantime; after saying which, he took his leave in better humour than +usual, for Gorman was what men of his own stamp termed a "deep file." +He saw into futurity--so he thought--a considerable way farther than +most men, and in the future of his own imagination he saw such a +pleasant picture that his amiable spirit was quite cheered by it. He +saw David Boone making money so fast, that his goods might be insured at +a much larger amount; he saw him getting into fresh difficulties, of +course, because such a business, on such a foundation, could not go on +prosperously except under the most able management, and, even though it +did prosper in spite of improbabilities, he foresaw that there was an +amiable gentleman, much like himself, who would induce Boone to traffic +beyond his means, and when money was wanted, the same kind gentleman (he +saw that quite clearly) would come forward generously with a loan, for +which he would only ask Boone to make over to him in security his two +policies of insurance--fire and life; after which--well, we need not go +on revealing the future as it appeared to Gorman's mental vision; +suffice it to say, that he saw upon the whole a prospect which gave him +great satisfaction. + +There were one or two things which he did not see, however, and which +might have modified his feelings considerably if he had seen them. Of +these we shall say nothing at present. + +As for David Boone; his heart rejoiced, for he, too, had visions of the +future which charmed him. He saw his debt to Gorman paid, and himself +set free from the power of that amiable friend. He saw a toyshop change +its locality and its aspect. He saw it transplanted into Regent Street, +with plate-glass windows, in which were displayed objects of marvellous +ingenuity and transcendent beauty. One window especially exhibiting, +not a crowd, but, a very nation of wax-dolls with blue eyes and golden +hair! He saw, moreover, a very little old woman, lying in a bed, in an +elegant and comfortable apartment, with a Bible beside her, and a +contented smile on her face. This old lady resembled his own mother so +strongly, that all other prospects of the future faded from his view, +and in the fulness of his heart and his success, he resolved then and +there to go home and present her with a gift on the strength of the +prosperity at that time attained to. + +David was sorely perplexed as to what this gift ought to be. He thought +of a new silk gown at first; but the remembrance of the fact that his +mother was bedridden banished this idea. Owing to the same fact, new +boots and gloves were inadmissible; but caps were not--happy thought! +He started off at once, and returned home with a cap so gay, voluminous, +and imposing, that the old lady, unused though she was to mirth, laughed +with amusement, while she cried with joy, at this (not the first) +evidence of her son's affection. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +CHANGES AND MYSTERIES. + +Seven years passed away. During that period London revolved in its +usual course, reproducing its annual number of events--its births, +deaths, and marriages; its plans, plots, and pleasures; its business, +bustle, and bungle; its successes, sentiments, and sensations; its +facts, fancies, and failures--also its fires; which last had increased +steadily, until they reached the imposing number of about twelve hundred +in the year. + +But although that time elapsed, and many changes took place, for better +or for worse, in all circles of society, there had not been much change +in the relative positions of the actors in our tale; at least, not much +that was apparent. Great alterations, however, had taken place in the +physical condition of some of them, as the sequel will show. + +One bright morning in the spring-time of the year, a youth with the soft +down of early manhood on his lips and cheeks, paced slowly to and fro +near the margin of the pond in Kensington Gardens. + +Being early, the spot was as complete a solitude as the backwoods of +North America, and so thick was the foliage on the noble trees, that no +glimpse of the surrounding city could be obtained in any direction. +Everything that greeted eye and ear was characteristic of "the woods," +even to the swans, geese, ducks, and other water-fowl which sported on +the clear surface of the pond; while the noise of traffic in the mighty +metropolis was so subdued by distance as to resemble the deep-toned roar +of a great cataract. A stranger, rambling there for the first time +would have found it difficult to believe that he was surrounded on all +sides by London! + +It was one of those soul-stirring mornings in which Nature seems to +smile. There was just enough of motion in the air to relieve the effect +of what is called a dead calm. The ripple on the water caught the sun's +rays, and, breaking them up, scattered them about in a shower of +fragmentary diamonds. Fleecy-white clouds floated in the blue sky, +suggesting dreams of fairy-land, and scents of sprouting herbage filled +the nostrils, reminding one of the fast-approaching summer. + +The youth who sauntered alone by the margin of the pond was broad of +shoulder and stout of limb, though not unusually tall--not much above +the middle height. His gait was easy, free--almost reckless--as though +he cared not a fig for anybody, high or low, rich or poor; yet his eye +was bright and his smile kindly, as though he cared for everybody--high, +low, rich, and poor. He sauntered with his hands in the pockets of his +short coat, and whistled an operatic air in a low melodious tone. He +was evidently waiting for someone; and, judging from his impatient +gestures, someone who was resolved to keep him waiting. + +Presently, a female figure appeared in the far distance, on the broad +avenue that leads direct from the Serpentine. She was young and +graceful in form; but she walked with a quick step, with her eyes +looking down, like one who regarded neither youth nor grace. Curiously +enough, this downcast look gave to her fair face a modest, captivating +grace, which is never seen to sit upon the lofty brow, or to circle +round the elevated nose, of conscious beauty. + +The youth at first paid no attention to her (she was not the "someone" +for whom he waited); but as she drew near, he became suddenly +interested, and threw himself in her way. Just as she was about to +pass, she raised her eyes, started, blushed, and exclaimed: + +"Mr Willders!" + +"Good morning, Miss Ward!" said the youth, advancing with a smile, and +holding out his hand; "this is indeed an unexpected pleasure; I did not +know that you were addicted to early walking." + +"I am indeed fond of early walking," replied Emma, with a smile; "but I +cannot say that it is so much pleasure as duty which brings me here. I +am a day-governess, and pass this pond every morning on my way to +Kensington, where the family in which I teach resides." + +"Indeed," said Willie, with that amount of emphasis which denotes +moderate surprise and solicits information. + +He paused for a single moment; but, seeing that Emma did not intend to +speak of her own affairs, he added quickly: + +"I am waiting for my brother Frank. We arranged to meet here this +morning. I hope that Miss Tippet is well?" + +"Quite well," replied Emma, with a blush, as she took a sudden interest +in a large duck, which swam up to the edge of the pond at that moment, +in the hope, no doubt, of obtaining food from her hand. Its hopes were +disappointed, however, for Emma only called it a beautiful creature; and +then, turning somewhat abruptly to Willie, said, with a slight look of +embarrassment, that she feared she should be late and must bid him +good-morning. + +Willie felt a good deal puzzled, and had he been the same Willie that we +introduced at the commencement of our tale, he would have told Emma his +mind candidly, and asked her what was the matter; but Willie was a man +now, so he smiled, lifted his hat politely, and wished her good-morning. + +Five minutes later, Frank appeared in the distance and hurried forward. +Seven years had added a little to the breadth of his shoulders, and the +firm self-possession of his step and look; but they had made no other +perceptible impression on him. There was, indeed, a deep scar on his +right temple; but that was the result of accident, not of time. Many a +hairbreadth escape had he made during these seven years of fighting with +the flames, and often had his life been in imminent danger; but he was +fortunate in having escaped, hitherto, with only a broken leg and a +variety of small cuts, scalds, and bruises. The cut on his temple was +the severest, and most recent of these. He had got it in a fall through +a second floor, which gave way under him as he was attempting to rescue +an old bedridden man, who lay in an inner chamber. Frank was carried +out in a state of insensibility on the broad shoulders of his friend +Baxmore, while Dale rescued the old man. + +"How goes it, Frank?" cried Willie, advancing and giving his brother's +hand a warm shake; "the cut head mending--eh?" + +"Oh, it's all right," replied Frank, with a smile, as they sauntered up +and down by the margin of the pond; "the headaches have left me now, I'm +thankful to say, and the-doctor tells me it won't leave much of a mark." + +"You don't need to care much if it does, for it's an honourable scar, +and does not spoil your beauty, old boy." + +"Well, Willie," said Frank, "here I am at your request. What have you +got to tell me; nothing serious, I hope?" + +The stalwart fireman looked earnestly into his brother's face, and +exhibited more anxiety than there seemed to be any occasion for. + +"No, nothing very serious. It may be serious enough for all I know; but +as far as my knowledge goes it's not bad enough to make you look so +anxious. Why, what's the matter with you?" + +"Nothing, Willie. Perhaps my late accident has shaken my nerves a bit." + +Willie burst into a loud laugh, and said that it was so awfully absurd +to hear a man like Frank talking of nerves at all that he could not help +it. + +"Well, but what _is_ the news you've got to tell me?" resumed Frank. +"You're not going to be married, are you?" + +Frank asked this with a look and expression so peculiar that Willie +again laughed and said that really he could not understand him at all; +for even suppose he had been going to be married, that was no reason why +he should take it so much to heart, as the expression on his face +implied he did. + +"Perhaps not, Willie," said Frank with a quiet smile; "but _that_ is not +what you want to speak about, then?" + +"No, certainly not." + +Frank appeared relieved, and Willie, observing the appearance, said-- + +"Come, now, I really don't see why you should be so very much pleased to +hear that. I'm young, it is true, but I'm old enough, and I have a good +business, with brilliant prospects, and there appears to me no reason on +earth why I should not marry if I felt so disposed." + +"None in the world, Willie," said Frank, with some haste, "but you tell +me you are not thinking of that just now; so pray let's hear what you've +got to say." + +"Oh! it's all very well in you, old Blazes, to change the subject in +that way, but I'm nettled at your implied objection to my getting +married if I choose. However, we won't quarrel over it, so here goes +for the point." + +Willie's bantering manner instantly left him. He walked in silence for +a few seconds, as if he pondered what he had to say. + +"There are two points which trouble me just now, Frank, and I want your +opinion in regard to them. The first is, Miss Tippet. She is a small +point, no doubt, whether we regard her physically or mentally, but she +is by no means a small point if we regard her socially, for the good +that that little woman does in a quiet, unobtrusive way is almost +incredible. D'ye know, Frank, I have a sort of triumphant feeling in +regard to the sour, cynical folk of this world--whom it is so impossible +to answer in their fallacious and sophistical arguments--when I reflect +that there is a day coming when the meek and lowly and unknown workers +for the sake of our Lord shall be singled out from the multitude, and +their true place and position assigned them. Miss Tippet will stand +higher, I believe, in the next world than she does in this. Well, Miss +Tippet has been much out of sorts of late, mentally; and Mr Tippet, who +is the kindest man alive, has been very anxious about her, and has +begged of me to try to counsel and comfort her. Now, it is not an easy +matter to comply with this request, because, in the first place, Miss +Tippet does not want me to counsel or comfort her, so far as I know; +and, in the second place, my motives for attempting to do so might be +misunderstood." + +"How so?" exclaimed Frank quickly. + +"Well, you know, Miss Ward lives with her," said Willie, with a modest +look. + +There was again something peculiar about Frank's expression and manner, +as he said, "Well, it would not signify much, I daresay, if people were +to make remarks about you and Miss Ward, for you know it would not be +misconstruction after all." + +"What mean you?" asked Willie in surprise. + +"You remember what you once said to me about your bosom being on fire," +pursued Frank. "I suppose the fire has not been got under yet, has it?" + +Willie burst into a loud laugh. + +"Why, Blazes, do you not know--? But, no matter; we came here to talk +of business; after that is done we can diverge to love." + +Willie paused here again for a few seconds and then resumed: + +"You must know, Frank, that the cause of Miss Tippet's disturbance just +now is the strange conduct of her landlord, David Boone, who has been +going on of late in a way that would justify his friends putting him in +an asylum. His business affairs are, I fear, in a bad way, and he not +only comes with excessive punctuality for Miss Tippet's rent, but he +asks her for loans of money in a wild incoherent fashion, and favours +her with cautions and warnings of a kind that are utterly +incomprehensible. Only the other night he came to her and asked if she +did not intend soon to visit some of her friends; and on being informed +that she did not, he went further and advised her to do so, saying that +she was looking very ill, and he feared she would certainly get into bad +health if she did not. In fact, he even said that he feared she would +die if she did not go to the country for a few weeks. Now, all this +would be laughable, as being the eccentricity of a half-cracked fellow, +if it were not that he exhibits such a desperate anxiety that his advice +should be followed, and even begged of the poor lady, with tears in his +eyes, to go to visit her friends. What d'ye think of it, Frank? I +confess myself utterly nonplussed." + +"I don't know what to think," said Frank after a pause. "Either the man +must be mad, or he wishes to rob Miss Tippet's house in her absence." + +Willie admitted that the first supposition might be true, but he held +stoutly that the second was impossible, for Boone was too honest for +that. They conversed for some time on this point, and both came +ultimately to the conclusion that the thing was incomprehensible and +mysterious, and that it ought to be watched and inquired into. Willie, +moreover, said he would go and consult his friend Barret about it. + +"You know Barret, Frank?" + +"No; but I have heard of him." + +"Ah, he's a first-rate fellow--in one of the insurance offices--I forget +which. I came to know him when I first went to Mr Tippet's. He lived +then in the floor below us with a drunken companion whom he was anxious +to reclaim; but he found him so hard to manage that he at last left him, +and went to live in Hampstead. He and I became great friends when he +lived under our workshop. He got married two years ago, and I have not +seen much of him since, but he's a sharp fellow, and knows a good deal +more of the Tippets than I was aware of. I'll go and see if he can +throw any light on this subject." + +"The next point," pursued Willie, "is Cattley the clown. Have you seen +or heard of him lately?" + +Frank said he had not. + +"Well, I am greatly troubled about him. He has become a regular +drunkard, and leads his poor daughter a terrible life. He is so broken +down with dissipation that he can scarcely procure employment anywhere. +His son is fortunately a pretty decent fellow, though somewhat wild, and +helps in a small way to support his father, having obtained a situation +as clown at one of the minor theatres. The daughter, Ziza, has long ago +given up the profession, and has been struggling to maintain herself and +her father by painting fire-screens, and making artificial flowers; but +the work is severe and ill paid, and I see quite well that if the poor +girl is not relieved in some way she will not be able to bear up." + +"I grieve to hear this, Willie," said Frank, "but how comes it that you +take so great an interest in these people?" + +"Frank," said Willie, assuming a tone of deep seriousness, while a glow +suffused his cheeks, "can you keep a secret?" + +"I think so, lad; at least I promise to try." + +"Well, then," said Willie, "I love Ziza Cattley. I knew her first as a +fairy, I know her now as a woman who is worthy of a place among the +angels, for none but those who know her well and have seen her fighting +the battle of life can have the least idea of the self-denial, the +perseverance under difficulties, the sweetness of temper, and the +deep-seated love of that devoted girl. She goes every night, after the +toil of each day, to the door of the theatre, where she waits to conduct +her father safely past the gin-palaces, into which, but for her, he +would infallibly stray, and she spends all she has in making him +comfortable, but I see well enough that this is killing her. She can't +stand it long, and I won't stand it at all! I've made up my mind to +that. Now, Frank, I want your advice." + +To say that Frank was hearty in his assurances that he would do what he +could to help his brother, would be a faint way of stating the truth. +Frank shook Willie by the hand and congratulated him on having gained +the affections of one whom he knew to be a good girl, and then condoled +with him on that girl's unfortunate circumstances; but Willie stopped +him short at this point by asking him in a tone of surprise what could +be the matter with him, for at first he had been apparently annoyed at +the notion of his (Willie's) being in love, and now he seemed quite +pleased about it. In short, his conduct was unaccountable! + +Frank laughed, but said eagerly-- + +"Why. Willie, did you not tell me long ago that there was a fire in +your bosom, lit up by a certain young friend of Miss Tippet's--" + +"Oh," interrupted Willie, "Emma Ward; ah, yes, I confess that I did feel +spooney once in that direction when I was a boy, but the fairy displaced +her long ago. No, no, Frank, I'm not accountable for boyish fancies. +By the way, I have just parted from the fair Emma. We had a +_tete-a-tete_ here not half an hour before you arrived." + +"Here!" exclaimed Frank in surprise. + +"Ay, here," repeated Willie; "she passes this pond every morning, she +told me, on her way to teach a family in Kensington; by the way, I +didn't think of asking whether the father, mother, and servants were +included among her pupils. Why, Frank, what an absent frame of mind you +are in this morning! I declare it is not worth a man's while consulting +you about anything." + +"I beg pardon," cried Frank quickly, "your words caused my mind to +wander a bit. Come, what do you think of doing?" + +"What do you think I should do? that is the question." + +"You can offer to assist them," suggested Frank. "I've done so," said +the other, "but Ziza won't accept of assistance." + +"Could we not manage to get her a situation of some sort with light work +and good pay?" + +"Ah! a fireman's, for instance," cried Willie, with a sarcastic laugh; +"did you ever hear of a situation with light work and good pay except +under Government? _I_ never did; but we might perhaps find _steady_ +work and good pay. It would only be required for a time, because I mean +to--ah, well, no matter--but how and where is it to be got? Good Mr +Tippet is of no use, because he is mad." + +"Mad, Willie!" + +"Ay, mad as a March hare. For years back I have suspected it, but now, +I am sure of it; in fact I feel that I have gradually come to be his +keeper--but more of that anon. Meanwhile, what is to be done for the +Cattleys?" + +"Could nothing be done with Mr Auberly?" + +Willie shook his head. + +"No, I fear not. He was in a soft state once--long ago--six or seven +years now, I think--when the dear fairy was ill and he seemed as if he +were going to become a man; but his daughter Loo had just begun to be +ill at that time. She's been so long ill now that he has got used to +it, and has relapsed again into an oyster." + +"He might be reached through Loo yet," said Frank. + +"Perhaps," replied Willie, "but I doubt it, for he's a blunt old fellow +in his feelings, however sharp he may be in his business; besides, Loo +is so weak now that very few are allowed to see her except Ziza, and +Miss Tippet, and Emma Ward." + +The brothers remained silent after this for some time, for neither of +them could see his way out of their difficulties; at last Frank +suggested that Willie should go home and consult his mother. + +"She is wise, Willie, and has never given us bad advice yet." + +"I know what her first advice will be," said Willie. + +"What?" asked Frank. + +"To go and pray about it," answered Willie. + +"Well, she might give worse advice than that," said Frank, with much +earnestness. "In fact, I doubt if she could give better." + +"True," assented Willie, "and now, old fellow, I'm off. Mr Tippet +likes punctuality. I'll look in at the station in passing if anything +turns up to clear my mind on these matters; meanwhile good-bye." + +It is a remarkable fact that Frank Willders took an early walk, as +frequently as possible, in Kensington Gardens, near the pond, after this +conversation with his brother, and it is a still more remarkable fact, +that he always felt like a guilty man on these occasions, as if he were +taking some mean advantage of some one; yet it was certain that he took +advantage of no one, for nobody ever met him there by any chance +whatever! A fact even more remarkable still was, that never, after that +day, did Emma Ward go to her duties through Kensington Gardens, but +always by the Bayswater Road, although the latter was dusty and +unpicturesque compared with the former; and it is a circumstance worthy +of note, as savouring a little of mystery, that Emma acted as if she too +were a guilty creature during her morning walks, and glanced uneasily +from side to side as she went along, expecting, apparently, that a +policeman or a detective would pounce upon her suddenly and bear her off +to prison. But, whether guilty or not guilty, it is plain that no +policeman or detective had the heart to do it, for Miss Ward went on her +mission daily without molestation. + +It is not easy to say what was the cause of these unaccountable +proceedings. We might hazard an opinion, but we feel that our duty is +accomplished when we have simply recorded them. Perhaps love had +something to do with them--perhaps not--who knows? + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +WHAT DRINK WILL DO. + +Time passed on, as time is wont to do, and Christmas came again. The +snow was deep in London streets and thick on the roofs and chimneys. It +curled over the eaves of the houses in heavy white folds ready to fall +and smother the unwary passengers. It capped the railings everywhere +with little white knobs, and rounded off the corners of things so, that +wherever the eye alighted, the same impressions were invariably conveyed +to it, namely, whiteness and rotundity. Corinthian capitals were +rendered, if possible, more ornate than ever by snow; equestrian statues +were laden with it so heavily, that the horses appeared to stagger +beneath their trappings and the riders, having white tips to their +noses, white lumps on their heads and shoulders, and white patches on +their cheek-bones and chins, looked ineffably ridiculous, and miserably +cold. Everything, in fact, was covered and blocked up with snow, and +Londoners felt as if they had muffled drums in their ears. + +It was morning. The sky was clear, the air still, and the smoke of +chimneys perpendicular. Poulterers' shops were in their holiday attire; +toy-shops were in the ascendant, and all other shops were gayer than +usual. So were the people who thronged the streets and beat their hands +and stamped their feet--for it was unusually cold. + +Street boys were particularly lively, and chaff was flying as thickly as +snow-flakes had fallen the night before. Even the roughs--who forsook +their dens, and, with shovels and brooms on their shoulders, paraded the +streets, intent on clearing door-steps with or without the leave of +inhabitants--seemed to be less gruff than usual, and some of them even +went the length of cutting jokes with the cabmen and the boys. Perhaps +their spirits were elevated by the proud consciousness of being for once +in the way of earning an honest penny! + +"I say, Ned," observed one of these roughs (a lively one), who was very +rough indeed, to a companion, who was rougher still and gloomy, "look at +that there gal cleanin' of her steps with a fire-shovel! Ain't that +economy gone mad? Hallo, young 'ooman, what's the use o' trying to do +it with a teaspoon, when there's Ned and me ready to do it with our +shovels for next to nothin'?" + +The servant-girl declined the assistance thus liberally offered, so the +two men moved slowly on, looking from side to side as they went, in +expectation of employment, while a small boy, in a man's hat, who walked +behind them, nodded to the girl, and said she was a "sensible thrifty +gal," and that she might be sure there was "some feller unknown who +would bless the day he was born after he'd got her." + +Fifty yards farther on, a stout, red-faced, elderly gentleman was +observed to look out at the street door and frown at things in general. + +"Have your door-steps cleaned, sir?" asked the lively rough, taking the +shovel off his shoulder. + +The elderly gentleman being angry, on private and unknown grounds +(perhaps bad digestion), vouchsafed no reply, but looked up at the sky +and then over the way. + +"Do it cheap, sir," said the lively rough. + +"No!" said the elderly gentleman, with a sort of snapping look, as he +turned his gaze up the street and then down it. + +"Snow's wery deep on the steps, sir," said the rough. + +"D'you suppose I'm an ass?" exclaimed the elderly gentleman, in a sudden +burst. + +"Well, sir," said the lively rough, in the grave tone and manner of one +who has had a difficult question in philosophy put to him, "well, sir, I +don't know about that." + +His large mouth expanded gradually from ear to ear after this reply. +The elderly gentleman's face became scarlet and his nose purple, and +retreating two paces, he slammed the door violently in the rough's face. + +"Ah, it all comes of over-feedin', poor feller," said the lively man, +shouldering his shovel and resuming his walk beside his gloomy comrade, +who neither smiled nor frowned at these pleasantries. + +"A warm old g'n'l'm'n!" remarked the boy in the man's hat as he passed. + +The lively man nodded and winked. + +"Might eat his wittles raw an' cook 'em inside a'most!" continued the +boy; "would advise him to keep out of 'yde Park, though, for fear he'd +git too near the powder-magazine!" + +At this point the gloomy rough--who did not appear, however, to be a +genuine rough, but a pretty good imitation of one, made of material that +had once seen better days--stopped, and said to his comrade that he was +tired of that sort of work, and would bid him good-day. Without waiting +for an answer he walked away, and his companion, without vouchsafing a +reply, looked after him with a sneer. + +"A rum cove!" he remarked to the small boy in the man's hat, as he +continued his progress. + +"Rayther," replied the boy. + +With this interchange of sentiment these casual acquaintances parted, to +meet probably no more! + +Meanwhile the gloomy rough, whom the lively one had called Ned, walked +with rapid steps along several streets, as though he had a distinct +purpose in view. He turned at last into a narrow, quiet street, and +going up to the door of a shabby-genteel house, applied the knocker with +considerable vigour. + +"Now then, go along with you; we don't want _your_ services here; we +clear off our own snow, we do. Imprence! to knock, too, as if he was a +gentleman!" + +This was uttered by a servant-girl who had thrust her head out of a +second-floor window to take an observation of the visitor before going +down to open the door. + +"Is he at home, Betsy dear?" inquired the gloomy man, looking up with a +leer which proved that he could be the reverse of gloomy when he chose. + +"Oh, it's you, is it? I don't think he wants to see you; indeed, I'm +sure of it," said the girl. + +"Yes he does, dear; at all events I want to see him; and, Betsy, say +it's pressing business, and _not_ beggin'." + +Betsy disappeared, and soon after, reappearing at the door, admitted the +man, whom she ushered into a small apartment, which was redolent of +tobacco, and in which sat a young man slippered and dressing-gowned, +taking breakfast. + +"How are you, doctor?" said the visitor, in a tone that did not accord +with his soiled and ragged garments, as he laid down his hat and shovel, +and flung himself into a chair. + +"None the better for seeing you, Hooper," replied the doctor sternly. + +"Well, well!" exclaimed Ned, "what a world we live in, to be sure! It +was `Hail fellow! well met,' when I was well off; now," (he scowled +here) "my old familiars give me the cold shoulder _because I'm poor_." + +"You know that you are unjust," said the doctor, leaning back in his +chair, and speaking less sternly though not less firmly; "you know, Ned, +that I have helped you with advice and with money to the utmost extent +of my means, and you know that it was a long, long time before I ceased +to call you one of my friends; but I do not choose to be annoyed by a +man who has deliberately cast himself to the dogs, whose companions are +the lowest wretches in London, and whose appearance is dirty and +disgusting as well as disreputable." + +"I can't help it," pleaded Hooper; "I can get no work." + +"I don't wonder at that," replied the doctor; every friend you ever had +has got you work of one kind or another during the last few years, and +you have drunk yourself out of it every time. Do you imagine that your +friends will continue to care for a man who cares not for himself? + +Ned did not reply, but hung his head in moody silence. + +"Now," continued the doctor, "my time is a little more valuable than +yours; state what you have got to say, and then be off. Stay," he +added, in a softened tone, "have you breakfasted?" + +"No," answered Ned, with a hungry glance at the table. + +"Well, then, as you did not come to beg, you may draw in your chair and +go to work." + +Ned at once availed himself of this permission, and his spirits revived +wonderfully as he progressed with the meal, during which he stated the +cause of his visit. + +"The fact is," said he, "that I want your assistance, doctor--" + +"I told you already," interrupted the other, "that I have assisted you +to the utmost extent of my means." + +"My good fellow, not so sharp, pray," said Ned, helping himself to +another roll, the first having vanished like a morning cloud; "I don't +want money--ah: that is to say, I _do_ want money, but I don't want +yours. No; I came here to ask you to help me to get a body." + +"A body. What do you mean?" + +"Why, what I say; surely you've cut up enough of 'em to know 'em by +name; a dead body, doctor,--a subject." + +The doctor smiled. + +"That's a strange request, Ned. You're not going to turn to my +profession as a last resort, I hope?" + +"No, not exactly; but a friend of mine wants a body--that's all, and +offers to pay me a good round sum if I get one for him." + +"Is your friend a medical man?" asked the doctor. + +"N-no, he's not. In fact, he has more to do with spirits than bodies; +but he wants one of the latter--and I said I'd try to get him one--so, +if you can help me, do so, like a good fellow. My friend is particular, +however; he wants a _man_ one, above six feet, thin and sallow, and with +long black hair." + +"You don't suppose I keep a stock of assorted subjects on hand, do you?" +said the doctor. "I fear it won't be easy to get what you want. Do you +know what your friend intends to do with it?" + +"Not I, and I don't care," said Ned, pouring out another cup of coffee. +"What does a body cost?" + +"Between two and three pounds," replied the doctor. + +"Dear me, so cheap," said Ned, with a look of surprise; "then that +knocks on the head a little plan I had. I thought of offering myself +for sale at Guy's or one of the hospitals, and drinking myself to death +with the money, leaving my address, so that they might know where to +find me; but it's not worth while to do it for so little; in fact, I +don't believe I could accomplish it on three pounds' worth of +dissipation." + +"Don't jest about your besetting sin," said the doctor gravely; "it's +bad enough without that." + +"Bad enough," exclaimed Ned, with a sudden flash of ferocity; "ay, bad +enough in all conscience, and the worst of it is, that it makes me ready +to jest about _anything_--in heaven, earth, or hell. Oh, drink! +accursed drink!" + +He started up and clutched the hair of his head with both hands for a +moment; but the feeling passed away, and he sat down again and resumed +breakfast, while he said in a graver tone than he had yet used-- + +"Excuse me, doctor; I'm subject to these bursts now and then. Well, +what say you about the body? My friend offers me twenty pounds, if I +get the right kind. That would be seventeen pounds of profit on the +transaction. It's worth an effort. It might put me in the way of +making one more stand." + +Ned said this sadly, for he had made so many stands in time past, and +failed to retain his position, that hope was at dead low-water of a very +neap-tide now. + +"I don't like the look of the thing," said the doctor. "There's too +much secrecy about it for me. Why don't your friend speak out like a +man; state what he wants it for, and get it in the regular way?" + +"It mayn't be a secret, for all I know," said Ned Hooper, as he +concluded his repast. "I did not take the trouble to ask him; because I +didn't care. You might help me in this, doctor." + +"Well, I'll put you in the way of getting what you want," said the +doctor, after a few moments reflection; "but you must manage it +yourself. I'll not act personally in such an affair; and let me advise +you to make sure that you are not getting into a scrape before you take +any steps in the matter. Meanwhile, I must wish you good-day. Call +here again to-night, at six." + +The doctor rose as he spoke, and accompanied Ned to the door. He left a +coin of some sort in his palm, when he shook hands. + +"Thankee," said Ned. + +"If you had come to beg, you should not have got it," said the doctor. +"God help him!" he added as he shut the door; "it is an awful sight to +see an old companion fall so low." + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. + +AN OLD PLOT. + +It is evening now. The snow is still on the ground; but it looks ruddy +and warm in the streets, because of the blaze of light from the +shop-windows, and it looks colder than it did on the house-tops, by +reason of the moon which sails in the wintry sky. + +The man in the moon must have been in good spirits that night, for his +residence seemed almost fuller than the usual full moon, and decidedly +brighter--to many, at least, of the inhabitants of London. It looked +particularly bright to Miss Tippet, as she gazed at it through the +windows of her upper rooms, and awaited the arrival of "a few friends" +to tea. Miss Tippet's heart was animated with feelings of love to God +and man; and she had that day, in obedience to the Divine precept, +attempted and accomplished a good many little things, all of which were, +either directly or indirectly, calculated to make human beings happy. + +Emma Ward, too, thought the moon particularly bright that night; in fact +she might almost have been regarded as a lunatic; so steadily did she +gaze at the moon, and smile to herself without any apparent motive. +There was reason for her joy, however, for she had come to know, in some +mysterious way, that Frank Willders loved her; and she had known, for a +long time past, that she loved Frank Willders. + +Frank had become a foreman of the Fire Brigade, and had been removed +from his former station and comrades to his new charge in the city. But +Frank had not only risen in his profession; he had also risen +intellectually. His mother had secured to him a pretty good education +to begin with, and his own natural taste and studious habits had led him +to read extensively. His business required him to sit up and watch when +other men slept. He seldom went to bed before four o'clock any morning, +and when he did take his rest he lay down like the soldier in an enemy's +country, ready to rush to arms at the first sound of the bugle. His +bugle, by the way, was a speaking-trumpet, one end of which was close to +the head of his bed, the other end being in the lobby where the men on +duty for the night reposed. + +During these long watches in the silent lobby, with the two men belted +and booted on their tressels, the clock ticking gently by his side, like +the soft quiet voice of a chatty but not tiresome friend, Frank read +book after book with absorbing interest. History, poetry, travel, +romance--all kinds were equally devoured. At the particular time of +which we write, however, he read more of poetry than of anything else. + +The consequence was that Frank, who was one of nature's gentlemen, +became a well-informed man, and might have moved in any circle of +society with credit to himself, and profit as well as pleasure to +others. + +Frank was by nature grave, sedate, earnest, thoughtful. Emma was +equally earnest--more so perhaps--but she was light-hearted (not light +_headed_, observe) and volatile. The result was mutual attraction. Let +philosophers account for the mutual attraction of these qualities as +they best may, we simply record the fact. History records it; nature +records it; experience--everything records it; who has the temerity, or +folly, to deny it? + +Emma and Frank _felt_ it, and, in some mysterious way, Frank had come to +know something or other about Emma's feelings, which it is not our +business to inquire into too particularly. + +So, then, Frank also gazed--no, not at the moon; it would have required +him to ascend three flights of stairs, and a ladder, besides passing +through a trap to the roof of the station, to enable him to do that; but +there was a lamp over the fireplace, with a tin reflector, which had +quite a dazzling effect of its own--not a bad imitation of the moon in a +small way--so he gazed at that, and thought it very bright indeed; +brighter than usual. + +We may as well put the reader out of suspense at once by saying that we +do not intend to describe Miss Tippet's evening with "a few friends." +Our own private opinion in regard to the matter is, that if they had +been fewer than they were, and more worthy of the name of friends, the +evening might have been worth recording, but it is sufficient to say +that they all came; acted as usual, spoke as usual, felt as usual, +"favoured the company" with songs, as usual, and--ah--yes--enjoyed +themselves as usual till about half-past eleven o'clock, when they all +took their leave, with the exception of Miss Deemas, who, in +consideration of the coldness of the weather, had agreed to spend the +night with her "dear friend." + +Miss Deemas was one of those unfortunates with whom it is impossible for +any one to sleep. Besides being angular and hard, she had a habit of +kicking in her slumbers, and, being powerful, was a dangerous bedfellow. +She knew this herself, and therefore wisely preferred, when visiting +her friends, to sleep alone. Hence it happened that Miss Tippet and +Emma went to bed in the back room with the green hangings, while Miss +Deemas retired to the front room with the blue paper. + +There is a common fallacy in naval matters founded on poetical license, +to the effect that the mariner is separated from death by a single +plank; whereas, the unpoetical truth is, that the separation consists of +many hundreds of planks, and a solid bulwark of timbers more than a foot +thick, besides an inner "skin," the whole being held together by +innumerable iron and oaken bolts and trenails, and tightened with oakum +and pitch. We had almost fallen into this error--or poetical laxity of +expression--by saying that, on the night of which we write, little did +Miss Tippet know that she was separated from, not death exactly, but +from something very awful, by a single plank; at least, by the floor of +her own residence, and the ceiling of the house below--as the sequel +will show. + +That same night, David Boone, gaunt, tall, and cadaverous as of old, sat +in his back parlour, talking with his friend Gorman. + +"Now, Boone," said the latter, with an oath, "I'm not goin' to hang off +and on any longer. It's more than seven years since we planned this +business, the insurances have been effected, you've bin a prosperous +man, yet here you are, deeper in my debt than ever." + +"Quite true," replied Boone, whose face was so pale that he might have +easily been mistaken for a ghost, "but you know I have paid up my +premiums quite regular, and your interest too, besides clearin' off some +of the principal. Come, don't be hard on me, Gorman. If it had not +been that trade has got worse of late, I would have cleared off all I +owe you, but indeed, indeed I have not been so successful of late, and +I'm again in difficulties. If you will only wait--" + +"No," cried Gorman, "I'll not wait. I have waited long enough. How +long would you have me wait--eh? Moreover, I'm not hard on you. I show +you an easy way to make a good thing of it, and you're so +chicken-hearted that you're afraid to do it." + +"It's such a mean thing to do," said Boone. + +"Mean! Why, what do you call the style of carrying on business that you +started with seven years ago, and have practised more or less ever +since?" + +"That is mean, too," said Boone; "I'm ashamed of it; sorry for it. It +was for a time successful no doubt, and I have actually paid off all my +creditors except yourself, but I don't think it the less mean on that +account, and I'm thoroughly ashamed of it." + +There was a good deal of firmness in Boone's tone as he said this, and +his companion was silent for a few minutes. + +"I have arranged," he said at last, "about your making over your +policies of insurance to me as security for the debt you owe me. You +won't have to pay them next half-year, I'll do that for you _if +necessary_." He laughed as he said this. "I have now come to ask you +to set the house alight, and have the plan carried out, and the whole +affair comfortably settled." + +Gorman said this in an encouraging voice, assuming that his dupe was +ready to act. + +"B-but it's awful to think of," said Boone; "suppose it's found out?" + +"How can it be found out?" + +"Well, I don't know. It's wonderful how crime is discovered," said +Boone despondingly; "besides, think of the risk we run of burning the +people who live above, as well as my two clerks who sleep in the room +below us; that would be murder, you know. I'm sure I have tried my very +best to get Miss Tippet to go from home for a short time, I've almost +let the cat out of the bag in my anxiety, but she won't take the hint." + +"Oho!" exclaimed Gorman, with a laugh. + +"Well, have you made the arrangements as I directed you last night?" + +"Yes, I've got a lot of tarry oakum scattered about, and there is a pile +of shavings," he added, pointing to a corner of the room; "the only +thing I'm anxious about is that my young man Robert Roddy caught me +pouring turpentine on the walls and floor of the shop. I pretended that +it was water I had in the can, and that I was sprinkling it to lay the +dust before sweeping up. Roddy is a slow, stupid youth; he always was, +and, I daresay, did not notice the smell." + +Gorman was himself filled with anxiety on hearing the first part of +this, but at the conclusion he appeared relieved. + +"It's lucky you turned it off so," said he, "and Roddy _is_ a stupid +fellow. I daresay he has no suspicion. In fact, I am sure of it." + +"It's not of much importance _now_, however," said Boone, rising and +confronting his friend with more firmness than he had ever before +exhibited to him, "because I have resolved _not to do it_." + +Gorman lit his pipe at the fire, looking at the bowl of it with a +scornful smile as he replied-- + +"Oh! you have made up your mind, have you?" + +"Yes, decidedly. Nothing will move me. You may do your worst." + +"Very good," remarked Gorman, advancing with the lighted paper towards +the heap of shavings. + +Boone sprang towards him, and, seizing his arms, grasped the light and +crushed it out. + +"What would you do, madman?" he cried. "You can only ruin me, but do +you not know that I will have the power to denounce you as a +fire-raiser?" + +Gorman laughed, and returned to the fireplace, while Boone sat down on a +chair almost overcome with terror. + +"What! you dare to defy me?" said Gorman, with an air of assumed pity. +"A pretty case you would have to make out of it. You fill your shop +with combustibles, you warn your tenant upstairs to get out of the +premises for a time in a way that must be quite unaccountable to her +(until the fire accounts for it), and your own clerk sees you spilling +turpentine about the place the day before the fire occurs, and yet you +have the stupidity to suppose that people will believe you when you +denounce _me_!" + +Poor David Boone's wits seemed to be sharpened by his despair, for he +said suddenly, after a short pause-- + +"If the case is so bad it will tell against yourself, Gorman, for I +shall be certainly convicted, and the insurance will not be paid to +you." + +"Ay, but the case is not so bad as it looks," said Gorman, "if you only +have the sense to hold your tongue and do what you are told; for nobody +knows all these things but you and me, and nobody can put them together +except ourselves--d'ye see?" + +"It matters not," said Boone firmly; "I _won't_ do it--there!" + +Both men leaped up. At the same moment there was a sound as of +something falling in the shop. They looked at each other. + +"Go see what it is," said Gorman. + +The other stepped to the door. + +"It's only two of my wax-dolls tumbled off the shelf," he said on +returning. + +An exclamation of horror escaped him, for he saw that the heap of +shavings had been set on fire during his momentary absence, and Gorman +stood watching them with a demoniacal grin. + +Boone was struck dumb. He could not move or speak. He made a feeble +effort to stretch out his hands as if to extinguish the fire, but Gorman +seized him in his powerful grasp and held him fast. In a few seconds +the flames were leaping up the walls, and the room was so full of smoke +that they were driven into the front shop. + +"Now, then," said Gorman in a fierce whisper, "your _only_ chance is to +act out your part as wisely as you can. Shout _fire_! now till you're +black in the face--fire! _Fire_!! FIRE!!!" + +David Boone obeyed with all his might, and, when Gorman released him, +ran back into the parlour to try to extinguish the flames, but he was +driven back again, scorched and half-choked, while Gorman ran off at +full speed to the nearest station, gave the alarm, received the shilling +reward for being first to give the call, and then went leisurely home to +bed. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. + +AT THE POST OF DUTY. + +Fire! There is something appalling in the cry to most ears; something +deadly in the sound; something that tells of imminent danger and urgent +haste. After David Boone's first alarm was given, other voices took it +up; passers-by became suddenly wild, darted about spasmodically and +shouted it; late sitters-up flung open their windows and proclaimed it; +sleepers awoke crying, "What! where?" and, huddling on their clothes, +rushed out to look at it; little boys yelled it; frantic females +screamed it, and in a few minutes the hubbub in Poorthing Lane swelled +into a steady roar. + +Among the sound sleepers in that region was Miss Deemas. The fair head +of that lady reposed on its soft pillow all unconscious of the fact that +she was even then being gently smoked before being roasted alive. + +Miss Tippet, on the very first note of alarm, bounced out of bed with an +emphatic "There!" which was meant to announce the triumphant fulfilment +of an old prophecy which she had been in the habit of making for some +time past; namely, that Matty Merryon would certainly set the house on +fire if she did not take care! + +The energy with which Miss Tippet sprang to the floor and exclaimed +"There!" caused Emma Ward to open her eyes to the utmost possible +extent, and exclaim, "Where?" + +Without waiting for a reply she too bounded out of bed like an +indiarubber ball, and seeing (for there was always a night-light in the +room) that Miss Tippet's face was as white as her night-dress, she +attempted to shriek, but failed, owing to a lump of some kind that had +got somehow into her throat, and which refused to be swallowed on any +terms. + +The repetition of the cry, "Fire! fire!" outside, induced both ladies at +once to become insane. Miss Tippet, with a touch of method even in her +madness, seized the counterpane, wrapped it round her, and rushed out of +the room and downstairs. Emma followed her example with a blanket, and +also fled, just as Matty Merryon, who slept in an attic room above, +tumbled down her wooden staircase and burst into the room by another +door, uttering a wild exclamation that was choked in the bud partly by +terror, partly by smoke. Attempting in vain to wrap herself in a +bolster, Matty followed her mistress. All three had utterly forgotten +the existence of Miss Deemas. That strong-minded lady being, as we have +hinted, a sound sleeper, was not awakened by the commotion in the +street. In fact, she was above such weaknesses. Becoming aware of a +crackling sound and a sensation of smoke, she smiled sweetly in her +slumbers, and, turning gently on her other side, with a sigh, dreamed +ardently of fried ham and eggs--her usual breakfast. + +While these events were occurring the cry of fire had reached the ears +of one of London's guardians; our friend Samuel Forest. That +stout-hearted man was seated at the time rapping the sides of his +sentry-box with his head, in a useless struggle with sleep. He had just +succumbed, and was snoring out his allegiance to the great conqueror, +when the policeman on the beat dashed open his door and shouted "Fire!" + +Sam was a calm, self-possessed man. He was no more flurried by this +sudden, unexpected, and fierce shout of "Fire," than he would have been +if the policeman had in a mild voice made a statement of water. But, +although self-possessed and cool, Sam was not slow. With one energetic +effort he tripped up and floored the conqueror with one hand, as it +were, while he put on his black helmet with the other, and in three +minutes more the fire-escape was seen coming up the lane like a rampant +monster of the antediluvian period. + +It was received by the crowd with frantic cheers, because they had just +become aware that a lady was asleep in one of the upper rooms, which +were by that time unapproachable, owing to the lower part of the +staircase having caught fire. + +The fact was made known with a sudden look of horror by Miss Tippet, +who, with Emma Ward, had been rescued from the first-floor window by a +gallant policeman. This man, having procured a ladder, entered the +house at considerable personal risk, and carried the ladies out in +safety, one after the other; an event, we may remark in passing, which +is not of rare occurrence at London fires, where the police are noted +for their efficient services and for the daring of some of the members +of the force, many of whom have received medals and other rewards for +acts of personal daring in attempting to save life before the firemen +had arrived on the ground. + +Having put Miss Tippet and Emma in a place of security, the policeman +was about to make a desperate attempt to reach the upper floor by +rushing through the flames, when the escape came up and rendered it +unnecessary. + +Dozens of tongues and hundreds of voices directed Sam Forest to the +right window. He pointed his escape towards it, but so vigorous was the +uninvited assistance lent by the crowd that the head of the machine went +crashing through it and dashed the frame into the middle of the room. + +To say that Miss Deemas was horror-struck by such an awakening would be +to use a mild expression. Her strong mind was not strong enough to +prevent her strong body from trembling like an aspen leaf, as she lay +for a few moments unable to cry or move. Suddenly she believed that she +was dreaming, and that the instrument which had burst through her window +was a nightmare or a guillotine, and she made dreadful efforts to pinch +herself awake without success. Next moment a man's head, looking very +grim in the light of a bull's-eye lamp, appeared at the top of the +guillotine. So far this was in keeping with her idea; but when the head +leapt into the room, followed by its relative body, and made a rush at +her, Miss Deemas cast courage and philosophy to the dogs, gave herself +over to abject fear, uttered a piercing shriek, dipped her head under +the bedclothes, and, drawing her knees up to her mouth, clasped her +hands over them in agony. + +"Come, ma'am, don't take on so; no time to lose; floor's goin' down!" +said Sam. He coughed as he said it, for the smoke was getting thicker +every moment. + +Shriek upon shriek was the only answer vouchsafed by the terrified +Eagle. A wild cheer from the mob outside seemed to be a reply of +encouragement to her; but it was not so; it was called forth by the +sudden appearance of a fire-engine dashing round the corner of the lane. + +"Be quiet, my good lady," said Sam Forest in a voice of tenderness; but +if his voice was tender his actions were the reverse, for it was now a +matter of life or death; so he grasped the Eagle, bedclothes and all, in +his arms, and bore her to the window. + +It is probable that this act revived in Miss Deemas some reminiscences +of her childhood, for she suddenly straightened herself out and +struggled violently, after the manner of those sweet little ones who +_won't_ be made to sit on nurse's knees. Being a tall, heavy woman, she +struggled out of Sam's grasp and fell to the floor; but her victory was +short-lived. Another moment and that bold man had her round the waist, +in a grasp from which she could not free herself. Sam was considerate, +however, and polite even in this extremity. He begged pardon as he +wrapped the bedclothes round his victim, and lifting her into the head +of the escape, let her go. + +No swoop that the Eagle ever made (mentally) down upon base, unworthy, +arrogant man, was at all comparable to the descent which she made +(physically) on that occasion into the arms of an expectant fireman! +She held her breath, also the blankets, tightly, as she went down like a +lightning-flash, and felt that she was about to be dashed to pieces, but +to her surprise soft cushions received her, and she was immediately +borne, by another of these desperate men in helmets, into an adjoining +house, and left unhurt in the arms of her sympathetic friend Miss +Tippet. + +"Oh, my dear, _dear_ Julia!" exclaimed Miss Tippet, shutting the door of +the room into which they had been ushered, and assisting her friend to +disentangle herself from the bedclothes. "Oh! what a mercy we've not +all been roasted alive like beef steaks--or--oh! _what_ a sight you are, +my darling! You must have got it coming down that dreadful thing--the +what's-'is-name, you know. Shall I ring for water?" + +"Tut, nonsense!" exclaimed the Eagle, panting as well from nervous +excitement as exhaustion; "you are always so fussy, Emelina. Please +assist me to tie this string, Miss Ward." + +"Yes, I know I'm fussy, dear Julia!" exclaimed Miss Tippet, bustling +nervously about the room; "but I can't help it, and I'm so thankful +for--; but it was so bold in these noble fellows to risk their lives +to--" + +"Noble fellows!" shouted Miss Deemas, with flashing eyes, "d'you call it +noble to pull me out of bed, and roll me in a blanket and shoot me down +a--a--I don't know what, like a sack of coals? Noble fellows, indeed! +Brutes!" + +Here Miss Deemas clasped her hands above her head in a passion of +conflicting feelings, and, being unable to find words for utterance, +burst into a flood of tears, dropped into a chair, and covered her face +with both hands. + +"Dear, dear, _darling_ Julia!" said Miss Tippet soothingly. + +"Don't speak to me!" sobbed the Eagle passionately, and stamping her +foot; "I can't bear to think of it." + +"But you know, dear," persevered her friend, "they could not help +being--being--what d'you call it?--energetic, you know, for it was not +rough. We should all have been roasted to death but for them, and I +feel very, _very_ grateful to them. I shall respect that policeman as +long as I live." + +"Ah, sure an' he _is_ a dacent boy now," said Matty Merryon, who entered +the room just then; "the way he lifted you an' Miss Emma up an' flung ye +over his showlder, as aisy as if ye was two bolsters, was beautiful to +look at; indade it was. Shure it remimbered me o' the purty pottery ye +was readin' just the other night, as was writ by O'Dood or O'Hood--" + +"Hood," suggested Miss Tippet. + +"P'r'aps it was," said Matty; "he'd be none the worse of an O before his +name anyhow. But the pottery begood with--`Take her up tinderly, lift +her with care,' if I don't misremimber." + +"_Will_ you hold your tongue!" cried the Eagle, looking up suddenly and +drying her eyes. + +"Surely, miss," said Matty, with a toss of her head; "anything to plaize +ye." + +It is due to Matty to say that, while the policeman was descending the +ladder with her mistress, she had faithfully remained to comfort and +encourage Emma; and after Emma was rescued she had quietly descended the +ladder without assistance, having previously found time to clothe +herself in something a little more ample and appropriate than a bolster. + +But where was David Boone all this time? Rather say, where was he not? +Everywhere by turns, and nowhere long, was David to be seen, in the +frenzy of his excitement. Conscience-smitten, for what he had done, or +rather intended to do, he ran wildly about, making the most desperate +efforts to extinguish the fire. + +No one knows what he can do till he is tried. That is a proverb (at +least if it is not it ought to be) which embraces much deep truth. The +way in which David Boone set personal danger at defiance, and seemed to +regard suffocation by smoke or roasting by fire as terminations of life +worth courting, was astounding, and rendered his friends and neighbours +dumb with amazement. + +David was now on the staircase among the firemen, fighting his way up +through fire and smoke, for the purpose of saving Miss Tippet, until he +was hauled forcibly back by Dale or Baxmore--who were in the thick of it +as usual. Anon, down in the basement, knee-deep in water, searching for +the bodies of his two shopmen, both of whom were standing comfortably +outside, looking on. Presently he was on the leads of the adjoining +house, directing, commanding, exhorting, entreating, the firemen there +to point their branch at the "blue bedroom." Soon after he was in the +street, tearing his hair, shouting that it was all his fault; that he +did it, and that it would kill him. + +Before the fire was put out, poor Boone's eyelashes and whiskers were +singed off; little hair was left on his head, and that little was short +and frizzled. His clothes, of course, were completely soaked; in +addition to which, they were torn almost to shreds, and some of his skin +was in the same condition. At last he had to be forcibly taken in +charge, and kept shut up in an adjoining house, from the window of which +he watched the destruction of his property and his hopes. + +Almost superhuman efforts had been made by the firemen to save the +house. Many a house in London had they saved that year, partially or +wholly; as, indeed, is the case every year, and many thousands of +pounds' worth of property had they rescued; but this case utterly defied +them. So well had the plot been laid; so thoroughly had the +combustibles been distributed and lubricated with inflammable liquids, +that all the engines in the metropolis would have failed to extinguish +that fire. + +David Boone knew this, and he groaned in spirit. The firemen knew it +not, and they worked like heroes. + +There was a shout at last among the firemen to "look out!" It was +feared one of the partition walls was coming down, so each man beat a +hasty retreat. They swarmed out at the door like bees, and were all +safe when the wall fell--all safe, but one, Joe Corney, who, being a +reckless man, took things too leisurely, and was knocked down by the +falling bricks. + +Moxey and Williams ran back, and carried him out of danger. Then, +seeing that he did not recover consciousness, although he breathed, they +carried him at once to the hospital. The flames of the burning house +sprang up, just then, as if they leaped in triumph over a fallen foe; +but the polished surface of poor Joe's helmet seemed to flash back +defiance at the flames as they bore him away. + +After the partition wall fell, the fire sank, and in the course of a few +hours it was extinguished altogether. But nothing whatever was saved, +and the firemen had only the satisfaction of knowing that they had done +their best, and had preserved the adjoining houses, which would +certainly have gone, but for their untiring energy. + +By this time, David Boone, besides being mad, was in a raging fever. +The tenant of the house to which he had been taken was a friend, as well +as a neighbour of his own--a greengrocer, named Mrs Craw, and she +turned out to be a good Samaritan, for she insisted on keeping Boone in +her house, and nursing him; asserting stoutly, and with a very red face +(she almost always asserted things stoutly, and with a red face), that +Mister Boone was one of 'er best an' holdest friends, as she wouldn't +see 'im go to a hospital on charity--which she despised, so she did--as +long as there was a spare bed in her 'ouse, so there was--which it +wasn't as long as could be wished, considerin' Mister Boone's height; +but that could be put right by knocking out the foot-board, and two +cheers, so it could--and as long she had one copper to rub on another; +no, though she was to be flayed alive for her hospitality. By which +round statement, Mrs Craw was understood to imply a severe rebuke to +Mrs Grab--another greengrocer over the way (and a widow)--who had been +heard to say, during the progress of the fire, that it served Boone +right, and that she wouldn't give him a helping hand in his distress on +any account whatever. + +Why Mrs Grab was so bitter and Mrs Craw so humane is a matter of +uncertainty; but it was generally believed that the former having had a +matrimonial eye on Boone, and that Boone having expressed general +objections to matrimony--besides having gone of late to Mrs Craw for +his vegetables--had something to do with it. + +Next day, D. Gorman happened, quite in a casual way of course, to +saunter into Poorthing Lane; and it was positively interesting to note-- +as many people did note--the surprise and consternation with which he +received the news of the fire from the people at the end of the lane who +first met him, and who knew him well. + +"Wery sad, ain't it, sir?" said a sympathetic barber. "He was sitch a +droll dog too. He'll be quite a loss to the neighbourhood; won't he, +sir?" + +"I hope he won't," said Gorman, loud enough to be heard by several +persons who lounged about their doors. "I hope to see him start afresh, +an' git on better than ever, poor fellow; at least, I'll do all _I_ can +to help him." + +"Ah! you've helped him already, sir, more than once, I believe; at least +so he told me," said the barber, with an approving nod. + +"Well, so I have," returned Gorman modestly, "but he may be assured that +any trifle he owes me won't be called for just now. In fact, my small +loan to him is an old debt, which I might have got any time these last +six years, when he was flourishing; so I'm not going to press him now, +poor fellow. He's ill, you say?" + +"Yes, so I'm told; raither serious too." + +"That's very sad; where is he?" + +"With Mrs Craw, sir, the greengrocer." + +"Ah, I'll go and see him. Good-day." + +Gorman passed on, with as much benignity thrown into his countenance as +it could contain; and the barber observed, as he re-entered his shop, +that, "that man was a better fellow than he looked." + +But Gorman's intentions, whatever they might have been, were frustrated +at that time; for he found Boone in high fever, and quite delirious. He +did not, however, quit the house without putting, as he expressed it, at +least one spoke in his wheel; for he conducted himself in such a way +towards Mrs Craw, and expressed so much feeling for her friend "and +his," that he made quite a favourable impression on that worthy woman. +He also left a sovereign, wherewith to purchase any little luxuries for +the sick man, that might be conducive to his health and comfort, and +went away with the assurance that he would look in to inquire for him as +often as he could. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. + +WILLIE WILLDERS IN DIFFICULTIES. + +Mr Thomas Tippet, beaming and perspiring as of old, was standing at his +bench, chisel in hand, and Willie Willders was standing with his back to +the fire, and his legs pretty wide apart; not because he preferred that +_degage_ attitude, but because Chips and Puss were asleep side by side +between his feet. + +It must not be supposed that although Willie had changed so much since +the first day he stood there, an equal change had taken place in Mr +Tippet. By no means. He was a little stouter, perhaps, but in all +other respects he was the same man. Not a hair greyer, nor a wrinkle +more. + +The workshop, too, was in exactly the same state, only a little more +crowded in consequence of numerous models having been completed and +shelved during the last seven years. There was, however something new +in the shape of a desk with some half-finished plans upon it; for Willie +had gradually introduced a little genuine engineering into the business. + +At first, naturally enough, the boy had followed his employer's lead, +and, as we have said before, being very ingenious, as well as +enthusiastic, had entered with all his heart and head into the absurd +schemes of his patron; but as he became older he grew wiser. He applied +himself to reading and study at home in the evenings with indomitable +perseverance. + +The result of his application was twofold. In the first place he +discovered that he was very ignorant and that there existed a huge +illimitable field of knowledge worth entering on seriously. His early +training having been conducted (thanks to his mother) "in the fear of +the Lord," he regarded things that are spiritual, and have God and man's +duty to Him for their object, as part--the chief part--of that great +field of knowledge; not as a separate field which may or may not be +entered on according to taste. In the second place, he began to +discover that his kind-hearted employer was a monomaniac. In other +words, that, although sane enough in all other matters, he was +absolutely mad in regard to mechanical discoveries and inventions, and +that most of the latter were absolutely nonsensical. + +This second discovery induced him to prosecute his studies with all the +more energy, in order that he might be prepared for the battle of life, +in case his existing connection with Mr Tippet should be dissolved. + +His studies naturally took an engineering turn, and, being what is +termed a thorough-going fellow, he did not rest until he had dived into +mathematics so deep that we do not pretend to follow him, even in the +way of description. Architecture, surveying, shipbuilding, and cognate +subjects, claimed and obtained his earnest attention; and year after +year, on winter nights, did he sit at the side of the fire in the little +house at Notting Hill, adding to his stores of knowledge on these +subjects; while his meek old mother sat darning socks or patching male +attire on the other side of the fire with full as much perseverance and +assiduity. One consequence of this was that Willie Willders, having +begun as a Jack-of-all trades, pushed on until he became a +philosopher-of-all-trades, and of many sciences too, so that it would +have been difficult to find his match between Charing Cross and Primrose +Hill. + +And Willie was not changeable. True to his first love, he clung with +all the ardour of youth to fire, fire-engines, and the fire-brigade. He +would have become a member of the latter if he could, but that was in +the circumstances impossible. He studied the subject, however, and knew +its history and its working details from first to last. He did his best +to invent new engines and improve on old ones; but in such matters he +usually found that his inventions had been invented, and his +improvements made and improved upon, long before. Such checks, however, +did not abate his ardour one jot. He persevered in his varied courses +until he worked himself into a species of business which could exist +only in London, which it would be difficult to describe, and which its +practitioner styled "poly-artism" with as much boldness as if the word +were in Johnson's Dictionary! + +Standing on the hearth, as we have said, Willie related to his friend +all he knew in regard to the Cattley family, and wound up with an +anxious demand what was to be done for them. + +Mr Tippet, leaning on his bench and looking into Willie's face with a +benignant smile, said-- + +"Done, my boy? why, help 'em of course." + +"Ay, but how?" asked Willie. + +"How?" cried Mr Tippet; "why, by giving 'em money. You are aware that +I stopped their allowance because Cattley senior went and drank it as +soon as he got it, and Cattley junior is able to support himself, and I +was not until now aware that the poor daughter was killing herself to +support her father; but as I do know it now I'll continue the allowance +and increase it, and we shall give it into the daughter's hands, so that +the father won't be able to mis-spend it." + +Mr Tippet's visage glowed with ardour as he stated this arrangement, +but the glow was displaced by a look of anxiety as he observed that +Willie shook his head and looked as perplexed as ever. + +"If that plan would have availed I would have tried it long ago," said +he, with a sad smile, "for my income is a pretty good one, thanks to +you, sir--" + +"Thanks to your own genius, Willie, for the remarkable and prolific +offshoots which you have caused to sprout from this dry old root," said +Mr Tippet, interrupting, as he glanced round the room with an air of +affection, which showed that he loved the root dearly, despite its age +and dryness. + +"Not the less thanks to you, sir," said Willie, in the deferential tone +which he had assumed involuntarily towards his patron almost from the +commencement of their intercourse; "but Z---a--Miss Cattley positively +refuses to accept of money from anyone in charity, as long as she can +work." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Mr Tippet, shaking his head slowly, "pride, simple +pride. Not laudable pride, observe. She deceives herself, no doubt, +into the belief that it is laudable, but it is not; for, when a girl +cannot work without working herself into her grave, it is her duty _not_ +to work, and it is the duty as well as the privilege of her friends to +support her. Truth is truth, Willie, and we must not shrink from +stating it because a few illogical thinkers are apt to misunderstand it, +or because there are a number of mean-spirited wretches who would be too +glad to say that they could not work without injuring their health if +they could, by so doing, persuade their friends to support them. What! +are those whom God has visited with weakness of body to be made to toil +and moil far beyond their strength in order to prove that they do not +belong to the class of deceivers and sycophants? Yet public opinion in +regard to this matter of what is called self-respect and proper pride +compels many hundreds who urgently require assistance to refuse it, and +dooms many of them to a premature grave, while it does not shut the maw +of a single one of the other class. Why, sir, Miss Cattley is +committing suicide; and, in regard to her father, who is dependent on +her, she is committing murder--murder, sir!" + +Mr Tippet's eyes flashed with indignation, and he drove the chisel deep +down into the bench, as if to give point and force to his sentiment, as +well as an illustration of the dreadful idea with which he concluded. + +Willie admitted that there was much truth in Mr Tippet's observations, +but did not quite agree with him in his sweeping condemnation of Ziza. + +"However," continued Mr Tippet, resuming his quiet tone and benignant +aspect, "I'll consider the matter. Yes, I'll consider the matter and +see what's to be done for 'em." + +He leaped from the bench with a quiet chuckle as he said this and began +to saw vigorously, while Willie went to his desk in the corner and +applied himself to an abstruse calculation, considerably relieved in +mind, for he had unbounded belief in the fertility of Mr Tippet's +imagination, and he knew well that whatever that old gentleman promised +he would certainly fulfil. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY. + +THE BEST-LAID PLANS. + +There were other men besides Mr Tippet who could be true to their +promises when it suited them. + +D. Gorman was true to his, in so far as they concerned David Boone. He +visited that unfortunate invalid so frequently, and brought him so many +little "nice things" for the alleviation of his sufferings, and +exhibited altogether such nervous anxiety about his recovery, that +worthy Mrs Craw was quite overwhelmed, and said, in the fulness of her +heart, that she never did see a kinder friend, or one who more flatly +gave the lie-direct to his looks, which, she was bound to admit, were +not prepossessing. + +But, despite his friend's solicitude, and his doctor's prescriptions, +and his nurse's kindness, David Boone continued steadily to sink, until +at last the doctor gave it as his opinion that he would not recover. + +One afternoon, soon after the expression of this opinion, Gorman called +on his friend, and was shown as usual into his chamber. It was a wet, +cold, stormy afternoon, and the window rattled violently in its frame. + +Boone was much better that afternoon. It seemed as if he had just +waited for the doctor to pronounce his unfavourable opinion in order to +have the satisfaction of contradicting it. + +"He's better to-day, sir," said Mrs Craw, in a whisper. + +"Better!" exclaimed Gorman with a look of surprise, "I'm glad to hear +that--very glad." + +He looked as if he were very sorry, but then, as Mrs Craw said, his +looks belied him. + +"He's asleep now, sir; the doctor said if he slept he was on no account +to be waked up, so I'll leave you to sit by him, sir, till he wakes, +and, please, be as quiet as you can." + +Mrs Craw left the room on tip-toe, and Gorman went to the bedside and +looked on the sick man's wasted features with a frown. + +"Ha! you're asleep, are you, and not to be waked up--eh? Come, I'll +rouse you." + +He shook him violently by the shoulder, and Boone awoke with a start and +a groan. + +"Hope I didn't disturb you, Boone," said his friend in a quiet voice. +"I came to inquire for you." + +Boone started up in his bed and stared wildly at some object which +appeared to be at the foot of the bed. Gorman started too, and turned +pale as his eyes followed those of the invalid. + +"What is it you see, Boone?" + +"There, there!" he whispered hoarsely, clutching Gorman's arm as if for +protection, "look, I heard his voice just now; oh! save me from that +man; he--he--wants to kill me!" + +"Come, David," said Gorman soothingly, "it's only a fancy--there's +nobody there--nobody in the room but me." + +"And who are you?" inquired the sick man, falling back exhausted, while +he gazed vacantly at his friend. + +"Don't you know me, David?" + +"Never mind, shut your eyes now and try to sleep. It'll be time to take +your physic soon." + +"Physic!" cried Boone, starting up in alarm, and again clutching +Gorman's arm. "You won't let _him_ give it me, will you? Oh! say you +won't--promise to give it me yourself!" + +Gorman promised, and a very slight but peculiar smile turned up the +corners of his mouth as he did so. + +Boone again sank back on his pillow, and Gorman sat down on a chair +beside him. His villainous features worked convulsively, for in his +heart he was meditating a terrible deed. That morning he had been +visited by Ned Hooper, who in the most drunken of voices told him, "that +it wash 'mposh'ble to git a body f'r love or munny, so if 'e wanted one +he'd better cut's own throat." + +His plans having miscarried in this matter, Gorman now meditated taking +another and more decided step. He looked at the sick man, and, seeing +how feeble he was, his fingers twitched as if with a desire to strangle +him. So strong was the feeling upon him that he passed his fingers +nervously about his own throat, as if to ascertain the formation of it +and the precise locality of the windpipe. Then his hand dropped to his +side, and he sat still again, while Boone rolled his poor head from side +to side and moaned softly. + +Evening drew on apace, and the shadows in the sick-room gradually became +deeper and deeper until nothing could be seen distinctly. Still Gorman +sat there, with his features pale as death, and his fingers moving +nervously; and still the sick man lay and rolled his head from side to +side on the pillow. Once or twice Gorman rose abruptly, but he as often +sat down again without doing anything. + +Suddenly a ray of bright light shot through the window. Gorman started +and drew back in alarm. It was only a lamp-lighter who had lighted one +of the street-lamps, and the ray which he had thus sent into the +sick-chamber passed over the bed. It did not disturb Boone, for the +curtains were between him and it, but it disturbed Gorman, for it fell +on the chimney-piece and illuminated a group of phials, one of which, +half full of a black liquid, was labelled "_Poison_!" + +Gorman started up, and this time did not sit down, but with a trembling +step moved to the fireplace. He stretched out his hand to grasp the +bottle, and almost overturned it, for just at the moment his own figure +intercepted the ray of light, and threw the spot where it stood into +deep shadow. + +"What's that?" asked Boone. + +"It's only me," said Gorman, "getting you your physic. I almost upset +it in the dark. Here now, drink it off. I can't find the cup, but you +can take it out of the bottle." + +"You won't let _him_ come near when you give it, will you?" asked Boone +anxiously. + +"No, no; come, open your mouth." + +Boone hesitated to do so, but Gorman used a little force. His hands +were steady now! His heart was steeled to the deed, and the cry which +Boone was about to utter was choked by the liquid flowing down his +throat. + +Gorman had flung him back with such violence that he lay stunned, while +the murderer replaced the bottle on the chimney-piece and hurried to the +door. A gentle knock at it arrested him, but his indecision was +momentary. He opened the door softly, and going out, said to Mrs Craw +in a whisper-- + +"He's sleeping now. I found it hard to get him to give up talking, for +he waked up soon after I went in; but he's all right now. I suppose the +medicine is beginning to operate; he told me he took it himself just +before I came in." + +"Took it himself!" exclaimed Mrs Craw. "Impossible." + +"Well, I don't know, but he's better now. I would let him rest a while +if I were you." + +"Stay, sir! I'll go fetch a light," said Mrs Craw. + +"Never mind; I know the stair well," said Gorman hurriedly; "don't mind +a light; I shan't want it." + +He was right. If any man ever wanted darkness rather than light--thick, +heavy, impenetrable darkness--it was D. Gorman at that time. + +"Took it himself!" repeated Mrs Craw in unabated surprise as she closed +the street door. "It's impossible. He's got no more strength than an +unborn hinfant. I must go an' see to this." + +Lighting a candle, she went softly into the sick chamber and looked at +the invalid, who was apparently asleep, but breathing heavily. She then +went to the chimney-piece and began to examine the phials there. + +"My!" she exclaimed suddenly, with a look of alarm, "if he han't bin an' +drunk up all the tinctur' o' rhubarb! An' the laudanum-bottle standin' +close beside it too! _What_ a mercy he didn't drink that! Well, lucky +for him there wasn't much in it, for an overdose of anything in his +state would be serious." + +Full of her discovery, Mrs Craw set the candle on the table, and sat +down on the chair by the bedside to think about it; but the more she +thought about it the more puzzled she was. + +"Took it himself," she said, reverting to Gorman's words. "Impossible!" + +She continued to shake her head and mutter "Impossible" for some time, +while she stared at the candle as if she expected that _it_ would solve +the mystery. Then she got up and examined the bedclothes, and found +that a good deal of the rhubarb had been spilt on the sheets, and that a +good deal more of it had been spilt on Boone's chin and chest; after +which her aspect changed considerably, as, setting down the candle, she +resumed her seat and said-- + +"Took it himself! Impossible!" + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Darkness! If ever a man sought darkness in vain, and found light, +bright blazing light, everywhere, it was Gorman. At first, in a burst +of frenzy, he rushed away at full speed. It was well for him that the +wind had increased to a hurricane and the rain was blinding, else had he +been stopped on suspicion, so fierce was his mien, so haggard his look, +so wild his race. Gradually his pace slackened, and gradually as well +as naturally he gravitated to his old familiar haunts; but go where he +would, there was light everywhere except within his own breast. It was +all darkness there. + +It is true the sky was dark enough, for the war of elements was so great +that it seemed to have been blotted out with ink, but the shops appeared +to have been lit up more brilliantly than usual. Every lamp poured a +flood of light around it. The lanterns of the cabs and omnibuses sent +rich beams of light through the air, and the air itself, laden as it was +with moisture, absorbed a portion of light, and invested everything with +a halo. Light, light! all round, and the light of conscience within +rendering the darkness there visible, and shining on the letters of a +word written in dark red--"Murderer!" + +Gorman tried to extinguish the light, but it was a fire that would not +be put out. He cursed the shop-windows and the lamps for shining so +brightly on him; he cursed the few people whose curiosity induced them +to pause and look back at him, and he cursed himself for being such a +fool. + +On reaching Cheapside he began to recover his self-possession, and to +walk in the storm as other men did. But in proportion as his composure +returned the enormity of his crime became more apparent to him, and the +word written in red letters became so bright that he felt as if every +passer-by must read it, unless he dropt his eyes to prevent their seeing +through them into his soul. + +At London Bridge he became nervously apprehensive. Each unusually quick +footstep startled him. Every policeman was carefully avoided, and +anything approaching to a shout behind caused him to start into an +involuntary run. Despite his utmost efforts to control himself, the +strong man was unmanned; a child could have made him fly. + +He was about to cross London Bridge, when he observed a policeman taking +shelter under the parapet, and apparently watching those who passed him. +Gorman could not make up his mind to go on, so he turned aside and +descended the nearest stairs. + +The policeman had doubtless been watching for someone, or suspected +Gorman because of his undecided movements, for he followed him. The +latter observed this and quickened his pace. The instant he was hidden +from his pursuer, he darted away at full speed, and did not halt until +he stood at the foot of one of the stairs where wherries are usually to +be found. The sight that met his gaze there might have overawed the +most reckless of men. + +A hurricane was raging such as is not often experienced in our favoured +island. The wind blew, not in gusts and squalls, but in one continuous +roar, lashing the Thames into crested waves, tearing ships from their +moorings, and dashing them against other ships, which were likewise +carried away, and swept downward with the tide. Dozens of barges were +sunk, and the shrieks of their crews were heard sometimes rising above +the storm. + +The gale was at its height when Gorman came into full view of the +Thames. A waterman, who was crouching for shelter in the angle of a +warehouse, observed him, and came forward. + +"An awful night, sir," he said. + +"Yes," answered Gorman curtly. He started as he spoke, for he heard, or +he fancied he heard, a shout behind him. + +"Is that your boat?" said he. + +"It is," replied the waterman in surprise, "you don't want to go on the +water on such a night, do you?" + +"Yes, I do," said Gorman, trembling in every limb; "come, jump in, and +shove off." + +At that moment a policeman came running down towards them. + +"Are you mad?" exclaimed the man, grasping Gorman by the arm as he +sprang toward the boat. + +In a moment, Gorman struck him to the ground, and leaping into the boat +pushed off, just as the policeman came up. He was whirled away +instantly. + +Grasping one of the oars, he was just in time to prevent the boat being +dashed against one of the wooden piers of a wharf. He was desperate +now. Shipping both oars he pulled madly out into the stream, but in a +few moments he was swept against the port-bow of a large vessel, against +the stem of which the water was curling as if the ship had been +breasting the Atlantic waves before a stiff breeze. One effort Gorman +made to avoid the collision, then he leaped up, and just as the boat +struck, sprang at the fore-chains. He caught them and held on, but his +hold was not firm; the next moment he was rolling along the vessel's +side, tearing it with his nails in the vain attempt to grasp the smooth +hull. He struck against the bow of the vessel immediately behind and +was swept under it. + +Rising to the surface, he uttered a wild shriek, and attempted to stem +the current. He was a powerful swimmer, and despair lent him energy to +buffet the waves for a short time; but he was again swept away by the +irresistible tide, and had almost given up hope of being saved, when his +forehead was grazed by a rope which hung from a vessel's side. Seizing +this, he held on, and with much difficulty succeeded in gaining the +vessel's deck. + +With his safety Gorman's fear of being captured returned. He hid +himself behind some lumber, and while in this position wrung some of the +water out of his clothes. In a few minutes he summoned courage to look +about him, and discovered that the vessel was connected with the one +that lay next to it by a plank. No one appeared to be moving, and it +was so dark that he could not see more than four or five yards before +him. To pass from one vessel to the other was the work of a few +seconds. Finding that the second vessel lay moored to the quay, he +sprang from it with all his might and alighted safely on the shore. +From the position of the shipping he knew that he stood on the south +bank of the river, having been swept right across the Thames, so he had +now no further difficulty in hiding his guilty head in his own home. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY ONE. + +NEW LIGHTS OF VARIOUS KINDS. + +Time sped on apace, and in its train came many changes. + +To the confusion of the doctor and despite the would-be murderer, David +Boone recovered. But that brought no relief to Gorman, whose remorse +increased daily, insomuch that he became, if not quite, very nearly, +insane, and his fear of being caught was so great that he never ventured +near the quarter of London in which Boone dwelt. He therefore remained +in ignorance of the failure of his murderous attempt. What would he not +have given to have known the truth! to have had the dreadful _word_ +removed from the light which shone upon it brighter and brighter every +day until it was made red-hot, as it were, and became within him as a +consuming fire! Preferring darkness to light more than ever, Gorman +kept in secret places during the day, and only ventured out, with other +human vultures, at night. The wretched man feared the darkness, too, +although he sought it, and what between the darkness that he feared yet +courted, and the light that he feared and fled from, and the light +within that he feared but could not fly from, he became one of the most +miserable of all the outcasts in London. + +As for his deep-laid plans they were all scattered to the winds. In the +presumption of ignorance he had fancied that he knew his own power, and +so in one sense he did, but he was not aware of his own want of power. +He knew, indeed, that he had the brute courage to dare and do anything +desperate or dastardly, but he did not know that he lacked the moral +courage to bear the consequences of his deeds. The insurance policies, +therefore, lay unclaimed--even uncared for! + +Another change for the worse effected by time was the death of Loo +Auberly. Gradually and gently her end approached. Death was so slow in +coming that it was long expected, yet it was so _very_ slow that when it +came at last it took her friends by surprise. James Auberly continued +stiff and stately to the last. He refused to believe that his child was +dying, and spared no expense to provide everything that money could +procure to restore her health. He also refused to be reconciled to his +son Fred, who had succeeded in his loved profession beyond his +expectations, and who had sought, again and again, to propitiate his +father. At last Fred resolved to go abroad and study the works of the +ancient masters. He corresponded regularly with Loo for some time, but +his letters suddenly ceased to make their appearance, and nothing was +heard of him for many months. + +During the long and weary illness Loo had three friends whose visits +were to her soul like gleams of sunshine on a cloudy day--Miss Tippet, +Emma Ward, and a poor artificial-flower maker named Ziza Cattley. + +Those three, so different yet so like, were almost equally agreeable to +the poor invalid. Miss Tippet was "_so_ funny but so good," and Emma's +sprightly nature seemed to charm away her pain for a time; while grave, +gentle, earnest Ziza made her happy during her visits, and left a +sensation of happiness after she went away. All three were equally +untiring in talking with her about the "old, old story"--the Love of +Jesus Christ. + +Yes, it comes to this at last, if not at first, with all of us. Even +the professed infidel, laugh as he may in the spring-tide of life, +usually listens to that "old, old story" when life's tide is very low, +if not with faith at least with seriousness, and with a hope that it may +be true. _May_ be true! Why, if the infidel would only give one tithe +of the time and trouble and serious inquiry to the investigation of that +same old story and its credentials that he gives so freely to the study +of the subtleties of his art or profession, he would find that there is +no historical fact whatever within his ken which can boast of anything +like the amount or strength of evidence in favour of its truth, that +exists in favour of the truth of the story of the Life, Death, and +Resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. + +When Loo died the stateliness and stiffness of James Auberly gave way, +and the stern man, leaning his head upon the coffin, as he sat alone in +the darkened room, wept as if he had been a little child. + +There was yet another change brought about by that great overturner +Time. But as the change to which we refer affects those who have yet to +take a prominent part in our tale, we will suffer them to speak for +themselves. + +One afternoon, long after the occurrence of those changes to which +reference has just been made, Mrs Willders, while seated quietly at her +own fireside (although there was no fire there, the month being June), +was interrupted in her not unusual, though innocent, occupation of +darning socks by the abrupt entrance of her son Frank, who flung his cap +on the table, kissed his mother on the forehead, and then flung himself +on the sofa, which piece of furniture, being old and decrepit, groaned +under his weight. + +"Mother," he exclaimed with animation, "I've got strange news to tell +you. Is Willie at home?" + +"No, but I expect him every minute. He promised to come home earlier +to-day, and won't be long, for he is a boy of his word." + +Mrs Willders persisted in calling her strapping sons "boys," despite +the evidence to the contrary on their cheeks and chins. + +"Here he comes!" cried Frank, as a rapid step was heard. + +Next moment the door burst open and Willie, performing much the same +ceremony that Frank had done, and in a wonderfully similar way, said he +had come home with something strange to tell, though not altogether +strange either, as his mother, he said, knew something about it already. + +Mrs Willders smiled and glanced at Frank. + +"Which is to begin first?" she asked. + +"What! do you know about it, too?" cried Willie, turning to his brother. + +"_Know_ about what?" said Frank. "You have not told me what it is; how +can I answer you?" + +"About Mr Auberly," said Willie. + +Frank said that he knew nothing new or peculiar about _him_, except that +he was--no, he wouldn't say anything bad of him, for he must be a +miserable man at that time. + +"But out with your news, Willie," he added, "mine will keep; and as +yours is, according to yourself, partly known already to my mother, it's +as well to finish off one subject before we begin to another." + +"Oh, then, you have news, too, have you?" said Willie. + +Frank nodded. + +"Strange coincidence!" exclaimed Willie. + +"Did you ever hear of a coincidence that was not strange, lad? Go on +with your news, else I'll begin before you." + +Thus admonished, Willie began. + +"Oh, mother, you're a nice deceiver; you're a sly old lady, ain't you? +and you sit there with a face as meek and sweet and smiling as if you +had never deceived anybody in all your life, not to speak of your two +sons. O, fy!" + +As Mrs Willders still smiled and went on with her knitting serenely, +without vouchsafing a reply, Willie continued with an off-hand +air--"Well, then, I may as well tell you that I have just had an +interview with _Uncle_ Auberly--hallo! you seem surprised." + +Mrs Willders was indeed surprised. Her serenity of aspect fled in an +instant. + +"Oh, Willie, how comes it that you know? I'm sure I did not mean to +tell you. I promised I never would. I must have let it out +inadvertently, or when I was asleep." + +"Make yourself quite easy, mother," said Willie; "I'll explain it all +presently. Just go on with your knitting, and don't put yourself into a +state." + +The widow, recovering herself a little, resumed her work, and Frank, who +had listened with an amused smile up to this point--supposing that his +brother was jesting--elongated his face and opened his eyes wider and +wider as he listened. + +"You must know," resumed Willie, "that I received a note from Mr +Auberly last night, asking me to call on him some time this afternoon. +So I went, and found him seated in his library. Poor man, he has a +different look now from what he had when I went last to see him. You +know I have hardly ever seen him since that day when I bamboozled him so +about `another boy' that he expected to call. But his spirit is not +much improved, I fear. `Sit down, Mr Willders,' he said. `I asked you +to call in reference to a matter which I think it well that the parties +concerned should understand thoroughly. Your brother Frank, I am told, +has had the presumption to pay his addresses to Miss Ward, the young +lady who lives with my relative, Miss Tippet.' `Yes, Mr Auberly,' I +replied, `and Miss Ward has had the presumption to accept him--'" + +"It was wrong of you to answer so," interrupted Mrs Willders, shaking +her head. + +"Wrong, mother! how could I help it? Was I going to sit there and hear +him talk of Frank's presumption as if he were a chimney-sweep?" + +"Mr Auberly thinks Miss Ward above him in station, and so deems his +aspiring to her hand presumption," replied the widow gently. "Besides, +you should have remembered the respect due to age." + +"Well, but, mother," said Willie, defending himself, "it was very +impudent of him, and I did speak very respectfully to him in tone if not +in words. The fact is I felt nettled, for, after all, what is Miss +Ward? The society she mingles in is Miss Tippet's society, and that's +not much to boast of; and her father, I believe, was a confectioner--no +doubt a rich one, that kept his carriage before he failed, and left his +daughter almost a beggar. But riches don't make a gentleman or a lady +either, mother; I'm sure you've often told me that, and explained that +education, and good training, and good feelings, and polite manners, and +consideration for others, were the true foundations of gentility. If +that be so, mother, there are many gentlemen born who are not gentlemen +bred, and many lowly born who--" + +"Come, lad, don't bamboozle your mother with sophistries," interrupted +Frank, "but go on to the point, and don't be so long about it." + +"Well, mother," resumed Willie, "Mr Auberly gave me a harder rebuke +than you have done, for he made no reply to my speech at all, but went +on as quietly and coolly as if I had not opened my lips. `Now,' said +he, `I happen to have a particular regard for Miss Ward. I intend to +make her my heir, and I cannot consent to her union with a man who has +_nothing_.' `Mr Auberly,' said I (and I assure you, mother, I said +this quite respectfully), `my brother is a man who has little _money_, +no doubt, but he has a good heart and a good head and a strong arm; an +arm, too, which has saved life before now.' I stopped at that, for I +saw it went home. `Quite true,' he replied; `I do not forget that he +saved my lost child's life; but--but--the thing is outrageous--that a +penniless man should wed the lady who is to be my heir! No, sir, I sent +for you to ask you to say to your brother from me, that however much I +may respect him I will not consent to this union, and if it goes on +despite my wishes I shall not leave Miss Ward a shilling.' He had +worked himself up into a rage by this time, and as I felt I would only +make matters worse if I spoke, I held my tongue; except that I said I +would deliver his message at once, as I expected to meet my brother at +home. He seemed sorry for having been so sharp, however, and when I was +about to leave him he tried to smile, and said, `I regret to have to +speak thus to you, sir, but I felt it to be my duty. You talk of +meeting your brother to-night at home; do you not live together?' `No, +sir,' I replied; `my brother lodges close to his station, and I live +with my mother in Notting Hill.' + +"`Notting Hill!' he cried, falling back in his chair as if he had been +struck by a thunderbolt. `Your mother,' he gasped, `Mrs Willders--my +sister-in-law--the waterman's widow?' `A _sailor's_ widow, sir,' said +I, `who is proud of the husband, who rose to the top of his profession.' + +"`Why did you deceive me, sir?' cried Mr Auberly, with a sudden frown. +`I would have undeceived you,' said I, `when we first met, but you +dismissed me abruptly at that time, and would not hear me out. Since +then, I have not thought it worth while to intrude on you in reference +to so small a matter--for I did not know till this day that we are +related.' He frowned harder than ever at this, and bit his lip, and +then said, `Well, young man, _this_ will make no difference, I assure +you. I desire you to convey my message to your brother. Leave me now.' +I was just on the point of saying `Good-bye, uncle,' but he covered his +face with his hands, and looked so miserable, that I went out without a +word more. There, you've got the whole of _my_ story. What think you +of it?" + +"It's a curious one, and very unexpected, at least by me," said Frank, +"though, as you said, part of it must have been known to mother, who, no +doubt, had good reasons for concealing it from us; but I rather think +that my story will surprise you more, and it's a better one than yours, +Willie, in this respect, that it is shorter." + +"Come, then, out with it," said Willie, with a laugh; "why, this is +something like one of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments." + +"Well, mother," said Frank, laying his hand gently on the widow's +shoulder, "you shan't darn any more socks if I can help it, for I'm a +man of fortune now!" + +"How, Frank?" said Mrs Willders, with a puzzled look. + +"The fact is, mother, that Mrs Denman, the poor old lady whom I carried +down the escape, I forget how many years ago, is dead, and has left me +her fortune, which, I believe, amounts to something like twenty thousand +pounds!" + +"You _don't_ mean that!" cried Willie, starting up. + +"Indeed, I do," said Frank earnestly. + +"Then long life to ye, my boy!" cried Willie, wringing his brother's +hand, "and success to the old--well, no, I don't exactly mean that, but +if she were alive I would say my blessing on the old lady. I wish you +joy, old fellow! I say, surely the stately man won't object to the +penniless fireman now--ha! ha! Well, it's like a dream; but tell us all +about it, Frank." + +"There is very little to tell, lad. I got a very urgent message the day +before yesterday to go to see an old lady who was very ill. I obtained +leave for an hour, and went at once, not knowing who it was till I got +there, when I found that it was Mrs Denman. She looked very ill, and I +do assure you I felt quite unmanned when I looked into her little old +face. `Young man,' she said in a low voice, `you saved my life; I am +dying, and have sent for you to thank you. God bless you.' She put out +her thin hand and tried to shake mine, but it was too feeble; she could +only press her fingers on it. That was all that passed, and I returned +to the station feeling quite in low spirits, I do assure you. Well, +next day a little man in black called, and said he wished to have a few +words with me. So I went out, and he introduced himself as the old +lady's lawyer, told me that she was gone, and that she had, almost with +her last breath, made him promise to go, the moment she was dead, and +see the fireman who had saved her life, and tell him that she had left +her fortune to him. He congratulated me; said that there were no near +relations to feel aggrieved or to dispute my rights, and that, as soon +as the proper legal steps had been taken--the debts and legacies paid, +etcetera,--he would have the pleasure of handing over the balance, which +would probably amount to twenty thousand pounds." + +"It's like a dream," said Willie. + +"So it is," replied Frank, "but it's well that it is not a dream, for if +I had been the penniless man that Mr Auberly thinks me, I would have +been obliged in honour to give up Emma Ward." + +"Give her up!" exclaimed Willie in amazement. "Why?" + +"Why! because I could not think of standing in the way of her good +fortune." + +"Oh, Frank! oh, Blazes," said Willie sadly, "has money told on you so +fearfully already? Do you think that _she_ would give _you_ up for the +sake of Auberly's dross?" + +"I believe not, lad; but--but--well--never mind, we won't be troubled +with the question now. But, mother, you don't seem to think much of my +good fortune." + +"I do think much of it, Frank; it has been sent to you by the Lord, and +therefore is to be received with thanksgiving. But sudden good fortune +of this kind is very dangerous. It makes me anxious as well as glad." + +At that moment there came a loud knocking at the door, which startled +Mrs Willders, and caused Willie to leap up and rush to open it. + +Frank rose and put on his cap with the quiet promptitude of a man +accustomed to alarms. + +"That's a fire, mother; the kind of knock is quite familiar to me now. +Don't be alarmed; we hear that kind of thing about two or three times a +day at the station; they knew I was here, and have sent a messenger." + +"A fire!" cried Willie, running into the room in great excitement. + +"Tut, lad," said Frank, with a smile, as he nodded to his mother and +left the room, "you'd never do for a fireman, you're too excitable. +Where's the messenger?--ah, here you are. Well, where is it?" + +"Tooley Street," exclaimed a man, whose condition showed that he had run +all the way. + +Frank started, and looked very grave as he said hurriedly to his +brother-- + +"Good-night, lad. I won't likely be able to get out to-morrow to talk +over this matter of the fortune. Fires are usually bad in that +neighbourhood. Look well after mother. Good-night." + +In another moment he was gone. + +And well might Frank look grave, for when a fireman is called to a fire +in Tooley Street, or any part of the docks, he knows that he is about to +enter into the thickest of the Great Fight. To ordinary fires he goes +light-heartedly--as a bold trooper gallops to a skirmish, but to a fire +in the neighbourhood of the docks he goes with something of the feeling +which must fill the breast of every brave soldier on the eve of a great +battle. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY TWO. + +THE FIRE IN TOOLEY STREET. + +One of those great calamities which visit us once or twice, it may be, +in a century, descended upon London on Saturday, the 22nd of June, 1861. +It was the sudden, and for the time, overwhelming, attack of an old and +unconquerable enemy, who found us, as usual, inadequately prepared to +meet him. + +Fire has fought with us and fed upon us since we became a nation, and +yet, despite all our efforts, its flames are at this day more furious +than ever. There are more fires daily in London now than there ever +were before. Has this foe been properly met? is a question which +naturally arises out of this fact. Referring to the beautiful +organisation of the present Fire Brigade, the ability of its chiefs and +the courage of its men, the answer is, Yes, decidedly. But referring to +the strength of the brigade; to the munitions of war in the form of +water; to the means of conveyance in the form of mains; to the system of +check in the shape of an _effective_ Act in reference to partition-walls +and moderately-sized warehouses; to the means of prevention in the shape +of prohibitions and regulations in regard to inflammable substances-- +referring to all these things, the answer to the question, "Has the foe +been properly met?" is emphatically, _No_. + +It is not sufficient to reply that a special inquiry has been made into +this subject; that steps are being actually taken to remedy the evils of +our system (or rather of our want of system) of fire prevention. Good +may or may not result from this inquiry: that is yet to be seen. +Meanwhile, the public ought to be awakened more thoroughly to the fact +that an enemy is and always has been abroad in our land, who might be, +_if we chose_, more effectively checked; who, if he has not yet attacked +our own particular dwelling, may take us by surprise any day when we +least expect him, and who does at all times very materially diminish our +national wealth and increase our public burdens. Perhaps we should not +style _fire_ an enemy, but a mutinous servant, who does his work +faithfully and well, except when neglected or abused! + +About five o'clock on Saturday afternoon intelligence of the outbreak of +fire in Tooley Street reached the headquarters of the brigade in Watling +Street. + +Fire in Tooley Street! The mere summons lent energy to the nerves and +spring to the muscles of the firemen. Not that Tooley Street in itself +is more peculiarly dangerous in regard to fire than are the other +streets of shops in the City. But Tooley Street lies in dangerous +neighbourhood. The streets between it and the Thames, and those lying +immediately to the west of it, contain huge warehouses and bonded +stores, which are filled to suffocation with the "wealth of nations." +Dirty streets and narrow lanes here lead to the fountain-head of wealth +untold--almost inconceivable. The elegant filigree-work of West End +luxury may here be seen unsmelted, as it were, and in the ore. At the +same time the rich substances on which fire feeds and fattens are stored +here in warehouses which (as they are) should never have been built, and +in proximities which should never have been permitted. Examine the +wharves--Brooks' Wharf, Beal's Wharf, Cotton's Wharf, Chamberlain's +Wharf, Freeman's Wharf, Griffin's Wharf, Stanton's Wharf, and others. +Investigate the lanes--Hay's Lane, Mill Lane, Morgan's Lane; and the +streets--Bermondsey, Dockhead, Pickle Herring Street, Horsleydown, and +others--and there, besides the great deposit and commission warehouses +which cover acres of ground, and are filled from basement to ridge-pole +with the commodities and combustibles of every clime, you will find huge +granaries and stores of lead, alum, drugs, tallow, chicory, flour, rice, +biscuit, sulphur, and saltpetre, mingled with the warehouses of +cheese-agents, ham-factors, provision merchants, tarpaulin-dealers, oil +and colour merchants, etcetera. In fact, the entire region seems laid +out with a view to the raising of a bonfire or a pyrotechnic display on +the grandest conceivable scale. + +Little wonder, then, that the firemen of Watling Street turned out all +their engines, including two of Shand and Mason's new land-steam +fire-engines, which had at that time just been brought into action. +Little wonder that the usual request for a man from each station was +changed into an urgent demand for every man that could possibly be +spared. + +The fire began in the extensive wharves and warehouses known as Cotton's +Wharf, near London Bridge, and was first observed in a warehouse over a +counting-room by some workmen, who at once gave the alarm, and attempted +to extinguish it with some buckets of water. They were quickly driven +back, however, by the suffocating smoke, which soon filled the various +floors so densely that no one could approach the seat of the fire. + +Mr Braidwood, who was early on the spot, saw at a glance that a pitched +battle was about to be fought, and, like a wise general, concentrated +all the force at his command. Expresses were sent for the more distant +brigade engines, and these came dashing up, one after another, at full +speed. The two powerful steam floating-engines which guard the Thames +from fire were moored off the wharf, two lengths of hose attached to +them, and led on shore and brought to bear on the fire. A number of +land-engines took up a position in Tooley Street, ready for action, but +these were compelled to remain idle for nearly an hour _before water was +obtainable from the fire-plugs_. O London! with all your wealth and +wisdom, how strange that such words can be truly written of you! + +The vessels which were lying at the wharf discharging and loading were +hauled out of danger into the stream. + +In course of time the engines were in full play, but the warehouse burst +into flames from basement to roof in spite of them, and ere long eight +of the great storehouses were burning furiously. The flames made rapid +work of it, progressing towards the line of warehouses facing the river, +and to the lofty building which adjoined on the Tooley Street side. + +Dale and his men were quickly on the scene of action, and had their +engine soon at work. Before long, Frank Willders joined them. They +were playing in at the windows of a large store, which was burning so +furiously that the interior appeared to be red-hot. + +"Relieve Corney, lad," said Dale, as Frank came forward. + +"Och, it's time!" cried Corney, delivering up the branch to Frank and +Moxey; "sure Baxmore and me are melted intirely." + +Frank made no reply. He and Moxey directed the branch which the others +resigned, turning their backs as much as possible on the glowing fire, +and glancing at it over their shoulders; for it was too hot to be faced. + +Just then the Chief of the brigade came up. + +"It's of no use, sir," said Dale; "we can't save these." + +"True, Dale, true," said Mr Braidwood, in a quick, but quiet tone; +"this block is doomed. Take your lads round to the nor'-east corner; we +must try to prevent it spreading." + +As he surveyed the progress of the fire, with a cool, practical eye, and +hurried off to another part of the battle-field to post his men to best +advantage, little did the leader of the forces think that he was to be +the first to fall that day! + +Engines were now playing on the buildings in all directions; but the +flames were so fierce that they made no visible impression on them, and +even in the efforts made to check their spreading, little success +appeared to attend them at first. Warehouse after warehouse ignited. + +To make matters worse, a fresh breeze sprang up, and fanned the flames +into redoubled fury; so that they quickly caught hold of vast portions +of the premises occupied by the firm of Scovell and Company. + +"There's not a chance," said Frank to Dale, while he wiped the +perspiration from his forehead, and sat down for a few seconds to +recover breath; for he had just issued from a burning building, driven +back by heat and smoke-- + +"There's not a chance of saving that block; all the iron doors that were +meant to keep the fire from spreading have been left open by the +workmen!" + +"Chance or no chance, we must do our best," said Dale. "Come, lad, with +me; I think we may get at a door inside the next warehouse, through +which we might bring the branch to bear. Are you able?" + +"All right," exclaimed Frank, leaping up, and following his leader +through the smoke. + +"Have a care!" cried Frank, pausing as a tremendous explosion caused the +ground to tremble under their feet. + +"It's sulphur or saltpetre," said Dale, pushing on; "there are tons upon +tons of that stuff in the cellars all round." + +This was indeed the case. It was said that upwards of 2,000 tons of +saltpetre were in the vaults at the time; and several explosions had +already taken place, though fortunately, without doing injury to any +one. + +Dale had already partially examined the warehouse, into which he now led +Frank; and, therefore, although it was full of smoke, he moved rapidly +along the narrow and intricate passages between the bales of goods, +until he reached an iron door. + +"Here it is; we'll open this and have a look," he said, grasping the +handle and swinging the heavy door open. + +Instantly, a volume of black smoke drove both the men back, almost +suffocating them. They could not speak; but each knew that the +re-closing of that iron door was all-important, for the fire had got +nearer to it than Dale had imagined. + +They both darted forward; but were again driven back, and had to rush to +the open air for breath. Frank recovered before his comrade, in +consequence of the latter having made a more strenuous and prolonged +effort to close the door which he had so unfortunately opened. + +Without a moment's hesitation, he sprang into the warehouse again; +regained and partially closed the door, when the stifling smoke choked +him, and he fell to the ground. A few seconds later, Dale followed him, +and found him there. Applying his great strength with almost superhuman +energy to the door, it shut with a crash, and the communication between +the buildings was cut off! Dale then seized Frank by the collar, and +dragged him into the open air, when he himself almost sank to the +ground. Fresh air, however, soon restored them both, and in a few +minutes they were actively engaged at another part of the building. + +Bravely and perseveringly though this was done, it availed not, for +nothing could withstand the fury of the fire. The warehouse caught, and +was soon a glowing mass like the others, while the flames raged with +such violence that their roaring drowned the shouting of men, and the +more distant roar of the innumerable multitude that densely covered +London Bridge, and clustered on every eminence from which a safe view of +the great fire could be obtained. + +The floating fire-engines had now been at work for some time, and the +men in charge of their branches were suffering greatly from the intense +heat. About this time, nearly seven o'clock in the evening, Mr +Braidwood went to these men to give them a word of encouragement. He +proceeded down one of the approaches to the river from Tooley Street, +and stopped when nearly half way to give some directions, when a sudden +and tremendous explosion, took place, shaking the already tottering +walls, which at this place were of great height. A cry was raised, +"Run! the wall is falling!" Every one sprang away at the word. The +wall bulged out at the same time; and one of the firemen, seeing that +Mr Braidwood was in imminent danger, made a grasp at him as he was +springing from the spot; but the heavy masses of brick-work dashed him +away, and, in another moment, the gallant chief of the Fire Brigade lay +buried under at least fifteen feet of burning ruin. + +Any attempt at rescue would have been impossible as well as unavailing, +for death must have been instantaneous. The hero's warfare with the +flames, which had lasted for upwards of thirty-eight years, was ended; +and his brave spirit returned to God Who gave it. + +That a man of no ordinary note had fallen was proved, before many hours +had passed, by the deep and earnest feeling of sorrow and sympathy which +was manifested by all classes in London, from Queen Victoria downwards, +as well as by the public funeral which took place a few days afterwards, +at which were present the Duke of Sutherland, the Earl of Caithness, the +Reverend Doctor Cumming, and many gentlemen connected with the insurance +offices; the committee and men of the London Fire Brigade; also those of +various private and local brigades; the secretary and conductors of the +Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire; the mounted +Metropolitan and City police; the London Rifle Brigade (of which Mr +Braidwood's three sons were members); the superintendents and men of the +various water companies; and a long string of private and mourning +carriages: to witness the progress of which hundreds of thousands of +people densely crowded the streets and clustered in the windows and on +every available eminence along the route; while in Cheapside almost all +the shops were shut and business was suspended; and in the neighbourhood +of Shoreditch toiling thousands of artisans came forth from factory and +workshop to "see the last of Braidwood," whose name had been so long +familiar to them as a "household word." The whole heart of London +seemed to have been moved by one feeling, and the thousands who thronged +the streets "had" (in the language of one of the papers of the day) +"gathered together to witness the funeral, not of a dead monarch, not of +a great warrior, not of a distinguished statesman, not even of a man +famous in art, in literature, or in science, but simply of James +Braidwood, late superintendent of the London Fire-Engine +Establishment"--a true hero, and one who was said, by those who knew him +best, to be an earnest Christian man. + +But at the moment of his fall his men were engaged in the thick of +battle. Crushing though the news of his death was, there was no +breathing time to realise it. + +The fierce heat had not only driven back the firemen on shore, but had +compelled the floating fire-engines to haul off, in consequence of the +flaming matter which poured over the wharf wall and covered the surface +of the river the entire length of the burning warehouses; while the +whole of the carriageway of Tooley Street was ankle deep in hot oil and +tallow. After the fall of their Chief, Messrs. Henderson and Fogo, two +of the principal officers of the brigade, did their utmost to direct the +energies of the men. + +Night closed in, and the flames continued to rage in all their fury and +magnificence. News of this great fire spread with the utmost rapidity +over the metropolis. Indeed, it was visible at Hampstead while it was +yet daylight. When darkness set in, one of the most extraordinary +scenes that London ever produced was witnessed. From all quarters the +people came pouring in, on foot, in omnibus, cab, pleasure-van, cart, +and waggon--all converging to London Bridge. At nine o'clock the bridge +and its approaches presented all the appearance of the Epsom Road on the +Derby Day. Cabs and 'buses plied backwards and forwards on the bridge +all night, carrying an unlimited number of passengers at 2 pence and 3 +pence each, and thousands of persons spent the night in thus passing to +and fro. The railway terminus, Billingsgate Market, the roof of the +Coal Exchange, the Monument, the quays, the windows, the house-tops, the +steeples, and the chimney-stalks--all were crowded with human beings, +whose eager upturned faces were rendered intensely bright against the +surrounding darkness by the fierce glare of the fire. But the Thames +presented the most singular appearance of all--now reflecting on its +bosom the inky black clouds of smoke; anon the red flames, as fresh fuel +was licked up by the devouring element, and, occasionally, sheets of +silver light that flashed through the chaos when sulphur and saltpetre +explosions occurred. Mountains of flame frequently burst away from the +mass of burning buildings and floated upward for a few moments, and the +tallow and tar which flowed out of the warehouses floated away blazing +with the tide and set the shipping on fire, so that land and water alike +seemed to be involved in one huge terrific conflagration. + +The utmost consternation prevailed on board the numerous craft on the +river in the vicinity of the fire, for thick showers of sparks and +burning materials fell incessantly. Gusts of wind acted on the ruins +now and then, and at such moments the gaunt walls, cracked and riven out +of shape, stood up, glowing with intense white heat in the midst of a +sea of fire from which red flames and dark clouds of smoke were vomited, +as from the crater of some mighty volcano, with a roar that mingled with +the shouts of excited thousands, and drowned even the dull incessant +thumpings of the engines that worked in all directions. + +Moored alongside of Chamberlain's Wharf was a small sloop. Little blue +blisters of light broke out on her rigging; soon these increased in +size, and in a few minutes she was on fire from stem to stern. +Immediately after, there came a barge with flowing sails, borne on the +rising tide. She passed too near to the conflagration. Her crew of +three men became panic-stricken and lost control of her. At sight of +this a great shout was raised, and a boat put off and rescued the crew; +but almost before they were landed their barge was alight from stem to +stern. The tremendous cheer that burst from the excited multitude at +sight of this rescue rose for a moment above the roaring of the +conflagration. Then another barge was set on fire by the blazing tallow +which floated out to her, but she was saved by being scuttled. + +In the midst of such a scene it was to be expected that there would be +damage to life and limb. The firemen, besides being exposed to intense +heat for hours, were almost blinded and choked by the smoke emitted from +the burning pepper--more especially the cayenne--of which there was a +large quantity in the warehouses. Some of the men who were working the +engines fell into the river and were drowned. A gentleman who was +assisting the firemen had his hand impaled on an iron spike. A poor +Irishman had his neck broken by the chain of the floating-engine, and +several of the police force and others were carried to hospital badly +burned and otherwise injured. + +Some of the casualties occurred in places where only a few persons were +there to witness them, but others were enacted on the river, and on +spots which were in full view of the vast multitudes on London Bridge. +A boat containing five men put off to collect the tallow which floated +on the water, but it got surrounded by tallow which had caught fire, and +the whole of its occupants were either burned to death or drowned. +Later in the night a small skiff rowed by a single man was drawn by the +tide into the vortex of the fire. Another boat ran out and saved the +man, but a second boat which was pulled off by a single rower for the +same purpose was drawn too near the fire, and its brave occupant +perished. So eager were the multitude on the bridge to witness these +scenes that some of themselves were forced over the parapet into the +river and drowned. + +Comical incidents were strangely mingled with these awful scenes, +although it is but justice to say the prevailing tone of the crowd was +one of solemnity. Itinerant vendors of ginger-beer, fruit, cakes, and +coffee ranged themselves along the pavements and carried on a brisk +trade--especially after the public-houses were closed, many of which, +however, taking advantage of the occasion, kept open door all night. + +Among these last was the "Angel," belonging to Gorman. + +That worthy was peculiarly active on this occasion. He never neglected +an opportunity of turning an honest penny, and, accordingly, had been +engaged from an early hour in his boat collecting tallow; of which +plunder a considerable amount had been already conveyed to his abode. + +Besides Gorman, several of the other personages of our tale found their +way to the great centre of attraction, London Bridge, on that night. +Among them was John Barret, who, on hearing of the fire, had left his +snug little villa and pretty little wife to witness it. + +He had already made one or two cheap trips on one of the omnibuses, and, +about midnight, got down and forced his way to a position near the south +side of the bridge. Here he was attracted to a ginger-beer barrow which +an unusually adventurous man had pushed through the crowd into a +sheltered corner. He forced his way to it, and, to his amazement, found +the owner to be his former friend Ned Hooper. + +"Hallo! Barret." + +"Why, Ned!" were the exclamations that burst simultaneously from their +lips. + +"This is a strange occupation," said Barret with a smile. + +"Ah, it may seem strange to you, no doubt, but it's familiar enough to +me," replied Ned, with a grin. + +The demand for beer was so great at this time that Ned could not +continue the conversation. + +"Here, boy," he said to an urchin who stood near, "you draw corks as +fast as you can and pour out the beer, and I'll give you a copper or two +and a swig into the bargain." + +The boy accepted the post of salesman with alacrity, and Ned turned to +his friend and seized his hand. + +"Barret," said he, in a low, earnest voice, "if I succeed in holding +out, I own my salvation, under God, to you. I've tasted nothing but +ginger-beer for many a long day, and I really believe that I have got my +enemy down at last. It's not a lucrative business, as you may see," he +added with a sad smile, glancing at his threadbare garments, "nor a very +aristocratic one." + +"My dear Ned," cried Barret, interrupting, and suddenly thrusting his +hand into his pocket. + +"No, Barret, no," said Ned firmly, as he laid his hand on the other's, +arm; "I don't want money; I've given up begging. You gave me your +advice once, and I have taken that--it has been of more value to me than +all the wealth that is being melted into thin air, John, by yonder +fire--" + +Ned was interrupted at this point by a burst of laughter from the crowd. +The cause of their mirth was the appearance of a tall, thin, and very +lugubrious-looking man who had come on the bridge to see the fire. He +had got so excited that he had almost fallen over the parapet, and a +policeman had kindly offered to escort him to a place of safety. + +"Why, what d'ye mean?--what d'ye take me for?" cried the tall man +angrily; "I'm an honest man; my name is David Boone; I've only come to +see the fire; you've no occasion to lay hold o' _me_!" + +"I know that," said the policeman; "I only want to get you out of +danger. Come along now." + +Just then a thickset man with a red handkerchief tied round his head +came forward to the stall and demanded a glass of beer. The moment his +eyes encountered those of Boone he became pale as death and staggered +back as if he had received a deadly blow. + +"Is that you, Gorman?" cried David, in a voice and with an expression of +amazement. + +Gorman did not reply, but gazed at his former friend with a look of +intense horror, while his chest heaved and he breathed laboriously. +Suddenly he uttered a loud cry and rushed towards the river. + +Part of the crowd sprang after him, as if with a view to arrest him, or +to see what he meant to do. In the rush Barret and Boone were carried +away. + +A few moments later a deep murmur of surprise rose from the thousands of +spectators on the bridge, for a boat was seen to dash suddenly from the +shore and sweep out on the river. It was propelled by a single rower--a +man with a red kerchief tied round his head. The murmur of the crowd +suddenly increased to a shout of alarm, for the man was rowing, his boat +straight towards a mass of tallow which floated and burned on the water. + +"Hold on!" "Lookout ahead!" shouted several voices, while others +screamed "Too late!" "He's gone!" and then there arose a wild cry, for +the man rowed straight into the centre of the burning mass and was +enveloped in the flames. For one moment he was seen to rise and swing +his arms in the air--then he fell backwards over the gunwale of his boat +and disappeared in the blazing flood. + +Fiercer and fiercer raged the fire. The night passed--the day came and +went, and night again set in--yet still the flames leaped and roared in +resistless fury, and still the firemen fought them valiantly. And thus +they fought, day and night, hand to hand, for more than a fortnight, +before the battle was thoroughly ended and the victory gained. + +How the firemen continued to do their desperate work, day and night, +almost without rest, it is impossible to tell. Frank Willders said +that, after the first night, he went about his work like a man in a +dream. He scarcely knew when, or how, or where he rested or ate. He +had an indistinct remembrance of one or two brief intervals of oblivion +when he supposed he must have been asleep, but the only memory that +remained strong and clear within him was that of constant, determined +fighting with the flames. And Willie Willders followed him like his +shadow! clad in a coat and helmet borrowed from a friend in the Salvage +Corps. Willie fought in that great fight as if he had been a trained +fireman. + +On the fourth day, towards evening, Frank was ordered down into a cellar +where some tar-barrels were burning. He seized the branch, and was +about to leap down the stair when Dale stopped him. + +"Fasten the rope to your belt," he said. + +Frank obeyed without speaking and then sprang forward, while Dale +himself followed, ordering Corney, Baxmore, and one or two others, to +hold on to the ropes. Willie Willders also ran in, but was met by such +a dense cloud of smoke that he was almost choked. Rushing back, he +shouted, "Haul on the ropes!" + +The men were already hauling them in, and in a few seconds Dale and +Frank were dragged by their waist-belts into the open air, the former +nearly, and the latter quite, insensible. + +In a few minutes they both recovered, and another attempt was made to +reach the fire in the cellar, but without success. + +The public did not witness this incident. The firemen were almost +surrounded by burning ruins, and none but comrades were there. + +Indeed, the public seldom see the greatest dangers to which the fireman +is exposed. It is not when he makes his appearance on some giddy height +on a burning and tottering house, and is cheered enthusiastically by the +crowd, that his courage is most severely tried. It is when he has to +creep on hands and knees through dense smoke, and hold the branch in the +face of withering heat, while beams are cracking over his head, and +burning rubbish is dropping around, and threatening to overwhelm him--it +is in such circumstances, when the public know nothing of what is going +on, and when no eye sees him save that of the solitary comrade who +shares his toil and danger, that the fireman's nerve and endurance are +tested to the uttermost. + +After leaving the cellar, Dale and his men went to attempt to check the +fire in a quarter where it threatened to spread, and render this--the +greatest of modern conflagrations--equal to the great one of 1666. + +"We might reach it from that window," said Dale to Frank, pointing to a +house, the sides of which were already blistering, and the glass +cracking with heat. + +Frank seized the branch and gained the window in question, but could not +do anything very effective from that point. He thought, however, that +from a window in an adjoining store he might play directly on a house +which was in imminent danger. But the only means of reaching it was by +passing over a charred beam, thirty feet beneath which lay a mass of +smouldering ruins. For one moment he hesitated, uncertain whether or +not the beam would sustain his weight. But the point to be gained was +one of great importance, so he stepped boldly forward, carrying the +branch with him. As he advanced, the light of the fire fell brightly +upon him, revealing his tall figure clearly to the crowd, which cheered +him heartily. + +At that moment the beam gave way. Willie, who was about to follow, had +barely time to spring back and gain a firm footing, when he beheld his +brother fall headlong into the smoking ruins below. + +In another moment he had leaped down the staircase, and was at Frank's +side. Baxmore, Dale, Corney, and others, followed, and, in the midst of +fire and smoke, they raised their comrade in their arms and bore him to +a place of safety. + +No one spoke, but a stretcher was quickly brought, and Frank was +conveyed in a state of insensibility to the nearest hospital, where his +manly form--shattered, burned, and lacerated--was laid on a bed. He +breathed, although he was unconscious and evinced no sign of feeling +when the surgeons examined his wounds. + +A messenger was despatched for Mrs Willders, and Willie remained to +watch beside him while his comrades went out to continue the fight. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY THREE. + +THE LAST. + +For many months Frank Willders lay upon his bed unable to move, and +scarcely able to speak. His left leg and arm had been broken, his face +and hands were burned and cut, and his once stalwart form was reduced to +a mere wreck. + +During that long and weary time of suffering he had two nurses who never +left him--who relieved each other day and night; smoothed his pillow and +read to him words of comfort from God's blessed book. These were, his +own mother and Emma Ward. + +For many weeks his life seemed to waver in the balance, but at last he +began to mend. His frame, however, had been so shattered that the +doctors held out little hope of his ever being anything better than a +helpless cripple, so, one day, he said to Emma: + +"I have been thinking, Emma, of our engagement." He paused and spoke +sadly--as if with great difficulty. + +"And I have made up my mind," he continued, "to release you." + +"Frank!" exclaimed Emma. + +"Yes, dear. No one can possibly understand what it costs me to say +this, but it would be the worst kind of selfishness were I to ask you to +marry a poor wretched cripple like me." + +"But what if I refuse to be released, Frank?" said Emma, with a smile; +"you may, indeed, be a cripple, but you shall not be a wretched one if +it is in my power to make you happy; and as to your being poor--what of +that? I knew you were not rich when I accepted you, and you know I have +a very, very small fortune of my own which will at least enable us to +exist until you are able to work again." + +Frank looked at her in surprise, for he had not used the word _poor_ +with reference to money. + +"Has mother, then, not told you anything about my circumstances of +late?" he asked. + +"No, nothing; what could she tell me that I do not already know?" said +Emma. + +Frank made no reply for a few moments, then he said with a sad yet +gratified smile-- + +"So you refuse to be released?" + +"Yes, Frank, unless you _insist_ on it," replied Emma. + +Again the invalid relapsed into silence and shut his eyes. Gradually he +fell into a quiet slumber, from which, about two hours later, he awoke +with a start under the impression that he had omitted to say something. +Looking up he found that his mother had taken Emma's place. He at once +asked why she had not told Emma about the change in his fortunes. + +"Because I thought it best," said Mrs Willders, "to leave you to tell +her yourself, Frank." + +"Well, mother, I depute you to tell her now, and pray do it without +delay. I offered to give her up a short time ago, but she refused to +listen to me." + +"I'm glad to hear it," replied the widow with a smile. "I always +thought her a good, sensible girl." + +"Hm! so did I," said Frank, "and something more." + +Once again he became silent, and, as an inevitable consequence, fell +fast asleep. In which satisfactory state we will leave him while we run +briefly over the events of his subsequent history. + +In direct opposition to the opinion of all his doctors, Frank not only +recovered the use of all his limbs, but became as well and strong as +ever--and the great fire in Tooley Street left no worse marks upon him +than a few honourable scars. + +His recovery, however, was tedious. The state of his health, coupled +with the state of his fortune, rendered it advisable that he should seek +the benefit of country air, so he resigned his situation in the London +Fire Brigade--resigned it, we may add, with deep regret, for some of his +happiest days had been spent in connection with that gallant corps. + +Rambling and fishing among the glorious mountains of Wales with his +brother Willie, he speedily regained health and strength. While +wandering with delight through one of the most picturesque scenes of +that wild and beautiful region, he came suddenly one day on a large +white umbrella, under which sat a romantic-looking man, something +between an Italian bandit and an English sportsman, who was deeply +engrossed with a sheet of paper on which he was depicting one of the +grandest views in the splendid pass of Llanberis. At this man Willie +rushed with a shout of surprise, and found that he answered at once to +the name of Fred Auberly! Fred was thrown into such a state of delight +at the sight of his old friends that he capsized the white umbrella, +packed up his paints, and accompanied them to their inn. Here, on being +questioned, he related how that, while in Rome he had been seized with a +fever which laid him prostrate for many weeks; that, on his recovery, he +wrote to Loo and his father, but received no reply from either of them; +that he afterwards spent some months in Switzerland, making more than +enough of money with his brush to "keep the pot boiling," and that, +finally, he returned home to find that dear Loo was dead, and that the +great Tooley Street fire had swept away his father's premises and ruined +him. As this blow had, however, been the means of softening his father, +and effecting a reconciliation between them, he was rather glad than +otherwise, he said, that the fire had taken place. Fred did not say-- +although he might have said it with truth--that stiff and stately Mr +Auberly had been reduced almost to beggary, and that he was now +dependent for a livelihood on the very palette and brushes which once he +had so ruthlessly condemned to the flames! + +After this trip to Wales, Frank returned home and told his mother +abruptly that he meant to marry Emma Ward without delay, to which Mrs +Willders replied that she thought he was quite right. As Emma appeared +to be of the same mind the marriage took place in due course. That is +to say, Miss Tippet and Emma managed to put it off as long as possible +and to create as much delay as they could. When they had not the shadow +of an excuse for further delay--not so much as a forgotten band or an +omitted hook of the voluminous trousseau--the great event was allowed to +go on--or, "to come off." + +Many and varied were the faces that appeared at the church on that +auspicious occasion. Mr Auberly was there to give away the bride, and +wonderfully cheerful he looked, too, considering that he gave her to the +man whom he once thought so very unworthy of her. Willie was groomsman, +of course, and among the bridesmaids there was a little graceful, +dark-eyed and dark-haired creature, whom he regarded as an angel or a +fairy, or something of that sort, and whom everybody else, except Frank +and Mrs Willders, thought the most beautiful girl in the church. In +the front gallery, just above this dark-eyed girl, sat an elderly man +who gazed at her with an expression of intense affection. His +countenance was careworn and, had a somewhat dissipated look upon it. +Yet there was a healthy glow on it, too, as if the dissipation were a +thing of the distant past. The dark-eyed girl once or twice stole a +glance at the elderly man and smiled on him with a look of affection +quite as fervent as his own. There was a rather stylish youth at this +man's elbow whose muscles were so highly developed that they appeared +about to burst his superfine black coat. He was observed to nod +familiarly to the dark-eyed girl more than once, and appeared to be in a +state of considerable excitement--ready, as it were, to throw a +somersault over the gallery on the slightest provocation. + +Of course, Miss Tippet was there in "_such_ a love of a bonnet," looking +the picture of happiness. So was Mr Tippet, beaming all over with joy. +So was Miss Deemas, scowling hatred and defiance at the men. So was +David Boone, whose circumstances had evidently improved, if one might +judge from the self-satisfied expression of his face and the splendour +of his attire. John Barret was also there, and, close beside him stood +Ned Hooper, who appeared to shrink modestly from observation, owing, +perhaps, to his coat being a little threadbare. But Ned had no occasion +to be ashamed of himself, for his face and appearance showed clearly +that he had indeed been enabled to resist temptation, and that he had +risen to a higher position in the social scale than a vendor of +ginger-beer. + +In the background might have been seen Hopkins--tall and dignified as +ever, with Matty Merryon at his side. It was rumoured "below-stairs" +that these two were engaged, but as the engagement has not yet advanced +to anything more satisfactory, _we_ hold that to be a private matter +with which we have no right to meddle. + +Close to these stood a group of stalwart men in blue coats and leathern +belts, and with sailor-like caps in their hands. These men appeared to +take a lively interest in what was going forward, and evidently found it +difficult to restrain a cheer when Frank took Emma's hand. Once or +twice during the service one or two other men of similar appearance +looked into the church as if in haste, nodded to their comrades, and +went out again, while one of them appeared in the organ loft with a +helmet hanging on his arm and his visage begrimed with charcoal, as if +he were returning from a recent fire. This man, feeling, no doubt, that +he was not very presentable, evidently wished to see without being seen. +He was very tall and stout, and was overheard to observe, in very Irish +tones, that "it was a purty sight intirely." + +When the carriage afterwards started from the door, this man--who bore a +strong resemblance to Joe Corney--sprang forward and called for three +cheers, which call was responded to heartily by all, but especially by +the blue-coated and belted fellows with sailor-like caps, who cheered +their old comrade and his blooming bride with those deep and thrilling +tones which can be produced in perfection only by the lungs and throats +of true-blue British tars! + +Now, it must not be supposed that this was the end of Frank's career. +In truth, it was only the beginning of it, for Frank Willders was one of +those men who know how to make a good use of money. + +His first proceeding after the honeymoon was to take a small farm in the +suburbs of London. He had a tendency for farming, and he resolved at +least to play at it if he could make nothing by it. There was a small +cottage on the farm, not far from the dwelling-house. This was rented +by Willie, and into it he afterwards introduced Ziza Cattley as Mrs +William Willders. The widow inhabited another small cottage not a +hundred yards distant from it, but she saw little of her own home except +at night, being constrained to spend most of her days with one or other +of her "boys." + +As the farm was near a railway station, Willie went to town every +morning to business--Saturdays and Sundays excepted--and returned every +evening. His business prospered and so did Mr Tippet's. That +eccentric old gentleman had, like Mr Auberly, been ruined by the great +fire, but he did not care--so he said--because the _other_ business kept +him going! He was not aware that Willie's engineering powers turned in +all the money of that other business, and Willie took care never to +enlighten him, but helped him as of old in planning, inventing, and +discovering, to the end of his days. + +There was one grand feature which Frank introduced into his suburban +establishment which we must not omit to mention. This was a new patent +steam fire-engine. He got it not only for the protection of his own +farm, but, being a philanthropic man, for the benefit of the surrounding +district, and he trained the men of his farm and made them expert +firemen. Willie was placed in command of this engine, so that the great +wish of his early years was realised! There was not a fire within ten +miles round them at which Willie's engine was not present; and the +brothers continued for many years to fight the flames together in that +neighbourhood. + +As for stout George Dale, and sturdy Baxmore, and facetious Joe Corney, +with his comrades Moxey, Williams, and Mason, and Sam Forest, those +heroes continued to go on the even tenor of their way, fighting more +battles with the flames in six months than were fought with our human +enemies by all our redcoats and blue-jackets in as many years, and +without making any fuss about it, too, although danger was the element +in which they lived, and wounds or death might have met them any day of +the year. + +For all we know to the contrary, they may be carrying on the war while +we pen this chronicle, and, unless more vigorous measures are adopted +for _preventing_ fire than have been taken in time past, there can be no +question that these stout-hearted men will in time to come have more +occasion than ever for--fighting the flames. + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fighting the Flames, by R.M. 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