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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Friarswood Post Office
+by Charlotte M. Yonge
+(#19 in our series by Charlotte M. Yonge)
+
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+Title: Friarswood Post Office
+
+Author: Charlotte M. Yonge
+
+Release Date: July, 2003  [Etext #4296]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on December 31, 2001]
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Friarswood Post Office
+by Charlotte M. Yonge
+******This file should be named frwps10.txt or frwps10.zip******
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+Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk.  From
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+
+
+
+FRIARSWOOD POST-OFFICE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I--THE STRANGE LAD
+
+
+
+'Goodness!  If ever I did see such a pig!' said Ellen King, as she
+mounted the stairs.  'I wouldn't touch him with a pair of tongs!'
+
+'Who?' said a voice from the bedroom.
+
+'Why, that tramper who has just been in to buy a loaf!  He is a
+perfect pig, I declare!  I only wonder you did not find of him up
+here!  The police ought to hinder such folk from coming into decent
+people's shops!  There, you may see him now!'
+
+'Is that he upon the bridge--that chap about the size of our Harold?'
+
+'Yes.  Did you ever see such a figure?  His clothes aren't good
+enough for a scarecrow--and the dirt, you can't see that from here,
+but you might sow radishes in it!'
+
+'Oh, he's swinging on the rail, just as I used to do.  Put me down,
+Nelly; I don't want to see any more.'  And the eyes filled with
+tears; there was a working about the thin cheeks and the white lips,
+and a long sigh came out at last, 'Oh, if I was but like him!'
+
+'Like him!  I'd wish something else before I wished that,' said
+Ellen.  'Don't think about it, Alfred dear; here are Miss Jane's
+pictures.'
+
+'I don't want the pictures,' said Alfred wearily, as he laid his head
+down on his white pillow, and shut his eyes because they were hot
+with tears.
+
+Ellen looked at him very sadly, and the feeling in her own mind was,
+that he was right, and nothing could make up for the health and
+strength that she knew her mother feared would never return to him.
+
+There he lay, the fair hair hanging round the white brow with the
+furrows of pain in it, the purple-veined lids closed over the great
+bright blue eyes, the long fingers hanging limp and delicate as a
+lady's, the limbs stretched helplessly on the couch, whither it cost
+him so much pain to be daily moved.  Who would have thought, that not
+six months ago that poor cripple was the merriest and most active boy
+in the parish?
+
+The room was not a sad-looking one.  There were spotless white dimity
+curtains round the lattice window; and the little bed, and the walnut
+of the great chest, and of the doors of the press-bed on which Alfred
+lay, shone with dark and pale grainings.  There was a carpet on the
+floor, and the chairs had chintz cushions; the walls were as white as
+snow, and there were pretty china ornaments on the mantel-piece, many
+little pictures hanging upon the walls, and quite a shelf of books
+upon the white cloth, laid so carefully on the top of the drawers.  A
+little table beside Alfred held a glass with a few flowers, a cup
+with some toast and water, a volume of the 'Swiss Family Robinson;'
+and a large book of prints of animals was on a chair where he could
+reach it.
+
+A larger table was covered with needle-work, shreds of lining,
+scissors, tapes, and Ellen's red work-box; and she herself sat beside
+it, a very nice-looking girl of about seventeen, tall and slim, her
+lilac dress and white collar fitting beautifully, her black apron
+sitting nicely to her trim waist, and her light hair shining, like
+the newly-wound silk of the silk-worm, round her pleasant face; where
+the large, clear, well-opened blue eyes, and the contrast of white
+and red on the cheek, were a good deal like poor Alfred's, and gave
+an air of delicacy.
+
+Their father had been, as their mother said, 'the handsomest coachman
+who ever drove to St. James's;' but he had driven thither once too
+often; he had caught his death of cold one bitter day when Lady Jane
+Selby was obliged to go to a drawing-room, and had gone off in a deep
+decline fourteen years ago, when the youngest of his five children
+was not six weeks old.
+
+The Selby family were very kind to Mrs. King, who, besides her
+husband's claims on them, had been once in service there; and
+moreover, had nursed Miss Jane, the little heiress, Ellen's foster-
+sister.  By their help she had been able to use her husband's savings
+in setting up a small shop, where she sold tea, tobacco and snuff,
+tape, cottons, and such little matters, besides capital bread of her
+own baking, and various sweet-meats, the best to the taste of her own
+cooking, the prettiest to the eye brought from Elbury.  Oranges too,
+and apples, shewed their yellow or rosy cheeks at her window in their
+season; and there was sometimes a side of bacon, displaying under the
+brown coat the delicate pink stripes bordering the white fat.  Of
+late years one pane of her window had been fitted up with a wooden
+box, with a slit in it on the outside, and a whole region round it
+taken up with printed sheets of paper about 'Mails to Gothenburg,--
+Weekly Post to Vancouver's Island'--and all sorts of places to which
+the Friarswood people never thought of writing.
+
+Altogether, she throve very well; and she was a good woman, whom
+every one respected for the pains she took to bring up her children
+well.  The eldest, Charles, had died of consumption soon after his
+father, and there had been much fear for his sister Matilda; but Lady
+Jane had contrived to have her taken as maid to a lady who usually
+spent the winter abroad, and the warm climate had strengthened her
+health.  She was not often at Friarswood; but when she came she
+looked and spoke like a lady--all the more so as she gave herself no
+airs, but was quite simple and humble, for she was a very good right-
+minded young woman, and exceedingly fond of her home and her good
+mother.
+
+Ellen would have liked to copy Matilda in everything; and as a first
+step, she went for a year to a dress-maker; but just as this was
+over, Alfred's illness had begun; and as he wanted constant care and
+attendance, it was thought better that she should take in work at
+home.  Indeed Alfred was such a darling of hers, that she could not
+have endured to go away and leave him so ill.
+
+Alfred had been a most lively, joyous boy, with higher spirits than
+he quite knew what to do with, all fun and good-humour, and yet very
+troublesome and provoking.  He and his brother Harold were the
+monkeys of the school, and really seemed sometimes as if they COULD
+NOT sit still, nor hinder themselves from making faces, and playing
+tricks; but that was the worst of them--they never told untruths,
+never did anything mean or unfair, and could always be made sorry
+when they had been in fault.  Their old school-mistress liked them in
+spite of all the plague they gave her; and they liked her too, though
+she had tried upon them every punishment she could devise.
+
+Little Miss Jane, the orphan whom the Colonel and Mrs. Selby had left
+to be brought up by her grandmother, had a great fancy that Alfred
+should be a page; and as she generally had her own way, he went up to
+the Grange when he was about thirteen years old, and put on a suit
+thickly sown with buttons.  But ere the gloss of his new jacket had
+begun to wear off, he had broken four wine-glasses, three cups, and a
+decanter, all from not knowing where he was going; he had put sugar
+instead of salt into the salt-cellars at the housekeeper's dining-
+table, that he might see what she would say; and he had been caught
+dressing up Miss Jane's Skye terrier in one of the butler's clean
+cravats; so, though Puck, the aforesaid terrier, liked him better
+than any other person, Miss Jane not excepted, a regular complaint
+went up of him to my Lady, and he was sent home.  He was abashed, and
+sorry to have vexed mother and disappointed Miss Jane; but somehow he
+could not be unhappy when he had Harold to play with him again, and
+he could halloo as loud as they pleased, and stamp about in the
+garden, instead of being always in mind to walk softly.
+
+There was the pony too!  A new arrangement had just been made, that
+the Friarswood letters should be fetched from Elbury every morning,
+and then left at the various houses of the large straggling district
+that depended on that post-office.  All letters from thence must be
+in the post before five o'clock, at which time they were to be sent
+in to Elbury.  The post-master at Elbury asked if Mrs. King's sons
+could undertake this; and accordingly she made a great effort, and
+bought a small shaggy forest pony, whom the boys called 'Peggy,' and
+loved not much less than their sisters.
+
+It was all very well in the summer to take those two rides in the
+cool of the morning and evening; but when winter came on, and Alfred
+had to start for Elbury in the tardy dawn of a frosty morning, or
+still worse, in the gloom of a wet one, he did not like it at all.
+He used to ride in looking blue and purple with the chill; and though
+he went as close to the fire as possible, and steamed like the tea-
+kettle while he ate his breakfast and his mother sorted the letters,
+he had not time to warm himself thoroughly before he had to ride off
+to leave them--two miles further altogether; for besides the bag for
+the Grange, and all the letters for the Rectory, and for the farmers,
+there was a young gentlemen's school at a great old lonely house,
+called Ragglesford, at the end of a very long dreary lane; and many a
+day Alfred would have given something if those boys' relations would
+only have been so good as, with one consent, to leave them without
+letters.
+
+It would not have mattered if Alfred had been a stouter boy; but his
+mother had always thought he had his poor father's constitution, and
+therefore wished him to be more in the house; but his idleness had
+prevented his keeping any such place.  It might have been the cold
+and wet, or, as Alfred thought, it might have been the strain he gave
+himself one day when he was sliding on the ice and had a fall; but
+one morning he came in from Elbury very pale, and hobbling, as he
+said his hip hurt him so much, that Harold must take the letters
+round for him.
+
+Harold took them that morning, and for many another morning and
+evening besides; while poor Alfred came from sitting by the fire to
+being a prisoner up-stairs, only moved now and then from his own bed
+to lie outside that of his mother, when he could bear it.  The doctor
+came, and did his best; but the disease had thrown itself into the
+hip joint, and it was but too plain that Alfred must be a great
+sufferer for a long time, and perhaps a cripple for life.  But how
+long might this life be?  His mother dared not think.  Alfred
+himself, poor boy, was always trying with his whole might to believe
+himself getting better; and Ellen and Harold always fancied him so,
+when he was not very bad indeed; but for the last fortnight he had
+been decidedly worse, and his heart and hopes were sinking, though he
+would not own it to himself, and that and the pain made his spirits
+fail so, that he had been more inclined to be fretful than any time
+since his illness had begun.
+
+His view from the window was a pleasant one; and when he was pretty
+well, afforded him much amusement.  The house stood in a neat garden,
+with green railings between it and the road, over which Alfred could
+see every one who came and went towards Elbury, and all who had
+business at the post-office, or at Farmer Shepherd's.  Opposite was
+the farm-yard; and if nothing else was going on, there were always
+cocks and hens, ducks and turkeys, pigs, cows, or horses, to be seen
+there; and the cow-milking, or the taking the horses down to the
+water, the pig-feeding, and the like, were a daily amusement.
+Sloping down from the farm-yard, the ground led to the river, a
+smooth clear stream, where the white ducks looked very pretty,
+swimming, diving, and 'standing tail upwards;' and there was a high-
+arched bridge over it, where Alfred could get a good view of the
+carriages that chanced to come by, and had lately seen all the young
+gentlemen of Ragglesford going home for the summer holidays, making
+such a whooping and hurrahing, that the place rang again; and beyond,
+there were beautiful green meadows, with a straight path through
+them, leading to a stile; and beyond that, woods rose up, and there
+was a little glimpse of a stately white house peeping through them.
+Hay-making was going on merrily in the field, under the bright summer
+sun, and the air was full of the sweet smell of the grass, but there
+was something sultry and oppressive to the poor boy's feelings; and
+when he remembered how Farmer Shepherd had called him to lend a hand
+last year, and how happy he had been tossing the hay, and loading the
+waggon, a sad sick feeling crept over him; and so it was that the
+tears rose in his eyes, and he made his sister lay him back on the
+pillow, for he did not wish to see any more.
+
+Ellen worked and thought, and wanted to entertain him, but could not
+think how.  Presently she burst out, however, 'Oh, Alfred! there's
+Harold coming running back!  There he is, jumping over that hay-cock-
+-not touched the ground once--another--oh! there's Farmer Shepherd
+coming after him!'
+
+'Hold your tongue,' muttered Alfred moodily, as if each of her words
+gave him unbearable pain; and he hid his face in the pillow.
+
+Ellen kept silence for ten minutes, and then broke forth again, 'Now
+then, Alfred, you WILL be glad!  There's Miss Jane getting over the
+stile.'
+
+'I don't want Miss Jane,' grumbled Alfred; and as Ellen sprang up and
+began smoothing his coverings, collecting her scraps, and tidying the
+room, already so neat, he growled again, 'What a racket you keep!'
+
+'There, won't you be raised up to see her?  She does look so pretty
+in her new pink muslin, with a double skirt, and her little hat and
+feather, that came from London; and there's Puck poking in the hay--
+he's looking for a mouse!  And she's showering the hay over him with
+her parasol!  Oh, look, Alfred!' and she was going to lift him up,
+but he only murmured a cross 'Can't you be quiet?' and she let him
+alone, but went on talking:  'Ah, there's Puck's little tail
+wriggling out--hinder-end foremost--here he comes--they are touching
+their hats to her now, the farmer and all, and she nods just like a
+little queen!  She's got her basket, Alfred.  I wonder what she has
+for you in it!  Oh dear, there's that strange boy on the bridge!  She
+won't like that.'
+
+'Why, what would he do to her?  He won't bite her,' said Alfred.
+
+'Oh, if he spoke to her, or begged of her, she'd be so frightened!
+There, he looked at her, and she gave such a start.  You little
+vagabond!  I'd like to--'
+
+'Stuff! what could he do to her, with all the hay-field and Farmer
+Shepherd there to take care of her?  What a fuss you do make!' said
+poor Alfred, who was far too miserable just then to agree with any
+one, though at almost any other time he would have longed to knock
+down any strange boy who did but dare to pass Miss Selby without
+touching his cap; and her visits were in general the very light of
+his life.
+
+They were considered a great favour; for though old Lady Jane Selby
+was a good, kind-hearted person, still she had her fancies, and she
+kept her young grand-daughter like some small jewel, as a thing to be
+folded up in a case, and never trusted in common.  She was afraid to
+allow her to go about the village, or into the school and cottages,
+always fancying she might be made ill, or meet with some harm; but
+Mrs. King being an old servant, whom she knew so well, and the way
+lying across only two meadows beyond Friarswood Park, the little pet
+was allowed to go so far to visit her foster-mother, and bring
+whatever she could devise to cheer the poor sick boy.
+
+Miss Jane, though of the same age as Ellen, and of course with a
+great deal more learning and accomplishment, had been so little used
+to help herself, or to manage anything, that she was like one much
+younger.  The sight of the rough stranger on the bridge was really
+startling to her, and she came across the road and garden as fast as
+she could without a run; and the first thing the brother and sister
+heard, was her voice saying rather out of breath and fluttered, 'Oh,
+what a horrid-looking boy!'
+
+Seeing that Mrs. King was serving some one in the shop, she only
+nodded to her, and came straight upstairs.  Alfred raised up his
+head, and beheld the little fairy through the open door, first the
+head, and the smiling little face and slight figure in the fresh
+summer dress.
+
+Miss Jane was not thought very pretty by strangers; but that dainty
+little person, and sweet sunny eyes and merry smile, and shy, kind,
+gracious ways, were perfect in the eyes of her grandmamma and of Mrs.
+King and her children, if of nobody else.  Alfred, in his present
+dismal state, only felt vexed at a fresh person coming up to worry
+him, and make a talking; especially one whose presence was a
+restraint, so that he could not turn about and make cross answers at
+his will.
+
+'Well, Alfred, how are you to-day?' said the sweet gay voice, a
+little subdued.
+
+'Better, Ma'am, thank you,' said Alfred, who always called himself
+better, whatever he felt; but his voice told the truth better than
+his words.
+
+'He's had a very bad night, Miss Jane,' said his sister; 'no sleep at
+all since two o'clock, and he is so low to-day, that I don't know
+what to do with him.'
+
+Alfred hated nothing so much as to hear that he was low, for it meant
+that he was cross.
+
+'Poor Alfred!' said the young lady kindly.  'Was it pain that kept
+you awake?'
+
+'No, Ma'am--not so much--' said the boy.
+
+Miss Jane saw he looked very sad, and hoped to cheer him by opening
+her basket.  'I've brought you a new book, Alfred.  It is "The
+Cherry-stones."  Have you finished the last?'
+
+'No, Ma'am.'
+
+'Did you like it?'
+
+'Yes, Ma'am.'
+
+But it was a very matter-of-course sort of Yes, and disappointed Miss
+Jane, who thought he would have been charmed with the 'Swiss Family
+Robinson.'
+
+Ellen spoke:  'Oh yes, Alfred, you know you did like it.  I heard you
+laughing to yourself at Ernest and the shell of soup.  And Harold
+reads that; and 'tis so seldom he will look at a book.'
+
+Jane did not like this quite as well as if Alfred had spoken up more;
+but she dived into her basket again, and brought out a neat little
+packet of green leaves, with some strawberries done up in it, and
+giving a little smile, she made sure that it would be acceptable.
+
+Ellen thanked vehemently, and Alfred gave feeble thanks; but,
+unluckily, he had so set his mind upon raspberries, that he could not
+enjoy the thought of anything else.  It was a sickly distaste for
+everything, and Miss Selby saw that he was not as much pleased as she
+meant him to be; she looked at him wistfully, and, half grieved, half
+impatient, she longed to know what he would really like, or if he
+were positively ungrateful.  She was very young, and did not know
+whether it was by his fault or her mistake that she had failed to
+satisfy him.
+
+Puck had raced up after her, and had come poking and snuffling round
+Alfred.  She would have called him away lest he should be too much
+for one so weak, but she saw Alfred really did enjoy this:  his hand
+was in the long rough coat, and he was whispering, 'Poor Puck,' and
+'Good little doggie;' and the little hairy rummaging creature, with
+the bright black beads of eyes gleaming out from under his shaggy
+hair, was doing him more good than her sense and kindness, or Ellen's
+either.
+
+She turned to the window, and said to Ellen, 'What a wild-looking lad
+that is on the bridge!'
+
+'Yes, Miss Jane,' said Ellen; 'I was quite afraid he would frighten
+you.'
+
+'Well, I was surprised,' said Jane; 'I was afraid he might speak to
+me; but then I knew I was too near friends for harm to come to me;'
+and she laughed at her own fears.  'How ragged and wretched he looks!
+Has he been begging?'
+
+'No, Miss Jane; he came into the shop, and bought some bread.  He
+paid for it honestly; but I never did see any one so dirty.  And
+there's Alfred wishing to be like him.  I knew you would tell him it
+is quite wicked, Miss Jane.'
+
+It is not right, I suppose, to wish to be anything but what we are,'
+said Jane, rather puzzled by the appeal; 'and perhaps that poor
+beggar-boy would only like to have a nice room, and kind mother and
+sister, like you, Alfred.'
+
+'I don't say anything against them!' cried the boy vehemently; 'but--
+but--I'd give anything--anything in the world--to be able to run
+about again in the hay-field!  No, don't talk to me, Ellen, I say--I
+hate them all when I see them there, and I forced to lie here!  I
+wish the sun would never shine!'
+
+He hid his eyes and ears in the pillow, as if he never wished to see
+the light again, and would hear nothing.  The two girls both stood
+trembling.  Ellen looked at Miss Selby, and she felt that she must
+say something.  But what could she say?
+
+With tears in her eyes she laid hold of Alfred's thin hand and tried
+to speak, choked by tears.  'Dear Alfred, don't say such dreadful
+things.  You know we are all so sorry for you; but God sent it.'
+
+Alfred gave a groan of utter distress, as if it were no consolation.
+
+'And--and things come to do us good,' continued Miss Jane, the tears
+starting to her cheeks.
+
+'I don't know what good it can do me to lie here!' cried Alfred.
+
+'Oh, but, Alfred, it must.'
+
+'I tell you,' exclaimed the poor boy, forgetting his manners, so that
+Ellen stood dismayed, 'it does not do me good!  I didn't use to hate
+Harold, nor to hate everybody.'
+
+'To hate Harold!' said Jane faintly.
+
+'Ay,' said Alfred, 'when I hear him whooping about like mad, and
+jumping and leaping, and going on like I used to do, and never shall
+again.'
+
+The tears came thick and fast, and perhaps they did him good.
+
+'But, Alfred,' said Jane, trying to puzzle into the right thing,
+'sometimes things are sent to punish us, and then we ought to submit
+quietly.'
+
+'I don't know what I've done, then,' he cried angrily.  'There have
+been many worse than I any day, that are well enough now.'
+
+'Oh, Alfred, it is not who is worse, but what one is oneself,' said
+Jane.
+
+Alfred grunted.
+
+'I wish I knew how to help you,' she said earnestly; 'it is so very
+sad and hard; and I dare say I should be just as bad myself if I were
+as ill; but do, pray, Alfred, try to think that nobody sent it but
+God, and that He must know best.'
+
+Alfred did not seem to take in much comfort, and Jane did not believe
+she was putting it rightly; but it was time for her to go home, so
+she said anxiously, 'Good-bye, Alfred; I hope you'll be better next
+time--and--and--'  She bent down and spoke in a very frightened
+whisper, 'You know when we go to church, we pray you may have
+patience under your sufferings.'
+
+Then she sprang away, as if ashamed of the sound of her own words;
+but as she was taking up her basket and wishing Ellen good-bye, she
+saw that the strange lad had moved nearer the house, and timid little
+thing as she was, she took out a sixpence, and said, 'Do give him
+that, and ask him to go away.'
+
+Ellen had no very great fancy for facing the enemy herself, but she
+made no objection; and looking down-stairs, she saw her brother
+Harold waiting while his mother stamped the letters, and she called
+to him, and sent him out to the boy.
+
+He came back in a few moments so much amazed, that she could see the
+whites all round his eyes.
+
+'He won't have it!  He's a rum one that!  He says he's no beggar, and
+that if the young lady would give him work, he'd thank her; but he
+wants none of her money, and he'll stand where he chooses!'
+
+'Why didn't you lick him?' hallooed out Alfred's voice from his bed.
+'Oh! if I--'
+
+'Nonsense, Alfred!' cried Miss Jane, frightened into spirit; 'stand
+still, Harold!  I don't mind him.'
+
+And she put up her parasol, and walked straight out at the house door
+as bold as a little lioness, going on without looking to the right or
+left.
+
+'IF--' began Harold, clenching his fists--and Alfred raised himself
+upon his bed with flashing eyes to watch, as the boy had moved
+nearer, and looked for a moment as if he were going to grin, or say
+something impudent; but the quiet childish form stepping on so simply
+and steadily seemed to disarm him, and he shrunk back, left her to
+trip across the road unmolested, and stood leaning over the rail of
+the bridge, gazing after her as she crossed the hay-field.
+
+Harold rode off with the letters; and Alfred lay gazing, and
+wondering what that stranger could be, counting the holes in his
+garments, and trying to guess at his history.
+
+One good thing was, that Alfred was so much carried out of himself,
+that he was cheerful all the evening.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II--HAY-MAKING
+
+
+
+There was again a sultry night, which brought on so much discomfort
+and restlessness, that poor Alfred could not sleep.  He tried to bear
+in mind how much he had disturbed his mother the night before, and he
+checked himself several times when he felt as if he could not bear it
+any longer without waking her, and to remember his old experience,
+that do what she would for him, it would be no real relief, and he
+should only be sorry the next day when he saw her going about her
+work with a worn face and a head-ache.
+
+Then every now and then Miss Selby's words about being patient came
+back to him.  Sometimes he thought them hard, coming from a being who
+had never known sickness or sorrow, and wondered how she would feel
+if laid low as he was; but they would not be put away in that manner,
+for he knew they were true, and were said by others than Miss Jane,
+though he had begun to think no phrase so tiresome, hopeless, or
+provoking.  People always told him to be patient when they had no
+comfort to give him, and did not know what he was suffering.  He
+would not have minded it so much if only he could have got it out of
+his head.  Somehow it would not let him call to his mother, if it was
+only because very likely all he should get by so doing would be to be
+again told to be patient.  And then came Miss Jane's telling him his
+illness might be good for him, as if she thought he deserved to be
+punished.  Really that was hard!  Who could think he deserved this
+wearing pain and helplessness, only because he had played tricks on
+the butler and housekeeper, and now and then laughed at church?
+
+'It is just like Job and his friends,' thought Alfred.  'I don't want
+her to come and see me any more!'
+
+Poor Alfred!  There was a little twinge here.  His conscience could
+not give quite such an account as did that of Job!  But he did not
+like recollecting his own errors better than any of us do, and liked
+much more to feel himself very hardly used, and greatly to be pitied.
+Thereupon he opened his lips to call to his mother, but that old
+thought about patience returned on him; he had mercy on her regular
+breathing, though it made him quite envious to hear it, and he said
+to himself that he would let her alone, at least till the next time
+the clock struck.  It would be three o'clock next time.  Oh dear,
+would the night never be over?  How often such a round of weary
+thoughts came again and again can hardly be counted; but, at any
+rate, poor Alfred was exercising one act of forbearance, and that was
+so much gain.  At last he found, by the increasing light shewing him
+the shapes of all the pictures, that he must have had a short sleep
+which had made him miss the clock, and he felt a good deal injured
+thereby.
+
+However, Mrs. King was too good a nurse not to be awakened by his
+first movement, and she came to him, gave him some cold tea, and
+settled his pillow so as to make him more comfortable; and when he
+begged her to let in a little more air, she went to open the window
+wider, and relieve the closeness of the little room.  She had learnt
+while living with Lady Jane that night air is not so dangerous as
+some people fancy; and it was an infinite relief to Alfred when the
+lattice was thrown back, and the cool breeze came softly in, with the
+freshness of the dew, and the delicious scent of the hay-field.
+
+Mrs. King stood a moment to look out at the beautiful stillness of
+early dawn, the trees and meads so gravely calmly quiet, and the
+silver dew lying white over everything; the tanned hay-cocks rising
+up all over the field, the morning star and waning moon glowing pale
+as light of morning spread over the sky.  Then a cock crew somewhere
+at a distance, and Mrs. Shepherd's cock answered him more shrilly
+close by, and the swallows began to twitter under the eaves.
+
+'It WILL be a fine day, to be sure!' she said.  'The farmer will get
+in his hay!' and then she stood looking as if something had caught
+her attention.
+
+'What do you see, Mother?' asked Alfred.
+
+'I was looking what that was under yon hay-cock,' said Mrs. King;
+'and I do believe it is some one sleeping there.'
+
+'Ha!' cried Alfred.  'I dare say it is the boy that would not have
+Miss Jane's sixpence.'
+
+'I'm sure I hope he's after no harm,' said Mrs. King; 'I don't like
+to have tramps about so near.  I hope he means no mischief by the
+farmer's poultry.'
+
+'He can't be one of that sort, or he wouldn't have refused the
+money,' said Alfred.  'How nice and cool it must be sleeping in the
+hay!  I'll warrant he doesn't lie awake.  I wish I was there!'
+
+'You'll know what to be thankful for one of these days, my poor lad,'
+said his mother, sighing; then yawning, she said, 'I must go back to
+bed.  Mind you call out, Alfred, if you hear anything like a noise in
+the farmyard.'
+
+This notion rather interested Alfred; he began to build up a fine
+scheme of shouting out and sending Harold to the rescue of the cocks
+and hens, and how well he would have done it himself a year ago, and
+pinned the thief, and fastened the door on him.  Not that he thought
+this individual lad at all likely to be a thief, nor did he care much
+for Farmer Shepherd, who was a hard man and no favourite; but to
+catch a thief would be a grand feat.  And while settling his clever
+plan, and making some compliments for the magistrate to pay him,
+Alfred, fanned by the cool breeze, fell into a sound sleep, and did
+not wake till the sun was high, and all the rest of the house were up
+and dressed.
+
+That good sleep made him much more able to bear the burden of the
+day.  First, his mother came with the towel and basin, and washed his
+face and hands; and then he had his little book, and said his
+prayers; and somehow to-day he felt so much less fractious than
+usual, that he asked to be taught patience, and not ONLY to be made
+well, as he had hitherto done.
+
+That over, he lay smiling as he waited for his breakfast, and when
+Ellen brought it to him, he had not one complaint to make, but ate it
+almost with a relish.  'Is that boy gone?' he asked Ellen, as she
+tidied the room while he was eating.
+
+'What, the dirty boy?  No, there he is, speaking to the farmer.  Will
+he beg of him?'
+
+'Asking for work, more likely.'
+
+'I'd sooner give work to a pig at once,' said Ellen; 'but I do
+believe he's getting it.  I fancy they are short of hands for the
+hay.  Yes, he's pointing into the field.  Ay, and he's sending him
+into the yard.'
+
+'I hope he'll give him some breakfast,' said Alfred.  'Do you know he
+slept all night on a hay-cock?'
+
+'Yes, so Mother said, just like a dog; and he got up like a dog this
+morning,--never so much as washed himself at the river.  Why, he's
+coming here!  Whatever does he want?'
+
+'The lad?'
+
+'No, the farmer.'
+
+Mr. Shepherd's heavy tread was heard below, and, as Alfred said,
+Ellen had only to hold her tongue for them be able to hear his loud
+tones telling Mrs. King that the glass was falling, and his hay in
+capital order, and his hands short, and asking whether her boy Harold
+would come and help in the hay-field between the post times.  Mrs.
+King gave a ready answer that the boy would be well pleased, and the
+farmer promised him his victuals and sixpence for the day.  'Your
+lass wouldn't like to come too, I suppose, eh?'
+
+Ellen flushed with indignation.  She go a hay-making!  Her mother was
+civilly making answer that her daughter was engaged with her sick
+brother, and besides--had her work for Mrs. Price, which must be
+finished off.  The farmer, saying he had not much expected her, but
+thought she might like a change from moping over her needle, went
+off.
+
+Ellen did not feel ready to forgive him for wanting to set her to
+field-work.  There is some difference between being fine and being
+refined, and in Ellen's station of life it is very difficult to hit
+the right point.  To be refined is to be free from all that is rough,
+coarse, or ungentle; to be fine, is to affect to be above such
+things.  Now Ellen was really refined in her quietness and maidenly
+modesty, and there was no need for her to undertake any of those
+kinds of tasks which, by removing young girls from home shelter, do
+sometimes help to make them rude and indecorous; but she was FINE,
+when she gave herself a little mincing air of contempt, as if she
+despised the work and those who did it.  Lydia Grant, who worked so
+steadily and kept to herself so modestly, that no one ventured a bold
+word to her as she tossed her hay, was just as refined as Ellen King
+behind her white blinds, ay, or as Jane Selby herself in her terraced
+garden.  Refinement is in the mind that loves whatsoever is pure,
+lovely, and of good report; finery is in disdaining what is homely or
+humble.
+
+Boys of all degrees are usually, when they are good for anything, the
+greatest enemies of the finery tending to affectation; and Alfred at
+once began to make a little fun of his sister, and tell her it would
+be a famous thing for her, he believed she had quite forgotten how to
+run, and did not know a rake from a fork when she saw it.  He knew
+she was longing for a ride in the waggon, if she would but own it.
+
+Ellen used to be teased by this kind of joking; but she was too glad
+to see Alfred well enough so to entertain himself, to think of
+anything but pleasing him, so she answered good-humouredly that
+Harold must make hay for them all three to-day, no doubt but he would
+be pleased enough.
+
+He was heard trotting home at this moment, and whistling as he
+hitched up the pony at the gate, and ran in with the letter-bag, to
+snap up his breakfast while the letters were sorted.
+
+'Here, let me have them,' called Alfred, and they were glad he should
+do it, for he was the quickest of the family at reading handwriting;
+but he was often too ill to attend to it, and more often the weary
+fretfulness and languor of his state made him dislike to exert
+himself, so it was apt to depend on his will or caprice.
+
+'Look sharp, Alf!' hallooed out Harold, rushing up-stairs with the
+bags in one hand, and his bread-and-butter in the other.  'If you
+find a letter for that there Ragglesford, I don't know what I shall
+do to you!  I must be back in no time for the hay!'
+
+And he had bounced down-stairs again before Ellen had time to scold
+him for making riot enough to shake Alfred to pieces.  He was a fine
+tall stout boy, with the same large fully open blue eyes, high
+colour, white teeth, and light curly hair, as his brother and sister,
+but he was much more sunburnt.  If you saw him with his coat off, he
+looked as if he had red gloves and a red mask on, so much whiter was
+his skin where it was covered; and he was very strong for his age,
+and never had known what illness was.  The brothers were very fond of
+each other, but since Alfred had been laid up, they had often been a
+great trial to each other--the one seemed as little able to live
+without making a noise, as the other to endure the noise he made; and
+the sight of Harold's activity and the sound of his feet and voice,
+vexed the poor helpless sufferer more than they ought to have done,
+or than they would had the healthy brother been less thoughtless in
+the joy of his strength.
+
+To-day, however, all was smooth.  Alfred did not feel every tread of
+those bounding limbs like a shock to his poor diseased frame; and he
+only laughed as he unlocked the leathern bag, and dealt out the
+letters, putting all those for the Lady Jane Selby, Miss Selby, and
+the servants, into their own neat little leathern case with the
+padlock, and sorting out the rest, with some hope there might be one
+from Matilda, who was a very good one to write home.  There was none
+from her, but then there was none for Ragglesford, and that was
+unexpected good luck.  If the old housekeeper left in charge had been
+wicked enough to get her newspaper that day, Alfred felt that in
+Harold's place he should be sorely tempted to chuck it over the
+hedge.  Ellen looked as if he had talked of murdering her, and truly
+such a breach of trust would have been a very grievous fault.
+
+'The Reverend--what's his name? the Reverend Marcus Cope, Friarswood,
+near Elbury,' read Alfred; 'one, two, three letters, and a newspaper.
+Yes, and this long printed-looking thing.  Who is he, Ellen?'
+
+'What did you say?' said Ellen, who was busy shaking her mother's
+bed, and had not heard at the first moment, but now turned eagerly;
+'what did you say his name was?'
+
+'The Reverend Marcus Cope,' repeated Alfred.  'Is that another new
+parson?'
+
+'Why, did not we tell you what a real beautiful sermon the new
+clergyman preached on Sunday?  Mr. Cope, so that's his name.  I
+wonder if he is come to stay.--Mother,' she ran to the head of the
+stairs, 'the new clergyman's name is the Reverend Mr. Marcus Cope.'
+
+'He don't live at Ragglesford, I hope!' cried Harold, who regarded
+any one at the end of that long lane as his natural enemy.
+
+'No, it only says Friarswood,' said Ellen.  'You'll have to find out
+where he lives, Harold.'
+
+'Pish! it will take me an hour going asking about!' said Harold
+impatiently.  'He must have his letters left here till he chooses to
+come for them, if he doesn't know where he lives.'
+
+'No, no, Harold, that won't do,' said Mrs. King.  'You must take the
+gentleman his letters, and they'll be sure to know at the Park, or at
+the Rectory, or at the Tankard, where he lodges.  Well, it will be a
+real comfort if he is come to stop.'
+
+So Harold went off with the letters and the pony, and Ellen and her
+mother exchanged a few words about the gentleman and his last
+Sunday's sermon, and then Ellen went to dust the shop, and put out
+the bread, while her mother attended to Alfred's wound, the most
+painful part of the day to both of them.
+
+It was over, however, and Alfred was resting afterwards when Harold
+cantered home as hard as the pony could or would go, and came racing
+up to say, 'I've seen him!  He's famous!  He stood out in the road
+and met me, and asked for his letters, and he's to be at the
+Parsonage, and he asked my name, and then he laughed and said, "Oh!
+I perceive it is the royal mail!"  I didn't know what he was at, but
+he looked as good-humoured as anything.  Halloo! give me my old hat,
+Nell--that's it!  Hurrah! for the hay-waggon!  I saw the horses
+coming out!'
+
+And off he went again full drive; and Alfred did nothing worse than
+give a little groan.
+
+Ellen had enough to do in wondering about Mr. Cope.  News seemed to
+belong of right to the post-office, and it was odd that he should
+have preached on Sunday, and now it should be Tuesday, without
+anything having been heard of him, not even from Miss Jane; but then
+the young lady had been fluttered by the strange boy, and Alfred had
+been so fretful, that it might have put everything out of her head.
+
+Friarswood was used to uncertainty about the clergyman.  The Rector
+had fallen into such bad health, that he had long been unable to do
+anything, and always hoping to get better, he had sent different
+gentlemen to take the services, first one and then another, or had
+asked the masters at Ragglesford to help him; but it was all very
+irregular, and no one had settled down long enough to know the people
+or do much good in visiting them.  My Lady, as they all called Lady
+Jane, was as sorry as any one could be, and she tried what she could
+do by paying a very good school-master and mistress, and giving
+plenty of rewards; but nothing could be like the constant care of a
+real good clergyman, and the people were all the worse for the want.
+They had the church to go to, but it was not brought home to them.
+The Rector had been obliged at last to go abroad, one of the
+Ragglesford gentlemen had performed the service for the ensuing
+Sundays, until now there seemed to be a chance that this new
+clergyman was coming to stay.
+
+This interested Alfred less than his sister.  His curiosity was
+chiefly about the strange lad; and when he was moved to his place by
+the window he turned his eyes anxiously to make him out in the line
+of hay-makers, two fields off, as they shook out the grass to give it
+the day's sunshine.  He knew them all, the ten women, with their old
+straw bonnets poked down over their faces, and deep curtains sewn on
+behind to guard their necks; the farm men come in from their other
+work to lend a hand, three or four boys, among whom he could see
+Harold's white shirt sleeves, and sometimes hear his merry laugh, and
+he was working next to the figure in brown faded-looking tattered
+array, which Alfred suspected to belong to the strange boy.  So did
+Ellen.  'Ah!' she said, 'Harold ye scraped acquaintance with that
+vagabond-looking boy; I wish I had warned him against it, but I
+suppose he would only have done it all the more.'
+
+'You want to make friends with him yourself, Ellen!  We shall have
+you nodding to him next!  You are as curious about him as can be!'
+said Alfred slyly.
+
+'Me!  I never was curious about nothing so insignificant,' said
+Ellen.  'All I wish is, that that boy may not be running into bad
+company.'
+
+The hay-fields were like an entertainment on purpose for Alfred all
+day; he watched the shaking of the brown grass all over the meadows
+in the morning, and the farmer walking over it, and smelling it, and
+spying up to guess what would come of the great rolling towers of
+grey clouds edged with pearly white, soft but dazzling, which varied
+the intense blue of the sky.
+
+Then he watched all the company sit or lie down on the shady side of
+the hedge, under the pollard-willows, and Tom Boldre the shuffler and
+one or two more go into the farm-house, and come out with great
+yellow-ware with pies in them, and the little sturdy-looking kegs of
+beer, and two mugs to go round among them all.  There was Harold
+lying down, quite at his ease, close to the strange boy; Alfred knew
+how much better that dinner would taste to him than the best with the
+table-cloth neatly spread in his mother's kitchen; and well did
+Alfred remember how much more enjoyment there was in such a meal as
+that, than in any one of the dainties that my Lady sent down to tempt
+his sickly appetite.  And what must pies and beer be to the wanderer
+who had eaten the crust so greedily the day before!  Then, after the
+hour's rest, the hay-makers rose up to rake the hay into beds ready
+for the waggons.  Harold and the stranger were raking opposite to
+each other, and Alfred could see them talking; and when they came
+into the nearer hay-field, he saw Harold put up his hand, and point
+to the open window, as if he were telling the other lad about the
+sick boy who was lying there.
+
+He was so much absorbed in thus watching, that he did not pay much
+heed to what interested his mother and sister--the reports which came
+by every customer about the new clergyman, who, it appeared, had been
+staying in the next parish till yesterday, when he had moved into the
+Rectory; and Mrs. Bonham, the butcher's wife, reported that the
+Rectory servants said he was come to stay till their master came
+back.  All this and much more Mrs. King heard and rehearsed to Ellen,
+while Alfred lay, sometimes reading the 'Swiss Robinson,' sometimes
+watching the loading of the wains, as they creaked slowly through the
+fields, the horses seeming to enjoy the work, among their fragrant
+provender, as much as the human kind.  When five o'clock struck,
+Harold gave no signs of quitting the scene of action; and Mrs. King,
+in much anxiety lest the letters should be late, sent Helen to get
+the pony ready, while she herself went into the field to call the
+boy.
+
+Very unwilling he was to come--he shook his shoulders, and growled
+and grumbled, and said he should be in plenty of time, and he wished
+the post was at the bottom of the sea.  Nothing but his mother's
+orders and the necessity of the case could have made him go at all.
+At last he walked off, as if he had lead in his feet, muttering that
+he wished he had not some one to be always after him.  Mrs. King
+looked at the grimy face of his disreputable-looking companion, and
+wondered whether he had put such things into his head.
+
+Very cross was Harold as he twitched the bridle out of Ellen's hand,
+threw the strap of the letter-bag round his neck, and gave such a re-
+echoing switch to the poor pony, that Alfred heard it upstairs, and
+started up to call out, 'For shame, Harold!'
+
+Harold was ashamed:  he settled himself in the saddle and rode off,
+but Alfred had not the comfort of knowing that his ill-humour was not
+being vented upon the poor beast all the way to Elbury.  Alfred had
+given a great deal of his heart to that pony, and it made him feel
+helpless and indignant to think that it was ill-used.  Those tears of
+which he was ashamed came welling up into his eyes as he lay back on
+his pillow; but they were better tears than yesterday's--they were
+not selfish.
+
+'Never mind, Alfy,' said Ellen, 'Harold's not a cruel lad; he'll not
+go on, if he was cross for a bit.  It is all that he's mad after that
+boy there!  I wish mother had never let him go into the hay-field to
+meet bad company!  Depend upon it, that boy has run away out of a
+Reformatory!  Sleeping out at night!  I can't think how Farmer
+Shepherd could encourage him among honest folk!'
+
+'Well, now I think of it, I should not wonder if he had,' said Mrs.
+King.  'He is the dirtiest boy that ever I did see!  Most likely; I
+wish he may do no mischief to-night!'
+
+Harold came home in better humour, but a fresh vexation awaited him.
+Mrs. King would not let him go to the hay-home supper in the barn.
+The men were apt to drink too much and grow riotous; and with her
+suspicions about his new friend, she thought it better to keep him
+apart.  She was a spirited woman, who would be minded, and Harold
+knew he must submit, and that he had behaved very ill.  Ellen told
+him too how much Alfred had been distressed about the pony, and
+though he would not shew her that he cared, it made him go straight
+up-stairs, and with a somewhat sheepish face, say, 'I say, Alf, the
+pony's all right.  I only gave him one cut to get him off.  He'd
+never go at all if he didn't know his master.'
+
+'He'd go fast enough for my voice,' said Alfred.
+
+'You know I'd never go for to beat him,' continued Harold; 'but it
+was enough to vex a chap--wasn't it?--to have Mother coming and
+lugging one off from the carrying, and away from the supper and all.
+Women always grudge one a bit of fun!'
+
+'Mother never grudged us cricket, nor nothing in reason,' said
+Alfred.  'Lucky you that could make hay at all!  And what made you so
+taken up with that new boy that Ellen runs on against, and will have
+it he's a convict?'
+
+'A convict! if Ellen says that again!' cried Harold; 'no more a
+convict than she is.'
+
+'What is he, then?  Where does he come from?'
+
+'His name is Paul Blackthorn,' said Harold; 'and he's the queerest
+chap I ever came across.  Why, he knew no more what to do with a
+prong than the farmer's old sow till I shewed him.'
+
+'But where did he come from?' repeated Alfred.
+
+'He walked all the way from Piggot's turnpike yesterday,' said
+Harold.  'He's looking for work.'
+
+'And before that?'
+
+'He'd been in the Union out--oh! somewhere, I forgot where, but it's
+a name in the Postal Guide.'
+
+'Well, but you've not said who he is,' said Ellen.
+
+'Who? why, I tell you, he's Paul Blackthorn.'
+
+'But I suppose he had a father and mother,' said Ellen.
+
+'No,' said Harold.
+
+'No!' Ellen and Alfred cried out together.
+
+'Not as ever he heard tell of,' said Harold composedly, as if this
+were quite natural and common.
+
+'And you could go and be raking with him like born brothers there!'
+said Ellen, in horror.
+
+'D'ye think I'd care for stuff like that?' said Harold.  'Why, he
+sings--he sings better than Jack Lyte!  He's learnt to sing, you
+know.  And he's such a comical fellow! he said Mr. Shepherd was like
+a big pig on his hind legs; and when Mrs. Shepherd came out to count
+the scraps after we had done, what does he do but whisper to me to
+know how long our withered cyder apples had come to life!'
+
+Such talents for amusing others evidently far out-weighed in Harold's
+consideration such trifling points as fathers, mothers, and
+respectability.  Alfred laughed; but Ellen thought it no laughing
+matter, and reproved Harold for being wicked enough to hear his
+betters made game of.
+
+'My betters!' said Harold--'an old skin-flint like Farmer Shepherd's
+old woman?'
+
+'Hush, Harold!  I'll tell Mother of you, that I will!' cried Ellen.
+
+'Do then,' said Harold, who knew his sister would do no such thing.
+She had made the threat too often, and then not kept her word.
+
+She contented herself with saying, 'Well, all I know is, that I'm
+sure now he has run away out of prison, and is no better than a
+thief; and if our place isn't broken into before to-morrow morning,
+and Mother's silver sugar-tongs gone, it will be a mercy.  I'm sure I
+shan't sleep a wink all night.'
+
+Both boys laughed, and Alfred asked why he had not done it last
+night.
+
+'How should I know?' said Ellen.  'Most likely he wanted to see the
+way about the place, before he calls the rest of the gang.'
+
+'Take care, Harold! it's a gang coming now,' said Alfred, laughing
+again.  'All coming on purpose to steal the sugar-tongs!'
+
+'No, I'll tell you what they are come to steal,' said Harold
+mischievously; 'it's all for Ellen's fine green ivy-leaf brooch that
+Matilda sent her!'
+
+'I dare say Harold has been and told him everything valuable in the
+house!' said Ellen.
+
+'I think,' said Alfred gravely, 'it would be a very odd sort of thief
+to come here, when the farmer's ploughing cup is just by.'
+
+'Yes,' said Harold, 'I'd better have told him of that when I was
+about it; don't you think so, Nelly?'
+
+'If you go on at this rate,' said Ellen, teased into anger, 'you'll
+be robbing the post-office yourself some day.'
+
+'Ay! and I'll get Paul Blackthorn to help me,' said the boy.  'Come,
+Ellen, don't be so foolish; I tell you he's every bit as honest as I
+am, I'd go bail for him.'
+
+'And I KNOW he'll lead you to ruin!' cried Ellen, half crying:  'a
+boy that comes from nowhere and nobody knows, and sleeps on a hay-
+cock all night, no better than a mere tramp!'
+
+'What, quarrelling here? 'said Mrs. King, coming upstairs.  'The lad,
+I wish him no ill, I'm sure, but he'll be gone by to-morrow, so you
+may hold your tongues about him, and we'll read our chapter and go to
+bed.'
+
+Harold's confidence and Ellen's distrust were not much wiser the one
+than the other.  Which was nearest being right?
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III--A NEW FRIEND
+
+
+
+The post-office was not robbed that night, neither did the silver
+sugar-tongs disappear, though Paul Blackthorn was no farther off than
+the hay-loft at Farmer Shepherd's, where he had obtained leave to
+sleep.
+
+But he did not go away with morning, though the hay-making was over.
+Ellen saw him sitting perched on the empty waggon, munching his
+breakfast, and to her great vexation, exchanging nods and grins when
+Harold rode by for the morning's letters; and afterwards, there was a
+talk between him and the farmer, which ended in his having a hoe put
+into his hand, and being next seen in the turnip-field behind the
+farm.
+
+To make up for the good day, this one was a very bad one with poor
+Alfred.  There was thunder in the air, and if the sultry heat weighed
+heavily even on the healthy, no wonder it made him faint and
+exhausted, disposed to self-pity, and terribly impatient and fretful.
+He was provoked by Ellen's moving about the room, and more provoked
+by Harold's whistling as he cleaned out the stable; and on the other
+hand, Harold was petulant at being checked, and vowed there was no
+living in the house with Alfred making such a work.  Moreover, Alfred
+was restless, and wanted something done for him every moment,
+interrupting Ellen's work, and calling his mother up from her baking
+so often for trifles, that she hardly knew how to get through it.
+
+The doctor, Mr. Blunt, came, and he too felt the heat, having spent
+hours in going his rounds in the closeness and dust.  He was a rough
+man, and his temper did not always hold out; he told Alfred sharply
+that he would have no whining, and when the boy moaned and winced
+more than he would have done on a good day, he punished him by not
+trying to be tender-handed.  When Mrs. King said, perhaps a little
+lengthily, how much the boy had suffered that morning, the doctor,
+wearied out, no doubt, with people's complaints, cut her short rather
+rudely, 'Ay, ay, my good woman, I know all that.'
+
+'And can nothing be done, Sir, when he feels so sinking and weak?'
+
+'Sinking--he must feel sinking--nothing to do but to bear it,' said
+Mr. Blunt gruffly, as he prepared to go.  'Don't keep me now;' and as
+Alfred held up his hand, and made some complaint of the tightness of
+the bandage, he answered impatiently, 'I've no time for that, my lad;
+keep still, and be glad you've nothing worse to complain of.'
+
+'Then you don't think he is getting any better, Sir?' said Mrs. King,
+keeping close to him.  'I thought he was yesterday, and I wanted to
+speak to you.  My oldest daughter thought if we could get him away to
+the sea, and--'
+
+'That's all nonsense,' said the hurried doctor; 'don't you spend your
+money in that way; I tell you nothing ever will do him any good.'
+
+This was at the bottom of the stairs; and Mr. Blunt was off.  He was
+the cleverest doctor for a good way round, and it was not easy to
+Mrs. King to secure his attendance.  Her savings and Matilda's were
+likely to melt away sadly in paying him, since she was just too well
+off to be doctored at the parish expense, and he was really a good
+and upright man, though wanting in softness of manner when he was
+hurried and teased.  If Mrs. King had known that he was in haste to
+get to a child with a bad burn, she might have thought him less
+unkind in the short ungentle way in which he dashed her hopes.  Alas!
+there had never been much hope; but she feared that Alfred might have
+heard, and have been shocked.
+
+Ellen heard plainly enough, and her heart sank.  She tried to look at
+her brother's face, but he had put it out of sight, and spoke not a
+word; and she only could sit wondering what was the real drift of the
+cruel words, and whether the doctor meant to give no hope of
+recovery, or only to dissuade her mother from vainly trying change of
+air.  Her once bright brother always thus!  It was a sad thought, and
+yet she would have been glad to know he would be no worse; and
+Ellen's heart was praying with all her might that he might have his
+health and happiness restored to him, and that her mother might be
+spared this bitter sorrow.
+
+Alfred said nothing about the doctor's visit, but he could eat no
+dinner, and did not think this so much the fault of his sickly taste,
+as of his mother's potato-pie; he could not think why she should be
+so cross as to make that thing, when she knew he hated it; and as to
+poor Harold, Alfred would hardly let him speak or stir, without
+ordering Ellen down to tell him not to make such a row.
+
+Ellen was thankful when Harold was fairly hunted out of the house and
+garden, even though he betook himself to the meadow, where Paul
+Blackthorn was lying on the grass with his feet kicking in the air,
+and shewing the skin through his torn shoes.  The two lads squatted
+down on the grass with their heads together.  Who could tell what
+mischief that runaway might be putting into Harold's head, and all
+because Alfred could not bear with him enough for him to be happy at
+home?
+
+They were so much engrossed, that it needed a rough call from the
+farmer to send Paul back to his work when the dinner-hour was over;
+whereupon Harold came slowly to his digging again.
+
+Hotter and hotter did it grow, and the grey dull clouds began to gain
+a yellow lurid light in the distance; there were low growlings of
+thunder far away, and Ellen left her work unfinished, and forgot how
+hot she was herself in toiling to fan Alfred, so as to keep him in
+some little degree cooler, while the more he strove with the heat,
+the more oppressed and miserable he grew.
+
+Poor fellow! his wretchedness was not so much the heat, as the dim
+perception of Mr. Blunt's hasty words; he had not heard them fully--
+he dared not inquire what they had been, and he could not endure to
+face them--yet the echo of 'nothing will ever do him good,' seemed to
+ring like a knell in his ears every time he turned his weary head.
+Nothing do him good!  Nothing!  Always these four walls, that little
+bed, this wasting weary lassitude, this gnawing, throbbing pain, no
+pony, no running, no shouting, no sense of vigour and health ever
+again, and perhaps--that terrible perhaps, which made Alfred's very
+flesh quail, he would not think of; and to drive it away, he found
+some fresh toil to require of the sister who could not content him,
+toil as she would.
+
+Slowly the afternoon hours rolled on, one after the other, and Alfred
+had just been in a pet with the clock for striking four when he
+wanted it to be five, when the sky grew darker, and one or two heavy
+drops of rain came plashing down on the thirsty earth.
+
+'The storm is coming at last, and now it will be cooler,' said Ellen,
+looking out from the window.  'Dear me!' she added, there stopping
+short.
+
+'What?' asked Alfred.  'What are you gaping at?'
+
+'I declare!' cried Ellen, 'it's the new clergyman!  It is Mr. Cope,
+and he is coming up to the wicket!'
+
+Alfred turned his head with a peevish sound; he was in the dreary
+mood to resent whatever took off attention from him for a moment.
+
+'A very pleasant-looking gentleman,' commented Ellen, 'and so young!
+He does not look older than Charles Lawrence!  I wonder whether he is
+coming in, or if it is only to post a letter.  Oh! there he is,
+talking to Mother!  There!'
+
+A vivid flash of lightning came over the room at that moment and made
+them all pause till it was followed up by the deep rumble of the
+thunder, and then down rushed the rain, plashing and leaping up
+again, bringing out the delicious scent from the earth, and seeming
+in one moment to breathe refreshment and relief on the sick boy.  His
+brow was already clearing, as he listened to his mother's tones of
+welcome, as she was evidently asking the stranger to sit down and
+wait for the storm to be over, and the cheerful voice that replied to
+her.  He did not scold Ellen for, as usual, making things neat; and
+whereas, five minutes sooner, he would have hated the notion of any
+one coming near him, he now only hoped that his mother would bring
+Mr. Cope up; and presently he heard the well-known creak of the
+stairs under a manly foot, and his mother's voice saying something
+about 'a great sufferer, Sir.'
+
+Then came in sight his mother's white cap, and behind her one of the
+most cheerful lively faces that Alfred had ever beheld.  The new
+Curate looked very little more than a boy, with a nice round fresh
+rosy face, and curly brown hair, and a quick joyous eye, and regular
+white teeth when he smiled that merry good-humoured smile.  Indeed,
+he was as young as a deacon could be, and he looked younger.  He
+knocked his tall head against the top of the low doorway as he came
+into the room, and answered Mrs. King's apologies with a pleasant
+laugh.  Ellen knew her mother would like him the better for his
+height, for no one since the handsome coachman himself had had to
+bend his head to get into the room.  Alfred liked the looks of him
+the first moment, and by way of salutation put up one of his weary,
+white, blue-veined hands to pull his damp forelock; but Mr. Cope,
+nodding in answer to Ellen's curtsey, took hold of his hand at once,
+and softening the cheery voice that was so pleasant to hear, said,
+'Well, my boy, I hope we shall be good friends.  And what's your
+name?'
+
+'Alfred King, Sir,' was the answer.  It really was quite a pleasure
+not to begin with the old weary subject of being pitied for his
+illness.
+
+'King Alfred!' said Mr. Cope.  'I met King Harold yesterday.  I've
+got into royal company, it seems!'
+
+Alfred smiled, it was said so drolly; but his mother, who felt a
+little as if she were being laughed at, said, 'Why, Sir, my brother's
+name was Alfred; and as to Harold, it was to please Miss Jane's
+little sister that died--she was quite a little girl then, Sir, but
+so clever, and she would have him named out of her History of
+England.'
+
+'Did Miss Selby give you those flowers?' said Mr. Cope, admiring the
+rose and geranium in the cup on the table.
+
+'Yes, Sir;' and Mrs. King launched out in the praises of Miss Jane
+and of my Lady, an inexhaustible subject which did not leave Alfred
+much time to speak, till Mrs. King, seeing the groom from the Park
+coming with the letter-bag through the rain, asked Mr. Cope to excuse
+her, and went down-stairs.
+
+'Well, Alfred, I think you are a lucky boy,' he said.  'I was
+comparing you with a lad I once knew of, who got his spine injured,
+and is laid up in a little narrow garret, in a back street, with no
+one to speak to all day.  I don't know what he would not give for a
+sister, and a window like this, and a Miss Jane.'
+
+Alfred smiled, and said, 'Please, Sir, how old is he?'
+
+'About sixteen; a nice stout lad he was, as ever I knew, till his
+accident; I often used to meet him going about with his master, and
+thought it was a pleasure to meet such a good-humoured face.'
+
+Alfred ventured to ask his trade, and was told he was being brought
+up to wait on his father, who was a bricklayer, but that a ladder had
+fallen with him as he was going up with a heavy load, and he had been
+taken at once to the hospital.  The house on which he was employed
+belonged to a friend of Mr. Cope, and all in the power of this
+gentleman had been done for him, but that was not much, for it was
+one of the families that no one can serve; the father drank, and the
+mother was forced to be out charing all day, and was so rough a
+woman, that she could hardly be much comfort to poor Jem when she was
+at home.
+
+Alfred was quite taken up with the history by this time, and kept
+looking at Mr. Cope, as if he would eat it up with his eager eyes.
+Ellen asked compassionately who did for the poor boy all day.
+
+'His mother runs in at dinner-time, if she is not at work too far
+off, and he has a jug of water and a bit of bread where he can reach
+them; the door is open generally, so that he can call to some of the
+other lodgers, but though the house is as full as a bee-hive, often
+nobody hears him.  I believe his great friend is a little school-
+girl, who comes and sits by him, and reads to him if she can; but she
+is generally at school, or else minding the children.'
+
+'It must be very lonely,' said Alfred, perceiving for the first time
+that there could be people worse off than himself; 'but has he no
+books to read?'
+
+'He was so irregularly sent to school, that he could not read to
+himself, even if his corner were not so dark, and the window so
+dingy.  My friend gave him a Bible, but he could not get on with it;
+and his mother, I am sorry to say, pawned it.'
+
+Ellen and Alfred both cried out as if they had never heard of
+anything so shocking.
+
+'It was grievous,' said Mr. Cope; 'but the poor things did not know
+the value, and when there was scarcely a morsel of bread in the
+house, there was cause enough for not judging them hardly, but I
+don't think Jem would allow it now.  He got some of his little
+friend's easy Scripture lessons and the like, in large print, which
+he croons over as he lies there alone, till one feels sure that they
+are working into his heart.  The people in the house say that though
+he has been ill these three years, he has never spoken an ill-
+tempered word; and if any one pities him, he answers, "It is the
+Lord," and seems to wish for no change.  He lies there between dozing
+and dreaming and praying, and always seems content.'
+
+'Does he think he shall get well?' said Alfred, who had been
+listening earnestly.
+
+'Oh no; there is no chance of that; it is an injury past cure.  But I
+suppose that while he bears the Will of God so patiently here, his
+Heavenly Father makes it up to him in peacefulness of heart now, and
+the hope of what is to come hereafter.'
+
+Alfred made no answer, but his eyes shewed that he was thinking; and
+Mr. Cope rose, and looked out of window, as a gleam of sunshine,
+while the dark cloud lifted up from the north-west, made the trees
+and fields glow with intense green against the deep grey of the sky,
+darker than ever from the contrast.  Ellen stood up, and Alfred
+exclaimed, 'Oh Sir, please come again soon!'
+
+'Very soon,' said Mr. Cope good-humouredly; 'but you've not got rid
+of me yet, the rain is pretty hard still, and I see the beggarmen
+dancing all down the garden-walk.'
+
+Alfred and Ellen smiled to hear their mother's old word for the drops
+splashing up again; and Mr. Cope went on:
+
+'The garden looks very much refreshed by this beautiful shower.  It
+is in fine order.  Is it the other monarch's charge?'
+
+'Harold's, Sir,' said Ellen.  'Yes, he takes a great pride in it, and
+so did Alfred when he was well.'
+
+'Ah, I dare say; and it must be pleasant to you to see your brother
+working in it now.  I see him under that shed, and who is that lad
+with him?  They seem to have some good joke together.'
+
+'Oh,' said Ellen, 'Harold likes company, you see, Sir, and will take
+up with anybody.  I wish you could be so good as to speak to him,
+Sir, for lads of that age don't mind women folk, you see, Sir.'
+
+'What?  I hope his majesty does not like bad company?' said Mr. Cope,
+not at all that he thought lightly of such an evil, but it was his
+way to speak in that droll manner, especially as Ellen's voice was a
+little bit peevish.
+
+'Nobody knows no harm of the chap,' said Alfred, provoked at Ellen
+for what he thought unkindness in setting the clergyman at once on
+his brother; but Ellen was the more displeased, and exclaimed:
+
+'Nor nobody knows no good.  He's a young tramper that hired with
+Farmer Shepherd yesterday, a regular runaway and reprobate, just out
+of prison, most likely.'
+
+'Well, I hope not so bad as that,' said Mr. Cope, 'he's not a bad-
+looking boy; but I dare say you are anxious about your brother.  It
+must be dull for him, to have his companion laid up;--and by the
+looks of him, I dare say his spirits are sometimes too much for you,'
+he added, turning to Alfred.
+
+'He does make a terrible racket sometimes,' said Alfred.
+
+'Ay, and I dare say you will try to bear with it, and not drive him
+out to seek dangerous company,' said Mr. Cope; at which Alfred
+blushed a little, as he remembered the morning, and that he had never
+thought of this danger.
+
+Mr. Cope added, 'I think I shall go and talk to those two merry
+fellows; I must not tire you, my lad, but I will soon come here
+again;' and he took leave.
+
+Heartily did Ellen exclaim, 'Well, that is a nice gentleman!' and as
+heartily did Alfred reply.  He felt as if a new light had come in on
+his life, and Mr. Cope had not said one word about patience.
+
+Ellen expected Mr. Cope to come back and warn her mother against Paul
+Blackthorn, but she only saw him stand talking to the two lads till
+he made them both grin again, and then as the rain was over, he
+walked away; Paul went back to his turnips, and Harold came
+thundering up-stairs in his great shoes.  Alfred was cheerful, and
+did not mind him now; but Ellen did, and scolded him for the quantity
+of dirt he was bringing up with him from the moist garden, which was
+all one steam of sweet smells, as the sun drew up the vapour after
+the rain.
+
+'If you were coming in, you'd better have come out of the rain, not
+stood idling there with that good-for-nothing lad.  The new minister
+said he would be after you if you were taking up with bad company.'
+
+'Who told you I was with bad company?' said Harold.
+
+'Why, I could see it!  I hope he rebuked you both.'
+
+'He asked us if we could play at cricket--and he asked the pony's
+name,' said Harold, 'if that's what you call rebuking us!'
+
+'And what did he say to that boy?'
+
+'Oh! he told him he heard he was a stranger here, like himself, and
+asked how long he'd been here, and where he came from.'
+
+'And what did he say?'
+
+'He said he was from Upperscote Union--come out because he was big
+enough to keep himself, and come to look for work,' said Harold.
+'He's a right good chap, I'll tell you, and I'll bring him up to see
+Alfy one of these days!'
+
+'Bring up that dirty boy!  I should like to see you!' cried Ellen,
+making SUCH a face.  'I don't believe a word of his coming out of the
+Union.  I'm sure he's run away out of gaol, by the look of him!'
+
+'Ellen--Harold--come down to your tea!' called Mrs. King.
+
+So they went down; and presently, while Mrs. King was gone up to give
+Alfred his tea, there came Mrs. Shepherd bustling across, with her
+black silk apron thrown over her cap with the crimson gauze ribbons.
+She wanted a bit of tape, and if there were none in the shop, Harold
+must match it in Elbury when he took the letters.
+
+Ellen was rather familiar with Mrs. Shepherd, because she made her
+gowns, and they had some talk about the new clergyman.  Mrs. Shepherd
+did not care for clergymen much; if she had done so, she might not
+have been so hard with her labourers.  She was always afraid of their
+asking her to subscribe to something or other, so she gave it as her
+opinion, that she should never think it worth while to listen to such
+a very young man as that, and she hoped he would not stay; and then
+she said, 'So your brother was taking up with that come-by-chance
+lad, I saw.  Did he make anything out of him?'
+
+'He fancies him more than I like, or Mother either,' said Ellen.  'He
+says he's out of Upperscote Union; but he's a thorough impudent one,
+and owns he's no father nor mother, nor nothing belonging to him.  I
+think it is a deal more likely that he is run away from some
+reformatory, or prison.'
+
+'That's just what I said to the farmer!' said Mrs. Shepherd.  'I said
+he was out of some place of that sort.  I'm sure it's a sin for the
+gentlemen to be setting up such places, raising the county rates, and
+pampering up a set of young rogues to let loose on us.  Ay! ay!  I'll
+warrant he's a runaway thief!  I told the farmer he'd take him to his
+sorrow, but you see he is short of hands just now, and the men are so
+set up and grabbing, I don't know how farmers is to live.'
+
+So Mrs. Shepherd went away grumbling, instead of being thankful for
+the beautiful crop of hay, safely housed, before the thunder shower
+which had saved the turnips from the fly.
+
+Ellen might have doubted whether she had done right in helping to
+give the boy a bad name, but just then in came the ostler from the
+Tankard with some letters.
+
+'Here!' he said, 'here's one from one of the gentlemen lodging here
+fishing, to Cayenne.  You'll please to see how much there is to pay.'
+
+Ellen looked at her Postal Guide, but she was quite at a fault, and
+she called up-stairs to Alfred to ask if he knew where she should
+look for Cayenne.  He was rather fond of maps, and knew a good deal
+of geography for a boy of his age, but he knew nothing about this
+place, and she was just thinking of sending back the letter, to ask
+the gentleman where it was, when a voice said:
+
+'Try Guiana, or else South America.'
+
+She looked up, and there were Paul's dirty face and dirtier elbows,
+leaning over the half-door of the shop.
+
+'Why, how do you know?' she said, starting back.
+
+'I learnt at school, Cayenne, capital of French Guiana.'  Sure enough
+Cayenne had Guiana to it in her list, and the price was found out.
+
+But when this learned geographer advanced into the shop, and asked
+for a loaf, what a hand and what a sleeve did he stretch out!  Ellen
+scarcely liked to touch his money, and felt all her disgust revive.
+But, for all that, and for all her fear of Harold's running into
+mischief, what business had she to set it about that the stranger was
+an escaped convict?
+
+Meanwhile, Alfred had plenty of food for dreaming over his fellow
+sufferer.  It really seemed to quiet him to think of another in the
+same case, and how many questions he longed to have asked Mr. Cope!
+He wanted to know whether it came easier to Jem to be patient than to
+himself; whether he suffered as much wearing pain; whether he grieved
+over the last hope of using his limbs; and above all, the question he
+knew he never could bear to ask, whether Jem had the dread of death
+to scare his thoughts, though never confessed to himself.
+
+He longed for Mr. Cope's next visit, and felt strongly drawn towards
+that thought of Jem, yet ashamed to think of himself as so much less
+patient and submissive; so little able to take comfort in what seemed
+to soothe Jem, that it was the Lord's doing.  Could Jem think he had
+been a wicked boy, and take it as punishment?
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV--PAUL BLACKTHORN
+
+
+
+'I say,' cried Harold, running up into his brother's room, as soon as
+he had put away the pony, 'do you know whether Paul is gone?'
+
+'It is always Paul, Paul!' exclaimed Ellen; 'I'm sure I hope he is.'
+
+'But why do you think he would be?' asked Alfred.
+
+'Oh, didn't you hear?  He knows no more than a baby about anything,
+and so he turned the cows into Darnel meadow, and never put the
+hurdle to stop the gap--never thinking they could get down the bank;
+so the farmer found them in the barley, and if he did not run out
+against him downright shameful--though Paul up and told him the
+truth, that 'twas nobody else that did it.'
+
+'What, and turned him off?'
+
+'Well, that's what I want to know,' said Harold, going on with his
+tea.  'Paul said to me he didn't know how he could stand the like of
+that--and yet he didn't like to be off--he'd taken a fancy to the
+place, you see, and there's me, and there's old Caesar--and so he
+said he wouldn't go unless the farmer sent him off when he came to be
+paid this evening--and old Skinflint has got him so cheap, I don't
+think he will.'
+
+'For shame, Harold; don't call names!'
+
+'Well, there he is,' said Alfred, pointing into the farmyard, towards
+the hay-loft door.  This was over the cow-house in the gable end; and
+in the dark opening sat Paul, his feet on the top step of the ladder,
+and Caesar, the yard-dog, lying by his side, his white paws hanging
+down over the edge, his sharp white muzzle and grey prick ears turned
+towards his friend, and his eyes casting such appealing looks, that
+he was getting more of the hunch of bread than probably Paul could
+well spare.
+
+'How has he ever got the dog up the ladder?' cried Harold.
+
+'Well!' said Mrs. King, 'I declare he looks like a picture I have
+seen--'
+
+'Well, to be sure! who would go for to draw a picture of the like of
+that!' exclaimed Ellen, pausing as she put on her things to carry
+home some work.
+
+'It was a picture of a Spanish beggar-boy,' said Mrs. King; 'and the
+housekeeper at Castlefort used to say that the old lord--that's Lady
+Jane's brother--had given six hundred pounds for it.'
+
+Ellen set out on her walk with a sound of wonder quite beyond words.
+Six hundred pounds for a picture like Paul Blackthorn!  She did not
+know that so poor and feeble are man's attempts to imitate the daily
+forms and colourings fresh from the Divine Hand, that a likeness of
+the very commonest sight, if represented with something of its true
+spirit and life, wins a strange value, especially if the work of the
+great master-artists of many years ago.
+
+And even the painter Murillo himself, though he might pleasantly
+recall on his canvas the notion of the bright-eyed, olive-tinted lad,
+resting after the toil of the day, could never have rendered the free
+lazy smile on his face, nor the gleam of the dog's wistful eyes and
+quiver of its eager ears, far less the glow of setting sunlight that
+shed over all that warm, clear, ruddy light, so full of rest and
+cheerfulness, beautifying, as it hid, so many common things:  the
+thatched roof of the barn, the crested hayrick close beside it; the
+waggons, all red and blue, that had brought it home, and were led to
+rest, the horses drooping their meek heads as they cooled their feet
+among the weed in the dark pond;--the ducks moving, with low
+contented quacks and quickly-wagging tails, in one long single file
+to their evening foraging in the dewy meadows; the spruce younger
+poultry pecking over the yard, staying up a little later than their
+elders to enjoy a few leavings in peace, free from the persecutions
+of the cross old king of the dung-hill;--all this left in shade,
+while the ruddy light had mounted to the roofs, gave brilliance to
+every round tuft of moss, and gleamed on the sober foliage of the old
+spreading walnut tree.
+
+'Poor lad,' said Mrs. King, 'it seems a pity he should come to such a
+rough life, when he seems to have got such an education!  I hope he
+is not run away from anywhere.'
+
+'You're as bad as Ellen, mother,' cried Harold, 'who will have it
+that he's out of prison.'
+
+'No, not that,' said Mrs. King; 'but it did cross me whether he could
+have run away from school, and if his friends were in trouble for
+him.'
+
+'He never had any friends,' said Harold, 'nor he never ran away.
+He's nothing but a foundling.  They picked him up under a blackthorn
+bush when he was a baby, with nothing but a bit of an old plaid shawl
+round him.'
+
+'Did they ever know who he belonged to?' asked Alfred.
+
+'Never; nor he doesn't care if they don't, for sure they could be no
+credit to him; but they that found him put him into the Union, and
+there an old woman, that they called Granny Moll, took to him.  She
+had but one eye, he says; but, Mother, I do believe he never had
+another friend like her, for he got to pulling up the bits of grass,
+and was near crying when he said she was dead and gone, and then he
+didn't care for nothing.'
+
+'But who taught him about Cayenne?' asked Alfred.
+
+'Oh, that was the Union School.  All the children went to school, and
+they had a terrible sharp master, who used to cut them over the head
+quite cruel, and was sent away at last for being such a savage; but
+Paul being always there, and having nothing else to do, you see, got
+on ever so far, and can work sums in his head downright wonderful.
+There came an inspector once who praised him up, and said he'd
+recommend him to a place where he'd be taught to be a school-master,
+if any one would pay the cost; but the guardians wouldn't hear of it
+at no price, and were quite spiteful to find he was a good scholar,
+for fear, I suppose, that he'd know more than they.'
+
+'Hush, hush, Harold,' said his mother; 'wait till you have to pay the
+rates before you run out against the guardians.'
+
+'What do you mean, Mother?'
+
+'Why, don't you see, the guardians have their duties to those who pay
+the rates, as well as those that have parish pay.  What they have to
+do, is to mind that nobody starves, or the like; and their means
+comes out of the rates, out of my pocket, and the like of me, as well
+as my Lady's and all the rich.  Well, whatever they might like to do,
+it would not be serving us fairly to take more than was a bare
+necessity from us, to send your Master Paul and the like of him to a
+fine school.  'Tis for them to be just, and other folk to be generous
+with what's their own.'
+
+'Mother talks as if she was a guardian herself!' said Alfred in his
+funny way.
+
+'Ah, the collector's going his rounds,' responded Harold; and Mrs.
+King laughed good-humouredly, always glad to see her sick boy able to
+enjoy himself; but she sighed, saying, 'Ay, and ill can I spare it,
+though thanks be to God that I've been as yet of them that pay, and
+not of them that receive.'
+
+'Go on the parish!  Mother, what are you thinking of?' cried both
+sons indignantly.
+
+Poor Mrs. King was thinking of the long winter, and the heavy
+doctor's bill, and feeling that, after all, suffering and humbling
+might not be so very far off; but she was too cheerful and full of
+trust to dwell on the thought, so she smiled and said, 'I only said I
+was thankful, boys, for the mercy that has kept us up.  Go on now,
+Harold; what about the boy?'
+
+'Why, I don't know that he'd have gone if they had paid his expenses
+ever so much,' said Harold, 'for he's got a great spirit of his own,
+and wouldn't be beholden to any one, he said, now he could keep
+himself--he'd had quite enough of the parish and its keep; so he said
+he'd go on the tramp till he got work; and they let him out of the
+Union with just the clothes to his back, and a shilling in his
+pocket.  'Twas the first time he had ever been let out of bounds
+since he was picked up under the tree; and he said no one ever would
+guess the pleasure it was to have nobody to order him here and there,
+and no bounds round him; and he quite hated the notion of getting
+inside walls again, as if it was a prison.'
+
+'Oh, I know!  I can fancy that!' cried Alfred, raising himself and
+panting; 'and where did he go first?'
+
+'First, he only wanted to get as far from Upperscote as ever he
+could, so he walked on; I can't say how he lived, but he didn't beg;
+he got a job here and a job there; but there are not so many things
+he knows the knack of, having been at school all his life.  Once he
+took up with a man that sold salt, to draw his cart for him, but the
+man swore at him so awfully he could not bear it, and beat him too,
+so he left him, and he had lived terrible hard for about a month
+before he came here!  So you see, Mother, there's not one bit of harm
+in him; he's a right good scholar, and never says a bad word, nor has
+no love for drink; so you won't be like Ellen, and be always at me
+for going near him?'
+
+'You're getting a big boy, Harold, and it is lonely for you,' said
+Mrs. King reluctantly; 'and if the lad is a good lad I'd not cast up
+his misfortune against him; but I must say, I should think better of
+him if he would keep himself a little bit cleaner and more decent, so
+as he could go to church.'
+
+Harold made a very queer face, and said, 'How is he to do it up in
+the hay-loft, Mother? and he ha'n't got enough to pay for lodgings,
+nor for washing, nor to change.'
+
+'The river is cheap enough,' said Alfred.  'Do you remember when we
+used to bathe together, Harold, and go after the minnows?'
+
+'Ay, but he don't know how; and then they did plague him so in the
+Union, that he's got to hate the very name of washing--scrubbing them
+over and cutting their hair as if they were in gaol.'
+
+'Poor boy! he is terribly forsaken,' said Mrs. King compassionately.
+
+'You may say that!' returned Harold; 'why, he's never so much as seen
+how folks live at home, and wanted to know if you were most like old
+Moll or the master of the Union!'
+
+Alfred went into such a fit of laughter as almost hurt him; but Mrs.
+King felt the more pitiful and tender towards the poor deserted
+orphan, who could not even understand what a mother was like, and the
+tears came into her eyes, as she said, 'Well, I'm glad he's not a bad
+boy.  I hope he thinks of the Father and the Home that he has above.
+I say, Harold, against next Sunday I'll look out Alfred's oldest
+shirt for him to put on, and you might bring me his to wash, only
+mind you soak it well in the river first.'
+
+Harold quite flushed with gratitude for his mother's kindness, for he
+knew it was no small effort in one so scrupulously and delicately
+clean, and with so much work on her hands; but Mrs. King was one who
+did her alms by her trouble when she had nothing else to give.
+Alfred smiled and said he wondered what Ellen would say; and almost
+at the same moment Harold shot down-stairs, and was presently seen
+standing upon Paul's ladder talking to him; then Paul rose up as
+though to come down, and there was much fun going on, as to how
+Caesar was to be got down; for, as every one knows, a dog can mount a
+ladder far better than he can descend; and poor Caesar stretched out
+his white paw, looked down, seemed to turn giddy, whined, and looked
+earnestly at his friends till they took pity on him and lifted him
+down between them, stretching out his legs to their full length, like
+a live hand-barrow.
+
+A few seconds more, and there was a great trampling of feet, and then
+in walked Harold, exclaiming, 'Here he is!'  And there he stood, shy
+and sheepish, with rusty black shag by way of hair, keen dark beads
+of eyes, and very white teeth; but all the rest, face, hands, jacket,
+trousers, shoes, and all, of darker or lighter shades of olive-brown;
+and as to the rents, one would be sorry to have to count them;
+mending them would have been a thing impossible.  What a difference
+from the pure whiteness of everything around Alfred! the soft pink of
+the flush of surprise on his delicate cheek, and the wavy shine on
+his light hair.  A few months ago, Alfred would have been as ready as
+his brother to take that sturdy hand, marbled as it was with dirt,
+and would have heeded all drawbacks quite as little; but sickness had
+changed him much, and Paul was hardly beside his couch before the
+colour fleeted away from his cheek, and his eye turned to his mother
+in such distress, that she was obliged to make a sign to Harold in
+such haste that it looked like anger, and to mutter something about
+his being taken worse.  And while she was holding the smelling salts
+to him, and sprinkling vinegar over his couch, they heard the two
+boys' voices loud under the window, Paul saying he should never come
+there again, and Harold something about people being squeamish and
+fine.
+
+It hurt Alfred, and he burst out, almost crying, 'Mother!  Mother,
+now isn't that too bad!'
+
+'It is very thoughtless,' said Mrs. King sorrowfully; 'but you know
+everybody has their feelings, Alfred, and I am sorry it happened so.'
+
+'I'm sure I couldn't help it,' said Alfred, as if his mother were
+turning against him.  'Harold had better have brought up the farmer's
+whole stable at once!'
+
+'When you were well, you did not think of such things any more than
+he does.'
+
+Alfred grunted.  He could not believe that; and he did not feel
+gently when his brother shewed any want of consideration; but his
+mother thought he would only grow crosser by dwelling on the unlucky
+subject, so she advised him to lie still and rest before his being
+moved to bed, and went down herself to finish some ironing.
+
+Presently Alfred saw the Curate coming over the bridge with quick
+long steps, and this brought to his mind that he had been wishing to
+hear more of the poor crippled boy.  He watched eagerly, and was
+pleased to see Mr. Cope turn in at the wicket, and presently the
+tread upon the stairs was heard, and the high head was lowered at the
+door.
+
+'Good evening, Alfred; your mother told me it would not disturb you
+if I came up alone;' and he began to inquire into his amusements and
+occupations, till Alfred became quite at home with him, and at ease,
+and ventured to ask, 'If you please, Sir, do you ever hear about Jem
+now?' and as Mr. Cope looked puzzled, 'the boy you told me of, Sir,
+that fell off the scaffold.'
+
+'Oh, the boy at Liverpool!  No, I only saw him once when I was
+staying with my cousin; but I will ask after him if you wish to
+hear.'
+
+'Thank you, Sir.  I wanted to know if he had been a bad boy.'
+
+'That I cannot tell.  Why do you wish to know?  Was it because he had
+such an affliction?'
+
+'Yes, Sir.'
+
+'I don't think that is quite the way to look at troubles,' said Mr.
+Cope.  'I should think his accident had been a great blessing to him,
+if it took him out of temptation, and led him to think more of God.'
+
+'But isn't it punishment?' said Alfred, not able to get any farther;
+but Mr. Cope felt that he was thinking of himself more than of Jem.
+
+'All our sufferings in this life come as punishment of sin,' he said.
+'If there had been no sin, there would have been no pain; and
+whatever we have to bear in this life is no more than is our due,
+whatever it may be.'
+
+'Every one is sinful,' said Alfred slowly; 'but why have some more to
+bear than others that may be much worse?'
+
+'Did you never think it hard to be kept strictly, and punished by
+your good mother?'
+
+Alfred answered rather fretfully, 'But if it is good to be punished,
+why ain't all alike?'
+
+'God in His infinite wisdom sees the treatment that each particular
+nature needs.  Some can be better trained by joy, and some by grief;
+some may be more likely to come right by being left in active health;
+others, by being laid low, and having their faults brought to mind.'
+
+Alfred did not quite choose to take this in, and his answer was half
+sulky:
+
+'Bad boys are quite well!'
+
+'And a reckoning will be asked of them.  Do not think of other boys.
+Think over your past life, of which I know nothing, and see whether
+you can believe, after real looking into it, that you have done
+nothing to deserve God's displeasure.  There are other more
+comforting ways of bringing joy out of pain; but of this I am sure,
+that none will come home to us till we own from the bottom of our
+heart, that whatever we suffer in this life, we suffer most justly
+for the punishment of our sins.  God bless and help you, my poor boy.
+Good night.'
+
+With these words he went down-stairs, for well he knew that while
+Alfred went on to justify himself, no peace nor joy could come to
+him, and he thought it best to leave the words to work in, praying in
+his heart that they might do so, and help the boy to humility and
+submission.
+
+Finding Mrs. King in her kitchen, he paused and said, 'We shall have
+a Confirmation in the spring, Mrs. King; shall not you have some
+candidates for me?'
+
+'My daughter will be very glad, thank you, Sir; she is near to
+seventeen, and a very good girl to me.  And Harold, he is but
+fourteen--would he be old enough, Sir?'
+
+'I believe the Bishop accepts boys as young; and he might be started
+in life before another opportunity.'
+
+'Well, Sir, he shall come to you, and I hope you won't think him too
+idle and thoughtless.  He's a good-hearted boy, Sir; but it is a
+charge when a lad has no father to check him.'
+
+'Indeed it is, Mrs. King; but I think you must have done your best.'
+
+'I hope I have, Sir,' she said sadly; 'I've tried, but my ability is
+not much, and he is a lively lad, and I'm sometimes afraid to be too
+strict with him.'
+
+'If you have taught him to keep himself in order, that's the great
+thing, Mrs. King; if he has sound principles, and honours you, I
+would hope much for him.'
+
+'And, Sir, that boy he has taken a fancy to; he is a poor lost lad
+who never had a home, but Harold says he has been well taught, and he
+might take heed to you.'
+
+'Thank you, Mrs. King; I will certainly try to speak to him.  You
+said nothing of Alfred; do you think he will not be well enough?'
+
+'Ah!  Sir,' she said in her low subdued voice, 'my mind misgives me
+that it is not for Confirmation that you will be preparing him.'
+
+Mr. Cope started.  He had seen little of illness, and had not thought
+of this.  'Indeed! does the doctor think so ill of him?  Do not these
+cases often partially recover?'
+
+'I don't know, Sir; Mr. Blunt does not give much account of him,' and
+her voice grew lower and lower; 'I've seen that look in his father's
+and his brother's face.'
+
+She hid her face in her handkerchief as if overpowered, but looked up
+with the meek look of resignation, as Mr. Cope said in a broken
+voice, 'I had not expected--you had been much tried.'
+
+'Yes, Sir.  The Will of the Lord be done,' she said, as if willing to
+turn aside from the dark side of the sorrow that lay in wait for her;
+'but I'm thankful you are come to help my poor boy now--he frets over
+his trouble, as is natural, and I'm afraid he should offend, and I'm
+no scholar to know how to help him.'
+
+'You can help him by what is better than scholarship,' said Mr. Cope;
+and he shook her hand warmly, and went away, feeling what a
+difference there was in the ways of meeting affliction.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V--AN UNWELCOME VISITOR
+
+
+
+'The axe is laid to the root of the tree,' was said by the Great
+Messenger, when the new and better Covenant was coming to pierce,
+try, and search into, the hearts of men.
+
+Something like this always happens, in some measure, whenever closer,
+clearer, and more stringent views of faith and of practice are
+brought home to Christians.  They do not always take well the finding
+that more is required of them than they have hitherto fancied
+needful; and there are many who wince and murmur at the sharp
+piercing of the weapon which tries their very hearts; they try to
+escape from it, and to forget the disease that it has touched, and at
+first, often grow worse rather than better.  Well is it for them if
+they return while yet there is time, before blindness have come over
+their eyes, and hardness over their heart.
+
+Perhaps this was the true history of much that grieved poor Mrs.
+King, and distressed Ellen, during the remainder of the summer.
+Anxious as Mrs. King had been to bring her sons up in the right way,
+there was something in Mr. Cope's manner of talking to them that
+brought things closer home to them, partly from their being put in a
+new light, and partly from his being a man, and speaking with a
+different kind of authority.
+
+Alfred did not like his last conversation--it was little more than
+his mother and Miss Selby had said--but then he had managed to throw
+it off, and he wanted to do so again.  It was pleasanter to him to
+think himself hardly treated, than to look right in the face at all
+his faults; he knew it was of no use to say he had none, so he lumped
+them all up by calling himself a sinful creature, like every one
+else; and thus never felt the weight of them at all, because he never
+thought what they were.
+
+And yet, because Mr. Cope's words had made him uneasy, he could not
+rest in this state; he was out of temper whenever the Curate's name
+was spoken, and accused Ellen of bothering about him as much as
+Harold did about Paul Blackthorn; and if he came to see him, he made
+himself sullen, and would not talk, sometimes seeming oppressed and
+tired, and unable to bear any one's presence, sometimes leaving Ellen
+to do all the answering, dreading nothing so much as being left alone
+with the clergyman.  Mr. Cope had offered to read prayers with him,
+and he could not refuse; but he was more apt to be thinking that it
+was tiresome, than trying to enter into what, poor foolish boy, would
+have been his best comfort.
+
+To say he was cross when Mr. Cope was there, would be saying much too
+little; there was scarcely any time when he was not cross; he was
+hardly civil even to Miss Jane, so that she began to think it was
+unpleasant to him to have her there; and if she were a week without
+calling, he grumbled hard thoughts about fine people; he was fretful
+and impatient with the doctor; and as to those of whom he had no
+fears, he would have been quite intolerable, had they loved him less,
+or had less pity on his suffering.
+
+He never was pleased with anything; teased his mother half the night,
+and drove Ellen about all day.  She, good girl, never said one word
+of impatience, but bore it all with the sweetest good humour; but her
+mother now and then spoke severely for Alfred's own good, and then he
+made himself more miserable than ever, and thought she was unkind and
+harsh, and that he was very much to be pitied for having a mother who
+could not bear with her poor sick boy.  He was treating his mother as
+he was treating his Father in Heaven.
+
+How Harold fared with him may easily be guessed--how the poor boy
+could hardly speak or step without being moaned at, till he was
+almost turned out of his own house; and his mother did not know what
+to do, for Alfred was really very ill, and fretting made him worse,
+and nothing could be so bad for his brother as being driven out from
+home, to spend the long summer evenings as he could.
+
+Ellen would have been thankful now, had Paul Blackthorn been the
+worst company into which Harold fell.  Not that Paul was a bit
+cleaner; on the contrary, each day could not fail to make him worse,
+till, as Ellen had once said, you might almost grow a crop of
+radishes upon his shoulders.
+
+Mrs. King's kind offer of washing his shirt had come to nothing.  She
+asked Harold about it, and had for answer, 'Do you think he would,
+after the way you served him?'
+
+Either he was affronted, or he was ashamed of her seeing his rags,
+or, what was not quite impossible, there was no shirt at all in the
+case; and he had a sturdy sort of independence about him, that made
+him always turn surly at any notion of anything being done for him
+for charity.
+
+How or why he stayed on with the farmer was hard to guess, for he had
+very scanty pay, and rough usage; the farmer did not like him; the
+farmer's wife scolded him constantly, and laid on his shoulders all
+the mischief that was done about the place; and the shuffler gave him
+half his own work to do, and hunted him about from dawn till past
+sunset.  He was always going at the end of every week, but never
+gone; perhaps he had undergone too much in his wanderings, to be
+ready to begin them again; or perhaps either Caesar or Harold, one or
+both, kept him at Friarswood.  And there might be another reason,
+too, for no one had ever spoken to him like Mr. Cope.  Very few had
+ever thrown him a kindly word, or seemed to treat him like a thing
+with feelings, and those few had been rough and unmannerly; but Mr.
+Cope's good-natured smile and pleasant manner had been a very
+different thing; and perhaps Paul promised to come to the
+Confirmation class, chiefly because of the friendly tone in which he
+was invited.
+
+When there, he really liked it.  He had always liked what he was
+taught, apart from the manner of teaching; and now both manner and
+lessons were delightful to him.  His answers were admirable, and it
+was not all head knowledge, for very little more than a really kind
+way of putting it was needed, to make him turn in his loneliness to
+rest in the thought of the ever-present Father.  Hard as the
+discipline of his workhouse home had been, it had kept him from much
+outward harm; the little he had seen in his wanderings had shocked
+him, and he was more untaught in evil than many lads who thought
+themselves more respectable, so there was no habit of wickedness to
+harden and blunt him; and the application of all he had learnt
+before, found his heart ready.
+
+He had not gone to church since he left the workhouse:  he did not
+think it belonged to vagabonds like him; besides, he always felt
+walls like a prison; and he had not profited much by the workhouse
+prayers, which were read on week-days by the master, and on Sundays
+by a chaplain, who always had more to do than he could manage, and
+only went to the paupers when they were very ill.  But when Mr. Cope
+talked to him of the duty of going to church, he said, 'I will, Sir;'
+and he sat in the gallery with the young lads, who were not quite as
+delicate as Alfred.
+
+The service seemed to rest him, and to be like being brought near a
+friend; and he had been told that church might always be his home.
+He took a pleasure in going thither--the more, perhaps, that he
+rather liked to shew how little he cared for remarks upon his
+appearance.  There was a great deal of independence about him; and,
+having escaped from the unloving maintenance of the parish, while he
+had as yet been untaught what affection or gratitude meant, he WOULD
+not be beholden to any one.
+
+Scanty as were his wages, he would accept nothing from anybody; he
+daily bought his portion of bread from Mrs. King, but it was of no
+use for her to add a bit of cheese or bacon to it; he never would see
+the relish, and left it behind; and so he never would accept Mr.
+Cope's kind offers of giving him a bit of supper in his kitchen,
+perhaps because he was afraid of being said to go to the Rectory for
+the sake of what he could get.
+
+He did not object to the farmer's beer, which was sometimes given him
+when any unusual extra work had been put on him.  That was his right,
+for in truth the farmer did not pay him the value of his labour, and
+perhaps disliked him the more, because of knowing in his conscience
+that this was shameful extortion.
+
+However, just at harvest time, when Paul's shoes had become very like
+what may be sometimes picked up by the roadside, Mr. Shepherd did
+actually bestow on him a pair that did not fit himself!  Harold came
+home quite proud of them.
+
+However, on the third day they were gone, and the farmer's voice was
+heard on the bridge, rating Paul violently for having changed them
+away for drink.
+
+Mrs. King felt sorrowful; but, as Ellen said, 'What could you expect
+of him?'  In spite of the affront, there was a sort of acquaintance
+now over the counter between Mrs. King and young Blackthorn; and when
+he came for his bread, she could not help saying, 'I'm sorry to see
+you in those again.'
+
+'Why, the others hurt me so, I could hardly get about,' said Paul.
+
+'Ah! poor lad, I suppose your feet has got spread with wearing those
+old ones; but you should try to use yourself to decent ones, or
+you'll soon be barefoot; and I do think it was a pity to drink them
+up.'
+
+'That's all the farmer, Ma'am.  He thinks one can't do anything but
+drink.'
+
+'Well, what is become of them?'
+
+'Why, you see, Ma'am, they just suited Dick Royston, and he wanted a
+pair of shoes, and I wanted a Bible and Prayer-book, so we changed
+'em.'
+
+When Ellen heard this, she could not help owning that Paul was a good
+boy after all, though it was in an odd sort of way.  But, alas! when
+next he was to go to Mr. Cope, there was a hue-and-cry all over the
+hay-loft for the Prayer-book.  There was no place to put it safely,
+or if there had been, Poor Paul was too great a sloven to think of
+any such thing; and as it was in a somewhat rubbishy state to begin
+with, it was most likely that one of the cows had eaten it with her
+hay; and all that could be said was, that it would have been worse if
+it had been the Bible.
+
+As to Dick Royston, to find that he would change away his Bible for a
+pair of shoes, made Mrs. King doubly concerned that he should be a
+good deal thrown in Harold's way.  There are many people who neglect
+their Bibles, and do not read them; but this may be from
+thoughtlessness or press of care, and is not like the wilful breaking
+with good, that it is to part with the Holy Scripture, save under the
+most dire necessity; and Dick was far from being in real want, nor
+was he ignorant, like Mr. Cope's poor Jem, for he had been to school,
+and could read well; but he was one of those many lads, who, alas!
+are everywhere to be found, who break loose from all restraint as
+soon as they can maintain themselves.  They do their work pretty
+well, and are tolerably honest; but for the rest--alas! they seem to
+live without God.  Prayers and Church they have left behind, as
+belonging to school-days; and in all their strength and health, their
+days of toil, their evenings of rude diversion, their Sundays of
+morning sleep, noonday basking in the sun, evening cricket, they have
+little more notion of anything concerning their souls than the horses
+they drive.  If ever a fear comes over them, it seems a long long way
+off, a whole life-time before them; they are awkward, and in dread of
+one another's jeers and remarks; and if they ever wish to be better,
+they cast it from them by fancying that time must steady them when
+they have had their bit of fun, or that something will come from
+somewhere to change them all at once, and make it easy to them to be
+good--as if they were not making it harder each moment.
+
+This sort of lad had been utterly let alone till Mr. Cope came; and
+Lady Jane and the school-master felt it was dreary work to train up
+nice lads in the school, only to see them run riot, and forget all
+good as soon as they thought themselves their own masters.
+
+Mr. Cope was anxious to do the best he could for them, and the
+Confirmation made a good opportunity; but the boys did not like to be
+interfered with--it made them shy to be spoken to; and they liked
+lounging about much better than having to poke into that mind of
+theirs, which they carried somewhere about them, but did not like to
+stir up.  They had no notion of going to school again--which no one
+wanted them to do--nor to church, because it was like little boys;
+and they wouldn't be obliged.
+
+So Mr. Cope made little way with them; a few who had better parents
+came regularly to him, but others went off when they found it too
+much trouble, and behaved worse than ever by way of shewing they did
+not care.  This folly had in some degree taken possession of Harold;
+and though he could not be as bad as were some of the others, he was
+fast growing impatient of restraint, and worried and angry, as if any
+word of good advice affronted him.  Driven from home by the fear of
+disturbing Alfred, he was left the more to the company of boys who
+made him ashamed of being ordered by his mother; and there was a
+jaunty careless style about all his ways of talking and moving, that
+shewed there was something wrong about him--he scorned Ellen, and was
+as saucy as he dared even to his mother; and though Mr. Cope found
+him better instructed than most of his scholars, he saw him quite as
+idle, as restless at church, and as ready to whisper and grin at
+improper times, as many who had never been trained like him.
+
+One August Sunday afternoon, Mrs. King was with Alfred while Ellen
+was at church.  He was lying on his couch, very uncomfortable and
+fretful, when to the surprise of both, a knock was heard at the door.
+Mrs. King looked out of the window, and a smart, hard-looking,
+pigeon's-neck silk bonnet at once nodded to her, and a voice said,
+'I've come over to see you, Cousin King, if you'll come down and let
+me in.  I knew I should find you at home.'
+
+'Betsey Hardman!' exclaimed Alfred, in dismay; 'you won't let her
+come up here, Mother?'
+
+'Not if I can help it,' said Mrs. King, sighing.  If there were a
+thing she disliked above all others, it was Sunday visiting.
+
+'You must help it, Mother,' said Alfred, in his most pettish tones.
+'I won't have her here, worrying with her voice like a hen cackling.
+Say you won't let her come her!'
+
+'Very well,' said Mrs. King, in doubt of her own powers, and in haste
+to be decently civil.
+
+'Say you won't,' repeated Alfred.  'Gadding about of a Sunday, and
+leaving her old sick mother--more shame for her!  Promise, Mother!'
+
+He had nearly begun to cry at his mother's unkindness in running
+down-stairs without making the promise, for, in fact, Mrs. King had
+too much conscience to gain present quiet for any one by promises she
+might be forced to break; and Betsey Hardman was only too well known.
+
+Her mother was an aunt of Alfred's father, an old decrepit widow,
+nearly bed-ridden, but pretty well to do, by being maintained chiefly
+by her daughter, who made a good thing of taking in washing in the
+suburbs of Elbury, and always had a girl or two under her.  She had
+neither had the education, nor the good training in service, that had
+fallen to Mrs. King's lot; and her way of life did not lead to
+softening her tongue or temper.  Ellen called her vulgar, and though
+that is not a nice word to use, she was coarse in her ways of talking
+and thinking, loud-voiced, and unmannerly, although meaning to be
+very good-natured.
+
+Alfred lay in fear of her step, ten times harder than Harold's in his
+most boisterous mood, coming clamp clamp! up the stairs; and her
+shrill voice--the same tone in which she bawled to her deaf mother,
+and hallooed to her girls when they were hanging out the clothes in
+the high wind--coming pitying him--ay, and perhaps her whole weight
+lumbering down on the couch beside him, shaking every joint in his
+body!  His mother's ways, learnt in the Selby nursery, had made him
+more tender, and more easily fretted by such things, than most
+cottage lads, who would have been used to them, and never have
+thought of not liking to have every neighbour who chose running up
+into the room, and talking without regard to subject or tone.
+
+He listened in a fright to the latch of the door, and the coming in.
+Betsey's voice came up, through every chink of the boards, whatever
+she did herself; and he could hear every word of her greeting, as she
+said how it was such a fine day, she said to Mother she would take a
+holiday, and come and see Cousin King and the poor lad:  it must be
+mighty dull for him, moped up there.
+
+Stump! stump!  Was she coming?  His mother was answering something
+too soft for him to hear.
+
+'What, is he asleep?'
+
+'O Mother, must you speak the truth?'
+
+'Bless me!  I should have thought a little cheerful company was good
+for him.  Do you leave him quite alone?  Well--' and there was a
+frightful noise of the foot of the heaviest chair on the floor.
+'I'll sit down and wait a bit!  Is he so very fractious, then?'
+
+What was his mother saying?  Alfred clenched his fist, and grinned
+anger at Betsey with closed teeth.  There was the tiresome old word,
+'Low--ay, so's my mother; but you should rise his spirits with
+company, you see; that's why I came over; as soon as ever I heard
+that there wasn't no hope of him, says I to Mother--'
+
+What?  What was that she had heard?  There was his mother, probably
+trying to restrain her voice, for it came up now just loud enough to
+make it most distressing to try to catch the words, which sounded
+like something pitying.  'Ay, ay--just like his poor father; when
+they be decliny, it will come out one ways or another; and says I to
+Mother, I'll go over and cheer poor Cousin King up a bit, for you
+see, after all, if he'd lived, he'd be nothing but a burden, crippled
+up like that; and a lingering job is always bad for poor folks.'
+
+Alfred leant upon his elbow, his eyes full stretched, but feeling as
+if all his senses had gone into his ears, in his agony to hear more;
+and he even seemed to catch his mother's voice, but there was no hope
+in that; it was of her knowing it would be all for the best; and the
+sadness of it told him that she believed the same as Betsey.  Then
+came, 'Yes; I declare it gave me such a turn, you might have knocked
+me down with a feather.  I asked Mr. Blunt to come in and see what's
+good for Mother, she feels so weak at times, and has such a noise in
+her head, just like the regiment playing drums, she says, till she
+can't hardly bear herself; and so what do you think he says?  Don't
+wrap up her head so warm, says he--a pretty thing for a doctor to
+say, as if a poor old creature like that, past seventy years old,
+could go without a bit of flannel to her head, and her three night-
+caps, and a shawl over them when there's a draught.  I say, Cousin, I
+ha'n't got much opinion of Mr. Blunt.  Why don't you get some of them
+boxes of pills, that does cures wonderful?  Ever so many lords and
+ladies cured of a perplexity fit, by only just taking an imposing
+draught or two.'
+
+Another time Alfred would have laughed at the very imposing draught,
+that was said to cure lords and ladies of this jumble between
+apoplexy and paralysis; but this was no moment for laughing, and he
+was in despair at fancying his mother wanted to lead her off on the
+quack medicine; but she went on.
+
+'Well, only read the papers that come with them.  I make my girl
+Sally read 'em all to me, being that she's a better scholar; and the
+long words is quite heavenly--I declare there ain't one of them
+shorter than peregrination.  I'd have brought one of them over to
+shew you if I hadn't come away in a hurry, because Evans's cart was
+going out to the merry orchard, and says I to Mother, Well, I'll get
+a lift now there's such a chance to Friarswood:  it'll do them all a
+bit of good to see a bit of cheerful company, seeing, as Mr. Blunt
+says, that poor lad is going after his father as fast as can be.
+Dear me, says I, you don't say so, such a fine healthy-looking chap
+as he was.  Yes, he says, but it's in the constitution; it's getting
+to the lungs, and he'll never last out the winter.'
+
+Alfred listened for the tone of his mother's voice; he knew he should
+judge by that, even without catching the words--low, subdued, sad--he
+almost thought she began with 'Yes.'
+
+All the rest that he heard passed by him merely as a sound, noted no
+more than the lowing of the cattle, or the drone of the thrashing
+machine.  He lay half lifted up on his pillows, drawing his breath
+short with apprehension; his days were numbered, and death was coming
+fast, fast, straight upon him.  He felt it within himself--he knew
+now the meaning of the pain and sinking, the shortness of breath and
+choking of throat that had been growing on him through the long
+summer days; he was being 'cut off with pining sickness,' and his
+sentence had gone forth.  He would have screamed for his mother in
+the sore terror and agony that had come over him, in hopes she might
+drive the notion from him; but the dread of seeing her followed by
+that woman kept his lips shut, except for his long gasps of breath.
+
+And she could not keep him--Mr. Blunt could not keep him; no one
+could stay the hand that had touched him!  Prayer!  They had prayed
+for his father, for Charlie, but it had not been God's Will.  He had
+himself many times prayed to recover, and it had not been granted--he
+was worse and worse.
+
+Moreover, whither did that path of suffering lead?  Up rose before
+Alfred the thought of living after the unknown passage, and of
+answering for all he had done; and now the faults he had refused to
+call to mind when he was told of chastisement, came and stood up of
+themselves.  Bred up to know the good, he had not loved it; he had
+cared for his own pleasure, not for God; he had not heeded the
+comfort of his widowed mother; he had been careless of the honour of
+God's House, said and heard prayers without minding them; he had been
+disrespectful and ill-behaved at my Lady's--he had been bad in every
+way; and when illness came, how rebellious and murmuring he had been,
+how unkind he had been to his patient mother, sister, and brother;
+and when Mr. Cope had told him it was meant to lead him to repent, he
+would not hear; and now it was too late, the door would be shut.  He
+had always heard that there was a time when sorrow was no use, when
+the offer of being saved had been thrown away.
+
+When Ellen came in, and after a short greeting to Betsey Hardman,
+went up-stairs, she found Alfred lying back on his pillow, deadly
+white, the beads of dew standing on his brow, and his breath in
+gasps.  She would have shrieked for her mother, but he held out his
+hand, and said, in a low hoarse whisper, 'Ellen, is it true?'
+
+'What, Alfy dear?  What is the matter?'
+
+'What SHE says.'
+
+'Who?  Betsey Hardman?  Dear dear Alf, is it anything dreadful?'
+
+'That I shall die,' said Alfred, his eyes growing round with terror
+again.  'That Mr. Blunt said I couldn't last out the winter.'
+
+'Dear Alfy, don't!' cried Ellen, throwing her arms round him, and
+kissing him with all her might; 'don't fancy it!  She's always
+gossiping and gadding about, and don't know what she says, and she'd
+got no business to tell stories to frighten my darling!' she
+exclaimed, sobbing with agitation.  'I'm sure Mr. Blunt never said no
+such thing!'
+
+'But Mother thinks it, Ellen.'
+
+'She doesn't, she can't!' cried Ellen vehemently; 'I know she
+doesn't, or she could never go about as she does.  I'll call her up
+and ask her, to satisfy you.'
+
+'No, no, not while that woman is there!' cried Alfred, holding her by
+the dress; 'I'll not have HER coming up.'
+
+Even while he spoke, however, Mrs. King was coming.  Betsey had spied
+an old acquaintance on the way from church, and had popped out to
+speak to her, and Mrs. King caught that moment for coming up.  She
+understood all, for she had been sitting in great distress, lest
+Alfred should be listening to every word which she was unable to
+silence, and about which Betsey was quite thoughtless.  So many
+people of her degree would talk to the patient about himself and his
+danger, and go on constantly before him with all their fears, and the
+doctor's opinions, that Betsey had never thought of there being more
+consideration and tenderness shewn in this house, nor that Mrs. King
+would have hidden any pressing danger from the sick person; but such
+plain words had not yet passed between her and Mr. Blunt; and though
+she had long felt what Alfred's illness would come to, the perception
+had rather grown on her than come at any particular moment.
+
+Now when Ellen, with tears and agitation, asked what that Betsey had
+been saying to frighten Alfred so, and when she saw her poor boy's
+look at her, and heard his sob, 'Oh, Mother!' it was almost too much
+for her, and she went up and kissed him, and laid him down less
+uneasily, but he felt a great tear fall on his face.
+
+'It's not true, Mother, I'm sure it is not true,' cried Ellen; 'she
+ought--'
+
+Mrs. King looked at her daughter with a sad sweet face, that stopped
+her short, and brought the sense over her too.  'Did he say so,
+Mother?' said Alfred.
+
+'Not to me, dear,' she answered; 'but, Ellen, she's coming back!
+She'll be up here if you don't go down.'
+
+Poor Ellen! what would she not have given for power to listen to her
+mother, and cry at her ease?  But she was forced to hurry, or Betsey
+would have been half-way up-stairs in another instant.  She was a
+hopeful girl, however, and after that 'not to me,' resolved to
+believe nothing of the matter.  Mrs. King knelt down by her son, and
+looked at him tenderly; and then, as his eyes went on begging for an
+answer, she said, 'Dr. Blunt never told me there was no hope, my
+dear, and everything lies in God's power.'
+
+'But you don't think I shall get well, Mother?'
+
+'I don't feel as if you would, my boy,' she said, very low, and
+fondling him all the time.  'You've got to cough like Father and
+Charlie, and--though He might raise my boy up--yet anyhow, Alfy boy,
+if God sees it good for us, it WILL be good for us, and we shall be
+helped through with it.'
+
+'But I'm not good, Mother!  What will become of me?'
+
+'Perhaps the hearing this is all out of God's mercy, to give you time
+to get ready, my dear.  You are no worse now than you were this
+morning; you are not like to go yet awhile.  No, indeed, my child; so
+if you don't put off any longer--'
+
+'Mother!' called up Ellen.  She was in despair.  Betsey was not to be
+kept by her from satisfying herself upon Alfred's looks, and Mrs.
+King was only in time to meet her on the stairs, and tell her that he
+was so weak and low, that he could not be seen now, she could not
+tell how it would be when he had had his tea.
+
+Ellen thought she had never had so distressing a tea-drinking in her
+life, as the being obliged to sit listening civilly to Betsey's long
+story about the trouble she had about a stocking of Mrs. Martin's
+that was lost in the wash, and that had gone to Miss Rosa Marlowe,
+because Mrs. Martin had her things marked with a badly-done K. E. M.,
+and all that Mrs. Martin's Maria and all Miss Marlowe's Jane had said
+about it, and all Betsey's 'Says I to Mother,'--when she was so
+longing to be watching poor Alfred, and how her mother could sit so
+quietly making tea, and answering so civilly, she could not guess;
+but Mrs. King had that sense of propriety and desire to do as she
+would be done by, which is the very substance of Christian courtesy,
+the very want of which made Betsey, with all her wish to be kind, a
+real oppression and burthen to the whole party.
+
+And where was Harold?  Ellen had not seen him coming out of church,
+but meal-times were pretty certain to bring him home.
+
+'Oh,' said Betsey, 'I'll warrant he is off to the merry orchard.'
+
+'I hope not,' said Mrs. King gravely.
+
+'He never would,' said Ellen, in anger.
+
+'Ah, well, I always said I didn't see no harm in a lad getting a bit
+of pleasure.'
+
+'No, indeed,' said Mrs. King.  'Harold knows I would not stint him in
+the fruit nor in the pleasure, but I should be much vexed if he could
+go out on a Sunday, buying and selling, among such a lot as meet at
+that orchard.'
+
+'Well, I'm sure I don't know when poor folks is to have a holiday if
+not on a Sunday, and the poor boy must be terrible moped with his
+brother so ill.'
+
+'Not doing thine own pleasure on My holy day,' thought Ellen, but she
+did not say it, for her mother could not bear for texts to be quoted
+at people.  But her heart was very heavy; and when she went up with
+some tea to Alfred, she looked from the window to see whether, as she
+hoped, Harold might be in Paul's hay-loft, preferring going without
+his tea to being teased by Betsey.  Paul sat in his loft, with his
+Bible on his knee, and his head on Caesar's neck.
+
+'Alfred,' said Ellen, 'do you know where Harold is?  Sure he is not
+gone to the merry orchard?'
+
+'Is not he come home?' said Alfred.  'Oh, then he is!  He is gone to
+the merry orchard, breaking Sunday with Dick Royston!  And by-and-by
+he'll be ill, and die, and be as miserable as I am!'  And Alfred
+cried as Ellen had never seen him cry.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI--THE MERRY ORCHARD
+
+
+
+Where was Harold?
+
+Still the evening went on, and he did not come.  Alfred had worn
+himself out with his fit of crying, and lay quite still, either
+asleep, or looking so like it, that when Betsey had finished her tea,
+and again began asking to see him, Ellen could honestly declare that
+he was asleep.
+
+Betsey had bidden them good-bye, more than half affronted at not
+being able to report to her mother all about his looks, though she
+carried with her a basket of gooseberries and French beans, and Mrs.
+King walked all the way down the lane with her, and tried to shew an
+interest in all she said, to make up for the disappointment.
+
+Maybe likewise Mrs. King felt it a relief to her uneasiness to look
+up and down the road, and along the river, and into the farm-yard, in
+the hope that Harold might be in sight; but nothing was to be seen on
+the road, but Master Norland, his wife, and baby, soberly taking
+their Sunday walk; nor by the river, except the ducks, who seemed to
+be enjoying their evening bath, and almost asleep on the water; nor
+in the yard, except Paul Blackthorn, who had come down from his perch
+to drive the horses in from the home-field, and shut the stable up
+for the night.
+
+She could not help stopping a moment at the gate, and calling out to
+Paul to ask whether he had seen anything of Harold.  He seemed to
+have a great mind not to hear, and turned very slowly with his
+shoulder towards her, making a sound like 'Eh?' as if to ask what she
+said.
+
+'Have you seen my boy Harold?'
+
+'I saw him in the morning.'
+
+'Have you not seen him since?  Didn't he go to church with you?'
+
+'No; I don't go to Sunday school.'
+
+'Was he there?'
+
+She did not receive any answer.
+
+'Do you know if many of the boys are gone to the merry orchard?'
+
+'Ay.'
+
+'Well, you are a good lad not to be one of them.'
+
+'Hadn't got any money,' said Paul gruffly; but Mrs. King thought he
+said so chiefly from dislike to be praised, and that there had been
+some principle as well as poverty to keep him away.
+
+'It might be better if no one had it on a Sunday,' she could not help
+sighing out as she looked anxiously along the lane ere turning in,
+and then said, 'My good lad, I don't want to get you to be telling
+tales, but it would set my heart at rest, and his poor brother's up
+there, if you could tell me he is not gone to Briar Alley.'
+
+Paul turned up his face from the gate upon which he was leaning his
+elbows, and gazed for a moment at her sad, meek, anxious face, then
+exclaimed, 'I can't think how he could!'
+
+Poor Paul! was it not crossing him how impossible it would seem to do
+anything to vex one who so cared for him?
+
+'Then he is gone,' she said mournfully.
+
+'They were all at him,' said Paul; 'and he said he'd never seen what
+it was like.  Please don't take on, Missus; he's right kind and good-
+hearted, and wanted to treat me.'
+
+'I had rather he had hearkened to you, my boy,' said Mrs. King.
+
+'I don't know why he should do that,' said Paul, perhaps meaning that
+a boy who heeded not such a mother would certainly heed no one else.
+'But please, Missus,' he added, 'don't beat him, for you made me tell
+on him.'
+
+'Beat him! no,' said Mrs. King, with a sad smile; 'he's too big a boy
+for me to manage that way.  I can't do more than grieve if he lets
+himself be led away.'
+
+'Then I'd like to beat him myself if he grieves you!' burst out Paul,
+doubling up his brown fist with indignation.
+
+'But you won't,' said Mrs. King gently; 'I don't want to make a
+quarrel among you, and I hope you'll help to keep him out of bad
+ways, Paul.  I look to you for it.  Good-night.'
+
+Perhaps the darkness and her own warm feeling made her forget the
+condition of that hand; at any rate, as she said Good-night she took
+it in her own and shook it heartily, and then she went in.
+
+Paul did not say Good-night in answer; but when she had turned away,
+his head went down between his two crossed arms upon the top of the
+gate, and he did not move for many many minutes, except that his
+shoulders shook and shook again, for he was sobbing as he had never
+sobbed since Granny Moll died.  If home and home love were not
+matters of course to you, you might guess what strange new fountains
+of feeling were stirred in the wild but not untaught boy, by that
+face, that voice, that touch.
+
+And Mrs. King, as she walked to her own door in the twilight, with
+bitter pain in her heart, could not help thinking of those from the
+highways and hedges who flocked to the feast set at naught by such as
+were bidden.
+
+A sad and mournful Sunday evening was that to the mother and
+daughter, as each sat over her Bible.  Mrs. King would not talk to
+Ellen, for fear of awakening Alfred; not that low voices would have
+done so, but Ellen was already much upset by what she had heard and
+seen, and to talk it over would have brought on a fit of violent
+crying; so her mother thought it safest to say nothing.  They would
+have read their Bible to one another, but each had her voice so
+choked with tears, that it would not do.
+
+That Alfred was sinking away into the grave, was no news to Mrs.
+King; but perhaps it had never been so plainly spoken to her before,
+and his own knowledge of it seemed to make it more sure; but broken-
+hearted as she felt, she had been learning to submit to this, and it
+might be better and safer for him, she thought, to be aware of his
+state, and more ready to do his best with the time left to him.  That
+was not the freshest sorrow, or more truly a darker cloud had come
+over, namely, the feeling, so terrible to a good careful mother, that
+her son is breaking out of the courses to which she has endeavoured
+and prayed to bring him up--that he is casting off restraint, and
+running into evil that may be the beginning of ruin, and with no
+father's hand to hold him in.
+
+O Harold, had you but seen the thick tears dropping on the walnut
+table behind the arm that hid her face from Ellen, you would not have
+thought your fun worth them!
+
+That merry orchard was about three miles from Friarswood.  It
+belonged to a man who kept a small public-house, and had a little
+farm, and a large garden, with several cherry trees, which in May
+were perfect gardens of blossoms, white as snow, and in August with
+small black fruit of the sort known as merries; and unhappily the
+fertile produce of these trees became a great temptation to the owner
+and to all the villagers around.
+
+As Sunday was the only day when people could be at leisure, he chose
+three Sundays when the cherries were ripe for throwing open his
+orchard to all who chose to come and buy and eat the fruit, and of
+course cakes and drink of various kinds were also sold.  It was a
+solitary spot, out of the way of the police, or the selling in
+church-time would have been stopped; but as there may be cases of
+real distress, the law does not shut up all houses for selling food
+and drink on a Sunday, so others, where there is no necessity, take
+advantage of it; and so for miles round all the idle young people and
+children would call it a holiday to go away from their churches to
+eat cherries at Briar Alley, buying and selling on a Sunday, noisy
+and clamorous, and forgetting utterly that it was the Lord's Day, not
+their day of idle pleasure.
+
+It was a sad pity that an innocent feast of fruit should be almost
+out of reach, unless enjoyed in this manner.  To be sure, merries
+might be bought any day of the week at Briar Alley, and were hawked
+up and down Friarswood so cheaply that any one might get a mouth as
+purple as the black spaniel's any day in the season; but that was
+nothing to the fun of going with numbers, and numbers never could go
+except on a Sunday.  But if people wish to serve God truly, why, they
+must make up their minds to miss pleasures for His sake, and this was
+one to begin with; and I am much mistaken if the happiness of the
+week would not have turned out greater in the end with him.  Ay, and
+as to the owner of the trees, who said he was a poor man, and could
+not afford to lose the profit, I believe that if he would have
+trusted God and kept His commandment, his profit in the long run
+would have been greater here, to say nothing of the peril to his own
+soul of doing wrong, and leading so many into temptation.
+
+The Kings had been bred up to think a Sunday going to the merry
+orchard a thing never to be done; and in his most idle days Alfred
+would never have dreamt of such a thing.  Indeed, their good mother
+always managed to have some treat to make up for it when they were
+little; and they certainly never wanted for merries, nay, a merry
+pudding had been their dinner this very day, with savage-looking
+purple juice and scalding hot stones.  If Harold went it was for the
+frolic, not for want of the dainty; and wrong as it was, his mother
+was grieving more at the thought of his casting away the restraint of
+his old habits than for the one action.  One son going away into the
+unseen world, the other being led away from the paths of right--no
+wonder she wept as she tried to read!
+
+At last voices were coming, and very loud ones.  The summer night was
+so still, they could be heard a great way--those rude coarse voices
+of village boys boasting and jeering one another.
+
+'I say, wouldn't you like to be one of they chaps at Ragglesford
+School?'
+
+'What lots they bought there on Saturday, to be sure!'
+
+'Well they may:  they've lots of tin!'
+
+'Have they?  How d'ye know?'
+
+'Why, the money-letters!  Don't I know the feel of them--directed to
+master this and master that, and with a seal and a card, and half a
+sovereign, or maybe a whole one, under it; and such lots as they gets
+before the holidays--that's to go home, you see.'
+
+'Well, it's a shame such little impudent rogues should get so much
+without ever doing a stroke of work for it.'
+
+'I say, Harold, don't ye never put one of they letters in your
+pocket?'
+
+'For shame, Dick!'
+
+'Ha!  I shall know where to come when I wants half a sovereign or
+so!'
+
+'No, you won't.'
+
+It was only these last two or three speeches that reached the cottage
+at all clearly; and they were followed by a sound as if Harold had
+fallen upon one of the others, and they were holding him off, with
+halloos and shouts of hoarse laughing, which broke Alfred's sleep,
+and his voice came down-stairs with a startled cry of 'Mother!
+Mother! what is that?'  She ran up-stairs in haste, and Ellen threw
+the door open.  The sudden display of the light silenced the noisy
+boys; and Harold came slowly up the garden-path, pretty certain of a
+scolding, and prepared to feel it as little as he could help.
+
+'Well, Master, a nice sort of a way of spending a Sunday evening
+this!' began Ellen; 'and coming hollaing up the lane, just on purpose
+to wake poor Alfred, when he's so ill!'
+
+'I'm sure I never meant to wake him.'
+
+'Then what did you bring all that good-for-nothing set roaring and
+shouting up the road for?  And just this evening, too, when one would
+have thought you would we have cared for poor Mother and Alfred,'
+said she, crying.
+
+'Why, what's the matter now?' said Harold.
+
+'Oh, they've been saying he can't live out the winter,' said Ellen,
+shedding the tears that had been kept back all this time, and broke
+out now with double force, in her grief for one brother and vexation
+with the other.
+
+But next winter seemed a great way off to Harold, and he was put out
+besides, so he did not seem shocked, especially as he was reproached
+with not feeling what he did not know; so all he did was to say
+angrily, 'And how was I to know that?'
+
+'Of course you don't know anything, going scampering over the country
+with the worst lot you can find, away from church and all, not caring
+for anything!  Poor Mother! she never thought one of her lads would
+come to that!'
+
+'Plenty does so, without never such a fuss,' said Harold.  'Why, what
+harm is there in eating a few cherries?'
+
+There would be very little pleasure or use in knowing what a
+wrangling went on all the time Mrs. King was up-stairs putting Alfred
+to bed.  Ellen had all the right on her side, but she did not use it
+wisely; she was very unhappy, and much displeased with Harold, and so
+she had it all out in a fretful manner that made him more cross and
+less feeling than was his nature.
+
+There was something he did feel, however--and that was his mother's
+pale, worn, sorrowful face, when she came down-stairs and hushed
+Ellen, but did not speak to him.  They took down the books, read
+their chapter, and she read prayers very low, and not quite steadily.
+He would have liked very much to have told her he felt sorry, but he
+was too proud to do so after having shewn Ellen he was above caring
+for such nonsense.
+
+So they all went to bed, Harold on a little landing at the top of the
+stairs; but--whether it was from the pounds of merry-stones he had
+swallowed, or the talk he had had with his sister--he could not go to
+sleep, and lay tossing and tumbling about, thinking it very odd he
+had not heeded more what Ellen had said when he first came in, and
+the notion dawning on him more and more, that day after day would
+come and make Alfred worse, and that by the time summer came again he
+should be alone.  Who could have said it?  Why had not he asked?
+What could he have been thinking about?  It should not be true!  A
+sort of frenzy to speak to some one, and hear the real meaning of
+those words, so as to make sure they were only Ellen's nonsense, came
+over him in the silent darkness.  Presently he heard Alfred moving on
+his pillow, for the door was open for the heat; and that long long
+sigh made him call in a whisper, 'Alf, are you awake?'
+
+In another moment Harold was by his brother's side.  'Alf!  Alf! are
+you worse?' he asked, whispering.
+
+'No.'
+
+'Then what's all this?  What did they say?  It's all stuff; I'm sure
+it is, and you're getting better.  But what did Ellen mean?'
+
+'No, Harold,' said Alfred, getting his brother's hand in his, 'it's
+not stuff; I shan't get well; I'm going after poor Charlie; and don't
+you be a bad lad, Harold, and run away from your church, for you
+don't know--how bad it feels to--' and Alfred turned his face down,
+for the tears were coming thick.
+
+'But you aren't going to die, Alf.  Charlie never was like you, I
+know he wasn't; he was always coughing.  It is all Ellen.  Who said
+it?  I won't let them.'
+
+'The doctor said it to Betsey Hardman,' said Alfred; and his cough
+was only too like his brother's.
+
+Harold would have said a great deal in contempt of Betsey Hardman,
+but Alfred did not let him.
+
+'You'll wake Mother,' he said.  'Hush, Harold, don't go stamping
+about; I can't bear it!  No, I don't want any one to tell me now;
+I've been getting worse ever since I was taken, and--oh! be quiet,
+Harold.'
+
+'I can't be quiet,' sobbed Harold, coming nearer to him.  'O Alf!  I
+can't spare you!  There hasn't been no proper downright fun without
+you, and--'
+
+Harold had lain down by him and clung to his hand, trying not to sob
+aloud.
+
+'O Harold!' sighed Alfred, 'I don't think I should mind--at least not
+so much--if I hadn't been such a bad boy.'
+
+'You, Alfy!  Who was ever a good boy if you was not?'
+
+'Hush!  You forget all about when I was up at my Lady's, and all
+that.  Oh! and how bad I behaved at church, and when I was so saucy
+to Master about the marbles; and so often I've not minded Mother.  O
+Harold! and God judges one for everything!'
+
+What a sad terrified voice it was!
+
+'Oh! don't go on so, Alf!  I can't bear it!  Why, we are but boys;
+and those things were so long ago!  God will not be hard on little
+boys.  He is merciful, don't you know?'
+
+'But when I knew it was wrong, I did the worst I could!' said Alfred.
+'Oh, if I could only begin all over again, now I do care!  Only,
+Harold, Harold, you are well; you can be good now when there's time.'
+
+'I'll be ever so good if you'll only get well,' said Harold.  'I
+wouldn't have gone to that there place to-night; but 'tis so terribly
+dull, and one must do something.'
+
+'But in church-time, and on Sunday!'
+
+'Well, I'll never do it again; but it was so sunshiny, and they were
+all making such fun, you see, and it did seem so stuffy, and so long
+and tiresome, I couldn't help it, you see.'
+
+Alfred did not think of asking how, if Harold could not help it this
+time, he could be sure of never doing so again.  He was more inclined
+to dwell on himself, and went back to that one sentence, 'God judges
+us for everything.'  Harold thought he meant it for him, and
+exclaimed,
+
+'Yes, yes, I know, but--oh, Alf, you shouldn't frighten one so; I
+never meant no harm.'
+
+'I wasn't thinking about that,' sighed Alfred.  'I was wishing I'd
+been a better lad; but I've been worse, and crosser, and more unkind,
+ever since I was ill.  O Harold! what shall I do?'
+
+'Don't go on that way,' said Harold, crying bitterly.  'Say your
+prayers, and maybe you will get well; and then in the morning I'll
+ask Mr. Cope to come down, and he'll tell you not to mind.'
+
+'I wouldn't listen to Mr. Cope when he told me to be sorry for my
+sins; and oh, Harold, if we are not sorry, you know they will not be
+taken away.'
+
+'Well, but you are sorry now.'
+
+'I have heard tell that there are two ways of being sorry, and I
+don't know if mine is the right.'
+
+'I tell you I'll fetch Mr. Cope in the morning; and when the doctor
+comes he'll be sure to say it is all a pack of stuff, and you need
+not be fretting yourself.'
+
+When Harold awoke in the morning, he found himself lying wrapped in
+his coverlet on Alfred's bed, and then he remembered all about it,
+and looked in haste, as though he expected to see some sudden and
+terrible change in his brother.
+
+But Alfred was looking cheerful, he had awakened without discomfort;
+and with some amusement, was watching the starts and movements, the
+grunts and groans, of Harold's waking.  The morning air and the
+ordinary look of things, had driven away the gloomy thoughts of
+evening, and he chiefly thought of them as something strange and
+dreadful, and yet not quite a dream.
+
+'Don't tell Mother,' whispered Harold, recollecting himself, and
+starting up quietly.
+
+'But you'll fetch Mr. Cope,' said Alfred earnestly.
+
+Harold had begun not to like the notion of meeting Mr. Cope, lest he
+should hear something of yesterday's doings, and he did not like
+Alfred or himself to think of last night's alarm, so he said, 'Oh,
+very well, I'll see about it.'
+
+He had not made up his mind.  Very likely, if chance had brought him
+face to face with Mr. Cope, he would have spoken about Alfred as the
+best way to hinder the Curate from reproving himself; but he had not
+that right sort of boldness which would have made him go to meet the
+reproof he so richly deserved, and he was trying to persuade himself
+either that when Alfred was amused and cheery, he would forget all
+about 'that there Betsey's nonsense,' or else that Mr. Cope might
+come that way of himself.
+
+But Alfred was not likely to forget.  What he had heard hung on him
+through all the little occupations of the morning, and made him meek
+and gentle under them, and he was reckoning constantly upon Mr.
+Cope's coming, fastening on the notion as if he were able to save
+him.
+
+Still the Curate came not, and Alfred became grieved, feeling as if
+he was neglected.
+
+Mr. Blunt, however, came, and at any rate he would have it out with
+him; so he asked at once very straightforwardly, 'Am I going to die,
+Sir?'
+
+'Why, what's put that in your head?' said the doctor.
+
+'There was a person here talking last night, Sir,' said Mrs. King.
+
+'Well, but am I?' said Alfred impatiently.
+
+'Not just yet, I hope,' said Mr. Blunt cheerfully.  'You are weak,
+but you'll pick up again.'
+
+'But of this?' persisted Alfred, who was not to be trifled with.
+
+Mr. Blunt saw he must be in earnest.
+
+'My boy,' he said, 'I'm afraid it is not a thing to be got over.
+I'll do the best I can for you, by God's blessing; and if you get
+through the winter, and it is a mild spring, you might do; but you'd
+better settle your mind that you can't be many years for this world.'
+
+Many years! that sounded like a reprieve, and sent gladness into
+Ellen's heart; but somehow it did not seem in the same light to
+Alfred; he felt that if he were slowly going down hill and wasting
+away, so as to have no more health or strength in which to live
+differently from ever before, the length of time was not much to him,
+and in his sickly impatience he would almost have preferred that it
+should not be what Betsey kindly called 'a lingering job.'
+
+There he lay after Mr. Blunt was gone, not giving Ellen any trouble,
+except by the sad thoughtfulness of his face, as he lay dwelling on
+all that he wanted to say to Mr. Cope, and the terror of his sin and
+of judgment sweeping over him every now and then.
+
+Still Mr. Cope came not.  Alfred at last began to wonder aloud, and
+asked if Harold had said anything about it when he came in to dinner;
+but he heard that Harold had only rushed in for a moment, snatched up
+a lump of bread and cheese, and made off to the river with some of
+the lads who meant to spend the noon-tide rest in bathing.
+
+When he came for the evening letters he was caught, and Mr. Cope was
+asked for; and then it came out that Harold had never given the
+message at all.
+
+Alfred, greatly hurt, and sadly worn by his day of expectation, had
+no self-restraint left, and flew out into a regular passion, calling
+his brother angry names.  Harold, just as passionate, went into a
+rage too, and scolded his brother for his fancies.  Mrs. King, in
+great displeasure, turned him out, and he rushed off to ride like one
+mad to Elbury; and poor Alfred remained so much shocked at his own
+outbreak, just when he meant to have been good ever after, and
+sobbing so miserably, that no one could calm him at all; and Ellen,
+as the only hope, put on her bonnet to fetch Mr. Cope.
+
+At that moment Paul was come for his bit of bread.  She found him
+looking dismayed at the sounds of violent weeping from above, and he
+asked what it was.
+
+'Oh, Alfred is so low and so bad, and he wants Mr. Cope!  Here's your
+bread, don't keep me!'
+
+'Let me go!  I'll be quicker!' cried Paul; and before she could thank
+him, he was down the garden and right across the first field.
+
+Alfred had had time to cry himself exhausted, and to be lying very
+still, almost faint, before Mr. Cope came in in the summer twilight.
+Good Paul!  He had found that Mr. Cope was dining at Ragglesford and
+had run all the way thither; and here was the kind young Curate,
+quite breathless with his haste, and never regretting the cheerful
+party whence he had been called away.  All Alfred could say was, 'O
+Sir, I shall die; and I'm a bad boy, and wouldn't heed you when you
+said so.'
+
+'And God has made you see your sins, my poor boy,' said Mr. Cope.
+'That is a great blessing.'
+
+'But if I can't do anything to make up for them, what's the use?  And
+I never shall be well again.'
+
+'You can't make up for them; but there is One Who has made up for
+them, if you will only truly repent.'
+
+'I wasn't sorry till I knew I should die,' said Alfred.
+
+'No, your sins did not come home to you!  Now, do you know what they
+are?'
+
+'Oh yes; I've been a bad boy to Mother, and at church; and I've been
+cross to Ellen, and quarrelled with Harold; and I was so audacious at
+my Lady's, they couldn't keep me.  I never did want really to be
+good.  Oh!  I know I shall go to the bad place!'
+
+'No, Alfred, not if you so repent, that you can hold to our Blessed
+Saviour's promise.  There is a fountain open for sin and all
+uncleanness.'
+
+'It is very good of Him,' said Alfred, a little more tranquilly, not
+in the half-sob in which he had before spoken.
+
+'Most merciful!' said Mr. Cope.
+
+'But does it mean me?' continued Alfred.
+
+'You were baptized, Alfred, you have a right to all His promises of
+pardon.'  And he repeated the blessed sentences:
+
+'Come unto Me, all that travail and are heavy laden, and I will
+refresh you.'
+
+'God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, to the
+end that all that believe in Him should not perish, but have
+everlasting life.'
+
+'But how ought I to believe, Sir?'
+
+'You say you feel what your sins are; think of them all as you lie,
+each one as you remember it; say it out in your heart to our Saviour,
+and pray God to forgive it for His sake, and then think that it cost
+some of the pain He bore on the Cross, some of the drops of His agony
+in the Garden.  Each sin of ours was indeed of that burden!'
+
+'Oh, that will make them seem so bad!'
+
+'Indeed it does; but how it will make you love Him, and feel thankful
+to Him, and anxious not to waste the sufferings borne for your sake,
+and glad, perhaps, that you are bearing some small thing yourself.
+But you are spent, and I had better not talk more now.  Let me read
+you a few prayers to help you, and then I will leave you, and come
+again to-morrow.'
+
+How differently those Prayers and Psalms sounded to Alfred now that
+he had really a heart grieved and wearied with the burthen of sin!
+The point was to make his not a frightened heart, but a contrite
+heart.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII--HAROLD TAKES A WRONG TURN
+
+
+
+Mrs. King was very anxious about Alfred for many hours after this
+visit from the Curate, for he was continually crying, not violently,
+but the tears flowing quietly from his eyes as he lay, thinking.
+Sometimes it was the badness of the faults as he saw them now,
+looking so very different from what they did when they were committed
+in the carelessness of fun and high spirits, or viewed afterwards in
+the hardening light of self-justification.  Now they did look so
+wantonly hard and rude--unkind to his sister, ruinous to Harold,
+regardless of his widowed mother, reckless of his God--that each one
+seemed to cut into him with a sense of its own badness, and he was
+quite as much grieved as afraid; he hated the fault, and hated
+himself for it.
+
+Indeed, he was growing less afraid, for the sorrow seemed to swallow
+that up; the grief at having offended One so loving was putting out
+the terror of being punished; or rather, when he thought that this
+illness was punishment, he was almost glad to have some of what he
+deserved; just as when he was a little boy, he really used to be
+happier afterwards for having been whipped and put in the corner,
+because that was like making it up.  Though he knew very well that if
+he had ten thousand times worse than this to bear, it would not be
+making up for his faults, and he felt now that one of them had been
+his 'despising the chastening of the Lord.'  And then the thought of
+what had made up for it would come:  and though he had known of it
+all his life, and heeded it all too little, now that his heart was
+tender, and he had felt some of the horror and pain of sin, he took
+it all home now, and clung to it.  He recollected the verses about
+that One kneeling--nay, falling on the ground, in the cold dewy
+night, with the chosen friends who could not watch with Him, and the
+agony and misery that every one in all the world deserved to feel,
+gathering on Him, Who had done no wrong, and making His brow stream
+with great drops of Blood.
+
+And the tortures, the shame, the slow Death--circumstance after
+circumstance came to his mind, and 'for me,' 'this fault of mine
+helped,' would rise with it, and the tears trickled down at the
+thought of the suffering and of the Love that had caused it to be
+undergone.
+
+Once he raised up his head, and saw through the window the deep dark-
+blue sky, and the stars, twinkling and sparkling away; that pale band
+of light, the Milky Way, which they say is made of countless stars
+too far off to be distinguished, and looking like a cloud, and on it
+the larger, brighter burnished stars, differing from one another in
+glory.  He thought of some lines in a book Miss Jane once gave Ellen,
+which said of the stars:
+
+
+'The Lord resigned them all to gain
+The bliss of pardoning thee.'
+
+
+And when he thought that it was the King of those stars Who was
+scourged and spit on, and for the sake of HIS faults, the loving
+tears came again, and he turned to another hymn of Ellen's:
+
+
+'Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
+Let me hide myself in Thee!'
+
+
+And going on with this, he fell into a more quiet sleep than he had
+had for many nights.
+
+Alfred had worked up his mind to a point where it could not long
+remain; and when he awoke in the morning, the common affairs of the
+day occupied him in a way that was not hurtful to him, as the one
+chief thought was ever present, only laid away for a time, and
+helping him when he might have been fretful or impatient.
+
+He was anxious for Mr. Cope, and grateful when he saw him coming
+early in the day.  Mr. Cope did not, however, say anything very new.
+He chiefly wished to shew Alfred that he must not think all his
+struggle with sin over, and that he had nothing to do but to lie
+still and be pardoned.  There was much more work, as he would find,
+when the present strong feeling should grow a little blunt; he would
+have to keep his will bent to bear what was sent by God, and to prove
+his repentance by curing himself of all his bad habits of peevishness
+and exacting; to learn, in fact, to take up his cross.
+
+Alfred feebly promised to try, and it did not seem so difficult just
+then.  The days were becoming cooler, and he did not feel quite so
+ill; and though he did not know how much this helped him, it made it
+much easier to act on his good resolutions.  Miss Selby came to see
+him, and was quite delighted to see him looking so much less
+uncomfortable and dismal.
+
+'Why, Alfred,' said she, 'you must be much better.'
+
+Ellen looked mournful at this, and shook her head so that Miss Jane
+turned her bright face to her in alarm.
+
+'No, Ma'am,' said Alfred.  'Dr. Blunt says I can never get over it.'
+
+'And does that make you glad?' almost gasped Miss Jane.
+
+'No, Ma'am,' said Alfred; 'but Mr. Cope has been talking to me, and
+made it all so--'
+
+He could not get out the words; and, besides, he saw Miss Jane's eyes
+winking very fast to check the tears, and Ellen's had begun to rain
+down fast.
+
+'I didn't mean to be silly,' said little Jane, in rather a trembling
+voice; 'but I'm sorry--no--I'm glad you are happy and good, Alfred.'
+
+'Not good, Miss Jane,' cried Alfred; 'I'm such a bad boy, but there
+are such good things as I never minded before--'
+
+'Well then, I think you'll like what I've brought you,' said Jane
+eagerly.
+
+It was a little framed picture of our Blessed Lord on His Cross, all
+darkness round, and the Inscription above His Head; and Miss Jane had
+painted, in tall Old English red letters, under it the two words,
+'For me.'
+
+Alfred looked at it as if indeed it would be a great comfort to him
+to be always reminded by the eye, of how 'He was wounded for our
+transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities.'
+
+He thanked Miss Jane with all his heart, and she and Ellen soon found
+a place to hang it up well in his sight.  It was a pretty bright
+sight to see her insisting on holding the nail for it, and then
+playfully pretending to shrink and fancy that Ellen would hammer her
+fingers.
+
+Alfred could enjoy the sunshine of his sick-room again; and Ellen and
+his mother down-stairs told Miss Selby, with many tears, of the happy
+change that had come over him ever since he had resigned himself to
+give up hopes of life.  Mrs. King looked so peaceful and thankful,
+that little Jane could hardly understand what it was that made her so
+much more at rest.
+
+Even Ellen, though her heart ached at the hope having gone out, and
+left a dark place where it had been, felt the great relief from hour
+to hour of not being fretted and snarled at for whatever she either
+did or left undone.  Thanks and smiles were much pleasanter payment
+than groans, murmurs, and scoldings; and the brother and sister
+sometimes grew quite cheerful and merry together, as Alfred lay
+raised up to look over the hedge into the harvest-field across the
+meadow, where the reaper and his wife might be seen gathering the
+brown ears round, and cutting them with the sickle, and others going
+after to bind them into the glorious wheat sheaves that leant against
+each other in heaps of blessed promise of plenty.
+
+Paul tried reaping; but the first thing he did was to make a terrible
+cut in his hand, which the shuffler told him was for good luck!  Some
+of the women in the field bound it up, but he was good for nothing
+after it except going after the cattle, and so he was likely to lose
+all the chance of earning himself any better clothes in harvest-time.
+
+Harold grumbled dreadfully that his mother could not spare him to go
+harvesting beyond their own tiny quarter of an acre of wheat.  The
+post made it impossible for him to go out to work like the labourers;
+and besides, his mother did not think he had gained much good in hay-
+time, and wished to keep him from the boys.
+
+Very hard he thought it; and to hear him grumble, any one would have
+thought Mrs. King was a tyrant far worse than Farmer Shepherd,
+working the flesh off his bones, taking away the fun and the payment
+alike.
+
+The truth was, that the morning when Harold threw away from him the
+thought of his brother's danger, and broke all his promises to him in
+the selfish fear of a rebuke from the clergyman, had been one of the
+turning-points of his life, and a turning-point for the bad.  It had
+been a hardening of his heart, just as it had begun to be touched,
+and a letting in of evil spirits instead of good ones.
+
+He became more than ever afraid of Mr. Cope, and shirked going near
+him so as to be spoken to; he cut Ellen off short if she said a word
+to him, and avoided being with Alfred, partly because it made him
+melancholy, partly because he was afraid of Alfred's again talking to
+him about the evil of his ways.  In reality, his secret soul was
+wretched at the thought of losing his brother; but he tried to put
+the notion away from him, and to drown it in the noisiest jokes and
+most riotous sports he could meet with, keeping company with the
+wildest lads about the parish.  That Dick Royston especially, whose
+honesty was doubtful, but who, being a clever fellow, was a sort of
+leader, was doing great harm by setting his face against the new
+parson, and laughing at the boys who went to him.  Mrs. King was very
+unhappy.  It was almost worse to think of Harold than of his sick
+brother; and Alfred grieved very much too, and took to himself the
+blame of having made home miserable to Harold, and driven him into
+bad company; of having been so peevish and unpleasant, that it was no
+wonder he would not come near him more than could be helped; and
+above all, of having set a bad example of idleness and recklessness,
+when he was well.  If the tears were brought into his eyes at first
+by some unkind neglect of Harold's, they were sure to end in this
+thought at last; and then the only comfort was, that Mr. Cope had
+told him that he might make his sick-bed very precious to his
+brother's welfare, by praying always for him.
+
+Mr. Cope had talked it over with Mrs. King; and they had agreed that
+as Harold was under the regular age for Confirmation, and seemed so
+little disposed to prepare for it in earnest, they would not press it
+on him.  He was far from fit for it, and he was in such a mood of
+impatient irreverence, that Mr. Cope was afraid of making his sin
+worse by forcing serious things on him, and his mother was in
+constant fear of losing her last hold on him.
+
+Yet Harold was not a bad or unfeeling boy by nature; and if he would
+but have paused to think, he would have been shocked to see how
+cruelly he was paining his widowed mother and dying brother, just
+when he should have been their strength and stay.
+
+One afternoon in October, when Alfred was in a good deal of pain, Mr.
+Blunt said he would send out some cooling ointment for the wound at
+the joint, when Harold took the evening letters into Elbury.  Alfred
+reckoned much on the relief this was to give, and watched the ticks
+of the clock for the time for Harold to set off.
+
+'Make haste,' were the last words his mother spoke--and Harold fully
+meant to make haste; nor was it weather to tempt him to stay long,
+for there was a chill raw fog hanging over the meadows, and fast
+turning into rain, which hung in drops upon his eyebrows, and the
+many-tiered cape of his father's box-coat, which he always wore in
+bad weather.  It was fortunate he was likely to meet nothing, and
+that he and the pony both knew the road pretty well.
+
+How fuzzy the grey fog made the lamps of the town look!  Did they
+disturb the pony?  What a stumble!  Ha! there's a shoe off.  Be it
+known that it was Harold's own fault; he had not looked at the shoes
+for many a morning, as he knew it was his duty to do.
+
+He left Peggy with her ears back, much discomposed at being shod in a
+strange forge, and by any one but Bill Saunders.
+
+Then Harold was going to leave his bag at the post-office, when, as
+he turned up the street, some one caught hold of him, and cried, 'Ho!
+Harold King on foot!  What's the row?  Old pony tumbled down dead?'
+
+'Cast a shoe,' said Harold.
+
+'Oh, jolly, you'll have to wait!' went on Dick Royston.  'Come in
+here!  Here's such a lark!'
+
+Harold looked into a court-yard belonging to a low public-house, and
+saw what was like a tent, with a bright red star on a blue ground at
+the end, lighted up.  A dark figure came between, and there was a
+sudden crack that made Harold start.
+
+'It's the unique (he called it eu-ni-quee) royal shooting-gallery,
+patronized by his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales,' (what a
+story!) said Dick.  'You've only to lay down your tin; one copper for
+three shots, and if you hit, you may take your choice--gingerbread-
+nuts, or bits of cocoa-nut, or, what's jolliest, lollies with gin
+inside 'em!  Come, blaze away! or ha'n't you got the money?  Does
+Mother keep you too short?'
+
+If there was a thing Harold had a longing for, it was to fire off a
+gun!  If there was a person he envied more than another, it was old
+Isaac Coffin, when he prowled up and down Farmer Ledbitter's fields
+with an old blunderbuss and some powder, to keep off the birds!
+
+To be sure it was a public-house, but it was not inside one!  And
+Mother would call it gambling.  Oh, but it wasn't cards or skittles!
+And if he shot away his half-pence, how should he pay for the shoeing
+of the pony?  The blacksmith might trust him, or the clerk at the
+post-office would lend him the money, or Betsey Hardman.  And the
+time?  One shot would not waste much!  Pony must be shod.  Besides,
+Dick and all the rest would say he was a baby.
+
+He paid the penny, threw aside his cap, and took the gun, though
+after all it was only a sham one, and what a miss he made!  What
+business had every one to set up that great hoarse laugh? which made
+him so angry that he had nearly turned on Dick and cuffed him for his
+pains.
+
+However, he was the more bent on trying again, and the owner of the
+gallery shewed him how to manage better.  He hit anything but the
+middle of the star, and just saw how he thought he might hit next
+time.  Next time was barely a miss, so that the man actually gave him
+a gin-drop to encourage him.  That made him mad to meet with real
+success; but it was the turn of another 'young gent,' as the man
+called him, and Harold had to stand by, with his penny in his hand,
+burning with impatience, and fancying he could mend each shot of that
+young gent, and another, and another, and another, who all thrust in
+to claim their rights before him.  His turn came at last; and so
+short and straight was the gallery, that he really did hit once the
+side of the star, and once the middle, and thus gained one
+gingerbread-nut, and three of the gin-drops.
+
+It would have been his nature to share them with Alfred, but he could
+not do so without saying where he had been, and that he could not do,
+so he gave one to Dick, and swallowed the rest to keep out the cold.
+
+Just then the town clock struck six, and frightened him.  He had been
+there three-quarters of an hour.  What would they say at the post-
+office?
+
+The clerk looked out of his hole as angry as clerk could look.  'This
+won't do, King,' he said.  'Late for sorting!  Fine, remember--near
+an hour after time.'
+
+'Pony cast a shoe, Sir,' said Harold.  He had never been so near a
+downright falsehood.
+
+'Whew!  Then I suppose I must not report you this time!  But look
+out!  You're getting slack.'
+
+No time this for borrowing of the clerk.  Harold was really
+frightened, for he HAD dawdled much more than he ought of late, and
+though he sometimes fancied himself sick of the whole post business,
+a complaint to his mother would be a dreadful matter.  It put
+everything else out of his head; and he ran off in great haste to get
+the money from Betsey Hardman, knocking loud at her green door.
+
+What a cloud of steamy heat the room was, with the fire glowing like
+a red furnace, and five black irons standing up before it; and
+clothes-baskets full of heaps of whiteness, and horses with vapoury
+webs of lace and cambric hanging on them; and the three ironing-
+boards, where smoothness ran along with the irons; and the heaps of
+folded clothes; and Betsey in her white apron, broad and red in the
+midst of her maidens!
+
+'Ha!  Harold King!  Well, to be sure, you are a stranger!  Don't come
+nigh that there hoss; it's Mrs. Parnell's best pocket-handkerchiefs,
+real Walencines!' (she meant Valenciennes.)  'If you'll just run up
+and see Mother, I'll have it out of the way, and we'll have a cup of
+tea.'
+
+'Thank you, but I--'
+
+'My!  What a smoke ye're in!  Take care, or I shall have 'em all to
+do over again.  Go up to Mother, do, like a good lad.'
+
+'I can't, Betsey; I must go home.'
+
+'Ay! that's the way.  Lads never can sit down sensible and
+comfortable! it's all the same--'
+
+'I wanted,' said Harold, interrupting her, 'to ask you to lend me
+sixpence.  Pony's cast a shoe, and I had to leave her with the
+smith.'
+
+'Ay?  Who did you leave her with?'
+
+'The first I came to, up in Wood Street.'
+
+'Myers.  Ye shouldn't have done that.  His wife's the most stuck-up
+proud body I ever saw--wears steel petticoats, I'll answer for it.
+You should have gone to Charles Shaw.'
+
+'Can't help it,' said Harold.  'Please, Betsey, let me have the
+sixpence; I'll pay you faithfully to-morrow!'
+
+'Ay! that's always the way.  Never come in unless ye want somewhat.
+'Twasn't the way your poor father went on!  He'd a civil word for
+every one.  Well, and can't you stop a minute to say how your poor
+brother is?'
+
+'Much the same,' said Harold impatiently.
+
+'Yes, he'll never be no better, poor thing!  All decliny; as I says
+to Mother, what a misfortune it is upon poor Cousin King! they'll all
+go off, one after t'other, just like innocents to the slaughter.'
+
+This was not a cheerful prediction; and Harold petulantly said he
+must get back, and begged for the sixpence.  He got it at last, but
+not till all Betsey's pocket had been turned out; and finding nothing
+but shillings and threepenny-bits, she went all through her day's
+expenses aloud, calling all her girls to witness to help her to
+account for the sixpence that ought to have been there.
+
+Mrs. Brown had paid her four and sixpence--one florin and a half-
+crown--and she had three threepenny-pieces in her pocket, and
+twopence.  Then Sally had been out and got a shilling's-worth of
+soap, and six-penn'orth of blue, and brought home one shilling; and
+there was the sausages--no one could recollect what they had cost,
+though they talked so much about their taste; and five-pence-worth of
+red-herrings, and the butter; yes, and threepence to the beggar who
+said he had been in Sebastopol.  Harold's head was ready to turn
+round before it was all done; but he got away at last, with a
+scolding for not going up to see Mother.
+
+Home he trotted as hard as the pony would go, holding his head down
+to try to bury nose and mouth in his collar, and the thick rain
+plastering his hair, and streaming down the back of his neck.  What
+an ill-used wretch was he, said he to himself, to have to rattle all
+over the country in such weather!
+
+Here was home at last.  How comfortable looked the bright light, as
+the cottage door was thrown open at the sound of the horse's feet!
+
+'Well, Harold!' cried Ellen eagerly, 'is anything the matter?'
+
+'No,' he said, beginning to get sulky because he felt he was wrong;
+'only Peggy lost a shoe--'
+
+'Lame?'
+
+'No, I took her to the smith.'
+
+'Give me Alfred's ointment, please, before you put her up.  He is in
+such a way about it, and we can't put him to bed--'
+
+'Haven't got it.'
+
+'Not got it!  O Harold!'
+
+'I should like to know how to be minding such things when pony loses
+a shoe, and such weather!  I declare I'm as wet--!' said Harold
+angrily, as he saw his sister clasp her hands in distress, and the
+tears come in her eyes.
+
+'Is Harold come safe?' called Mrs. King from above.
+
+'Is the ointment come?' cried Alfred, in a piteous pain-worn voice.
+
+Harold stamped his foot, and bolted to the stable to put the pony
+away.
+
+'It's not come,' said Ellen, coming up-stairs, very sadly.
+
+'He has forgot it.'
+
+'Forgot it!' cried Alfred, raising himself passionately.  'He always
+does forget everything!  He don't care for me one farthing!  I
+believe he wants me dead!'
+
+'This is very bad of him!  I didn't think he'd have done it,' said
+Mrs. King sorrowfully.
+
+'He's been loitering after some mischief,' exclaimed Alfred.  'Taking
+his pleasure--and I must stay all this time in pain!  Serve him right
+to send him back to Elbury.'
+
+Mrs. King had a great mind to have done so; but when she looked at
+the torrents of rain that streamed against the window, and thought
+how wet Harold must be already, and of the fatal illnesses that had
+been begun by being exposed to such weather, she was afraid to
+venture a boy with such a family constitution, and turning back to
+Alfred, she said, 'I am very sorry, Alfred, but it can't be helped; I
+can't send Harold out in the rain again, or we shall have him ill
+too.'
+
+Poor Alfred! it was no trifle to have suffered all day, and to be
+told the pain must go on all night.  His patience and all his better
+thoughts were quite worn away, and he burst into tears of anger and
+cried out that it was very hard--his mother cared for Harold more
+than for him, and nobody minded it, if he lay in such pain all night.
+
+'You know better than that, dear,' said his poor mother, sadly
+grieved, but bearing it meekly.  'Harold shall go as soon as can be
+to-morrow.'
+
+'And what good will that be to-night?' grumbled Alfred.  'But you
+always did put Harold before me.  However, I shall soon be dead and
+out of your way, that's all!'
+
+Mrs. King would not make any answer to this speech, knowing it only
+made him worse.  She went down to see about Harold, an additional
+offence to Alfred, who muttered something about 'Mother and her
+darling.'
+
+'How can you, Alfred, speak so to Mother?' cried Ellen.
+
+'I'm sure every one is cross enough to me,' returned Alfred.
+
+'Not Mother,' said Ellen.  'She couldn't help it.'
+
+'She won't send Harold out again, though; I'm sure I'd have gone for
+him.'
+
+'You don't know what the rain was,' said Ellen.
+
+'Well, he should have minded; but you're all against me.'
+
+'You'll be sorry by-and-by, Alfred; this isn't like the way you talk
+sometimes.'
+
+'Some one else had need to be sorry, not me.'
+
+Perhaps, in the midst of his captious state, Alfred was somewhat
+pacified by hearing sounds below that made him certain that Harold
+was not escaping without some strong words from his mother.
+
+They were not properly taken.  Harold was in no mood of repentance,
+and the consciousness that he had been behaving most unkindly, only
+made him more rough and self-justifying.
+
+'I can't help it!  I can't be a slave to run about everywhere, and
+remember everything--pony losing her shoe, and nigh tumbling down
+with me, and Ross at the post so cross for nothing!'
+
+'You'll grieve at the way you have used your poor brother one of
+these days, Harold,' quietly answered his mother, so low, that Alfred
+could not hear through the floor.  'Now, you'll please to go to bed.'
+
+'Ain't I to have no supper?' said Harold in a sullen voice, with a
+great mind to sit down in the chimney-corner in defiance.
+
+'I shall give you something hot when you are in bed.  If I treated
+you as you deserve, I should send you to Mr. Blunt's this moment; but
+I can't afford to have you ill too, so go to bed this moment.'
+
+His mother could still master him by her steadiness and he went up,
+muttering that he'd no notion of being treated like a baby, and that
+he would soon shew her the difference:  he wasn't going to be made a
+slave to Alfred, and 'twas all a fuss about that stuff!
+
+He did fancy he said his prayers; but they could not have been real
+ones, for he was no softer when his mother came to his bedside with a
+great basin of hot gruel.  He said he hated such nasty sick stuff,
+and grunted savagely when, with a look that ought to have gone to his
+heart, she asked if he thought he deserved anything better.
+
+Yet she did not know of the shooting gallery, nor of his false
+excuses.  If he had not been deceiving her, perhaps he might have
+been touched.
+
+'Well, Harold,' she said at last, after taking the empty basin from
+him, and picking up his wet clothes and boots to dry them by the
+fire, 'I hope as you lie there you'll come to a better mind.  It
+makes me afraid for you, my boy.  It is not only your brother you are
+sinning against, but if you are a bad boy, you know Who will be angry
+with you.  Good-night.'
+
+She lingered, but Harold was still hard, and would neither own
+himself sorry, nor say good-night.
+
+When she passed his bed at the top of the stairs again, after hanging
+up the things by the fire, he had his head hidden, and either was, or
+feigned to be, asleep.
+
+Alfred's ill-temper was nearly gone, but he still thought himself
+grievously injured, and was at no pains to keep himself from groaning
+and moaning all the time he was being put to bed.  In fact, he rather
+liked to make the most of it, to shew his mother how provoking she
+was, and to reproach Harold for his neglect.
+
+The latter purpose he did not effect; Harold heard every sound, and
+consoled himself by thinking what an intolerable work Alfred was
+making on purpose.  If he had tried to bear it as well as possible,
+his brother would have been much more likely to be sorry.
+
+Alfred was thinking too much about his misfortunes and discomforts to
+attend to the evening reading, but it soothed him a little, and the
+pain was somewhat less, so he did fall asleep, so uneasily though,
+that Mrs. King put off going to bed as late as she could.
+
+It was nearly eleven, and Ellen had been in bed a long time, when
+Alfred started, and Mrs. King turned her head, at the click of the
+wicket gate, and a step plashing on the walk.  She opened the little
+window, and the gust of wet wind puffed the curtains, whistled round
+the room, and almost blew out the candle.
+
+'Who's there?
+
+'It's me, Mrs. King!  I've got the stuff,' called a hoarse tired
+voice.
+
+'Well, if ever!  It's Paul Blackthorn!' exclaimed Mrs. King.  'Thank
+ye kindly.  I'll come and let you in.'
+
+'Paul Blackthorn!' cried Alfred.  'Been all the way to Elbury for me!
+O Mother, bring him up, and let me thank him!  But how ever did he
+know?'  The tears came running down Alfred's cheeks at such kindness
+from a stranger.  Mrs. King had hurried downstairs, and at the
+threshold stood a watery figure, holding out the gallipot.
+
+'Oh! thank you, thank you; but come in!  Yes, come in! you must have
+something hot, and get dried.'
+
+Paul shambled in very foot-sore.  He looked as if he were made of
+moist mud, and might be squeezed into any shape, and streams of rain
+were dropping from each of his many rags.
+
+'Well, I don't know how to thank you--such a night!  But he'll sleep
+easy now.  How did you come to think of it?'
+
+'I was just coming home from the parson's, and I met Harold putting
+up Peggy, in a great way because he'd forgotten.  That's all,
+Missus,' said Paul, looking shamefaced.  'Good-night to you.'
+
+'No, no, that won't do.  I must have you sit down and get dry,' said
+Mrs. King, nursing up the remains of the fire; and as Paul's day-
+garments served him for night-gear likewise, he could hardly help
+accepting the invitation, and spreading his chilled hands to the
+fire.
+
+As to Mrs. King's feelings, it must be owned that, grateful as she
+was, it was rather like sitting opposite to the heap in the middle of
+Mr. Shepherd's farm-yard.
+
+'Would you take that?' she said, holding out a three-penny piece.
+'I'd make it twice as much if I could, but times are hard.'
+
+'No, no, Missus, I didn't do it for that,' said Paul, putting it
+aside.
+
+'Then you must have some supper, that I declare.'
+
+And she brought out a slice of cold bacon, and some bread, and warmed
+some beer at the fire.  She would go without bacon and beer herself
+to-morrow, but that was nothing to her.  It was a real pleasure to
+see the colour come into Paul's bony yellow cheeks at the hearty
+meal, which he could not refuse; but he did not speak much, for he
+was tired out, and the fire and the beer were making him very sleepy.
+
+Alfred rapped above with the stick that served as a bell.  It was to
+beg that Paul would come and be thanked; and though Mrs. King was a
+little afraid of the experiment, she did ask him to walk up for a
+moment.
+
+Grunt went he, and in rather an unmannerly way, he said, 'I'd rather
+not.'
+
+'Pray do,' said Mrs. King; 'I don't think Alfred will sleep easy
+without saying thank you.'
+
+So Paul complied, and in a most ungainly fashion clumped up-stairs
+and stood at the door.  He had not forgotten his last reception, and
+would not come a step farther, though Alfred stretched out his hand
+and begged him to come in.
+
+Alfred could say only 'Thank you, I never thought any one would be so
+kind.'
+
+And Paul made gruff reply, 'Ye're very welcome,' turned about as if
+he were running away, and tumbled down-stairs, and out of the house,
+without even answering Mrs. King's 'Good-night.'
+
+Harold had wakened at the sounds.  He heard all, but he chose to seem
+to be asleep, and, would you believe it? he was only the more
+provoked!  Paul's exertion made his neglect seem all the worse, and
+he was positively angry with him for 'going and meddling, and poking
+his nose where he'd no concern.  Now he shouldn't be able to get the
+stuff to-morrow, and so make it up; and of course mother would go and
+dock Paul's supper out of his dinner!'
+
+If such reflections were going on upon one side of the partition,
+there were very different thoughts upon the other.  The stranger's
+kindness had done more than relieve Alfred's pain:  the warm sense of
+thankfulness had softened his spirit, and carried off his selfish
+fit.  He knew not how kind people were to him, and how ungrateful he
+had been to punish his innocent mother and sister, and so much to
+magnify a bit of thoughtlessness on Harold's part; to be angry with
+his mother for not driving him out when she thought it might endanger
+his health and life, and to say such cruel things on purpose to wound
+her.  Alfred felt himself far more cruel than he had even thought
+Harold.
+
+And was this his resolution?  Was this the shewing the sincerity of
+his repentance through his conduct in illness?  Was this patience?
+Was it brotherly love?  Was it the taking up the cross so as to bear
+it like his Saviour, Who spoke no word of complaining, no murmur
+against His tormentors?
+
+How he had fallen!  How he had lost himself!  It was a bitter
+distress, and threw him almost into despair.  He prayed over and over
+to be forgiven, and began to long for some assurance of pardon, and
+for something to prevent all his right feelings and wishes from thus
+seeming to slip away from his grasp at the first trial.
+
+He told his mother how sorry he was; and she answered, 'Dear lad,
+don't fret about it.  It was very hard for you to bear, and you are
+but learning, you see, to be patient.'
+
+'But I'm not learning if I don't go on no better,' sighed Alfred.
+
+'By bits you are, my boy,' she said; 'you are much less fractious now
+than you used to be, only you could not stand this out-of-the-way
+trial.'
+
+Alfred groaned.
+
+'Do you remember what our Saviour said to St. Peter?' said his
+mother; '"Whither I go thou canst not follow Me now, but thou shalt
+follow Me afterwards."  You see, St. Peter couldn't bear his cross
+then, but he went on doing his best, and grieving when he failed, and
+by-and-by he did bear it almost like his Master.  He got to be made
+strong out of weakness.'
+
+There was some comfort to Alfred in this; but he feared, and yet
+longed, to see Mr. Cope, and when he came, had scarcely answered his
+questions as to how he felt, before he said, 'O Sir, I've been a bad
+boy again, and so cross to them all!'
+
+'O Sir,' said Ellen, who could not bear for him to blame himself,
+'I'm sure it was no wonder--he's so distracted with the pain, and
+Harold getting idling, and forgetting to bring him the ointment.
+Why, even that vagabond boy was so shocked, that he went all the way
+to Elbury that very night for it.  I told Alfred you'd tell him that
+anybody would be put out, and nobody would think of minding what he
+said.'
+
+'Nobody, especially so kind a sister,' said Mr. Cope, smiling; 'but
+that is not what Alfred is thinking of.'
+
+'No, Sir,' said Alfred; 'their being so good to me makes it all the
+worse.'
+
+'I quite believe so; and you are very much disappointed in yourself.'
+
+'Oh yes, Sir, just when I wanted to be getting patient, and more
+like--' and his eyes turned to the little picture, and filled with
+tears.
+
+Mr. Cope said somewhat of what his mother had said that he was but a
+scholar in patience, and that he must take courage, though he had
+slipped, and pray for new strengthening and refreshing to go on in
+the path of pain his Lord had hallowed for him.
+
+Perhaps the words reminded Alfred of the part of the Catechism where
+they occur, for he said, 'Oh, I wish I was confirmed!  If I could but
+take the Holy Sacrament, to make me stronger, and sure of being
+forgiven--'
+
+'You shall--before--' said Mr. Cope, speaking eagerly, but becoming
+choked as he went on.  'You are one whom the Church would own as
+ready and desirous to come, though you cannot be confirmed.  You
+should at once--but you see I am not yet a priest; I have not the
+power to administer the Holy Communion; but I trust I shall be one in
+the spring, and then, Alfred--Or if you should be worse, I promise
+you that I would bring some one here.  You shall not go without the
+Bread of Life.'
+
+Alfred felt what he said to the depths of his heart, but he could not
+say anything but 'Thank you, Sir.'
+
+Mr. Cope, still much moved, laid his hand upon that of the boy.  'So,
+Alfred, we prepare together.  As I hope and long to prepare myself to
+have that great charge committed to me, which our Saviour Christ gave
+to His Apostles; so you prepare for the receiving of that Bread and
+that Cup which will more fully unite you to Him, and join your
+suffering to what He bore for you.'
+
+'How shall I, Sir?' murmured Alfred.
+
+'I will do my best to shew you,' said Mr. Cope; 'but your Catechism
+tells you best.  Think over that last answer.'
+
+Alfred's face lighted sweetly as he went over it.  'Why, that's what
+I can't help doing, Sir; I can't forget my faults, I'm so afraid of
+them; and I'm sure I do want to lead a new life, if I didn't keep on
+being so bad; and thinking about His dying is the best comfort I
+have.  Nor I'm sure I don't bear ill-will to nobody, only I suppose
+it is not charity to run out at poor Mother and Ellen when one's put
+out.'
+
+'Perhaps that is what you want to learn,' said Mr. Cope, 'and to get
+all these feelings deepened, and more earnest and steadfast.  If the
+long waiting does that for you, it will be good, and keep you from
+coming lightly to the Holy Feast.'
+
+'Oh, I could not do that!' exclaimed Alfred.  'And may I think that
+all my faults will be taken away and forgiven?'
+
+'All you repent of, and bring in faith--'
+
+'That is what they say at church in the Absolution,' said Alfred
+thoughtfully.
+
+'Rather it is what the priest says to them,' said Mr. Cope; 'it is
+the applying the promise of forgiveness that our Saviour bought.  I
+may not yet say those words with authority, Alfred, but I should like
+to hope that some day I may speak them to you, and bring rest from
+the weight at your heart.'
+
+'Oh!  I hope I may live to that!' said Alfred.
+
+'You shall hear them, whether from me or from another,' said Mr.
+Cope, 'that is, if God will grant us warning.  But you need not fear,
+Alfred, if you thoroughly repent, and put your full faith in the
+great Sacrifice that has been offered for your sins and the sins of
+all the world.  God will take care of His child, and you already have
+His promise that He will give you all that is needful for your
+salvation.'
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII--CONFIRMATION
+
+
+
+If Harold had known all the consequences of his neglect, perhaps he
+would have been more sorry for it than as yet he had chosen to be.
+
+The long walk and the warm beer and fire sent Paul to his hay-nest so
+heavy with sleep, that he never stirred till next morning he was
+wakened by Tom Boldre, the shuffler, kicking him severely, and
+swearing at him for a lazy fellow, who stayed out at night and left
+him to do his work.
+
+Paul stumbled to his feet, quite confused by the pain, and feeling
+for his shoes in the dark loft.  The shuffler scarcely gave him an
+instant to put them on, but hunted him down-stairs, telling him the
+farmer was there, and he would catch it.
+
+It would do nobody any good to hear the violent way in which Mr.
+Shepherd abused the boy.  He was a passionate man, and no good
+labourers liked to work with him because of his tongue.  With such
+grown men as he had, he was obliged to keep himself under some
+restraint, but this only incited him to make up for it towards the
+poor friendless boy.
+
+It was really nearly eight o'clock, and Paul's work had been
+neglected, which was enough to cause displeasure; and besides, Boldre
+had heard Paul coming home past eleven, and the farmer insisted on
+knowing what he had been doing.
+
+Under all his rags, Paul was a very proud boy, and thus asked, he
+would not tell, but stood with his legs twisted, looking very sulky.
+
+'No use asking him,' cried Mrs. Shepherd's shrill voice at the back
+door; 'why, don't ye hear that Mrs. Barker's hen-roost has been
+robbed by Dick Royston and two or three more on 'em?'
+
+'I never robbed!' cried Paul indignantly.
+
+'None of your jaw,' said the farmer angrily.  'If you don't tell me
+this moment where you've been, off you go this instant.  Drinking at
+the Tankard, I'll warrant.'
+
+'No such thing, Sir,' said Paul.  'I went to Elbury after some
+medicine for a sick person.'
+
+Somehow he had a feeling about the house opposite, which would not
+let him come out with the name in such a scene.
+
+'That's all stuff,' broke in Mrs. Shepherd, 'I don't believe one word
+of it!  Send him off; take my advice, Farmer, let him go where he
+comes from; Ellen King told me he was out of prison.'
+
+Paul flushed crimson at this, and shook all over.  He had all but
+turned to go, caring for nothing more at Friarswood; but just then,
+John Farden, one of the labourers, who was carrying out some manure,
+called out, 'No, no, Ma'am.  Sure enough he did go to Elbury to Dr.
+Blunt's.  I was on the road myself, and I hears him.  "Goodnight,"
+says I.  "Good-night," says he.  "Where be'est going?" says I.  "To
+doctor's," says he, "arter some stuff for Alfred King."
+
+'Yes,' said Paul, speaking more to Farden than to his master, 'and
+then Mrs. King gave me some supper, and that was what made me so
+late.'
+
+'She ought to be ashamed of herself, then,' said Mrs. Shepherd
+spitefully, 'having a vagabond scamp like that drinking beer at her
+house at that time of night.  How one is deceived in folks!'
+
+'Well, what are you doing here?' cried the farmer, turning on Paul
+angrily; 'd'ye mean to waste any more of the day?'
+
+So Paul was not turned off, and had to go straight to his work.  It
+was well he had had so good a supper, for he had not a moment to
+snatch a bit of breakfast.  It so happened that his work was to go
+with John Farden, who was carrying out the manure in the cart.  Paul
+had to hold the horse, while John forked it out into little heaps in
+the field.  John was a great big powerful man, with a foolish face,
+not a good workman, nor a good character, or he would not have been
+at that farm.  He had either never been taught anything, or had
+forgotten it all; he never went near church; he had married a
+disreputable wife, and had two or three unruly children, who were
+likely to be the plagues of their parents and the parish, but not a
+whit did John heed; he did not seem to have much more sense than to
+work just enough to get food, lodging, beer, and tobacco, to sleep
+all night, and doze all Sunday.  There was not any malice nor
+dishonesty in him; but it was terrible that a man with an immortal
+soul should live so nearly the life of the brute beasts that have no
+understanding, and should never wake to the sense of God or of
+eternity.
+
+He was not a man of many words, and nothing passed for a long time
+but shouts of hoy, and whoa, and the like, to the horse.  Paul went
+heavily on, scarce knowing what he was about; there was a stunned
+jaded feel about him, as if he were hunted and driven about, a mere
+outcast, despised by every one, even by the Kings, whose kindness had
+been his only ray of brightness.  Not that his senses or spirits were
+alive enough even to be conscious of pain or vexation; it was only a
+dull dreary heedlessness what became of him next; and, quick clever
+boy as he had been in the Union, he did not seem to have a bit more
+sense, thought, or feeling, than John Farden.
+
+John Farden was the first to break the silence:  'I wouldn't bide,'
+said he.
+
+Paul looked up, and muttered, 'I have nowhere to go.'
+
+'Farmer uses thee shameful,' repeated John.  'Why don't thee cut?'
+
+Paul saw the smoke of Mrs. King's chimney.  That had always seemed
+like a friend to him, but it came across him that they too thought
+him a runaway from prison, and he felt as if his only bond of
+fellowship was gone.  But there was something else, too; and he made
+answer, 'I'll bide for the Confirmation.'
+
+'Eh?' said John, 'what good'll that do ye?'
+
+'Help me to be a good lad,' said Paul, who knew John Farden would not
+enter into any other explanation.
+
+'Why, what'll they do to ye?'
+
+'The Bishop will put his hand on me and bless me,' said Paul; and as
+he said the words there was hope and refreshment coming back.  He was
+a child of God, if no other owned him.
+
+'Whoy,' said Farden, much as he might have spoken to his horse, 'rum
+sort of a head thou'st got!  Thee'll never go up to Bishop such a
+guy!'
+
+'Can't help it,' said Paul rather sullenly; 'it ain't the clothes
+that God looks at.'
+
+John scanned him all over, with his face looking more foolish than
+ever in the puzzle he felt.
+
+'Well,' he said, 'and what wilt get by it?'
+
+'God's grace to do right, I hope,' said Paul; then he added, out of
+his sad heart, 'It's bad enough here, to be sure.  It would be a bad
+look-out if one hoped for nothing afterwards.'
+
+Somehow John's mind didn't take in the notion of afterwards, and he
+did not go on talking to Paul.  Perhaps there was a dread in his poor
+dull mind of getting frightened out of the deadly stupefied sleep it
+was bound in.
+
+But that bit of talk had done Paul great good, by rousing him to the
+thought of what he had to hope for.  There was the Confirmation nigh
+at hand, and then on beyond there was rest; and the words came into
+his mind, 'There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary
+are at rest.'
+
+Poor, poor boy!  He was very young to have such yearnings towards the
+grave, and well-nigh to wish he lay as near to it as Alfred King, so
+he might have those loving tender hands near him, those kind voices
+round him.  Paul had gone through a great deal in these few months;
+and, used to good shelter and regular meals, he was less inured to
+bodily hardship than many a cottage boy.  His utter neglect of his
+person was telling on him; he was less healthy and strong than he had
+been, and though high spirits, merriment, and the pleasure of freedom
+and independence, had made all light to him in the summer, yet now
+the cold weather, with his insufficient food and scanty clothing, was
+dulling him and deadening him, and hard work and unkind usage seemed
+to be grinding his very senses down.  To be sure, when twelve o'clock
+came, he went up into the loft, ate his bit of dry bread, and said
+his prayers, as he had not been able to do in the morning, and that
+made him feel less forlorn and downcast for a little while; but then
+as he sat, he grew cold, and numb, and sleepy, and seemed to have no
+life in him, but to be moving like a horse in a mill, when Boldre
+called him down, and told him not to be idling there.
+
+The theft in Mrs. Barker's poultry-yard was never traced home to any
+one, but the world did not the less believe Dick Royston and Jesse
+Rolt to have been concerned in it.  Indeed, they had been drinking up
+some of their gains when Harold met them at the shooting-gallery:
+and Mrs. Shepherd would not put it out of her head that Paul
+Blackthorn was in the secret, and that if he did really go for the
+medicine as he said, it was only as an excuse for carrying the
+chickens to some receiver of stolen goods.  She had no notion of any
+person doing anything out of pure love and pity.  Moreover, it is
+much easier to put a suspicion into people's heads than out again;
+and if Paul's whole history and each day's doings had been proved to
+her in a court of justice, she would still have chiefly remembered
+that she had always thought ill of him, and that Ellen King had said
+he was a runaway convict, and so she would have believed him to the
+end.
+
+Ellen had long ago forgotten that she had said anything of the kind;
+and though she still held her nose rather high when Paul was near,
+she would have answered for his honesty as readily as for that of her
+own brothers.  But hers had not been the charity that thinketh no
+evil, and her idle words had been like thistle-down, lightly sent
+forth, but when they had lighted, bearing thorns and prickles.
+
+Those thorns were galling poor Paul.  Nobody could guess what his
+glimpses of that happy, peaceful, loving family were to him.  They
+seemed to him like a softer, better kind of world, and he looked at
+their fair faces and fresh, well-ordered garments with a sort of
+reverence; a kind look or greeting from Mrs. King, a mere civil
+answer from Ellen, those two sights of the white spirit-looking
+Alfred, were like the rays of light that shone into his dark hay-
+loft.  Sometimes he heard them singing their hymns and psalms on a
+Sunday evening, and then the tears would come into his eyes as he
+leant over the gate to listen.  And, as if it was because Ellen kept
+at the greatest distance from him, he set more store by her words and
+looks than those of any one else, was always glad when she served him
+in the shop, and used to watch her on Sunday, looking as fresh as a
+flower in her neat plain dress.
+
+And now to hear that she not only thought meanly of him, which he
+knew well enough, but thought him a thief, a runaway, and an impostor
+coming about with false tales, was like a weight upon his sunken
+spirits, and seemed to take away all the little heart hard usage had
+left him, made him feel as if suspicious eyes were on him whenever he
+went for his bit of bread, and took away all his peace in looking at
+the cottage.
+
+He did once take courage to say to Harold, 'Did your sister really
+say I had run away from gaol?'
+
+'Oh, nobody minds what our Ellen says,' was the answer.
+
+'But did she say so?'
+
+'I don't know, I dare say she did.  She's so fine, that she thinks no
+one that comes up-stairs in dirty shoes worth speaking to.  I'm sure
+she's the plague of my life--always at me.'
+
+That was not much comfort for Paul.  He had other friends, to be
+sure.  All the boys in the place liked him, and were very angry with
+the way the farmer treated him, and greatly to their credit, they
+admired his superior learning instead of being jealous of it.  Mrs.
+Hayward, the sexton's wife, the same who had bound up his hand when
+he cut it at harvest, even asked him to come in and help her boys in
+the evenings with what they had to prepare for Mr. Cope.  He was not
+sorry to do so sometimes.  The cottage was a slatternly sort of
+place, where he did not feel ashamed of himself, and the Haywards
+were mild good sort of folks, from whom he was sure never to hear
+either a bad or an unkind word; though he did not care for them, nor
+feel refreshed and helped by being with them as he did with the
+Kings.
+
+John Farden, too, was good-natured to him, and once or twice hindered
+Boldre from striking or abusing him; he offered him a pipe once, but
+Paul could not smoke, and another time brought him out a pint of beer
+into the field.  Mrs. Shepherd spied him drinking it from her upper
+window, and believed all the more that he got money somehow, and
+spent it in drink.
+
+So the time wore on till the Confirmation, all seeming like one dull
+heavy dream of bondage; and as the weather became colder, the poor
+boy seemed to have no power of thinking of anything, but of so
+getting through his work as to avoid violence, to keep himself from
+perishing with cold, and not to hurt his chilblains more than he
+could help.
+
+All his quick intellect and good instruction seemed to have perished
+away, and the last time he went to Mr. Cope's, he sat as if he were
+stupid or asleep, and when a question came to him, sat with his mouth
+open like silly Bill Pridden.
+
+Mr. Cope knew him too well not to feel, as he wrote the ticket, that
+there were very few of whom he could so entirely from his heart say
+'Examined and APPROVED,' as the poor lonely outcast foundling, Paul
+Blackthorn, who could not even tell whether he were fifteen, sixteen,
+or seventeen, but could just make sure that he had once been caned by
+old Mr. Haynes, who went away from the Union twelve years ago.
+
+'Do you think you can keep the ticket safe if I give it you now,
+Paul?' asked Mr. Cope, recollecting that the cows might sup upon it
+like his Prayer-book.
+
+Paul put his hands down to the bottom of his pockets.  They were all
+one hole, and that sad lost foolish look came over his wan face
+again, and startled Mr. Cope.
+
+The boys grinned, but Charles Hayward stepped forward.  'Please, Sir,
+let me take care of it for him.'
+
+Mr. Cope and Paul both agreed, and Mr. Cope kept Charles for a moment
+to say, as he gave him a shilling, 'Look here, Charles, do you think
+you can manage to get that poor fellow a tolerable breakfast on
+Saturday before he goes?  And if you could make him look a little
+more decent?'
+
+Charles pulled his forelock and looked knowing.  In fact, there was a
+little plot among these good-natured boys, and Harold King was in it
+too, though he was not of the Confirmation party, and said and
+thought he was very glad of it.  He did not want to bind himself to
+be so very good.  Silly boy; as if Baptism had not bound him already!
+
+Mrs. Hayward put her head out as Paul passed her cottage, and called
+out, 'I say, you Paul, you come in to-morrow evening with our Charlie
+and Jim, and I'll wash you when I washes them.'
+
+Good Mrs. Hayward made a mistake that the more delicate-minded Mrs.
+King would never have made.  Perhaps if a pail of warm water and some
+soap had been set before Paul, he might actually have washed himself;
+but he was much too big and too shamefaced a lad to fancy sharing a
+family scrubbing by a woman, whatever she might do to her own sons.
+But considering the size of the Hayward cottage, and the way in which
+the family lived, this sort of notion was not likely to come into the
+head of the good-natured mother.
+
+So she and her boys were much vexed when Paul did not make his
+appearance, and she made a face of great disgust when Charles said,
+'Never mind, Mother, my white frock will hide no end of dirt.'
+
+'I shall have to wash it over again before you can wear it, I know,'
+said Mrs. Hayward.  'Not as I grudges the trouble; he's a poor lost
+orphant, that it's a shame to see so treated.'
+
+Mrs. Hayward did not know that she was bestowing the cup of cold
+water, as well as being literally ready to wash the feet of the poor
+disciple.
+
+A clean body is a type and token of a pure mind; and though the lads
+of Friarswood did not quite perceive this, there was a feeling about
+them of there being something unnatural and improper, and a disgrace
+to Friarswood, in any one going up to the Bishop in such a condition
+as Paul.  Especially, as Charles Hayward said, when he was the pick
+of the whole lot.  Perhaps Charles was right, for surely Paul was
+single-hearted in his hope of walking straight to his one home,
+Heaven, and he had been doing no other than bearing his cross, when
+he so patiently took the being 'buffeted' when he did well, and
+faithfully served his froward master.
+
+But Paul was not to escape the outward cleansing, and from one of the
+very last people from whom it would have been expected.  He had just
+pulled his bed of hay down over him, and was trying to curl himself
+up so as to stop his teeth from chattering, with Caesar on his feet,
+when the dog growled, and a great voice lowered to a gruff whisper,
+said, 'Come along, young un!'
+
+'I'm coming,' cried Paul.
+
+Though it was not Boldre's voice, it had startled him terribly; he
+was so much used to ill-treatment, that he expected a savage blow
+every moment.
+
+But the great hand that closed on him, though rough, was not unkind.
+
+'Poor lad, how he quakes!' said John Farden's voice.  'Don't ye be
+afeard, it's only me.'
+
+'Nobody got at the horses?' cried Paul.
+
+'No, no; only I ain't going to have you going up to yon big parson
+all one muck-heap!  Come on, and make no noise about it.'
+
+Paul did not very well know what was going to befall him, but he did
+not feel unsafe with John Farden, and besides, his lank frame was in
+the grasp of that big hand like a mouse in the power of a mastiff.
+So he let himself be hauled down the ladder, into an empty stall,
+where, behold, there was a dark lantern (which had been at bad work
+in its time), a pail, a brush, a bit of soap, and a ragged towel.
+
+John laid hold of him much as Alfred in his page days used to do of
+Lady Jane's little dog when it had to be washed, but Puck had the
+advantage in keeping on his shaggy coat all the time, and in being
+more gently handled, whereas Farden scrubbed with such hearty good-
+will, that Paul thought his very skin would come off.  But he had
+undergone the like in the workhouse, and he knew how to accommodate
+himself to it; and when his rough bath was over, though he was very
+sore, and stiff, and chilly, he really felt relieved, and more
+respectable than he had done for many months, only rather sorry he
+must put on his filthy old rags again; and he gave honest John more
+thanks than might have been expected.
+
+The Confirmation was to be at eleven o'clock, at Elbury, and John had
+undertaken his morning's work, so that Mr. Shepherd grudgingly
+consented to spare him, knowing that all the other farmers of course
+did the same, and that there would be a cry of shame if he did not.
+
+Paul had just found his way down the ladder in the morning, with
+thoughts going through his mind that to him this would be the coming
+of the Comforter, and he was sure he wanted comfort; and that for
+some hours of this day at least, he should be at peace from rude
+words and blows, when he heard a great confusion of merry voices and
+suppressed laughing, and saw the heads of some of the lads bobbing
+about near Mrs. King's garden.
+
+Was it time already to set off, he wondered, looking up to the sun;
+but then those boys seemed to be in an uproarious state such as did
+not suit his present mood, nor did he think Mr. Cope would consider
+it befitting.  He would have let them go by, feeling himself such a
+scare-crow as they might think a blot upon them; but he remembered
+that Charles Hayward had his ticket, and as he looked at himself, he
+doubted whether he should be let into a strange church.
+
+'Paul!  Paul Blackthorn!' called Harold, with a voice all aglee.
+
+'Well!' said Paul, 'what do you want of me?'
+
+'Come on, and you'll see.'
+
+'I don't want a row.  Is Charlie Hayward there?  Just ask him for my
+card, and don't make a work.'
+
+'He'll give it you if you'll come for it,' said Harold; and seeing
+there was no other chance, Paul slowly came.  Harold led him to the
+stable, where just within the door stood a knot of stout hearty boys,
+snorting with fun, hiding their heads on each other's shoulders, and
+bending their buskined knees with merriment.
+
+'Now then!' cried Charles Hayward, and he had got hold of the only
+button that held Paul's coat together.
+
+Paul was bursting out with something, but George Grant's arms were
+round his waist, and his hands were fumbling at his fastenings.  They
+were each one much stronger than he was now, and they drowned his
+voice with shouts of laughter, while as fast as one garment was
+pulled off, another was put on.
+
+'Mind, you needn't make such a work, it bain't presents,' said George
+Grant, 'only we won't have them asking up at Elbury if we've saved
+the guy to bring in.'
+
+'It is a present, though, old Betty Bushel's shirt,' said Charles
+Hayward.  'She said she'd throw it at his head if he brought it back
+again; but the frock's mine.'
+
+'And the corduroys is mine,' said George Grant.  'My! they be a sight
+too big in the band!  Run in, Harold, and see if your mother can lend
+us a pin.'
+
+'And the waistcoat is my summer one,' said Fred Bunting.  'He's too
+big too; why, Paul, you're no better than a natomy!'
+
+'Never mind, my white frock will hide it all,' said Charles, 'and
+here's Ned's cap for you.  Oh! and it's poor Alfred's boots.'
+
+Paul could not make up his mind to walk all the way in the boots, but
+to satisfy the boys he engaged to put them on as soon as they were
+getting to Elbury.
+
+'My! he looks quite respectable,' cried Charles, running back a
+little way to look at him.
+
+'I wonder if Mr. Cope will know him?' exclaimed Harold, jumping leap-
+frog fashion on George Grant's back.
+
+'The maids will take him for some strange gentleman,' exclaimed Jem
+Hayward; 'and why, bless me, he's washed, I do declare!' as a streak
+of light from the door fell on Paul's visage.
+
+'No, you don't mean it,' broke out Charles.  'Let's look! yes, I
+protest, why, the old grime between his eyes is gone after all.  How
+did you manage that, Paul?'
+
+Paul rather uneasily mumbled something about John Farden, and the
+boys clapped their hands, and shouted, so that Alfred, who well knew
+what was going on, raised himself on his pillow and laughed.  It was
+rather blunt treatment for feelings if they were tender, but these
+were rough warm-hearted village boys, and it was all their good-
+nature.
+
+'And where's the grub?' asked Charles importantly, looking about.
+
+'Oh, not far off,' said Harold; and in another moment, he and Charles
+had brought in a black coffee-pot, a large mug, some brown sugar, a
+hunch of bread, some butter, and a great big smoking sausage.
+
+Paul looked at it, as if he were not quite sure what to do with it.
+One boy proceeded to turn in an inordinate quantity of sugar, another
+to pour in the brown coffee that sent out a refreshing steam enough
+to make any one hungry.  George Grant spread the butter, cut the
+sausage in half, put it on the bread, and thrust it towards Paul.
+
+'Eat it--s--s,' said Charles, patting Paul on the back.  'Mr. Cope
+said you was to, and you must obey your minister.'
+
+'Not all for me?' said Paul, not able to help a pull at the coffee,
+the mug warming his fingers the while.
+
+'Oh yes, we've all had our breakfastisses,' said George Grant; 'we
+are only come to make you eat yours like a good boy, as Mr. Cope said
+you should.'
+
+They stood round, looking rather as they would have done had Paul
+been an elephant taking his meal in a show; but not one would hear of
+helping him off with a crumb out of Mr. Cope's shilling.  George
+Grant was a big hungry lad, and his breakfast among nine at home had
+not been much to speak of; but savoury as was the sausage, and
+perfumy as was the coffee, he would have scorned to take a fragment
+from that stranger, beg him to do so as Paul might; and what could
+not be eaten at that time, with a good pint of the coffee, was put
+aside in a safe nook in the stable to be warmed up for supper.
+
+That morning's work was not a bad preparation for Confirmation after
+all.
+
+Harold had stayed so long, that he had to jump on the pony and ride
+his fastest to be in time at the post.  He was very little ashamed of
+not being among those lads, and felt as if he had the more time to
+enjoy himself; but there were those who felt very sad for him--
+Alfred, who would have given so much to receive the blessing; and
+Ellen, whose confirmation was very lonely and melancholy without
+either of her brothers; besides his mother, to whom his sad
+carelessness was such constant grief and heart-ache.
+
+Ellen was called for by the carriage from the Grange, and sat up
+behind with the kitchen-maid, who was likewise to be confirmed.
+Little Miss Jane sat inside in her white dress and veil, looking like
+a snowdrop, Alfred thought, as his mother lifted him up to the window
+to see her, as the carriage stood still while Ellen climbed to her
+seat.
+
+In the course of the morning, Mrs. King made time to read over the
+Confirmation Service with Alfred, to think of the blessing she was
+receiving, and to pray that it might rest upon her through life.  And
+they entreated, too, that Harold might learn to care for it, and be
+brought to a better mind.
+
+'O Mother,' said Alfred, after lying thinking for sometime, 'if I
+thought Harold would take up for good and be a better boy to you than
+I have been, I should not mind anything so much.'
+
+And there was Harold all the time wondering whether he should be able
+to get out in the evening to have a lark with Dick and Jesse.
+
+Ellen was set down by-and-by.  Her colour was very deep, but she
+looked gentle and happy, and the first thing she did was to bend over
+Alfred, kiss him, and say how she wished he had been there.
+
+Then, when she had been into her own room, she came back and told
+them about the beautiful large Elbury Church, and the great numbers
+of young girls and boys on the two sides of the aisle, and of the
+Bishop seated in the chair by the altar, and the chanted service,
+with the organ sounding so beautiful.
+
+And then how her heart had beat, and she hardly dared to speak her
+vow, and how she trembled when her turn came to go up to the rail,
+but she said it was so comfortable to see Mr. Cope in his surplice,
+looking so young among the other clergymen, and coming a little
+forward, as if to count out and encourage his own flock.  She was
+less frightened when she had met his kind eye, and was able to kneel
+down with a more quiet mind to receive the gift which had come down
+on the Day of Pentecost.
+
+Alfred wanted to know whether she had seen Paul, but Ellen had been
+kneeling down and not thinking of other people, when the Friarswood
+boys went up.  Only she had passed him on the way home, and seen that
+though he was lagging the last of the boys, he did not look dull and
+worn, as he had been doing lately.
+
+Ellen had been asked to go to the Grange after church to-morrow
+evening, and drink tea there, in celebration of the Confirmation
+which the two young foster-sisters had shared.
+
+Harold went to fetch her home at night, and they both came into the
+house fresh and glowing with the brisk frosty air, and also with what
+they had to tell.
+
+'O mother, what do you think?  Paul Blackthorn is to go to the Grange
+to-morrow.  My Lady wants to see him, and perhaps she will make Mr.
+Pound find some work for him about the farm.'
+
+Harold jumped up and snapped his fingers towards the farm.  'There's
+for old Skinflint!' said he; 'not a chap in the place but will halloo
+for joy!'
+
+'Well, I am glad!' said Mrs. King; 'I didn't think that poor lad
+would have held out much longer, winter weather and all.  But how did
+my Lady come to hear of it?'
+
+'Oh, it seems she noticed him going to church in all his rags, and
+Mr. Cope told her who he was; so Miss Jane came and asked me all
+about him, and I told her what a fine scholar he is, and how
+shamefully the farmer and Boldre treat him, and how good he was to
+Alfred about the ointment, and how steady he is.  And I told her
+about the boys dressing him up yesterday, and how he wouldn't take a
+gift.  She listened just as if it was a story, and she ran away to
+her grandmamma, and presently came back to say that the boy was to
+come up to-morrow after his work, for Lady Jane to speak to him.'
+
+'Well, at least, he has been washed once,' said Mrs. King; 'but he's
+so queer; I hope he will have no fancies, and will behave himself.'
+
+'I'll tackle him,' declared Harold decidedly.  'I've a great mind to
+go out this moment and tell him.'
+
+Mrs. King prevented this; she persuaded Harold that Mrs. Shepherd
+would fly out at them if she heard any noise in the yard, and that it
+would be better for every one to let Paul alone till the morning.
+
+Morning came, and as soon as Harold was dressed, he rushed to the
+farm-yard, but he could not find Paul anywhere, and concluded that he
+had been sent out with the cows, and would be back by breakfast-time.
+
+As soon as he had brought home the post-bag, he dashed across the
+road again, but came back in a few moments, looking beside himself.
+
+'He's gone!' he said, and threw himself back in a chair.
+
+'Gone!' cried Mrs. King and Ellen with one voice, quite aghast.
+
+'Gone!' repeated Harold.  'The farmer hunted him off this morning!
+Missus will have it that he's been stealing her eggs, and that there
+was a lantern in the stable on Friday night; so they told him to be
+off with him, and he's gone!'
+
+'Poor, poor boy! just when my Lady would have been the making of
+him!' cried Ellen.
+
+'But where--which way is he gone?' asked Mrs. King.
+
+'I might ride after him, and overtake him,' cried Harold, starting
+up, 'but I never thought to ask!  And Mrs. Shepherd was ready to
+pitch into me, so I got away as soon as I could.  Do you run over and
+ask, Ellen; you always were a favourite.'
+
+They were in such an eager state, that Ellen at once sprang up, and
+hastily throwing on her bonnet, ran across the road, and tapped at
+Mrs. Shepherd's open door, exclaiming breathlessly, 'O Ma'am, I beg
+your pardon, but will you tell me where Paul Blackthorn is gone?'
+
+'Paul Blackthorn! how should I know?' said Mrs. Shepherd crossly.
+'I'm not to be looking after thieves and vagabonds.  He's a come-by-
+chance, and he's a go-by-chance, and a good riddance too!'
+
+'Oh but, Ma'am, my Lady wanted to speak to him.'
+
+This only made Mrs. Shepherd the more set against the poor boy.
+
+'Ay, ay, I know--coming over the gentry; and a good thing he's gone!'
+said she.  'The place isn't to be harbouring thieves and vagrants, or
+who's to pay the rates?  My eggs are gone, I tell you, and who should
+take 'em but that lad, I'd like to know?'
+
+'Them was two rotten nest-eggs as I throwed away when I was cleaning
+the stable.'
+
+'Who told you to put in your word, John Farden?' screamed Mrs.
+Shepherd, turning on him.  'Ye'd best mind what ye're about, or ye'll
+be after him soon.'
+
+'No loss neither,' muttered John, stopping to pick up his shovel.
+
+'And you didn't see which way he was gone?' asked Ellen, looking from
+the labourer to the farmer's wife.
+
+'Farmer sent un off or ever I come,' replied John, 'or I'd ha' gied
+un a breakfast.'
+
+'I'm sure I can't tell,' said Mrs. Shepherd, with a toss of her head.
+'And as to you, Ellen King, I'm surprised at you, running after a
+scamp like that, that you told me yourself was out of a prison.'
+
+'Oh but, Mrs. Shepherd--'
+
+'You ought to be ashamed of yourself,' interrupted Mrs. Shepherd;
+'and I wonder your mother allows it.  But there's nothing like girls
+now-a-days.'
+
+Ellen thought John Farden grinned; and feeling as if nothing so
+shocking could ever happen to her again, she flew back, she hardly
+knew how, to her home, clapped the door after, and dropping into a
+chair as Harold had done, burst into such a fit of crying, that she
+could not speak, and only shook her head in answer to Harold's
+questions as to how Paul was gone.
+
+'Oh, no one knew!' she choked out among her sobs; 'and Mrs. Shepherd-
+-such things!'
+
+Harold stamped his foot, and Mrs. King tried to soothe her.  In the
+midst, she recollected that she could not bear her brothers to guess
+at the worst part of the 'such things;' and recovering herself a
+moment, she said, 'No, no, they've driven him off!  He's gone, and--
+and, oh!  Mother, Mrs. Shepherd will have it he's a thief, and--and
+she says I said so.'
+
+That was bad enough, and Ellen wept bitterly again; while her mother
+and Harold both cried out with surprise.
+
+'Yes--but--I did say I dare said he was out of a reformatory--and
+that she should remember it!  Now I've taken away his character, and
+he's a poor lost boy!'
+
+Oh, idle words! idle words!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX--ROBBING THE MAIL
+
+
+
+There was no helping it!  People must have their letters whether Paul
+Blackthorn were lost or not, and Harold was a servant of the public,
+and must do his duty, so after some exhortations from his mother, he
+ruefully rose up, hoping that he should not have to go to
+Ragglesford.
+
+'Yes, you will,' said his mother, 'and maybe to wait.  Here's a
+registered letter, and I think there are two more with money in
+them.'
+
+'To think,' sighed Harold, as he mounted his pony, 'of them little
+chaps getting more money for nothing, than Paul did in a month by
+working the skin off his bones!'
+
+'Don't be discontented, Harold, on that score.  Them little chaps
+will work hard enough by-and-by:  and the money they have now is to
+train them in making a fit use of it then.'
+
+Harold looked anxiously up and down the road for Paul, and asked Mr.
+Cope's housekeeper whether he had been there to take leave.  No; and
+indeed Harold would have been a little vexed if he had wished good-
+bye anywhere if not at home.
+
+There was a fine white frost, and the rime hung thickly on every
+spray of the heavy branches of the dark firs and larches that
+overhung the long solitary lane between the Grange and Ragglesford,
+and fringed the park palings with crystals.  Harold thought how cold
+poor Paul must be going on his way in his ragged clothes.  The ice
+crackled under the pony's feet as she trotted down Ragglesford Lane,
+and the water of the ford looked so cold, that Peggy, a very wise
+animal, turned her head towards the foot-bridge, a narrow and not
+very sound affair, over which Harold had sometimes taken her when the
+stream was high, and threatened to be over his feet.
+
+Harold made no objection; but no sooner were all the pony's four
+hoofs well upon the bridge, than at the other end appeared Dick
+Royston.
+
+'Hollo, Har'ld!' was his greeting, 'I've got somewhat to say to ye.'
+
+'D'ye know where Paul Blackthorn is?' asked Harold.
+
+'Not I--I'm a traveller myself, you must know.'
+
+'You, going to cut?' cried Harold.
+
+'Ay,' said Dick, laying hold of the pony's rein.  'The police have
+been down at Rolt's--stupid fellow left old gander's feet about--Mrs.
+Barker swore to 'em 'cause he'd had so many kicks and bites on
+common--Jesse's took up and peached--I've been hiding about all
+night--precious cold it was, and just waiting, you see, to wish you
+goodbye.'
+
+Harold, very much shocked, could have dispensed with his farewells,
+nor did he like the look of his eyes.
+
+'Thank you, Dick; I'm sorry--I didn't think--but I'm after time--I
+wish you'd let go of Peggy.'
+
+'So that's all you have to say to an old comrade!' said Dick; 'but, I
+say, Har'ld, I'm not going so.  I must have some tin to take me to
+Portsmouth.  I want to know what you've got in that there bag!'
+
+'You won't have that; it's the post.  Let go, Dick;' and he pushed
+the pony forward, but Dick had got her fast by the head.  Harold
+looked round for help, but Ragglesford Lane was one of the loneliest
+places in the country.  There was not a house for half a mile, and
+Lady Jane's plantations shut in the road on either side.
+
+'I mean to have it,' said Dick, looking coolly up into his face; 'I
+mean to see if there's any of the letters with a half-sovereign in
+'em, that you tell us about.'
+
+'Dick, Dick, it would be robbing!  For shame, Dick!  What would
+become of Mother and me?'
+
+'That's your look-out,' said Dick; and he stretched out his hand for
+the bag.  He was four years older than Harold, and much stouter.
+
+Harold, with a ready move, chucked the bag round to his back, and
+shouted lustily in hopes that there might be a keeper in the woods,
+'Help!  Thieves!  He's robbing the post!'
+
+Dick's hoarse laugh was all the answer.  'That'll do, my dear,' he
+said; 'now you'd best be quiet; I'd be loath to hurt you.'
+
+For all answer, Harold, shouting all the time, dealt him a stroke
+right over the eyes and nose with his riding-switch, and made a great
+effort to force the pony on in hopes the blow might have made him
+slacken his hold.  But though one moment Dick's arm was thrown over
+his watering eyes, the other hand held the bridle as firmly as ever,
+and the next instant his fist dealt Harold such a blow, as nearly
+knocked out all his breath.  Setting his teeth, and swearing an oath,
+Dick was pouncing on the boy's arm, when from the road before them
+came bursting a meagre thing darting like a wild cat, which fell upon
+him, hallooing as loud as Harold.
+
+Dick turned in fury, and let go the bridle.  The pony backed in
+alarm.  The new-comer was grappling with the thief, and trying to
+drag him aside.  'On, on; go on, Har'ld!' he shouted, but his
+strength was far from equal to Dick's, who threw him aside on the
+hand-rail.  Old rotten rail that it was, it crashed under the weight,
+and fell with both the boys into the water.  Peggy dashed forward to
+the other side, where Harold pulled her up with much difficulty, and
+turned round to look at the robber and the champion.  The fall was
+not far, nor the water deep, and they had both risen, and were ready
+to seize one another again in their rage.  And now Harold saw that he
+who had come to his help was no other than Paul Blackthorn, who
+shouted loudly, 'On, go on!  I'll keep him.'
+
+'He'll kill you!' screamed Harold, in despair, ready to push in
+between them with his horse; but at that moment cart-wheels were
+heard in the road, and Dick, shaking his fist, and swearing at them
+both, shook off Paul as if he had been a feather, and splashing out
+of the ford on the other side, leapt over the hedge, and was off
+through the plantations.
+
+Paul more slowly crept up towards Harold, dripping from head to foot.
+
+'Paul!  Paul!  I'm glad I've found you!' cried Harold.  'You've saved
+the letters, man, and one was registered!  Come along with me, up to
+the school.'
+
+'Nay, I'll not do that,' said Paul.
+
+'Then you'll stay till I come back,' said Harold earnestly; 'I've got
+so much to tell you!  My Lady sent for you.  Our Ellen told her all
+about you, and you're to go to her.  Ellen was in such a way when she
+found you were off.'
+
+'Then she didn't think I'd taken the eggs?' said Paul.
+
+'She'd as soon think that I had,' said Harold.  'Why, don't we all
+know that you're one of the parson's own sort?  But what made you go
+off without a word to nobody?'
+
+'I don't know.  Every one was against me,' said Paul; 'and I thought
+I'd just go out of the way, and you'd forget all about me.  But I
+never touched those eggs, and you may tell Mr. Cope so, and thank him
+for all his kindness to me.'
+
+'You'll tell him yourself.  You're going home along with me,' cried
+Harold.  'There!  I'll not stir a step till you've promised!  Why, if
+you make off now, 'twill be the way to make them think you have
+something to run away for, like that rascal.'
+
+'Very well,' said Paul, rather dreamily.
+
+'Then you won't?' said Harold.  'Upon your word and honour?'
+
+Paul said the words after him, not much as if he knew what he was
+about; and Harold, rather alarmed at the sound of the Grange clock
+striking, gave a cut to the pony, and bounded on, only looking back
+to see that Paul was seating himself by the side of the lane.  Harold
+said to himself that his mother would not have liked to see him do so
+after such a ducking, but he knew that he was more tenderly treated
+than other lads, and with reason for precaution too; and he promised
+himself soon to be bringing Paul home to be dried and warmed.
+
+But he was less speedy than he intended.  When he arrived at the
+school, he had first to account to the servants for his being so
+late, and then he was obliged to wait while the owner of the
+registered letter was to sign the green paper, acknowledging its safe
+delivery.
+
+Instead of having the receipt brought back to him, there came a
+message that he was to go up to tell the master and the young
+gentlemen all about the robbery.
+
+So the servant led the way, and Harold followed a little shy, but
+more curious.  The boys were in school, a great bare white-washed
+room, looking very cold, with a large arched window at one end, and
+forms ranged in squares round the hacked and hewed deal tables.
+Harold thought he should tell Alfred that the young gentlemen had not
+much the advantage of themselves in their schoolroom.
+
+The boys were mostly smaller than he was, only those of the uppermost
+form being of the same size.  There might be about forty of them,
+looking rather red and purple with the chilly morning, and all their
+eighty eyes, black or brown, blue or grey, fixed at once upon the
+young postman as he walked into the room, straight and upright, in
+his high stout gaiters over his cord trousers, his thick rough blue
+coat and red comforter, with his cap in his hand, his fair hair
+uncovered, and his blue eyes and rosy cheeks all the more bright for
+that strange morning's work.  He was a well-mannered boy, and made
+his bow very properly to Mr. Carter, the master, who sat at his high
+desk.
+
+'So, my little man,' said the master, 'I hear you've had a fight for
+our property this morning.  You've saved this young gentleman's
+birthday present of a watch, and he wants to thank you.'
+
+'Thank you, Sir,' said Harold; 'but he'd have been too much for me if
+Paul hadn't come to help.  He's a deal bigger than me.'
+
+The boys all made a thumping and scuffling with their feet, as if to
+applaud Harold; and their master said, 'Tell us how it was.'
+
+Harold gave the account in a very good simple manner, only he did not
+say who the robber was--he did not like to do so--indeed, he would
+not quite believe it could be his old friend Dick.  The boys clapped
+and thumped doubly when he came to the switching, and still more at
+the tumble into the water.
+
+'Do you know who the fellow was?' asked Mr. Carter.
+
+'Yes, I knowed him,' said Harold, and stopped there.
+
+'But you had rather not tell.  Is that it?'
+
+'Please, Sir, he's gone, and I wouldn't get him into trouble.'
+
+At this the school-boys perfectly stamped, and made signs of
+cheering.
+
+'And who is the boy that came to help you?'
+
+'Paul Blackthorn, Sir; he's a boy from the Union who worked at Farmer
+Shepherd's.  He's a right good boy, Sir; but he's got no friends, nor
+no--nothing,' said Harold, pausing ere he finished.
+
+'Why didn't you bring him up with you?' asked the master.
+
+'Please, Sir, he wouldn't come.'
+
+'Well,' said Mr. Carter, 'you've behaved like a brave fellow, and so
+has your friend; and here's something in token of gratitude for the
+rescue of our property.'
+
+It was a crown piece.
+
+'And here,' said the boy whose watch had been saved, 'here's half-a-
+crown.  Shake hands, you're a jolly fellow; and I'll tell my uncle
+about you.'
+
+Harold was a true Englishman, and of course his only answer could be,
+'Thank you, Sir, I only did my duty;' and as the other boys, whose
+money had been rescued, brought forward more silver pledges of
+gratitude, he added, 'I'll take it to Paul--thank you, Sir--thank
+you, Sir.'
+
+'That's right; you must share, my lad,' said the school-master.  'It
+is a reward for both of you.'
+
+'Thank you, Sir, it was MY duty,' repeated Harold, making his bow.
+
+'Sir, Sir, pray let us give him three cheers,' burst out the head boy
+in an imploring voice.
+
+Mr. Carter smiled and nodded; and there was such a hearty roaring and
+stamping, such 'hip, hip, hurrah!' bursting out again and again, that
+the windows clattered, and the room seemed fuller of noise than it
+could possibly hold.  It is not quite certain that Mr. Carter did not
+halloo as loud as any of the boys.
+
+Harold turned very red, and did not know which way to look while it
+was going on, nor what to do when it was over, except to say a very
+odd sort of 'Thank you, Sir;' but his heart leapt up with a kind of
+warm grateful feeling of liking towards those boys for going along
+with him so heartily; and the cheers gave a pleasure and glow that
+the coins never would have done, even had he thought them his own by
+right.
+
+He was not particularly good in this; he had never felt the pinch of
+want, and was too young to care; and he did not happen to wish to buy
+anything in particular just then.  A selfish or a covetous boy would
+not have felt as he did; but these were not his temptations.
+Knowing, as he did, that the assault had been the consequence of his
+foolish boasts about the money-letters, and that he, being in charge,
+ought to defend them to the last gasp, he was sure he deserved the
+very contrary from a reward, and never thought of the money belonging
+to any one but Paul, who had by his own free will come to the rescue,
+and saved the bag from robbery, himself from injury and disgrace.
+
+How happy he was in thinking what a windfall it was for his friend,
+and how far it would go in fitting him up respectably!
+
+Peggy was ready to trot nearly as fast as he wished her down the lane
+to the place where he had left Paul; and no sooner did Harold come in
+sight of the olive-coloured rags, than he bawled out a loud 'Hurrah!
+Come on, Paul; you don't know what I've got for you!  'Twas a young
+gentleman's watch as you saved; and they've come down right handsome!
+and here's twelve-and-sixpence for you--enough to rig you out like a
+regular swell!  Why, what's the matter?' he added in quite another
+voice, as he had now come up to Paul, and found him sitting nearly
+doubled up, with his head bent over his knees.
+
+He raised his face up as Harold came, and it was so ghastly pale,
+that the boy, quite startled, jumped off his pony.
+
+'Why, old chap, what is it?  Have you got knit up with cold, sitting
+here?'
+
+'Yes, I suppose so,' said Paul; but his very voice shivered, his
+teeth chattered, and his knees knocked together with the chill.  'The
+pains run about me,' he added; but he spoke as if he hardly knew what
+he was doing or saying.
+
+'You must come home with me, and Mother will give you something hot,'
+said Harold.  'Come, you'll catch your death if you don't.  You shall
+ride home.'
+
+He pulled Paul from his seat with some difficulty, and was further
+alarmed when he found that the poor fellow reeled and could hardly
+stand; but he was somewhat roused, and knew better what he was about.
+Harold tried to put him on the pony, but this could not be managed:
+he could not help himself enough, Peggy always swerved aside, nor was
+Harold strong enough to lift him up.
+
+The only thing to be done was for Harold to mount, and Paul to lean
+against the saddle, while the pony walked.  When they had to separate
+at the ford, poor Paul's walk across the bridge was so feeble and
+staggering, that Harold feared every moment that he would fall where
+the rail was broken away, but was right glad to put his arm on his
+shoulder again to help to hold him up.  The moving brought a little
+more life back to the poor boy's limbs, and he walked a little
+better, and managed to tell Harold how he had felt too miserable to
+speak to any one after the rating the farmer had given him, and how
+he had set out on the tramp for more work, though with hope so nearly
+dead in his heart, that he only wished he could sit down and die.  He
+had walked out of the village before people were about, so as not to
+be noticed, and then had found himself so weak and weary that he
+could not get on without food, and had sat down by the hedge to eat
+the bit of bread he had with him.  Then he had taken the first
+lonely-looking way he saw, without knowing that it was one of
+Harold's daily rides, and was slowly dragging himself up the hill
+from the ford when the well-known voice, shouting for help, had
+suddenly called him back, and filled him with spirit and speed that
+were far enough off now, poor fellow!
+
+That was a terrible mile and a half--Harold sometimes thought it
+would never be over, or that Paul would drop down, and he would have
+to gallop off for help; but Paul was not one to give in, and somehow
+they got back at last, and Harold, with his arm round his friend,
+dragged him through the garden, and across the shop, and pushed him
+into the arm-chair by the fire, Mrs. King following, and Ellen
+rushing down from up-stairs.
+
+'There!' cried Harold, all in a breath, 'there he is!  That rascal
+tried to rob me on Ragglesford Bridge, and was nigh too much for me;
+but HE there came and pulled him off me, and got spilt into the
+river, and he's got a chill, and if you don't give him something
+jolly hot, Mother, he'll catch his death!'
+
+Mrs. King thought so too:  Paul's state looked to her more alarming
+than it did even to Harold.  He did not seem able to think or speak,
+but kept rocking himself towards the fire, and that terrible
+shivering shaking him all over.
+
+'Poor lad!' she said kindly.  'I'll tell you what, Harold, all you
+can do is put him into your bed at once.--Here, Ellen, you run up
+first, and bring me a shirt to warm for him.  Then we'll get his own
+clothes dried.'
+
+'No, no,' cried Harold, with a caper, 'we'll make a scare-crow of
+'em.  You don't know what I know, Mother.  I've got twelve shillings
+and sixpence here all his own; and you'll see what I won't do with it
+at old Levi's, the second-hand clothes man, to-night.'
+
+Harold grew less noisy as he saw how little good the fire was doing
+to his patient, and how ill his mother seemed to think him.  He
+quietly obeyed her, by getting him up-stairs, and putting him into
+his own bed, the first in which Paul had lain down for more than four
+months.  Then Mrs. King sent Harold out for some gin; she thought hot
+spirits and water the only chance of bringing back any life after
+such a dreadful chill; and she and Ellen kept on warming flannels and
+shawls to restore some heat, and to stop the trembling that shook the
+bed, so that Alfred felt it, even in the next room, where he lay with
+the door open, longing to be able to help, and wishing to understand
+what could have happened.
+
+At last, the cordial and the warm applications effected some good.
+Paul was able to say, 'I don't know why you are so good to me,' and
+seemed ready to burst into a great fit of crying; but Mrs. King
+managed to stop him by saying something about one good turn deserving
+another, and that she hoped he was coming round now.
+
+Harold was now at leisure to tell the story in his brother's room.
+Alfred did not grieve now at his brother's being able to do spirited
+things; he laughed out loud, and said, 'Well done, Harold!' at the
+switching, and rubbed his hands, and lighted up with glee, as he
+heard of the Ragglesford boys and their cheers; and then, Harold went
+eagerly on with his scheme for fitting up Paul at the second-hand
+shop, both Mrs. King and Alfred taking great interest in his plans,
+till Mrs. King hearing something like a moan, went back to Paul.
+
+She found his cheeks and hands as burning hot as they had been cold;
+they were like live coals; and what was worse, such severe pains were
+running all over his limbs, that he was squeezing the clothes into
+his mouth that he might not scream aloud.
+
+Happily it was Mr. Blunt's day for calling; and before the morning
+was over he came, and after a few words of explanation, he stood at
+Paul's bedside.
+
+Not much given to tenderness towards the feelings of patients of his
+degree, Mr. Blunt's advice was soon given.  'Yes, he is in for
+rheumatic fever--won't be about again for a long time to come.  I
+say, Mistress, all you've got to do is to send in your boy to the
+Union at Elbury, tell 'em to send out a cart for him, and take him in
+as a casual pauper.  Then they may pass him on to his parish.'
+
+Therewith Mr. Blunt went on to attend to Alfred.
+
+'Then you think this poor lad will be ill a long time, Sir?' said
+Mrs. King, when Mr. Blunt was preparing to depart.
+
+'Of course he will; I never saw a clearer case!  You'd better send
+him off as fast as you can, while he can be moved.  He'll have a
+pretty bout of it, I dare say.
+
+'It is nothing infectious, of course, Sir?' said the mother, a little
+startled by this hastiness.
+
+'Infectious--nonsense! why, you know better than that, Mrs. King; I
+only meant that you'd better get rid of him as quick as you can,
+unless you wish to set up a hospital at once--and a capital nurse
+you'd be!  I would leave word with the relieving officer for you, but
+that I've got to go on to Stoke, and shan't be at home till too
+late.'
+
+Mrs. King's heart ached for the poor forlorn orphan, when she
+remembered what she had heard of the nursing in Elbury Union.  She
+did not know how to turn him from her door the day he had saved her
+son from danger such as she could not think of without shuddering;
+and yet, what could she do?  Her rent and the winter before her, a
+heavy doctor's bill, and the loss of Alfred's work!
+
+Slowly she went up the stairs again to the narrow landing that held
+the bed where Paul Blackthorn lay.  He was quite still, but there
+were large tears coursing one after the other from his eyes, his
+hollow cheeks quite glazed with them.
+
+'Is the pain so very bad?' she said in her soft voice, putting her
+hand over his hot forehead, in the way that Alfred liked.
+
+'I don't--know,' he answered; and his black eyes, after looking up
+once in her face with the piteous earnest glance that some loving
+dogs have, shut themselves as if on purpose to keep in the tears, but
+she saw the dew squeezing out through the eye-lashes.
+
+'My poor boy, I'm sure it's very bad for you,' she said again.
+
+'Please, don't speak so kind,' said Paul; and this time he could not
+prevent a-sob.  'Nobody ever did so before, and--' he paused, and
+went on, 'I suppose they do it up in Heaven, so I hope I shall die.'
+
+'You are vexing about the Union,' said Mrs. King, without answering
+this last speech, or she knew that she should begin to cry herself.
+
+'I DID think I'd done with them,' said Paul, with another sob.  'I
+said I'd never set foot in those four walls again!  I was proud,
+maybe; but please don't stop with me!  If you wouldn't look and speak
+like that, the place wouldn't seem so hard, seeing I'm bred to it, as
+they say;' and he made an odd sort of attempt to laugh, which ended
+in his choking himself with worse tears.
+
+'Harold is not gone yet,' said Mrs. King soothingly; 'we'll wait till
+he comes in from his work, and see how you are, when you've had a
+little sleep.  Don't cry; you aren't going just yet.'
+
+That same earnest questioning glance, but with more hope in it, was
+turned on her again; but she did not dare to bind herself, much as
+she longed to take the wanderer to her home.  She went on to her
+son's room.
+
+'Mother, Mother,' Alfred cried in a whisper, so eager that it made
+him cough, 'you can't never send him to the workhouse?'
+
+'I can't bear the thought, Alfy,' she said, the tears in her eyes;
+'but I don't know what to do.  It's not the trouble.  That I'd take
+with all my heart, but it is hard enough to live, and--'
+
+'I'm sure,' said Ellen, coming close, that her undertone might be
+heard, 'Harold and I would never mind how much we were pinched.'
+
+'And I could go without--some things,' began Alfred.
+
+'And then,' went on the mother, 'you see, if we got straitened, and
+Matilda found it out, she'd want to help, and I can't have her
+savings touched; and yet I can't bear to let that poor lad be sent
+off, so ill as he is, and after all he's done for Harold--such a good
+boy, too, and one that's so thankful for a common kind word.'
+
+'O Mother, keep him!' said Alfred; 'don't you know how the Psalm
+says, "God careth for the stranger, and provideth for the fatherless
+and the widow"?'
+
+Mrs. King almost smiled.  'Yes, Alf, I think it would be trusting
+God's word; but then there's my duty to you.'
+
+'You've not sent Harold off for the cart?' said Alfred.
+
+'No; I thought somehow, we have enough for to-day; and it goes
+against me to send him away at once.  I thought we'd wait to see how
+it is to-morrow; and Harold won't mind having a bed made up in the
+kitchen.'
+
+Tap, tap, on the counter.  Some one had come in while they were
+talking.  It was Mr. Cope, very anxious to hear the truth of the
+strange stories that were going about the place.  Ellen and Alfred
+thought it very tiresome that he was so long in coming up-stairs; but
+the fact was, that their mother was very glad to talk the matter over
+without them.  She knew indeed that Mr. Cope was a very young man,
+and not likely to be so well able as herself, with all her
+experience, to decide what she could afford, or whether she ought to
+follow her feelings at the risk of debt or of privations for her
+delicate children; but she also knew that though he had not
+experience, education had given him a wider and clearer range of
+thought; and that, as her pastor, he ought to be consulted; so though
+she did not exactly mean to make it a matter for his decision
+(unless, indeed, he should have some view which had not occurred to
+her), she knew that he was by far the best person to help her to see
+her way, and form her own judgment.
+
+Mr. Cope heard all the story with as much eagerness as the
+Ragglesford boys themselves, and laughed quite out loud at Harold's
+spirited defence.
+
+'That's a good lad!' said he.  'Well, Mrs. King, I don't think you
+need be very uneasy about your boy.  When a fellow can stand up like
+that in defence of his duty, there must be the right stuff in him to
+be got at in time!  And now, as to his ally--this other poor fellow--
+very kind of you to have taken him in.'
+
+'I couldn't do no other, Sir,' said Mrs. King; 'he came in so
+drenched, and so terribly bad, I could do nothing but let him lie
+down on Harold's bed; and now Dr. Blunt thinks he's going to have a
+rheumatic fever, and wanted me to send in to the relieving officer,
+to have him removed, but I don't know how to do that; the poor lad
+doesn't say one word against it, but I can see it cuts him to the
+heart; and they do tell such stories of the nurses at the Union, that
+it does seem hard to send him there, such an innocent boy, too, and
+one that doesn't seem to know how to believe it if one says a kind
+word to him.' The tears were in Mrs. King's eyes as she went on:  'I
+do wish to let him stay here and do what I can for him, with all my
+heart, and so does all the children, but I don't hardly know what's
+right by them, poor things.  If the parish would but allow him just
+one shilling and sixpence a week out of the house, I think I could do
+it.'
+
+'What, with your own boy in such a state, you could undertake to
+nurse a stranger through a rheumatic fever!'
+
+'It wouldn't make much difference, Sir,' said Mrs. King.  'You see I
+am up a good deal most nights with Alfred, and we have fire and
+candle almost always alight.  I should only be glad to do it for a
+poor motherless lad like that, except for the cost; and I thought
+perhaps if you could speak to the Guardians, they might allow him
+ever so little, because there will be expenses.'
+
+Mr. Cope had not much hope from the parish, so he said, 'Mr. Shepherd
+ought to do something for him after he has worked for him so long.
+He has been looking wretchedly ill for some time past; and I dare say
+half this illness is brought on by such lodging and living as he got
+there.  But what did you say about some eggs?'
+
+Mrs. King told him; and he stood a moment thoughtful, then said,
+'Well, I'll go and see about it,' and strode across to the farm.
+
+When Mr. Cope came back, Ellen was serving a customer.  He stood
+looking redder than they had ever seen him, and tapping the toe of
+his boot impatiently with his stick; and the moment the buyer had
+turned away, he said, 'Ellen, ask your mother to be kind enough to
+come down.'
+
+Mrs. King came, and found the young Curate in such a state of
+indignation, as he could not keep to himself.  He had learnt more
+than he had ever known, or she had ever known, of the oppression that
+the farmer and his wife and Tom Boldre had practised on the
+friendless stranger, and he was burning with all the keen generous
+displeasure of one new to such base ways.  At the gate he had met,
+going home to dinner, John Farden with Mrs. Hayward, who had been
+charing at the farm.  Both had spoken out, and he had learned how far
+below the value of his labour the boy had been paid, how he had been
+struck, abused, and hunted about, as would never have been done to
+one who had a father to take his part.  And he had further heard
+Farden's statement of having himself thrown away the eggs, and Mrs.
+Hayward's declaration that she verily believed that the farmer only
+made the accusation an excuse for hurrying the lad off because he
+thought him faltering for a fever, and wouldn't have him sick there.
+
+This was shocking enough; Mr. Cope had thought it merely the kind-
+hearted woman's angry construction, but it was still worse when he
+came to the farmer and his wife.
+
+So used were they to think it their business to wring the utmost they
+could out of whatever came in their way, that they had not the
+slightest shame about it.  They thought they had done a thing to be
+proud of in making such a good bargain of the lad, and getting so
+much work out of him for so little pay; in fact, that they had been
+rather weakly kind in granting him the freedom of the hay-loft; the
+notion of his dishonesty was firmly fixed in their heads, though
+there was not a charge to bring against him.  This was chiefly
+because they had begun by setting him down as a convict, and because
+they could not imagine any one living honestly on what they gave him.
+And lastly, the farmer thought the cleverest stroke of all, was the
+having got rid of him just as winter was coming on and work was
+scarce, and when there seemed to be a chance of his being laid up to
+encumber the rates.  Mr. Cope was quite breathless after the answer
+he had made to them.  He had never spoken so strongly in his life
+before, and he could hardly believe his own ears, that people could
+be found, not only to do such things, but to be proud of having done
+them.
+
+It is to be hoped there are not many such thoroughgoing tyrants; but
+selfishness is always ready to make any one into a tyrant, and Mammon
+is a false god, who manages to make his servants satisfied that they
+are doing their duty.
+
+It was plain enough that no help was to be expected from the farm,
+and neither Mrs. King nor the clergyman thought there was much hope
+in the Guardians; however, they were to be applied to, and this would
+be at least a reprieve for Paul.  Mr. Cope went up to see him, and
+found Harold sitting on the top step of the stairs.
+
+'Well, boys,' he said, in his hearty voice, 'so you've had a battle,
+I hear.  I'm glad it turned out better than your namesake's at
+Hastings.'
+
+Paul was not too ill to smile at this; and Harold modestly said, 'It
+was all along of he, Sir.'
+
+'And he seems to be the chief sufferer.--Are you in much pain, Paul?'
+
+'Sometimes, Sir, when I try to move,' said Paul; 'but it is better
+when I'm still.'
+
+'You've had a harder time of it than I supposed, my boy,' said Mr.
+Cope.  'Why did you never let me know how you were treated?'
+
+Paul's face shewed more wonder than anything else.  'Thank you, Sir,'
+he said, 'I didn't think it was any one's business.'
+
+'No one's business!' exclaimed the young clergyman.  'It is every
+one's business to see justice done, and it should never have gone on
+so if you had spoken.  Why didn't you?'
+
+'I didn't think it would be any use,' again said Paul.  'There was
+old Joe Joiner, he always said 'twas a hard world to live in, and
+that there was nothing for it but to grin and bear it.'
+
+'There's something better to be done than to grin,' said Mr. Cope.
+
+'Yes, I know, Sir,' said Paul, with a brighter gleam on his face;
+'and I seem to understand that better since I came here.  I was
+thinking,' he added, 'if they pass me back to Upperscote, I'll tell
+old Joe that folks are much kinder than he told me, by far.'
+
+'Kinder--I should not have thought that your experience!' exclaimed
+Mr. Cope, his head still running on the Shepherds.
+
+But Paul did not seem to think of them at all, or else to take their
+treatment as a matter-of-course, as he did his Union hardships.
+There was a glistening in his eyes; and he moved his head so as to
+sign down-stairs, as he said, 'I didn't think there was ne'er a one
+in the world like HER.'
+
+'What, Mrs. King?  I don't think there are many,' said Mr. Cope
+warmly.  'And yet I hope there are.'
+
+'Ay, Sir,' said Paul fervently.  'And there's Harold, and John
+Farden, and all the chaps.  Please, Sir, when I'm gone away, will you
+tell them all that I'll never forget 'em? and I'll be happier as long
+as I live for knowing that there are such good-hearted folks.'
+
+Mr. Cope felt trebly moved towards one who thought harshness so much
+more natural than kindness, and who received the one so submissively,
+the other so gratefully; but the conversation was interrupted by
+Harold's exclaiming that my Lady in her carriage was stopping at the
+gate, and Mother was running out to her.
+
+Rumours of the post-office robbery, as little Miss Selby called it,
+had travelled up to the Grange, and she was wild to know what had
+happened to Harold; but her grandmamma, not knowing what highway
+robbers might be roaming about Friarswood, would not hear of her
+walking to the post-office, and drove thither with her herself, in
+full state, close carriage, coachman and footman; and there was Mrs.
+King, with her head in at the carriage window, telling all the story.
+
+'So you have this youth here?' said Lady Jane.
+
+'Yes, my Lady; he was so poorly that I couldn't but let him lie
+down.'
+
+'And you have not sent him to the workhouse yet?'
+
+'Why, no, not yet, my Lady; I thought I would wait to see how he is
+to-morrow.'
+
+'You had better take care, Mary,' said Lady Jane.  'You'll have him
+too ill to be moved; and then what will you do? a great lad of that
+age, and with illness enough in the house already!'  She sighed, and
+it was not said unkindly; but Mrs. King answered with something about
+his being so good a lad, and so friendless.  And Miss Jane exclaimed,
+'O Grandmamma, it does seem so hard to send him to the workhouse!'
+
+'Do not talk like a silly child, my dear,' said Lady Jane.  'Mary is
+much too sensible to think of saddling herself with such a charge--
+not fit for her, nor the children either--even if the parish made it
+worth her while, which it never will.  The Union is intended to
+provide for such cases of destitution; and depend on it, the youth
+looks to nothing else.'
+
+'No, my Lady,' said Mrs. King; 'he is so patient and meek about it,
+that it goes to one's very heart.'
+
+'Ay, ay,' said the old lady; 'but don't be soft-hearted and weak,
+Mary.  It is not what I expect of you, as a sensible woman, to be
+harbouring a mere vagrant whom you know nothing about, and injuring
+your own children.'
+
+'Indeed, my Lady,' began Mrs. King, 'I've known the poor boy these
+four months, and so has Mr. Cope; and he is as steady and serious a
+boy as ever lived.'
+
+'Very likely,' said Lady Jane; 'and I am sure I would do anything for
+him--give him work when he is out again, or send him with a paper to
+the county hospital.  Eh?'
+
+But the county hospital was thirty miles off; and the receiving day
+was not till Saturday.  That would not do.
+
+'Well,' added Lady Jane, 'I'll drive home directly, and send Price
+with the spring covered cart to take him in to Elbury.  That will be
+better for him than jolting in the open cart they would send for
+him.'
+
+'Why, thank you, my Lady, but I--I had passed my word that he should
+not go to-day.'
+
+Lady Jane made a gesture as if Mary King were a hopelessly weak good-
+natured woman; and shaking her head at her with a sort of lady-like
+vexation, ordered the coachman to drive on.
+
+My Lady was put out.  No wonder.  She was a very sensible, managing
+woman herself, and justly and up-rightly kind to all her dependants;
+and she expected every one else to be sternly and wisely kind in the
+same pattern.  Mrs. King was one whom she highly esteemed for her
+sense and good judgment, and she was the more provoked with her for
+any failure in these respects.  If she had known Paul as the Kings
+did, it is probable she might have felt like them.  Not knowing him,
+nor knowing the secrets of Elbury Union, she thought it Mrs. King's
+clear duty to sacrifice him for her children's sake.  Moreover, Lady
+Jane had strict laws against lodgers--the greatest kindness she could
+do her tenants, though often against their will.  So to have her
+model woman receiving a strange boy into her house, even under the
+circumstances, was beyond bearing.
+
+So Mrs. King stood on her threshold, knowing that to keep Paul
+Blackthorn would be an offence to her best friend and patroness.
+Moreover, Mr. Cope was gone, without having left her a word of advice
+to decide her one way or the other.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X--CHRISTMAS DAY
+
+
+
+Things are rather apt to settle themselves; and so did Paul
+Blackthorn's stay at the post-office, for the poor boy was in such an
+agony of pain all night, and the fever ran so high, that it was
+impossible to think of moving him, even if the waiting upon him in
+such suffering had not made Mrs. King feel that she could not dismiss
+him to careless hands.  His patience, gratitude, and surprise at
+every trouble she took for him were very endearing, as were the
+efforts he made to stifle and suppress moans and cries that the
+terrible aches would wring from him, so as not to disturb Alfred.
+When towards morning the fever ran to his head, and he did not know
+what he said, it was more moving still to see that the instinct of
+keeping quiet for some one's sake still suppressed his voice.  Then,
+too, his wanderings shewed under what dread and harshness his life
+had been spent, and what his horror was of a return to the workhouse.
+In his senses, he would never have thought of asking to remain at
+Friarswood; but in his half-conscious state, he implored again and
+again not to be sent away, and talked about not going back, but only
+being left in a corner to die; and Mrs. King, without knowing what
+she was about, soothed him by telling him to lie still, for he was
+not going to that place again.  At day-break she sent Harold, on his
+way to the post, for an order from the relieving officer for medical
+attendance; and, after some long and weary hours, the Union doctor
+came.  He said, like Mr. Blunt, that it was a rheumatic fever, the
+effect of hardship and exposure; for which perhaps poor Paul--after
+his regular meals, warm clothing, and full shelter, in the workhouse-
+-was less prepared than many a country lad, whose days had been much
+happier, but who had been rendered more hardy by often going without
+some of those necessaries which were provided for the paupers.
+
+The head continued so much affected, that the doctor said the hair
+must be taken off; which was done by old Master Warren, who singed
+the horses in the autumn, killed the pigs in the winter, and shaved
+the men on Saturday night.  It was a very good thing for all parties;
+and he would take no pay for his trouble, but sent down a pitcher
+with what he called 'all manner of yarbs' steeping in it, with which,
+as he said, to 'ferment the boy's limbs.'  Foment was what he meant;
+and Mrs. King thought, as it was kindly intended, and could do no
+harm, she would try if it would do any good; but she could not find
+that it made much difference whether she used that or common warm
+water.  However, the good will made Paul smile, and helped to change
+his notion about its being very few that had any compassion for a
+stranger.  So, too, did good Mrs. Hayward, who, when he was at the
+worst, twice came to sit up all night with him after her day's work;
+and though she was not as tender a nurse as Mrs. King, treated him
+like her own son, and moreover carried off to her own tub all the
+clothes she could find ready to be washed, and would not take so much
+as a mouthful of meat or drink in return, struggling, toil-worn body
+as she was.
+
+The parish, as might have been foreseen, would afford nothing but the
+doctor to a chance-comer such as Paul.  If he needed more, he might
+come into the House, and be passed home to Upperscote.
+
+But by the time this reply came, Mrs. King not only felt that it
+would be almost murder to send a person in such a state four miles on
+a November day, but she was caring so much for her patient, that it
+sounded almost as impossible as to send Alfred away.
+
+Besides, she had remembered the cup of cold water, she had thought of
+the widow's cruse of oil and barrel of meal, and she had called to
+mind, 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My
+brethren, ye have done it unto Me;' and thereupon she took heart, and
+made up her mind that it was right to tend the sick lad; and that
+even if she should bring trouble and want on herself and her
+children, it would be a Heaven-sent trial that would be good for
+them.
+
+So she made up her resolution to a winter of toil, anxiety, and
+trouble, and to Lady Jane's withdrawal of favour; and thinking her
+ungrateful, which, to say the truth, grieved her more than anything
+else, excepting of course her forebodings for Alfred.
+
+Ellen was in great distress about my Lady's displeasure.  Not that
+she dreamt of her mother's giving up Paul on that account; but she
+was very fond of her little foster-sister, and of many of the maid-
+servants, and her visits to the Grange were the chief change and
+amusement she ever had.  So while Mrs. King was busy between the
+shop, her work, and Paul, Ellen sat by her brother, making the
+housekeeper's winter dress, and imagining all sorts of dreadful
+things that might come of my Lady being angry with them, till Alfred
+grew quite out of patience.  'Well, suppose and suppose,' he said,
+'suppose it was not to happen at all!  Why, Mother's doing right
+would be any good for nothing if she only did it to please my Lady.'
+
+Certainly this was the very touchstone to shew whether the fear of
+man were the guide.  And Ellen was still more terrified that day, for
+when she went across to the farm for the evening's supply of milk and
+butter, Mrs. Shepherd launched out into such a torrent of abuse
+against her and her mother, that she came home trembling from head to
+foot; and Mrs. King declared she should never go thither again.  They
+would send to Mrs. Price's for the little bit of fresh butter that
+was real nourishment to Alfred:  the healthy ones would save by going
+without any.
+
+One word more as to the Shepherds, and then we have done with him.
+On the Sunday, Mr. Cope had an elder brother staying with them, who
+preached on the lesson for the day, the second chapter of the Prophet
+Habakkuk; and when he came to the text, 'Woe to him that coveteth an
+evil covetousness to his house,' he brought in some of the like
+passages, the threats to those that 'grind the faces of the poor,'
+that 'oppress the hireling in his wages,' and that terrible saying of
+St. James, 'Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down
+your fields, which is of you kept by fraud, crieth; and the cries of
+them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of
+Sabbath.'
+
+Three days after, the Curate was very much amazed to hear that Mr.
+and Mrs. Shepherd did not choose to be preached at in their own
+church, and never meant to come thither again.  Now it so happened
+that he could testify that the sermon had been written five years
+ago, and that his brother had preached it without knowing that the
+Shepherds were in existence, for he had only come late the night
+before, and there was so much to say about their home, that the
+younger brother had not said a word about his parish before church,
+though the Kings and their guests were very near his heart.
+
+But it was of no use to say so.  It was the TRUTH that wounded the
+farmer and his wife, and no one could make that otherwise.  They did
+not choose to hear their sin rebuked, so they made an excuse by
+pretending to take offence, and except when they now and then went to
+the next parish to a meeting-house, cut themselves off from all that
+might disturb them in the sole pursuit of gain.  It is awful to think
+of such hardening of the heart, first towards man, then towards the
+warnings of God.
+
+And mind, whoever chooses profit rather than mercy, is in the path of
+Farmer Shepherd.
+
+Some certainty as to Lady Jane Selby's feelings came on the second
+evening of Paul's illness.  Mrs. Crabbe, the housekeeper, was seen
+with infinite trouble and disgust getting her large person over the
+stiles across the path fields.  A call from her was almost a greater
+event than one from my Lady herself.  Why!  Mother had been her
+still-room maid, and always spoke to her as 'Ma'am,' and she called
+her 'Mary,' and she had chosen Matilda's name for her, and had given
+her a silver watch!
+
+So when Mrs. Crabbe had found her way in, and had been set down to
+rest in the arm-chair, she proceeded to give 'Mary' a good round
+scolding against being weak and soft-hearted, saying at last that my
+Lady was quite in a way about it.  She was sure that Harold would
+catch his death of cold, putting him to sleep in the kitchen, upon
+the stones--and so--my Lady had sent off the cart with the little
+chair-bed, that would take down and put up again--mattress, bed-
+clothes, and all.
+
+That was a comfortable finish to the scolding!  Not that it was a
+finish though, for the thanks made Mrs. Crabbe afraid the family
+thought themselves forgiven, so she went on to declare they all would
+be pinched, and get into debt, and she should advise her god-
+daughter, Matilda, not to help them with a farthing of her wages, and
+as to going without their full meals, that was what none of them were
+fit to do.  With which it appeared that the cart was bringing a can
+of broth, a couple of rabbits, some calves'-feet jelly, and a bottle
+of port wine for Alfred, who lived on that and cod-liver oil more
+than on any other nourishment.
+
+At that rate, Lady Jane's displeasure did not seem likely to do much
+harm; but there was pain in it too, for when Mrs. Crabbe had managed
+to get up-stairs, past the patch-work quilt that was hung up to
+shelter Paul from the draught, and had seen Alfred, and been shocked
+to find how much wasted he was since she last had seen him, she said,
+'One thing you know--my Lady says she can't have Miss Selby coming
+down here to see Alfred while this great lad is always about.  And
+I'm sure it is not proper for her at any time, such a young lady as
+she is, over all those inconvenient stiles.  I declare I shall speak
+to Mr. Price about them.'
+
+Losing Miss Jane's visits was to Alfred like losing a sunbeam, and
+his spirit felt very dreary after he had heard this sentence.  Ellen
+knew her well enough to suspect that she was very sorry, but that she
+could not help herself; and Mrs. King caught the brother and sister
+making such grumbling speeches to each other about the old lady's
+crossness, that her faithful, grateful spirit was quite grieved, and
+she spoke strongly up for the just, right-minded lady to whom she had
+loyally looked up for many and many a year, though, with the right
+sort of independence, she would not give up to any one's opinion what
+she knew to be her duty.
+
+'We all knew it must cost us something,' she said, 'and we'll try to
+be ready with it, though it does go to one's heart that the first
+should be what vexes you, my Alfy; but it won't be for long.'
+
+'No, Mother; but if it ain't here long?  Oh!  I don't seem to have
+nothing to look to if Miss Jane ain't coming here no more, with her
+pretty ways!'
+
+And there were large tears on his cheeks.  Mrs. King had tears in her
+eyes too, but she bent down over the boy, and turning his eyes to the
+little picture on the wall, she said in a whisper in his ear, 'Didn't
+He bear His Cross for the sake of other people?'  Alfred did not
+answer; he turned his face in towards the pillow, and though Ellen
+thought he was crying, it did not seem to her to be so sadly.
+
+Cost them something their kindness did.  To be sure, there came a
+party of boys with the master from Ragglesford, when there had been
+time for them to write the history of the robbery to their homes; and
+as it came just before the monthly letter which they all had to write
+by way of practice, to be shewn up to the master, it was a real
+treasure to them to have such a story to tell.  Some of their
+friends, especially the uncle who gave the watch, had sent small sums
+of money for the lad who had behaved so well, and these altogether
+came to a fair amount, which the boys were highly pleased to give
+over into Mrs. King's hands.  She, like Harold, never made the
+smallest question that it was all for Paul's benefit, and though,
+when she mentioned it to him, he gave a cheery smile, and said it
+would lessen the cost of his illness to her, yet she put it all aside
+with the first twelve-and-sixpence.  She told Ellen that it went
+against her to touch the orphan's money, and that unless it came to
+very bad times indeed, it should be kept to set him up decently when
+he should recover.
+
+No one else could afford aid in money, not Mr. Cope, for he had
+little more than a maintenance for himself; indeed, Mrs. King was not
+in a station where it would seem becoming to offer alms to her.  Lady
+Jane gave help in nourishing food, but the days when this would come
+were uncertain, and she had made a resolution against undertaking any
+share of the expense, lest she should seem to encourage Mary King, as
+she said, in such weak good nature--cramming up her house with a
+strange boy like that, when she had quite enough to do with her own
+son.  So they had to fight on as they could; and the first week, when
+Paul's illness was at the height, Ellen had so much more to do for
+Alfred and about the house, and was so continually called off her
+work, that she could not finish Mrs. Crabbe's gown as soon as was
+expected; and the ladies' maid, who was kept waiting, took huff, and
+sent her new purple silk to Elbury to be madeup.
+
+It is not quite certain that Ellen did not shed a few tears.
+
+Harold had to go without his butter, and once took it much to heart
+that his mother would buy no shrimps for tea, but after some one had
+whispered to him that if there were a trouble about rent, or about
+Mr. Blunt's bill, Peggy would be sold, he bore it all pretty well;
+and after all, Alfred and Paul were so apt to give him tastes of
+their dainties, that he had not much loss!
+
+Rent was the care.  The pig was killed and cut up to great advantage;
+Mrs. King sold a side of it at once, which went a good way towards
+it, but not the whole; and there was a bad debt of John Farden's for
+bread, contracted last winter, and which he had never paid off in the
+summer.  That would just have made it up, but what hopes were there
+of that?
+
+Just then, however, came a parcel from Matilda.  It was her way of
+helping her family to send them the clothes which her mistresses
+allowed her to have when they left them off, when Mrs. King either
+made them up for herself or Ellen, or disposed of them at Elbury.
+
+What a treat those parcels were!  How curious were all the party at
+the unpacking, looking at the many odd things that were sure to come
+out, on the happy doubtful certainty that each one would be
+remembered by the good sister.
+
+So there were the little directed parcels--a neat knitted grey and
+black handkerchief for Mother to wear in the shop; a whole roll of
+fashion-books for Ellen, and a nice little pocket-book besides; and a
+bundle of 'Illustrated News' to amuse the boys; a precious little
+square book of 'Hymns for the Sick' for Alfred; and a famous pair of
+riding-gloves, like bears' paws, for Harold.  And what rolls besides!
+Worn flimsy dresses, once pretty, but now only fit for the old-
+clothes man, yet whose trimmings Ellen pulled out and studied;
+bonnets that looked as if they had been sat upon; rolls of soft
+ragged cambric handkerchiefs, on which Mrs. King seized as the most
+valuable part of the cargo, so useful would they be to poor Alfred;
+some few real good things, in especial, a beautiful thick silk dress
+which had been stained, but which dyeing would render very useful;
+and a particularly nice grey cloth mantle, which Matilda had
+mentioned in her letter as likely to be useful to Ellen--it was not
+at all the worse for wear, except as to the lining of the hood, and
+she should just fancy Ellen in it.
+
+Ellen could just fancy herself in it.  She had a black silk one,
+which had come in the same way, and looked very well, but it was just
+turning off, and it was not warm enough for winter without a shawl
+under it.  That grey looked as if it was made for her, it suited her
+shoulders and her shape so well!  She put it on and twisted about in
+it, and then she saw her good mother not saying one word, and knew
+she was thinking of the sum that was wanting to the rent.
+
+'Well, Mother,' said Ellen, 'I'll go in and take the things to Betsey
+on the next market-day, and if we can get thirty shillings on them
+without the mantle--'
+
+'Yes, if you can, my dear,' said her mother; 'I'm sure I should be
+very glad for you to have it, but you see--'
+
+And Mrs. King sighed.
+
+Ellen passed by Paul on the landing, and saw him with his face
+flushed with pain and fever, trying to smile at her.  She remembered
+how her unkind words had brought trouble on him, and how her mother
+had begun by telling her that they must give up their own wishes if
+they were to nurse him.
+
+Ellen went to Elbury on the market-day, and by the help of Betsey
+Hardman, she got great credit for her bargaining.  She brought home
+thirty shillings, and ten shillings' worth of soap for the shop,
+where that article was running low; but she did not bring home the
+cloak, though Betsey had told her a silk cloak over a shawl looked so
+mean! and she feared all the servants at the Grange would think the
+same!
+
+'They always were good children to me,' said Mrs. King to Mr. Cope,
+'but somehow, since Paul has been here, I think they are better than
+ever!  There's poor Alfred, though his cough has been so bad of late,
+has been so thoughtful and so good; he says he's quite ashamed to
+find how patient Paul is under so much sharper pain than he ever had,
+and he's ready to send anything to Paul that he fancies will do him
+good--quite carried out of himself, you see; and there's Harold, so
+much steadier; I've hardly had to find fault with him since that poor
+boy made off--he's sure to come in in time, and takes care not to
+disturb his brother, and helps his sister and me all he can.'
+
+Mr. Cope was not at all surprised that the work of mercy was blessed
+to all the little household, nor that it drew out all the better side
+of their dispositions.
+
+There was no positive change, nor sudden resolution, to alter Harold;
+but he had been a good deal startled by Dick's wickedness, and in him
+had lost a tempter.  Besides, he considered Paul as his own friend,
+received for his sake, and therefore felt himself bound to do all he
+could for him, and though he was no nurse, he could do much to set
+his mother and Ellen free to attend to their patients.  And Paul's
+illness, though so much less dangerous, frightened and subdued Harold
+much more than the quiet gradual pining away of Alfred, to which he
+was used.  The severe pain, the raging fever, and the ramblings in
+talk, were much more fearful things to witness than the low cough,
+the wearing sore, and the helpless languor, though there was much
+hope for the one, and scarcely any for the other.  While to Harold's
+apprehension, Alfred was always just the same, only worsening visibly
+from month to month; Paul was better or worse every time he came in,
+and when fresh from hearing his breath gasp with sharp pain, or
+receiving his feeble thanks for some slight service, it was not in
+Harold to go out and get into thoughtless mischief.
+
+Moreover, there were helpful things to do at home, such as Harold
+liked.  He was fond of chopping wood, so he was very obliging about
+the oven, and what he liked best of all was helping his mother in
+certain evening cookeries of sweet-meats, by receipts from Mrs.
+Crabbe.  On the day of the expedition from Ragglesford, the young
+gentlemen had found out that Mrs. King's bottles contained what they
+called 'the real article and no mistake,' much better than what the
+old woman at the turnpike sold; and so they were, for Mrs. King made
+them herself, and, like an honest woman, without a morsel of sham in
+them.  She was not going to break the Eighth Commandment by cheating
+in a comfit any more than by stealing a purse; and the children of
+Friarswood had long known that, and bought all the 'lollies' that
+they were not naughty enough to buy on Sundays, when, as may be
+supposed, her shutters were not shut only for a decent show.
+
+And now Harold did not often ride up to the school without some
+little master giving him a commission for some variety of sweet-
+stuff; and though Mrs. King used to say it was a pity the children
+should throw away their money in that fashion, it brought a good deal
+into her till, and Harold greatly liked assisting at the manufacture.
+How often he licked his fingers during the process need not be
+mentioned; but his objection to Ragglesford was quite gone off, now
+that some one was nearly certain to be looking out for him, with a
+good-natured greeting, or an inquiry for Paul.  He knew one little
+boy from another, and felt friendly with them all, and he really was
+quite grieved when the holidays came, and they wished him good-bye.
+The coach that had been hired to take them to Elbury seemed something
+to watch for now, and some thoughtful boy stopped all the whooping
+and hurraing as they came near the house on the bridge.  Some other
+stopped the coach, and they all came dropping off it like a swarm of
+black flies, and tumbling into the shop, where Mrs. King and her
+daughter had need to have had a dozen pair of hands to have served
+them, and they did not go till they had cleared out her entire stock
+of sweet things and gingerbread; nay, some of them would have gone
+off without their change, if she had not raced out to catch them with
+it after they were climbing up the coach, and then the silly fellows
+said they hated coppers!  And meeting Harold and his post-bag on his
+way home from Elbury, they raised such a tremendous cheer at him that
+poor Peggy seemed to make but three springs from the milestone to the
+bridge, and he could not so much as touch his cap by way of answer.
+
+Somehow, even after those droll customers were gone, every Saturday's
+reckoning was a satisfactory one.  More always seemed to come in than
+went out.  The potatoes had been unusually free from disease in Mrs.
+King's garden, and every one came for them; the second pig turned out
+well; a lodger at the butcher's took a fancy to her buns; and on the
+whole, winter, when her receipts were generally at the lowest, was
+now quite a prosperous time with her.  The great pressure and near
+anxiety she had expected had not come, and something was being put by
+every week towards the bill for flour, and for Mr. Blunt's account,
+so that she began to hope that after all the Savings Bank would not
+have to be left quite bare.
+
+Quite unexpectedly, John Farden came in for a share of the savings of
+an old aunt at service, and, like an honest fellow as he was, he got
+himself out of debt at once.  This quite settled all Mrs. King's
+fears; Mr. Blunt and the miller would both have their due, and she
+really believed she should be no poorer!
+
+Then she recollected the widow's cruse of oil, and tears of
+thankfulness and faith came into her eyes, and other tears dropped
+when she remembered the other more precious comfort that the stranger
+had brought into the widow's house, but she knew that the days of
+miracles and cures past hope were gone, and that the Christian
+woman's promise was 'that her children should come again,' but not
+till the resurrection of the just.
+
+And though to her eye each frost was freshly piercing her boy's
+breast, each warm damp day he faded into greater feebleness, yet the
+hope was far clearer.  He was happy and content.  He had laid hold of
+the blessed hope of Everlasting Life, and was learning to believe
+that the Cross laid on him here was in mercy to make him fit for
+Heaven, first making him afraid and sorry for his sins, and ready to
+turn to Him Who could take them away, and then almost becoming
+gladness, in the thought of following his Master, though so far off.
+
+Not that Alfred often said such things, but they breathed peace over
+his mind, and made Scripture-reading, prayers, and hymns very
+delightful to him, especially those in Matilda's book; and he dwelt
+more than he told any one on Mr. Cope's promise, when he trusted to
+be made more fully 'one with Christ' in the partaking of His Cup of
+Life.  It used to be his treat, when no one was looking, to read over
+that Service in his Prayer-book, and to think of the time.  It was
+like a kind of step; he could fix his mind on that, and the sense of
+forgiveness he hoped for therein, better than on the great change
+that was coming; when there was much fear and shrinking from the
+pain, and some dread of what as yet seemed strange and unknown, he
+thought he should feel lifted up so as to be able to bear the
+thought, when that holy Feast should have come to him.
+
+All this made him much less occupied with himself, and he took much
+more share in what was going on; he could be amused and playful,
+cared for all that Ellen and Harold did, and was inclined to make the
+most of his time with his brother.  It was like old happy times, now
+that Alfred had ceased to be fretful, and Harold took heed not to
+distress him.
+
+One thing to which Alfred looked forward greatly, was Paul's being
+able to come into his room, and the two on their opposite sides of
+the wall made many pleasant schemes for the talk and reading that
+were to go on.  But when the day came, Alfred was more disappointed
+than pleased.
+
+Paul had been cased, by Lady Jane's orders, in flannel; he had over
+that a pair of trousers of Alfred's--much too long, for the Kings
+were very tall, and he was small and stunted in growth--and a great
+wrapping-gown that Mr. Cope had once worn when he was ill at college,
+and over his shaven head a night-cap that had been their father's.
+
+Ellen, with many directions from Alfred, had made him up a couch with
+three chairs, and the cushions Alfred used to have when he could
+leave his bed; the fire was made up brightly, and Mrs. King and
+Harold helped Paul into the room.
+
+But all the rheumatic pain was by no means over, and walking made him
+feel it; he was dreadfully weak, and was so giddy and faint after the
+first few steps, that they could not bring him to shake hands with
+Alfred as both had wished, but had to lay him down as fast as they
+could.  So tired was he, that he could hardly say anything all the
+time he was there; and Alfred had to keep silence for fear of
+wearying him still more.  There was a sort of shyness, too, which
+hindered the two from even letting their eyes meet, often as they had
+heard each other's voices, and had greeted one another through the
+thin partition.  As Paul lay with his eyes shut, Alfred raised
+himself to take a good survey of the sharp pinched features, the
+hollow cheeks, deep-sunk pits for the eyes,--and yellow ghastly skin
+of the worn face, and the figure, so small and wasted that it was
+like nothing, curled up in all those wraps.  One who could read faces
+better than young Alfred could, would have gathered not only that the
+boy who lay there had gone through a great deal, but that there was
+much mind and thought crushed down by misery, and a gentle nature not
+fit to stand up alone against it, and so sinking down without
+exertion.
+
+And when Alfred was learning a verse of his favourite hymn -
+
+
+'There is a rill whose waters rise--'
+
+
+Paul's eye-lids rose, and looked him all over dreamily, comparing him
+perhaps with the notions he had carried away from his two former
+glimpses.  Alfred did not look now so utterly different from anything
+he had seen before, since Mrs. King and Ellen had been hovering round
+his bed for nearly a month past; but still the fair skin, pink
+colour, dark eye-lashes, glossy hair, and white hands, were like a
+dream to him, as if they belonged to the pure land whither Alfred was
+going, and he was quite loath to hear him speak like another boy, as
+he knew he could do, having often listened to his talk through the
+wall.  At the least sign of Alfred's looking up, he turned away his
+eyes as if he had been doing something by stealth.
+
+He came in continually after this; and little things each day, and
+Harold's talk, made the two acquainted and like boys together; but it
+was not till Christmas Day that they felt like knowing each other.
+
+It was the first time Paul felt himself able to be of any use, for he
+was to be left in charge of Alfred, while Mrs. King and both her
+other children went to church.  Paul was sadly crippled still, and
+every frost filled his bones with acute pain, and bent him like an
+old man, so that he was still a long way from getting down-stairs,
+but he could make a shift to get about the room, and he looked
+greatly pleased when Alfred declared that he should want nobody else
+to stay with him in the morning.
+
+Very glad he was that his mother would not be kept from Ellen's first
+Holy Communion.  Owing to the Curate not being a priest, the Feast
+had not been celebrated since Michaelmas; but a clergyman had come to
+help Mr. Cope, that the parish might not be deprived of the Festival
+on such a day as Christmas.
+
+Harold, though in a much better mood than at the Confirmation time,
+was not as much concerned to miss it as perhaps he ought to have
+been.  Thought had not come to him yet, and his head was full of the
+dinner with the servants at the Grange.  It was sad that he and Ellen
+should alone be able to go to it; but it would be famous for all
+that!  Ay, and so were the young postman's Christmas-boxes!
+
+So Paul and Alfred were left together, and held their tongues for
+full five minutes, because both felt so odd.  Then Alfred said
+something about reading the Service, and Paul offered to read it to
+him.
+
+Paul had not only been very well taught, but had a certain gift, such
+as not many people have, for reading aloud well.  Alfred listened to
+those Psalms and Lessons as if they had quite a new meaning in them,
+for the right sound and stress on the right words made them sound
+quite like another thing; and so Alfred said when he left off.
+
+'I'm sure they do to me,' said Paul.  'I didn't know much about
+"good-will to men" last Christmas.'
+
+'You've not had overmuch good-will from them, neither,' said Alfred,
+'since you came out.'
+
+'What! not since I've been at Friarswood?' exclaimed Paul.  'Why, I
+used to think all THAT was only something in a book.'
+
+'All what?' asked Alfred.
+
+'All about--why, loving one's neighbour--and the Good Samaritan, and
+so on.  I never saw any one do it, you know, but it was comfortable
+like to read about it; and when I watched to your mother and all of
+you, I saw how it was about one's neighbour; and then, what with that
+and Mr. Cope's teaching, I got to feel how it was--about God!' and
+Paul's face looked very grave and peaceful.
+
+'Well,' said Alfred, 'I don't know as I ever cared about it much--not
+since I was a little boy.  It was the fun last Christmas.'
+
+And Paul looking curious, Alfred told all about the going out for
+holly, and the dining at the Grange, and the snap-dragon over the
+pudding, till he grew so eager and animated that he lost breath, and
+his painful cough came on, so that he could just whisper, 'What did
+you do?'
+
+'Oh!  I don't know.  We had prayers, and there was roast beef for
+dinner, but they gave it to me where it was raw, and I couldn't eat
+it.  Those that had friends went out; but 'twasn't much unlike other
+days.'
+
+'Poor Paul!' sighed Alfred.
+
+'It won't be like that again, though,' said Paul, 'even if I was in a
+Union.  I know--what I know now.'
+
+'And, Paul,' said Alfred, after a pause, 'there's one thing I should
+like if I was you.  You know our Blessed Saviour had no house over
+Him, but was left out of the inn, and nobody cared for Him.'
+
+Paul did not make any answer; and Alfred blushed all over.
+
+Presently Alfred said, 'Harold will run in soon.  I say, Paul, would
+you mind reading me what they will say after the Holy Sacrament--what
+the Angels sang is the beginning.'
+
+Paul found it, and felt as if he must stand to read such praise.
+
+'Thank you,' said Alfred.  'I'm glad Mother and Ellen are there.
+They'll remember us, you know.  Did you hear what Mr. Cope promised
+me?'
+
+Paul had not heard; and Alfred told him, adding, 'It will be the
+Ember-week in Lent.  You'll be one with me then, Paul?'
+
+'I'd like to promise,' said Paul fervently; 'but you see, when I'm
+well--'
+
+'Oh, you won't go away for good.  My Lady, or Mr. Cope, will get you
+work; and I want you to be Mother's good son instead of me; and a
+brother to Harold and Ellen.'
+
+'I'd never go if I could help it,' said Paul; 'I sometimes wish I'd
+never got better!  I wish I could change with you, Alfred; nobody
+would care if 'twas me; nor I'm sure I shouldn't.'
+
+'I should like to get well!' said Alfred slowly, and sighing.  'But
+then you've been a much better lad than I was.'
+
+'I don't know why you should say that,' said Paul, with his hand
+under his chin, rather moodily.  'But if I thought I could be good
+and go on well, I would not mind so much.  I say, Alfred, when people
+round go on being--like Tom Boldre, you know--do you think one can
+always feel that about God being one's Father, and church home, and
+all the rest?'
+
+'I can't say--I never tried,' said Alfred.  'But you know you can
+always go to church--and then the Psalms and Lessons tell you those
+things.  Well, and you can go to the Holy Sacrament--I say, Paul, if
+you take it the first time with me, you'll always remember me again
+every time after.'
+
+'I must be very odd ever to forget you!' said Paul, not far from
+crying.  'Ha!' he exclaimed, 'they are coming out of church!'
+
+'I want to say one thing more, while I've got it in my head,' said
+Alfred.  'Mr. Cope said all this sickness was a cross to me, and I'd
+got to take it up for our Saviour's sake.  Well, and then mayn't
+yours be being plagued and bullied, without any friends?  I'm sure
+something like it happened to our Lord; and He never said one word
+against them.  Isn't that the way you may be to follow Him?'
+
+Illness and thought had made such things fully plain to Alfred, and
+his words sank deep into Paul's mind; but there was not time for any
+answer, for Harold was heard unlocking the door, and striding up
+three steps at a time, sending his voice before him.  'Well, old
+chaps, have you quarrelled yet?  Have you been jolly together?  I
+say, Mrs. Crabbe told Ellen that the pudding was put into the boiler
+at eight o'clock last night; and my Lady and Miss Jane went in to
+give it a stir!  I'm to bring you home a slice, you know; and Paul
+will know what a real pudding is like.'
+
+The two boys spent a happy quiet afternoon with Mrs. King; and
+Charles Hayward brought all the singing boys down, that they might
+hear the carols outside the window.  Paul, much tired, was in his bed
+by that time; but his last thought was that 'Good-will to Men' had
+come home to him at last.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI--BETTER DAYS FOR PAUL
+
+
+
+Paul's reading was a great prize to Alfred, for he soon grew tired
+himself; his sister could not spare time to read to him, and if she
+did, she went mumbling on like a bee in a bottle.  Her mother did
+much the same, and Harold used to stumble and gabble, so that it was
+horrible to hear him.  Such reading as Paul's was a new light to them
+all, and was a treat to Ellen as she worked as much as to Alfred; and
+Paul, with hands as clean as Alfred's, was only too happy to get hold
+of a book, and infinitely enjoyed the constant supply kept up by Miss
+Selby, to make up for her not coming herself.
+
+Then came the making out the accounts, a matter dreaded by all the
+family.  Ellen and Alfred both used to do the sums; but as they never
+made them the same, Mrs. King always went by some reckoning of her
+own by pencil dots on her thumb-nail, which took an enormous time,
+but never went wrong.  So the slate and the books came up after tea,
+one night, and Ellen set to work with her mother to pick out every
+one's bill.  There might be about eight customers who had Christmas
+bills; but many an accountant in a London shop would think eight
+hundred a less tough business than did the King family these eight;
+especially as there was a debtor and creditor account with four, and
+coals, butcher's meat, and shoes for man and horse, had to be set
+against bread, tea, candles, and the like.
+
+One pound of tea, 3s. 6d., that was all very well; but an ounce and a
+half of the same made Ellen groan, and look wildly at the corner over
+Alfred's bed, as if in hopes she should there see how to set it down,
+so as to work it.
+
+'Fourpence, all but--' said a voice from the arm-chair by the fire.
+
+Ellen did not take any particular heed, but announced the fact that
+three shillings were thirty-six pence, and six was forty-two.  Also
+that sixteen ounces were one pound, and sixteen drams one ounce; but
+there she got stuck, and began making figures and rubbing them out,
+as if in hopes that would clear up her mind.  Mrs. King pecked on for
+ten minutes on her nail.
+
+'Well,' she said, 'Paul's right; it is fourpence.'
+
+'However did you do it?' asked Ellen.
+
+'As 16 to 1.5, so 42,' quoth Paul quickly.  'Three halves into 42; 21
+and 42 is 63; 63 by 16, gives 3 and fifteen-sixteenths.  You can't
+deduct a sixteenth of a penny, so call it fourpence.'
+
+Ellen and Alfred were as wise as to the working as they were before.
+
+Next question--Paul's answer came like the next line in the book--
+Mrs. King proved him right, and so on till she was quite tired of the
+proofs, and began to trust him.  Alfred asked how he could possibly
+do such things, which seemed to him a perfect riddle.
+
+'I should have had my ears pretty nigh pulled off if I took five
+minutes to work THAT in my head,' said Paul.  'But I've forgotten
+things now; I could do it faster once.'
+
+'I'm sure you hadn't need,' said Mrs. King; 'it's enough to distract
+one's senses to count so fast.  All in your poor head too!'
+
+'And I've got to write them all out to-morrow,' said Ellen dismally;
+'I must wait till dark, or I shan't set a stitch of work.  I wish
+people would pay ready money, and then one wouldn't have to set down
+their bills.  Here's Mr. Cope, bread--bread--bread, as long as my
+arm!'
+
+'If you didn't mind, maybe I could save you the trouble, Miss Ellen,'
+said Paul.
+
+'Did you ever make out a bill?' asked Mrs. King.
+
+'Never a real one; but every Thursday I used to do sham ones.  Once I
+did a jeweller's bill for twelve thousand pounds and odd!  It is so
+long since I touched a pen, that may be I can't write; but I should
+like to try.'
+
+Ellen brought a pen, and the cover of a letter; and hobbling up to
+the table, he took the pen, cleared it of a hair that was sticking in
+it, made a scratch or two weakly and ineffectually, then wrote in a
+neat clear hand, without running up or down, 'Friarswood, Christmas.'
+
+'A pretty hand as ever I saw!' said Mrs. King.  'Well, if you can
+write like that, and can be trusted to make no mistakes, you might
+write out our bills; and we'd be obliged to you most kindly.'
+
+And so Paul did, so neatly, that when the next evening Mr. Cope
+walked in with the money, he said, looking at Harold, 'Ah! my ancient
+Saxon, I must make my compliments to you:  I did not think you could
+write letters as well as you can carry them.'
+
+''Twas Paul did it, Sir,' said Harold.
+
+'Yes, Sir; 'twas Paul,' said Mrs. King.  'The lad is a wonderful
+scholar:  he told off all the sums as if they was in print; and to
+hear him read--'tis like nothing I ever heard since poor Mrs. Selby,
+Miss Jane's mother.'
+
+'I saw he had been very well instructed--in acquaintance with the
+Bible, and the like.'
+
+'And, Sir, before I got to know him for a boy that would not give a
+false account of himself, I used to wonder whether he could have run
+away from some school, and have friends above the common.  If you
+observe, Sir, he speaks so remarkably well.'
+
+Mr. Cope had observed it.  Paul spoke much better English than did
+even the Kings; though Ellen was by way of being very particular, and
+sometimes a little mincing.
+
+'You are quite sure it is not so?' he said, a little startled at Mrs.
+King's surmise.
+
+'Quite sure now, Sir.  I don't believe he would tell a falsehood on
+no account; and besides, poor lad!' and she smiled as the tears came
+into her eyes, 'he's so taken to me, he wouldn't keep nothing back
+from me, no more than my own boys.'
+
+'I'm sure he ought not, Mrs. King,' said the Curate, 'such a mother
+to him as you have been.  I should like to examine him a little.
+With so much education, he might do something better for himself than
+field-labour.'
+
+'A very good thing it would be, Sir,' said Mrs. King, looking much
+cheered; 'for I misdoubt me sometimes if he'll ever be strong enough
+to gain his bread that way--at least, not to be a good workman.
+There! he's not nigh so tall as Harold; and so slight and skinny as
+he is, going about all bent and slouching, even before his illness!
+Why, he says what made him stay so long in the Union was that he
+looked so small and young, that none of the farmers at Upperscote
+would take him from it; and so at last he had to go on the tramp.'
+
+Mr. Cope went up-stairs, and found Ellen, as usual, at her needle,
+and Paul in the arm-chair close by Alfred, both busied in choosing
+and cutting out pictures from Matilda's 'Illustrated News,' with
+which Harold ornamented the wall of the stair-case and landing.  Mr.
+Cope sat down, and made them laugh with something droll about the
+figures that were lying spread on Alfred.
+
+'So, Paul,' he said, 'I find Mrs. King has engaged you for her
+accountant.'
+
+'I wish I could do anything to be of any use,' said Paul.
+
+'I've half a mind to ask you some questions in arithmetic,' said Mr.
+Cope, with his merry eyes upon the boy, and his mouth looking grave;
+'only I'm afraid you might puzzle me.'
+
+'I can't do as I used, Sir,' said Paul, rather nervously; 'I've
+forgotten ever so much; and my head swims.'
+
+The slate was lying near; Mr. Cope pushed it towards him, and said,
+'Well, will you mind letting me see how you can write from
+dictation?'
+
+And taking up one of the papers, he read slowly several sentences
+from a description of a great fire, with some tolerably long-winded
+newspaper words in them.  When he paused, and asked for the slate,
+there it all stood, perfectly spelt, well written, and with all the
+stops and capitals in the right places.
+
+'Famously done, Paul!  Well, and do you know where this place was?'
+naming the town.
+
+Paul turned his eyes about for a moment, and then gave the name of a
+county.
+
+'That'll do, Paul.  Which part of England?'
+
+'Midland.'
+
+And so on, Mr. Cope got him out of his depth by asking about the
+rivers, and made him frown and look teased by a question about a
+battle fought in that county.  If he had ever known, he had
+forgotten, and he was weak and easily confused; but Mr. Cope saw that
+he had read some history and learnt some geography, and was not like
+some of the village boys, who used to think Harold had been called
+after Herod--a nice namesake, truly!
+
+'Who taught you all this, Paul?' he said.  'You must have had a
+cleverer master than is common in Unions.  Who was he?'
+
+'He was a Mr. Alcock, Sir.  He was a clever man.  They said in the
+House that he had been a bit of a gentleman, a lawyer, or a clerk, or
+something, but that he could never keep from the bottle.'
+
+'What! and so they keep him for a school-master?'
+
+'He was brought in, Sir; he'd got that mad fit that comes of drink,
+Sir, and was fresh out of gaol for debt.  And when he came to, he
+said he'd keep the school for less than our master that was gone.  He
+couldn't do anything else, you see.'
+
+'And how did he teach you?'
+
+'He knocked us about,' said Paul, drawing his shoulders together with
+an unpleasant recollection; 'he wasn't so bad to me, because I liked
+getting my tasks, and when he was in a good humour, he'd say I was a
+credit to him, and order me in to read to him in the evening.'
+
+'And when he was not?'
+
+'That was when he'd been out.  They said he'd been at the gin-shop;
+but he used to be downright savage,' said Paul.  'At last he never
+thought it worth while to teach any lessons but mine, and I used to
+hear the other classes; but the inspector came all on a sudden, and
+found it out one day when he'd hit a little lad so that his nose was
+bleeding, and so he was sent off.'
+
+'How long ago was this?'
+
+'Going on for a year,' said Paul.
+
+'Didn't the inspector want you to go to a training-school?' said
+Alfred.
+
+'Yes; but the Guardians wouldn't hear of it.'
+
+'Did you wish it?' asked Mr. Cope.
+
+'I liked my liberty, Sir,' was the answer; and Paul looked down.
+
+'Well, and what you do think now you've tried your liberty?'
+
+Paul didn't make any answer, but finding that good-humoured face
+still waiting, he said slowly, 'Why, Sir, it was well-nigh the worst
+of all to find I was getting as stupid as the cows.'
+
+Mr. Cope laughed, but not so as to vex him; and added, 'So that was
+the way you learnt to be a reader, Paul.  Can you tell me what books
+you used to read to this master?'
+
+Paul paused; and Alfred said, '"Uncle Tom's Cabin," Sir; he told us
+the story of that.'
+
+'Yes,' said Paul; 'but that wasn't all:  there was a book about
+Paris, and all the people in the back lanes there; and a German
+prince who came, and was kind.'
+
+'You must not tell them stories out of that book, Paul,' said Mr.
+Cope quickly, for he knew it was a very bad one.
+
+'No, Sir,' said Paul; 'but most times it was books he called
+philosophy, that I couldn't make anything of--no story, and all dull;
+but he was very savage if I got to sleep over them, till I hated the
+sight of them.'
+
+'I'm glad you did, my poor boy,' said Mr. Cope.  'But one thing more.
+Tell me how, with such a man as this, you could have learnt about the
+Bible and Catechism, as you have done.'
+
+'Oh,' said Paul, 'we had only the Bible and Testament to read in the
+school, because they were the cheapest; and the chaplain asked us
+about the Catechism every Sunday.'
+
+'What was the chaplain's name?'
+
+Paul was able, with some recollection, to answer; but he knew little
+about the clergyman, who was much overworked, and seldom able to give
+any time to the paupers.
+
+Three days after, Mr. Cope again came into the post-office.
+
+'Well, Mrs. King, I suppose you don't need to be told that our friend
+Paul has spoken nothing but truth.  The chaplain sends me his
+baptismal registry, for which I asked.  Just seventeen he must be--a
+foundling, picked up at about three weeks old, January 25th, 1836.
+They fancy he was left by some tramping musicians, but never were
+able to trace them--at least, so the chaplain hears from some of the
+people who remember it.  Being so stunted, and looking younger than
+he is, no farmer would take him from the House, and the school-master
+made him useful, so he was kept on till the grand exposure that he
+told us of.'
+
+'Ah!  Sir,' said Mrs. King,' I'm afraid that master was a bad man.  I
+only wonder the poor lad learnt no more harm from him!'
+
+'One trembles to think of the danger,' said Mr. Cope; 'but you see
+there's often a guard over those who don't seek the temptation, and
+perhaps this poor fellow's utter ignorance of anything beyond the
+Union walls helped him to let the mischief pass by his understanding,
+better than if he had had any experience of the world.'
+
+'I doubt if he'll ever have that, Sir,' said Mrs. King, her sensible
+face lighting up rather drolly; 'there's Harold always laughing at
+him for being so innocent, and yet so clever at his book.'
+
+'So much the better for him,' said Mr. Cope.  'The Son of Sirach
+never said a wiser word than that "the knowledge of wickedness is not
+wisdom."  Why, Mrs. King, what have I said? you look as if you had a
+great mind to laugh at me.'
+
+'I beg your pardon, Sir,' said Mrs. King, much disconcerted at what
+seemed to her as if it might have been disrespect, though that was
+only Mr. Cope's droll way of putting it, 'I never meant--'
+
+'Well, but what were you thinking of?'
+
+'Why, Sir, I beg your pardon, but I was thinking it wouldn't have
+been amiss if he had had sense enough to keep himself clean and
+tidy.'
+
+'I agree with you,' said Mr. Cope, laughing, and seeing she used
+'innocent' in a slightly different sense from what he did; 'but
+perhaps Union cleanliness was not inviting, and he'd not had you to
+bring him up to fresh cheeks like Harold's.  Besides, I believe it
+was half depression and want of heart to exert himself, when there
+was no one to care for him; and he certainly had not been taught
+either self-respect, or to think cleanliness next to godliness.'
+
+'Poor lad--no,' said Mrs. King; 'nor I don't think he'd do it again,
+and I trust he'll never be so lost again.'
+
+'Lost, and found,' said Mr. Cope gravely.  'Another thing I was going
+to say was, that this irreverent economy of the Guardians, in
+allowing no lesson-books but the Bible, seems to have, after all,
+been blest to him in his knowledge of it, like an antidote to the
+evil the master poured in.'
+
+'Yes, Sir,' said Mrs. King, 'just so; only he says, that though he
+liked it, because, poor lad, there was nothing else that seemed to
+him to speak kind or soft, he never knew how much it was meant for
+him, nor it didn't seem to touch him home till he came to you, Sir.'
+
+Mr. Cope half turned away.  His bright eyes had something very like a
+tear in them, for hardly anything could have been said to make the
+young clergyman so happy, as to tell him that any work of his should
+be blessed; but he went on talking quickly, to say that the chaplain
+gave a still worse account of Alcock than Paul's had been, saying
+that some gentlemen who had newly become Guardians at the time of the
+inspector's visit, had taken up the matter, and had been perfectly
+shocked at the discoveries they had made about the man to whom the
+poor children had been entrusted.
+
+On his dismissal, some of the old set, who were all for cheapness,
+had talked of letting young Blackthorn act as school-master; but as
+he was so very young, and had been brought up by this wretched man,
+the gentlemen would not hear of it; and as they could not afford to
+accept the inspector's offer of recommending him to a government
+school, he had been sent out in quest of employment, as being old
+enough to provide for himself.  Things had since, the chaplain said,
+been put on a much better footing, and he himself had much more time
+to attend to the inmates.  As to Paul, he was glad to hear that he
+was in good hands; he said he had always perceived him to be a very
+clever boy, and knew no harm of him but that he was a favourite with
+Alcock, which he owned had made him very glad to get him out of the
+House, lest he should carry on the mischief.
+
+Mr. Cope and Mrs. King were both of one mind, that this was hard
+measure.  So it was.  Man's measure always is either over hard or
+over soft, because he cannot see all sides at once.  Now they saw
+Paul's side, his simplicity, and his suffering; the chaplain had only
+seen the chances of his conveying the seeds of ungodly teaching to
+the workhouse children; he could not tell that the pitch which Paul
+had not touched by his own will, had not stuck by him--probably owing
+to that very simplicity which had made him so helpless in common
+life.
+
+Having learnt all this, Mr. Cope proposed to Paul to use the time of
+his recovery in learning as much as he could, so as to be ready in
+case any opportunity should offer for gaining his livelihood by his
+head rather than by his hands.
+
+Paul's face glowed.  He liked nothing better than to be at a book,
+and with Mr. Cope to help him by bright encouragements and good-
+natured explanations instead of tweaks of the ears and raps on the
+knuckles, what could be pleasanter?  So Mr. Cope lent him books, set
+him questions, and gave him pen, ink, and copy-book, and he toiled
+away with them till his senses grew dazed, and his back ached beyond
+bearing; so that 'Mother,' as he called her now, caught him up, and
+made him lie on his bed to rest, threatening to tell Mr. Cope not to
+set him anything so hard; while Ellen watched in wonder at any one
+being so clever, and was proud of whatever Mr. Cope said he did well;
+and Harold looked on him as a more extraordinary creature than the
+pie-bald horse in the show, who wore a hat and stood on his hind
+legs, since he really was vexed when book and slate were taken out of
+his hands.
+
+He would have over-tasked himself in his weakness much more, if it
+had not been for his lovingness to Alfred.  To please Alfred was
+always his first thought; and even if a difficult sum were just on
+the point of proving itself, he would leave off at the first moment
+of seeing Alfred look as if he wanted to be read to, and would miss
+all his calculations, to answer some question--who was going down the
+village, or what that noise could be.
+
+Alfred tried to be considerate, and was sorry when he saw by a furrow
+on Paul's brow that he was trying to win up again all that some
+trifling saying had made him lose.  But Alfred was not scholar enough
+to perceive the teasing of such interruptions, and even had he been
+aware of it, he was not in a state when he could lie quite still long
+together without disturbing any one; he could amuse himself much less
+than formerly, and often had most distressing restless fits, when one
+or other of them had to give him their whole attention; and it was
+all his most earnest efforts could do to keep from the old habit of
+fretfulness and murmuring.  And he grieved so much over the least
+want of temper, and begged pardon so earnestly for the least
+impatient word--even if there had been real provocation for it--that
+it was a change indeed since the time when he thought grumbling and
+complaint his privilege and relief.  Nothing helped him more than
+Paul's reading Psalms to him--the 121st was his favourite--or saying
+over hymns to him in that very sweet voice so full of meaning.
+Sometimes Ellen and Paul would sing together, as she sat at her work,
+and it almost always soothed him to hear the Psalm tunes, that were
+like an echo from the church, about which he had cared so little when
+he had been able to go there in health and strength, but for which he
+now had such a longing!  He came to be so used to depend on their
+singing the Evening Hymn to him, that one of the times when it was
+most hard for him to be patient, was one cold evening, when Ellen was
+so hoarse that she could not speak, and an unlucky draught in from
+the shop door had so knit Paul up again, that he was lying in his
+bed, much nearer screaming than singing.
+
+Most of all, however, was Alfred helped by Mr. Cope's visits, and the
+looking forward to the promised Feast, with more earnestness as the
+time drew on, and he felt his own weakness more longing for the
+support and blessing of uniting his suffering with that of his Lord.
+'In all our afflictions He was afflicted,' was a sound that came most
+cheeringly to him, and seemed to give him greater strength and good-
+will to bear his load of weakness.
+
+There was a book which young Mrs. Selby had given his mother, which
+was often lying on his bed, and had marks in it at all the favourite
+places.  Some he liked to look at himself, some for Paul to read to
+him.  They were such sentences as these:
+
+'My son, I descended from Heaven for thy salvation; I took upon Me
+thy miseries; not necessity, but charity, drawing Me thereto, that
+thou thyself mightest learn patience, and bear temporal miseries
+without grudging.'
+
+'For from the hour of My Birth, even until My Death on the Cross, I
+was not without suffering and grief.'
+
+And then again:
+
+'Offer up thyself unto Me, and give thyself wholly for God, and thy
+offering shall be acceptable.'
+
+'Behold, I offered up Myself wholly unto My Father for thee, and gave
+My whole Body and Blood for thy food, that I might be wholly thine,
+and that thou mightest continue Mine unto the end.'
+
+So he might think of all that he went through as capable of being
+made a free offering, which God would accept for the sake of the One
+Great Offering, 'consuming and burning away' (as the book said) 'all
+his sins with the fire of Christ's love, and cleansing his conscience
+from all offences.'  It was what he now felt in the words, 'Thy Will
+be done,' which he tried to say in full earnest; but he thought he
+should be very happy when he should go along with the offering
+ourselves, our souls, and bodies, to be a 'reasonable, holy, and
+lively sacrifice.'
+
+Each of Mr. Cope's readings brought out or confirmed these refreshing
+hopes; and Paul likewise dwelt on such thoughts.  Hardship had been a
+training to him, like sickness for Alfred; he knew what it was to be
+weary and heavy laden, and to want rest, and was ready to draw closer
+to the only Home and Father that he could claim.  His gentle
+unresisting spirit was one that so readily forgot ill-will, that
+positively Harold cherished more dislike to the Shepherds than he
+did; and there was no struggle to forgive, no lack of charity for all
+men, so that hope and trust were free.
+
+These two boys were a great deal to the young deacon.  Perhaps he
+reckoned on his first ministration as a priest by Alfred's bedside,
+as much or even more than did the lad, for to him the whole household
+were as near and like-minded friends, though neither he nor they ever
+departed from the fitting manners of their respective stations.  He
+was one who liked to share with others what was near his heart, and
+he had shewn Alfred the Service for the Ordination of Priests, and
+the Prayers for Grace that would be offered, and the holy vows that
+he would take upon him, and the words with which those great Powers
+would be conferred--those Powers that our Chief Shepherd left in
+trust for the pastors who feed His flock.
+
+And once he had bent down and whispered to Alfred to pray that help
+might be given to him to use those powers faithfully.
+
+So wore on the early spring; and the morning had come when he was to
+set out for the cathedral town, when Harold rode up to the parsonage
+door, and something in his looks as he passed the window made Mr.
+Cope hasten to the door to meet him.
+
+'O Sir!' said Harold, bursting out crying as he began to speak, 'poor
+Alfred is took so bad; and Mother told me to tell you, Sir--if he's
+not better--he'll never live out the day!'
+
+Poor Harold, who had never seemed to heed his brother's illness, was
+quite overwhelmed now.  It had come upon him all at once.
+
+'What is it?  Has the doctor been?'
+
+'No, Sir; I went in at six o'clock this morning to ask him to come
+out, and he said he'd come--and sent him a blister--but Alf was worse
+by the time I got back, Sir,--he can't breathe--and don't seem to
+notice.'
+
+And without another word, nor waiting for comfort, Harold dug his
+heels into Peggy, passed his elbow over his eyes, and cantered on
+with the tears drying on his face in the brisk March wind.
+
+There was no finishing breakfast for the Curate; he thrust his
+letters into his pocket, caught up his hat, and walked off with long
+strides for the post-office.
+
+It shewed how different things were from usual, that Paul, who had
+hardly yet been four times down-stairs, his thin pointed face all in
+a flush, was the only person in the shop, trying with a very shaky
+hand to cut out some cheese for a great stout farm maid-servant, who
+evidently did not understand what was the matter, and stared doubly
+when the clergyman put his strong hand so as to steady Paul's
+trembling one, and gave his help to fold up the parcel.
+
+'How is he, Paul?'
+
+Paul was very near crying as he answered, 'Much worse, Sir.  Mother
+has been up all night with him.  O Sir! he did so want to live till
+you came home.'
+
+'May I go up?' asked Mr. Cope.
+
+Paul was sure that he might, and crept up after him.  It was bad
+enough, but not quite so bad as Harold, in his fright, had made Mr.
+Cope believe.  Poor boy! it had all come upon him now; and seeing his
+brother unable to speak and much oppressed, he fancied he did not
+know him, whereas Alfred was fully sensible, though too ill to do
+more than lift his eyes, and put out his weak fingers as Mr. Cope
+came into the room, where he was lying raised on his pillows, with
+his mother and sister doing all they could for him.
+
+A terrible pain in the side had come on in the night, making every
+breath painful, every cough agonizing, and his whole face and brow
+were crimson with the effort of gasping.
+
+Paul looked a moment but could not bear it, and went, and sat down on
+the top of the stairs; while Mr. Cope kindly held Alfred's hot hand,
+and Mrs. King, in her low patient tone, told how the attack had
+begun.
+
+She was in the midst, when Mr. Blunt's gig was seen at the gate.  His
+having thus hastened his coming was more than they had dared to hope;
+and while Mrs. King felt grateful for the kindness, Ellen feared that
+it shewed that he thought very badly of the case.
+
+Mr. Cope was much hurried, but he could not bear to go till he had
+heard Mr. Blunt's opinion; so he went down to the kitchen, tried to
+console Paul by talking kindly to him, wrote a note, and read his
+letters.
+
+They were much comforted to hear that Mr. Blunt thought that there
+was hope of subduing the present inflammatory pain; and though there
+was much immediate danger, it was not hastening so very fast to the
+end as they had at first supposed.  Yet, in such a state as Alfred's,
+a few hours might finish all.  There was no saying.
+
+Already, when Mr. Cope went up again, the remedies had given some
+relief; and though the breaths came short and hard, like so many
+stabs, Alfred had put his head into an easier position, and his eyes
+and lips looked more free to look a greeting.  There was so much
+wistful earnestness in his face, and it deeply grieved Mr. Cope to be
+forced to leave him, and in too much haste even to be able to pray
+with him.
+
+'Well, Alfred, dear fellow,' he said, his voice trembling, 'I am come
+to wish you good-bye.  I am comforted to find that Mr. Blunt thinks
+there is good hope that you will be here--that we shall be together
+when I come back.  Yes, I know that is what is on your mind, and I do
+reckon most earnestly on it; but if it should not be His Will--here,
+Ellen, will you take care of this note?  If he should be worse, will
+you send this to Mr. Carter, at Ragglesford? and I know he will come
+at once.'
+
+The dew stood on Alfred's eye-lashes, and his lips worked.  He looked
+up sadly to Mr. Cope, as if this did not answer his longings.
+
+Mr. Cope replied to the look--'Yes, dear boy, but if it cannot be,
+still remember it is Communion.  He can put us together.  We all
+drink into one Spirit.  I shall be engaged in a like manner--I would
+not--I could not go, Alfred, for pleasure--no, nor business--only for
+this.  You must think that I am gone to bring you home the Gift--the
+greatest, best Gift--the one our Lord left with His disciples, to
+bear them through their sorrows and pains--through the light
+affliction that is but for a moment, but worketh an exceeding weight
+of glory.  And if I should not be in time,' he added, nearly sobbing
+as he spoke, 'then--then, Alfred, the Gift, the blessing is yours all
+the same.  It is the Great High Priest to Whom you must look--perhaps
+you may do so the more really if it should not be through--your
+friend.  If we are disappointed, we will make a sacrifice of our
+disappointment.  Good-bye, my boy; God bless you!'  Bending close
+down to his face, he whispered, 'Think of me.  Pray for me--now--
+always.'  Then, rising hastily, he shook the hands of the mother and
+sister, ran down-stairs, and was gone.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII--REST AT LAST
+
+
+
+The east wind had been swept aside by gales from the warm south, and
+the spring was bursting out everywhere; the sky looked softly blue,
+instead of hard and chill; the sun made everything glisten:  the
+hedges were full of catkins; white buds were on the purple twigs of
+the blackthorns; primroses were looking out on the sunny side of the
+road; the larks were mounting up, singing as if they were wild with
+delight; and the sunbeams were full of dancing gnats, as the Curate
+of Friarswood walked, with quick eager steps, towards the bridge.
+
+His eyes were anxiously bent on the house, watching the white smoke
+rising from the chimney; then he hastened on to gain the first sight
+at the upper windows, feeling almost as he could have done had it
+been a brother who lay there; so much was his heart set on the first
+whom he had striven to help through the valley of the shadow of
+death.  The window was open, but the blind was not drawn; and almost
+at the same moment the gate opened, some one looked out, and seeing
+him, waved his hand and arm in joyful signal towards some one within,
+and this gesture set Mr. Cope's heart at rest.
+
+Was it Harold?  No, it was Paul Blackthorn, who stood leaning on the
+wicket, as he held it open for the clergyman, at whom he looked up as
+if expecting some change, and a little surprised to find the same
+voice and manner.
+
+'Well, Paul, then he is not worse?'
+
+'No, Sir, thank you, he is better.  The pain has left him, and he can
+speak again,' said Paul, but not very cheerfully.
+
+'That is a great comfort!  But who's that?' as a head, not Ellen's,
+appeared for a moment at the window.
+
+'That's Miss King, Sir--Miss Matilda!'
+
+'Oh!  Well, and how are the bones, Paul?  Better, I hope, since I see
+you are come out with the bees,' said Mr. Cope, laying his hand
+kindly on his shoulder (a thing fit to touch now, since it was in a
+fustian coat of poor Alfred's), and accommodating his swift strong
+steps to the feeble halt with which Paul still moved.
+
+'Thank you, Sir, yes; I've been down here twice when the sun was
+out,' he said, as if it were a grand undertaking; but then, with a
+sudden smile, 'and poor Caesar knew me, Sir; he came right across the
+road, and wagged his tail, and licked my hand.'
+
+'Good old Caesar!  You were his best friend, Paul.--Well, Mrs. King,
+this is a blessing!'
+
+Mrs. King looked sadly worn out with nursing, and her eyes were full
+of tears.
+
+'Yes, Sir,' she said, 'indeed it is.  My poor darling has been so
+much afraid he was too much set on your coming home, and yet so
+patient and quiet about it.'
+
+'Then you ventured to wait?'
+
+And Mr. Cope heard that the attack of inflammation had given way to
+remedies, but that Alfred was so much weakened, that they could not
+raise him again.  He was sustained by as much nourishment as they
+could give him:  but the disease had made great progress, and Mr.
+Blunt did not think that he could last many days.  His eldest sister
+had come for a fortnight from her place, and was a great comfort to
+them all.  'And so is Paul,' said Mrs. King, looking for him kindly;
+'I don't know what we should do without his help up-stairs and down.
+And, Sir, yesterday,' she added, colouring a good deal--'I beg your
+pardon, but I thought, maybe, you'd like to hear it--Alfred would
+have nobody else up with him in morning church-time--and made him
+read the most--of that Service, Sir.'
+
+Mr. Cope's eyes glistened, and he said something huskily of being
+glad that Alfred could think of it.
+
+It further appeared that Alfred had wished very much to see Miss
+Selby again, and that Mrs. King had sent the two sisters to the
+Grange to talk it over with Mrs. Crabbe, and word had been sent by
+Harold that morning that the young lady would come in the course of
+the afternoon.
+
+Mr. Cope followed Mrs. King up-stairs; Alfred's face lighted up as
+his sister Matilda made way for the clergyman.  He was very white,
+and his breath was oppressed; but his look had changed very much--it
+had a strange, still sort of brightness and peace about it.  He spoke
+in very low tones, just above a whisper, and smiled as Mr. Cope took
+his hand, and spoke to him.
+
+'Thank you, Sir.  It is very nice,' he said.
+
+'I thank God that He has let you wait for me,' said Mr. Cope.
+
+'I am glad,' said Alfred.  'I did want to pray for it; but I thought,
+perhaps, if it was not His Will, I would not--and then what you said.
+And now He is making it all happy.'
+
+'And you do not grieve over your year of illness?'
+
+'I would not have been without it--no,' said Alfred, very quietly,
+but with much meaning.
+
+'"It is good for me that I have been in trouble," is what you mean,'
+said Mr. Cope.
+
+'It has made our Saviour seem--I mean--He is so good to me,' said
+Alfred fervently.
+
+But talking made him cough, and that brought a line in the fair
+forehead so full of peace.  Mr. Cope would not say more to him, and
+asked his mother whether the Feast, for which he had so much longed,
+should be on the following day.  She thought it best that it should
+be so; and Alfred again said, 'Thank you, Sir,' with the serene
+expression on his face.  Mr. Cope read a Psalm and a prayer to him,
+and thinking him equal to no more, went away, pausing, however, for a
+little talk with Paul in the shop.
+
+Paul did not say so, but, poor fellow, he had been rather at a loss
+since Matilda had come.  In herself, she was a very good, humble,
+sensible girl; but she wore a dark silk dress, and looked, moved, and
+spoke much more like a lady than Ellen:  Paul stood in great awe of
+her, and her presence seemed all at once to set him aloof from the
+others.
+
+He had been like one of themselves for the last three months, now he
+felt that he was like a beggar among them; he did not like to call
+Mrs. King mother, lest it should seem presuming; Ellen seemed to be
+raised up the same step as her sister, and even Alfred was almost out
+of his reach; Matilda read to him, and Paul's own good feeling shewed
+him that he would be only in the way if he spent all his time in
+Alfred's room as formerly; so he kept down-stairs in the morning, and
+went to bed very early.  Nobody was in the least unkind to him:  but
+he had just begun to grieve at being a burden so long, and to wonder
+how much longer he should be in getting his health again.  And then
+it might be only to be cast about the world, and to lose his one
+glimpse of home kindness.  Poor boy! he still cried at the thought of
+how happy Alfred was.
+
+He did all he could to be useful, but he could scarcely manage to
+stoop down, could carry nothing heavy, and moved very slowly; and he
+now and then made a dreadful muddle in the shop, when a customer was
+not like Mrs. Hayward, who told him where everything was, and the
+price of all she wanted, as well as Mrs. King could do herself.  He
+could sort the letters and see to the post-office very well; and for
+all his blunders, he did so much by his good-will, that when Mrs.
+King wanted to cheer him up, she declared that he saved her all the
+expense of having in a woman from the village to help, and that he
+did more about the house than Harold.
+
+This was true:  for Harold did not like doing anything but manly
+things, as he called them; whereas Paul did not care what it was, so
+that it saved trouble to her or Ellen.
+
+Talking and listening to Harold was one use of Paul.  Now that it had
+come upon him, and he saw Alfred worse from day to day, the poor boy
+was quite broken-hearted.  Possibly, when at his work, or riding, he
+managed to shake off the remembrance; but at home it always came
+back, and he cried so much at the sight of Alfred, and at any attempt
+of his brother to talk to him, that they could scarcely let him stay
+ten minutes in the room.  Then, when Paul had gone to bed on the
+landing at seven o'clock, he would come and sit on his bed, and talk,
+and cry, and sob about his brother, and his own carelessness of him,
+often till his mother came out and ordered him down-stairs to his own
+bed in the kitchen; and Paul turned his face into the pillow to weep
+himself to sleep, loving Alfred very little less than did his
+brother, but making less noise about it, and feeling very lonely when
+he saw how all the family cared for each other.
+
+So Mr. Cope's kind manner came all the more pleasantly to him; and
+after some talk on what they both most cared about, Mr. Cope said,
+'Paul, Mr. Shaw of Berryton tells me he has a capital school-master,
+but in rather weak health, and he wants to find a good intelligent
+youth to teach under him, and have opportunities of improving
+himself.  Five pounds a year, and board and lodgings.  What do you
+think of it, Paul?'
+
+Paul's sallow face began growing red, and he polished the counter, on
+which he was leaning; then, as Mr. Cope repeated, 'Eh, Paul?' he said
+slowly, and in his almost rude way, 'They wouldn't have me if they
+knew how I'd been brought up.'
+
+'Perhaps they would if they knew what you've come to in spite of
+bringing up.  And,' added Mr. Cope, 'they are not so much pressed for
+time but that they can wait till you've quite forgotten your tumble
+into the Ragglesford.  We must fatten you--get rid of those spider-
+fingers, and you and I must do a few more lessons together--and I
+think Mrs. King has something towards your outfit; and by
+Whitsuntide, I told Mr. Shaw that I thought I might send him what I
+call a very fair sample of a good steady lad.'
+
+Paul did not half seem to take it in--perhaps he was too unhappy, or
+it sounded like sending him away again; or, maybe, such a great step
+in life was more than he could comprehend, after the outcast
+condition to which he had been used:  but Mr. Cope could not go on
+talking to him, for the Grange carriage was stopping at the gate, and
+Matilda and Ellen were both coming down-stairs to receive Miss Jane.
+Poor little thing, she looked very pale and nervous; and as she shook
+hands with the Curate, as he met her in the garden-path, she said
+with a startled manner, 'Oh!  Mr. Cope--were you there?  Am I
+interrupting--?'
+
+'Not at all,' he said.  'I had only called in as I came home, and had
+just come down again.'
+
+'Is it--is it very dreadful?' murmured Jane, with a sort of gasp.
+She was so entirely unused to scenes of sadness or pain, that it was
+very strange and alarming to her, and it was more difficult than ever
+to believe her no younger than Ellen.
+
+'Very far from dreadful or distressing,' said Mr. Cope kindly, for he
+knew it was not her fault that she had been prevented from overcoming
+such feelings, and that this was a great effort of kindness.  'It is
+a very peaceful, soothing sight--he is very happy, and not in a
+suffering state.'
+
+'Oh, will you tell Grandmamma?' said Jane, with her pretty look of
+earnestness; 'she is so much afraid of its much for me, and she was
+so kind in letting me come.'
+
+So Miss Selby went on to the two sisters, and Mr. Cope proceeded to
+the carriage, where Lady Jane had put out her head, glad to be able
+to ask him about the state of affairs.  Having nothing but this
+little grand-daughter left to her, the old lady watched over her with
+almost over-tender care, and was in much alarm both lest the air of
+the sick-room should be unwholesome, or the sight too sorrowful for
+her; and though she was too kind to refuse the wish of the dying boy,
+she had come herself, in order that 'the child,' as she called her,
+might not stay longer than was good for her; and she was much
+relieved to hear Mr. Cope's account of Alfred's calm state, and of
+the freshness of the clean room, in testimony of which he pointed to
+the open window.
+
+'Yes,' she said, 'I hope Mary King was wise enough; but I hardly knew
+how it might be with such a number about the house--that boy and all.
+He is not gone, is he?'
+
+'No, he is not nearly well enough yet, though he does what he can to
+be useful to her.  When he is recovered, I have a scheme for him.'
+
+So Mr. Cope mentioned Mr. Shaw's proposal, by which my Lady set more
+store than did Paul as yet.  Very kind-hearted she was, though she
+did not fancy adopting chance-comers into her parish; and as long as
+he was not saddled upon Mary King, as she said, she was very glad of
+any good for him; so she told Mr. Cope to come to her for what he
+might want to fit him out properly for the situation; and turning her
+keen eyes on him as he stood near the cottage door, pronounced that,
+after all, he was a nice, decent-looking lad enough, which certainly
+her Ladyship would not have said before his illness.
+
+Miss Jane did not stay long.  Indeed, Alfred could not talk to her,
+and she did not know what to say to him; she could only stand by his
+bed, with the tears upon her cheeks, making little murmuring sounds
+in answer to Mrs. King, who said for her son what she thought he
+wished to have said.  Meanwhile, Jane was earnestly looking at him,
+remarking with awe, that, changed as he was since she had last seen
+him--so much more wasted away--the whole look of his face was altered
+by the gentleness and peace that it had gained, so as to be like the
+white figure of a saint.
+
+She could not bear it when Mrs. King told her Alfred wanted to thank
+her for all her kindness in coming to see him.  'Oh, no,' she said,
+'I was not kind at all;' and her tears would not be hindered.  'Only,
+you know, I could not help it.'
+
+Alfred gave her a bright look.  Any one could see what a pleasure it
+was to him to be looking at her again, though he did not repent of
+his share in the sacrifice for Paul's sake.  No, if Paul had been
+given up that Miss Jane might come to him, Alfred would not have had
+the training that made all so sweet and calm with him now.  He turned
+his head to the little picture, and said, 'Thank you, Ma'am, for
+that.  That's been my friend.'
+
+'Yes, indeed it has, Miss Jane,' said his mother.  'There's nothing
+you ever did for him that gave him the comfort that has been.'
+
+'And please, Ma'am,' said Alfred, 'will you tell my Lady--I give her
+my duty--and ask her pardon for having behaved so bad--and Mrs.
+Crabbe--and the rest?'
+
+'I will, Alfred; but every one has forgiven that nonsense long ago.'
+
+'It was very bad of me,' said Alfred, pausing for breath; 'and so it
+was not to mind you--Miss Jane--when you said I was ill for a
+warning.'
+
+'Did I?' said Jane.
+
+'Yes--in hay-time--I mind it--I didn't mind for long--but 'twas true.
+He had patience with me.'
+
+The cough came on, and Jane knew she must go; her grandmother had
+bidden her not to stay if it were so, and she just ventured to
+squeeze Alfred's hand, and then went down-stairs, checking her tears,
+to wish Matilda and Ellen good-bye; and as she passed by Paul, told
+him not to uncover his still very short-haired head, and kindly hoped
+he was better.
+
+Paul, in his dreary feelings, hardly thought of Mr. Cope's plan,
+till, as he was getting the letters ready for Harold, he turned up
+one in Mr. Cope's writing, addressed to the 'Rev. A. Shaw, Berryton,
+Elbury.'
+
+'That's to settle for me, then,' he said; and Harold who was at tea,
+asking, 'What's that?' he explained.
+
+'Well,' said Harold, 'every one to his taste!  I wouldn't go to
+school again, not for a hundred pounds; and as to KEEPING school!'
+(Such a face as he made really caused Paul to smile.)  'Nor you don't
+half like it, neither,' continued Harold.  'Come, you'd better stay
+and get work here!  I'd sooner be at the plough-tail all day, than
+poke out my eyes over stuff like that,' pointing to Paul's slate,
+covered with figures.  'Here, Nelly,' as she moved about, tidying the
+room, 'do you hear?  Mr. Cope's got an offer of a place for Paul--
+five pounds a year, and board and lodging, to be school-master's
+whipper-in, or what d'ye call it?'
+
+'What do you say, Harold?' cried Ellen, putting her hands on the back
+of a chair, quite interested.  'You going away, Paul?'
+
+'Mr. Cope says so--and I must get my living, you know,' said Paul.
+
+'But not yet; you are not well enough yet,' said the kind girl.  'And
+where did you say--?'
+
+'To Berryton.'
+
+'Berryton--oh! that's just four miles out on the other side of
+Elbury, where Susan Congleton went to live that was housemaid at the
+Grange.  She says it's such a nice place, and such beautiful organ
+and singing at church!  And what did you say you were to be, Paul?'
+
+'I'm to help the school-master.'
+
+'Gracious me!' cried Ellen.  'Why, such a scholar as you are, you'll
+be quite a gentleman yet, Paul.  Why, they school-masters get fifty
+or sixty pounds salaries sometimes.  I protest it's the best thing
+I've heard this long time!  Was it Mr. Cope's doing, or my Lady's?'
+
+'Mr. Cope's,' said Paul, beginning to think he had been rather less
+grateful than he ought.
+
+'Ah! it is like him,' said Ellen, 'after all the pains he has taken
+with you.  And you'll not be so far off, Paul:  you'll come to see us
+in the holidays, you know.'
+
+'To be sure he will,' said Harold; 'or if he don't, I shall go and
+fetch him.'
+
+'Of course he will,' said Ellen, with her hand on Paul's chair, and
+speaking low and affectionately to console him, as she saw him so
+downcast; 'don't you know how poor Alfy says he's come to be instead
+of a son to Mother, and a brother to us?  I must go up and tell Alf
+and mother.  They'll be so pleased.'
+
+Paul felt very differently about the plan now.  All the house
+congratulated him upon it, and Matilda evidently thought more of him
+now that she found he was to have something to do.  But such things
+as these were out of sight beside that which was going on in the room
+above.
+
+Alfred slept better that night, and woke so much revived, that they
+thought him better:  and Harold, greatly comforted about him, stood
+tolerably quietly by his side, listening to one or two things that
+Alfred had longed for months past to say to him.
+
+'Promise me, Harold dear, that you'll be a good son to Mother:
+you'll be the only one now.'
+
+Harold made a bend of his head like a promise.
+
+'O Harold, be good to her!' went on Alfred earnestly; 'she's had so
+much trouble!  I do hope God will leave you to her--if you are steady
+and good.  Do, Harold!  She's not like some, as don't care what their
+lads get to.  And don't take after me, and be idle!  Be right-down
+good, Harold, as Paul is; and when you come to be ill--oh! it won't
+be so bad for you as it was for me!'
+
+'I do want to be good,' sighed Harold.  'If I'd only been confirmed;
+but 'twas all along of them merries last summer!'
+
+'And I was such a plague to you--I drove you out,' said Alfred.
+
+'No, no, I was a brute to you!  Oh! Alfy, Alfy, if I could only get
+back the time!'
+
+He was getting to the sobs that hurt his brother; and his sister was
+going to interfere; but Alfred said:
+
+'Never mind, Harold dear, we've been very happy together, and we'll
+always love each other.  You'll not forget Alf, and you'll be
+Mother's good son to take care of her!  Won't you?'
+
+So Harold gave that promise, and went away with his tears.  Poor
+fellow, now was his punishment for having slighted the Confirmation.
+Like Esau, an exceeding bitter cry could not bring back what he had
+lightly thrown away.  Well was it for him that this great sorrow came
+in time, and that it was not altogether his birthright that he had
+parted with.  He found he could not go out to his potato-planting and
+forget all about it, as he would have liked to have done--something
+would not let him; and there he was sitting crouched up and sorrowful
+on the steps of the stairs, when Mr. Cope and all the rest were
+gathered in Alfred's room, a church for the time.  Matilda and Ellen
+had set out the low table with the fair white cloth, and Mr. Cope
+brought the small cups and paten, which were doubly precious to him
+for having belonged to his father, and because the last time he had
+seen them used had been for his father's last Communion.
+
+Now was the time to feel that a change had really passed over the
+young pastor in the time of his absence.  Before, he could only lead
+Alfred in his prayers, and give him counsel, tell him to hope in his
+repentance, and on what that hope was founded.  Now that he had bent
+beneath the hand of the Bishop, he had received, straight down from
+the Twelve, the Power from on High.  It was not Mr. Cope, but the
+Lord Who had purchased that Pardon by His own most Precious Blood,
+Who by him now declared to Alfred that the sins and errors of which
+he had so long repented, were pardoned and taken away.  The Voice of
+Authority now assured him of what he had been only told to hope and
+trust before.  And to make the promise all the more close and
+certain, here was the means of becoming a partaker of the Sacrifice--
+here was that Bread and that Cup which shew forth the Lord's Death
+till He come.  It was very great rest and peace, the hush that was
+over the quiet room, with only Alfred's hurried breath to be heard
+beside Mr. Cope's voice as he spoke the blessed words, and the low
+responses of the little congregation.  Paul was close beside Alfred--
+he would have him there between his mother and the wall--and the two
+whose first Communion it was, were the last to whom Mr. Cope came.
+To one it was to be the Food for the passage into the unseen world;
+to the other might it be the first partaking of the Manna to support
+him through the wilderness of this life.
+
+'From the highways and hedges,' here was one brought into the
+foretaste of the Marriage Supper.  Ah! there was one outside, who had
+loved idle pleasure when the summons had been sent to him.  Perhaps
+the misery he was feeling now might be the means of sparing him from
+missing other calls, and being shut out at last.
+
+It seemed to fulfil all that Alfred had wished.  He lay still between
+waking and sleeping for a long time afterwards, and then begged for
+Paul to read to him the last chapters of the Book of Revelation.
+Matilda wished to read them for him; but he said, 'Paul, please.'
+Paul's voice was fuller and softer when it was low; his accent helped
+the sense, and Alfred was more used to them than to his visitor
+sister.  Perhaps there was still another reason, for when Paul came
+to the end, and was turning the leaves for one of Alfred's favourite
+bits, he saw Alfred's eyes on him, as if he wanted to speak.  It was
+to say, 'Brothers quite now, Paul!  Thank you.  I think God must have
+sent you to help me.'
+
+Alfred seemed better all the evening, and they went to bed in good
+spirits; but at midnight, Mr. Cope, who was very deeply studying and
+praying, the better to fit himself for his new office in the
+ministry, was just going to shut his book, and go up to bed, when he
+heard a tremulous ring at the bell.
+
+It was Harold, his face looking very white in the light from Mr.
+Cope's candle.
+
+'Oh! please, Sir,' he said, 'Alfred is worse; and Mother said, if
+your light wasn't out, you'd like to know.'
+
+'I am very grateful to her,' said Mr. Cope; and taking up his plaid,
+he wrapped one end round the boy, and put his arm round him, as he
+felt him quaking as Paul had done before, but not crying--too much
+awe-struck for that.  He said that his mother thought something had
+broken in the lungs, and that he would be choked.  Mr. Cope made the
+more haste, that he might judge if the doctor would be of any use.
+
+Paul was sitting up in his bed--they had not let him get up--but his
+eyes were wide open with distress, as he plainly heard the loud sob
+that each breath had become.  Mrs. King was holding Alfred up in her
+arms; Matilda was trying to chafe his feet; Ellen was kneeling with
+her face hidden.
+
+The light of sense and meaning was not gone from Alfred's eyes,
+though the last struggle had come.  He gave a look as though he were
+glad to see Mr. Cope, and then gazed on his brother.  Mrs. King
+signed to Harold to come nearer, and whispered, 'Kiss him.'  His
+sisters had done so, and he had missed Harold.  Then Mr. Cope prayed,
+and Alfred's eyes at first owned the sounds; but soon they were
+closed, and the long struggling breaths were all that shewed that the
+spirit was still there.
+
+'He shall swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God shall wipe
+away tears from all eyes.'
+
+One moment, and the blue eyes they knew so well were opened and
+smiling on his mother, and then -
+
+It was over; and through affliction and pain, the young spirit had
+gone to rest!
+
+The funeral day was a very sore one to Paul Blackthorn.  He would
+have given the world to be there, and have heard the beautiful words
+of hope which received his friend to his resting-place, but he could
+not get so far.  He had tried to carry a message to a house not half
+so far off as the church, but his knees seemed to give way under him,
+and his legs ached so much that he could hardly get home.  Somehow, a
+black suit, just such as Harold's, had come home for him at the same
+time; but this could not hinder him from feeling that he was but a
+stranger, and one who had no real place in the home where he lived.
+There was the house full of people, who would only make their remarks
+on him--Miss Hardman (who was very critical of the coffin-plate), the
+school-master, and some of the upper-servants of the house--and poor
+Mrs. King and Matilda, who could not help being gratified at the
+attention to their darling, were obliged to go down and be civil to
+them; while Ellen, less used to restraint, was shut into her own room
+crying; and Harold was standing on the stairs, very red, but a good
+deal engaged with his long hat-band.  Poor Paul! he had not even his
+usual refuge--his own bed to lie upon and hide his face--for that had
+been taken away to make room for the coffin to be carried down.
+
+There, they were going at last, when it had seemed as if the bustle
+and confusion would never cease.  There was Alfred leaving the door
+where he had so often played, carried upon the shoulders of six lads
+in white frocks, his old school-fellows and Paul's Confirmation
+friends.  How Paul envied them for doing him that last service!
+There was his mother, always patient and composed, holding Harold's
+arm--Harold, who must be her stay and help, but looking so slight, so
+boyish, and so young, then the two girls, Ellen so overpowered with
+crying that her sister had to lead her; Mrs. Crabbe with Betsey
+Hardman, who held up a great white handkerchief, for other people's
+visible grief always upset her, as she said; and besides, she felt it
+a duty to cry at such a time; and the rest two and two, quite a
+train, in their black suits:  how unlike the dreary pauper funerals
+Paul had watched away at Upperscote!  That respectable look seemed to
+make him further off and more desolate, like one cut off, whom no one
+would follow, no one would weep for.  Alfred, who had called him a
+brother, was gone, and here he was alone!
+
+The others were taking their dear one once more to the church where
+they had so often prayed that he might have a happy issue out of all
+his afflictions.
+
+They were met by Mr. Cope, ending his loving intercourse with Alfred
+by reading out the blessed promise of Resurrection--the assurance
+that the body they were sowing in weakness would be raised in power;
+so that the noble boy, whom they had seen fade away like a drooping
+flower, would rise again blossoming forth in glory, after the Image
+of the Incorruptible--that Image, thought Mr. Cope, as he read on,
+which he faithfully strove to copy even through the sufferings due to
+the corruptible.  His voice often shook and faltered.  He had never
+before read that Service; and perhaps, except for those of his own
+kin, it could never be a greater effort to him, going along with
+Alfred as he had done, holding up the rod and staff that bore him
+through the dark valley.  And each trembling of his tone seemed to
+answer something that the mother was feeling in her peaceful,
+hopeful, thankful grief--yes, thankful that she could lay her once
+high-spirited and thoughtless boy in his grave, with the same sure
+and certain hope of a joyful Resurrection, as that ripe and earnest-
+minded Christian his father, or his little innocent brother.  It was
+peace--awful peace, indeed, but soothing even to Ellen and Harold,
+new as they were to grief.
+
+But to poor Paul at home, out of hearing of the words of hope, only
+listening to the melancholy toll of the knell, and quite alone in the
+disarranged forlorn house, there seemed nothing to take off the edge
+of misery.  He was not wanted to keep Alfred company now, nor to read
+to him--no one needed him, no one cared for him.  He wandered up to
+where Alfred had lain so long, as if to look for the pale quiet face
+that used to smile to him.  There was nothing but the bed-frame and
+mattress!  He threw himself down on it and cried.  He did not well
+know why--perhaps the chief feeling was that Alfred was gone away to
+rest and bliss, and he was left alone to be weary and without a
+friend.
+
+At last the crying began to spend itself, and he turned and looked
+up.  There was Alfred's little picture of the Crucified still on the
+wall, and the words under it, 'For us!'  Paul's eye fell on it; and
+somehow it brought to mind what Alfred had said to him on Christmas
+Day.  There was One Who had no home on earth; there was One Who had
+made Himself an outcast and a wanderer, and Who had not where to lay
+His Head.  Was not He touched with a fellow-feeling for the lonely
+boy?  Would He not help him to bear his friendless lot as a share of
+His own Cross?  Nay, had He not raised him up friends already in his
+utmost need?  'There is a Friend Who sticketh closer than a brother.'
+He was the Friend that Paul need never lose, and in Whom he could
+still meet his dear Alfred.  These thoughts, not quite formed, but
+something like them, came gently as balm to the poor boy, and though
+they brought tears even thicker than the first burst of lonely
+sorrow, they were as peaceful as those shed beside the grave.  Though
+Paul was absent in the body, this was a very different shutting out
+from Harold's on last Tuesday.
+
+Paul must have cried himself to sleep, for he did not hear the
+funeral-party return, and was first roused by Mrs. King coming up-
+stairs.  He had been so much used to think of this as Alfred's room,
+that he had never recollected that it was hers; and now that she was
+come up for a moment's breathing-time, he started up ashamed and
+shocked at being so caught.
+
+But good motherly Mrs. King saw it all, and how he had been weeping
+where her child had so long rested.  Indeed, his face was swelled
+with crying, and his voice all unsteady.
+
+'Poor lad! poor lad!' she said kindly, 'you were as fond of him as
+any of them; and if we wanted anything else to make you one of us,
+that would do it.'
+
+'O Mother,' said Paul, as she kindly put her hand on him, 'I could
+not bear it--I was so lost--till I looked at THAT,' pointing to the
+little print.
+
+'Ay,' said Mrs. King, as she wiped her quiet tears, 'that Cross was
+Alfred's great comfort, and so it is to us all, my boy, whatever way
+we have to carry it, till we come to where he is gone.  No cross, no
+crown, they say.'
+
+Perhaps it was not bad for any one that this forlorn day had given
+Paul a fresh chill, which kept him in bed for nearly a week, so as
+gently to break the change from her life of nursing to Mrs. King, and
+make him very happy and peaceful in her care.
+
+And when at last on a warm sunny Sunday, Paul Blackthorn returned
+thanks in church for his recovery--ay, and for a great deal besides--
+he had no reason to think that he was a stranger cared for by no one.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII--SIX YEARS LATER
+
+
+
+It is a beautiful morning in Easter week.  The sun is shining on the
+gilded weathercock, which flashes every time it veers from south to
+west; the snowdrops are getting quite out of date, and the buttercups
+and primroses have it all their own way; the grass is making a start,
+and getting quite long upon the graves in Friarswood churchyard.
+
+'Really, I should have sent in the Saxon monarch to tidy us up!' says
+to himself the tall young Rector, as he stepped over the stile with
+one long stride; 'but I suppose he is better engaged.'
+
+That tall young Rector is the Reverend Marcus Cope, six years older,
+but young still.  The poor old Rector, Mr. John Selby, died four
+years ago abroad; and Lady Jane and Miss Selby's other guardians gave
+the living to Mr. Cope, to the great joy of all the parish, except
+the Shepherds, who have never forgiven him for their own usage of
+their farming boy, nor for the sermon he neither wrote nor preached.
+
+The Saxon monarch means one Harold King, who looks after the Rectory
+garden and horse, as well as the post-office and other small matters.
+
+The clerk is unlocking the church, and shaking out the surplice, and
+Mr. Cope goes into the vestry, takes out two big books covered with
+green parchment, and sees to the pen.  It is a very good one, judging
+by the writing of the last names in that book.  They are Francis
+Mowbray and Jane Arabella Selby.
+
+'Captain and Mrs. Mowbray will be a great blessing to the place, if
+they go on as they have begun,' thinks Mr. Cope.  'How happy they are
+making old Lady Jane, and how much more Mrs. Mowbray goes among the
+cottages now that she does more as she pleases.'
+
+Then Mr. Cope goes to the porch and looks out.  He sees two men
+getting over the stile.  One is a small slight person, in very good
+black clothes, not at all as if they were meant to ape a gentleman,
+and therefore thoroughly respectable.  He has a thin face, rather
+pointed as to the chin and nose, and the eyes dark and keen, so that
+it would be over-sharp but that the mouth looks so gentle and
+subdued, and the whole countenance is grave and thoughtful.  You
+could not feel half so sure that he is a certificated school-master,
+as you can that his very brisk-looking companion is so.
+
+'Good morning, Mr. Brown.--Good morning, Paul,' said Mr. Cope.  'I
+did not expect to see you arrive in this way.'
+
+The grave face glitters up in a merry look of amusement, while, with
+a little colouring, he answers:
+
+'Why, Sir, Matilda said it was the proper thing, and so we supposed
+she knew best.'
+
+There are not so many people who DO talk of Paul now.  Most people
+know him as Mr. Blackthorn, late school-master at Berryton, where the
+boys liked him for his bright and gentle yet very firm ways; the
+parents, for getting their children on, and helping them to be
+steady; and the clergyman, for being so perfectly to be trusted, so
+anxious to do right, and, while efficient and well informed,
+perfectly humble and free from conceit.  Now he has just got an
+appointment to Hazleford school, in another diocese, with a salary of
+fifty pounds a year; but, as Charles Hayward would tell you, 'he
+hasn't got one bit of pride, no more than when he lived up in the
+hay-loft.'
+
+There is not long to wait.  There is another party getting over the
+stile.  There is a very fine tall youth first.  As Betsey Hardman
+tells her mother, 'she never saw such a one for being fine-growed and
+stately to look at, since poor Charles King when he wore his best
+wig.'  A very nice open honest face, and as merry a pair of blue eyes
+as any in the parish, does Harold wear, nearly enough to tell you
+that, if in these six years it would be too much to say he has never
+done ANYTHING to vex his mother, yet in the main his heart is in the
+right place--he is a very good son, very tender to her, and steady
+and right-minded.
+
+Whom is he helping over the stile?  Oh, that is Mrs. Mowbray's pretty
+little maid! a very good young thing, whom she has read with and
+taught; and here, lady-like and delicate-looking as ever, is Matilda.
+Bridemaids before the bride! that's quite wrong; but the bride has a
+shy fit, and would not get over first, and Matilda and Harold are,
+the one encouraging her, the other laughing at her; and Mr.
+Blackthorn turns very red, and goes down the path to meet her, and
+she takes his arm, and Harold takes Lucy, and Mr. Brown Miss King.
+
+Very nice that bride looks, with her hair so glossy under her straw
+bonnet trimmed with white, her pretty white shawl, and quiet purple
+silk dress, her face rather flushed, but quiet-looking, as if she
+were growing more like her mother, with something of her sense and
+calmness.
+
+How Mr. Blackthorn ever came to ask her that question, nobody can
+guess, and Harold believes he does not know himself.  However, it got
+an answer two years ago, and Mrs. King gave her consent with all her
+heart, though she knew Betsey Hardman would talk of picking a husband
+up out of the gutter, and that my Lady would look severe, and say
+something of silly girls.  Yes--and though the rich widower bailiff
+had said sundry civil things of Miss Ellen being well brought up and
+notable--'For,' as Mrs. King wrote to Matilda, 'I had rather see
+Ellen married to a good religious man than to any one, and I do not
+know one I can be so sure of as Paul, nor one that is so like a son
+to me; and if he has no friends belonging to him, that is better than
+bad friends.'  And Ellen herself, from looking on him as a mere boy,
+as she had done at their first acquaintance, had come to thinking no
+one ever had been so wise or so clever, far less so good, certainly
+not so fond of her--so her answer was no great wonder.  Then they
+were to be prudent, and wait for some dependence; and so they did
+till Mr. Shaw recommended Paul Blackthorn for Hazleford school, where
+there is a beautiful new house for the master, so that he will have
+no longer to live in lodgings, and be 'done for,' as the saying is.
+Harold tells Ellen that he is afraid that without her he won't wash
+above once in four months; but however that may be, she is convinced
+that the new school-house will be lost on him, and that in spite of
+all his fine arithmetic, his fifty pounds will never go so far for
+one as for two; and so she did not turn a deaf ear to his entreaties
+that she would not send him alone to Hazleford.
+
+They wanted very much to get 'Mother' to come and live with them,
+give up the post-office, and let Harold live in Mr. Cope's house; but
+Mother has a certain notion that Harold's stately looks and perfect
+health might not last, if she were not always on the watch to put him
+into dry clothes if he comes in damp, and such like 'little fidgets,'
+as he calls them, which he would not attend to from any one but
+Mother.  So she will keep on the shop and the post-office, and try to
+break in that uncouth girl of John Farden's to be a tidy little maid;
+and Mr. and Mrs. Blackthorn will spend their holidays with her and
+Harold.  She may come to them yet in time, if, as Paul predicts,
+Master Harold takes up with Lucy at the Grange--but there's time
+enough to think of that; and even if he should, it would take many
+years to make Lucy into such a Mrs. King as she who is now very busy
+over the dinner at home, but thinking about a good deal besides the
+dinner.
+
+There!  Paul and Ellen have stood and knelt in an earnest reverent
+spirit, making their vows to one another and before God, and His
+blessing has been spoken upon them to keep them all their lives
+through.
+
+It is with a good heart of hope that Mr. Cope speaks that blessing,
+knowing that, as far as human eye can judge, here stands a man who
+truly feareth the Lord, and beside him a woman with the ornament of a
+meek and quiet spirit.
+
+They are leaving the church now, the bridegroom and his bride, arm in
+arm, but they turn from the path to the wicket, and Harold will not
+let even Matilda follow them.  Just by the south wall of the church
+there are three graves, one a very long one, one quite short, one of
+middle length.  The large one has a head-stone, with the names of
+Charles King, aged forty years, and Charles King, aged seven years.
+The middle-sized one has a stone cross, and below it 'Alfred King,
+aged sixteen years,' and the words, 'In all their afflictions He was
+afflicted.'
+
+It was Matilda who paid the cost of that stone, Miss Selby who drew
+the pattern of it, and 'Mother' who chose the words, as what Alfred
+himself loved best.  At the bottom of Ellen's best work-box is a copy
+of verses about that very cross.  She thinks they ought to have been
+carved out upon it, but Paul knows a great deal better, so all she
+could do was to write them out on a sheet of note-paper with a wide
+lace border, and keep them as her greatest treasure.  Perhaps she
+prizes them even more than the handsome watch that Mr. Shaw gave
+Paul, though less, of course, than the great Bible and Prayer-book,
+in which Mr. Cope has waited till this morning to write the names of
+Paul and Ellen Blackthorn.
+
+So they stand beside the cross, and read the words, and they neither
+of them can say anything, though the white sweet face is before the
+eyes of their mind at the same time, and Ellen thinks she loves Paul
+twice as much for having been one of his great comforts.
+
+'Good-bye, Alfred dear,' she whispers at last.
+
+'No, not good-bye,' says Paul.  'He is as much with us as ever,
+wherever we are.  Remember how we were together, Ellen.  I have
+always thought of him at every Holy Communion since, and have felt
+that if till now, no one living--at least one at rest, were mine by
+right.'
+
+Ellen pressed his arm.
+
+'Yes,' said Paul; 'the months I spent with Alfred were the great help
+and blessing of my life.  I don't believe any recollection has so
+assisted to guard me in all the frets and temptations there are in a
+life like mine.'
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Friarswood Post Office
+by Charlotte M. Yonge
+
diff --git a/old/frwps10.zip b/old/frwps10.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59a1dd2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/frwps10.zip