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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31498-h.zip b/31498-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c500187 --- /dev/null +++ b/31498-h.zip diff --git a/31498-h/31498-h.htm b/31498-h/31498-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8294940 --- /dev/null +++ b/31498-h/31498-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2956 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of A Little Hero, by Mrs. Musgrave +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; } + +P.letter {text-indent: 4%; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +H3.h3center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Hero, by Mrs. H. Musgrave + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Little Hero + +Author: Mrs. H. Musgrave + +Illustrator: H. M. Brock + +Release Date: March 4, 2010 [EBook #31498] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE HERO *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-cover"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-cover.jpg" ALT="Cover art" BORDER="2" WIDTH="407" HEIGHT="620"> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="JEFF LEARNS THAT HE IS TO BE SENT TO ENGLAND" BORDER="2" WIDTH="402" HEIGHT="605"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 402px"> +JEFF LEARNS THAT HE IS TO BE SENT TO ENGLAND +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +A Little Hero +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +MRS. MUSGRAVE +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Author of "In Cloudland" "The Lost Thimble" &c. +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED +<BR> +LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY +<BR> +1887 +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Printed and bound in Great Britain</I> +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<B>Little Miss Vanity</B>. Mrs. Henry Clarke.<BR> +<B>What Hilda Saw</B>. Penelope Leslie.<BR> +<B>Kitty Carroll</B>. L. E. Tiddeman.<BR> +<B>Rosa's Repentance</B>. L. E. Tiddeman.<BR> +<B>The Coral Island</B>. R. M. Ballantyne.<BR> +<B>The Two Prisoners</B>. G. A. Henty.<BR> +<B>Among the Bushrangers</B>. G. A. Henty.<BR> +<B>Manco, the Peruvian Chief</B>. W. H. G. Kingston.<BR> +<B>An Indian Raid</B>. G. A. Henty.<BR> +<B>The World of Ice</B>. R. M. Ballantyne.<BR> +<B>The Loss of the "Agra"</B>. Charles Reade.<BR> +<B>Charlie Marryat</B>. G. A. Henty.<BR> +<B>Martin Rattler</B>. R. M. Ballantyne.<BR> +<B>The Young Captain</B>. G. A. Henty.<BR> +<B>Up the Rainbow Stairs</B>. Sheila E. Braine.<BR> +<B>A Little Hero</B>. Mrs. Musgrave.<BR> +<B>The Skipper</B>. E. E. Cuthell.<BR> +<B>A Highland Chief</B>. G. A. Henty.<BR> +</P> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BLACKIE AND SON, LIMITED +</H4> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +A LITTLE HERO +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<P> +He was eight years old, and his name was Geoffry. But everyone called +him Jeff. The gentle lady who was his mother had no other children, +and she loved him more than words can say; not because he was a good or +pretty child—for he was neither—but because he was her one little +child. +</P> + +<P> +Jeff had big wide-awake, brown eyes, that seemed as if they never could +look sleepy. His hair was yellow, but cut so short that it could not +curl at all. +</P> + +<P> +This was very sensible, for he lived in the hottest part of India. But +his mother certainly thought more about keeping him cool and +comfortable than about his good looks. His hair would have made soft +and pretty curls all over his head if allowed to grow longer. Jeff had +no black nurse, like most little boys have in India. An old +Scotchwoman called Maggie, who had left her northern home with Jeff's +mother when she was married, did everything for the little boy that was +required. She certainly had a great deal of mending to do, for Jeff +was active and restless, and tore his clothes and wore holes in his +stockings very often. And Maggie was not always very good-tempered, +and used to scold the little master for very trifling matters. +</P> + +<P> +But she loved her lady's child dearly for all that, and Jeff very well +knew that she loved him and that her cross words did not mean much. +</P> + +<P> +I think everyone in his home loved the little lad. He was so merry and +bright, so fearless of danger, so honest and bold in speech, that he +won all hearts. +</P> + +<P> +His life had been a very happy one till now. But one day all the +brightness and happiness came suddenly to an end, and Jeff thought that +he could never feel quite so light-hearted again. He could never be +sure that anything would last. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother dear, do tell me, why are you getting me so many new clothes?" +he said one morning, resting his elbow on his mother's knee, and +playing with the soft blue ribbons that trimmed her white dress. +</P> + +<P> +Upon the table there was quite a big heap of new shirts and dozens of +stockings all waiting to be marked. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure I cannot wear all these things here, because they are quite +thick and warm, and I know we are not going to the hills this summer, +for I heard father say he could not afford it." +</P> + +<P> +Maggie came in at this moment with another tray piled up with collars +and handkerchiefs. Then the mother put down her book and drew her +little boy's head closer to her breast. He could hear her watch +ticking now. Jeff heard, and felt too, that her heart was beating +quickly. He smiled upwards at the loving grave eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"But you know you haven't been running, mother." And he laid his +little brown hand against her breast. Poor heart! aching with a grief +it dared not express, bursting with an anguish it had long concealed. +</P> + +<P> +"My little lad, how can I let you go from me?" she said very softly, +still holding him near to her. He raised himself out of her arms +quickly and looked with wondering eyes at Maggie and the heap of +clothes. +</P> + +<P> +"Where to? Where am I going?" he said, with all a child's eager +curiosity shining in his eyes. "But not without you, mother?" +</P> + +<P> +Then the poor mother turned away with a sob, saying, +</P> + +<P> +"Maggie, you tell him. I can't—I can't." +</P> + +<P> +And when Jeff recovered his astonishment he saw that his mother had +gone out of the room. +</P> + +<P> +"My bairn, we're going over the water together—you and me—to +England—to your grandmother's." +</P> + +<P> +Old Maggie's nose was rather red, and it seemed to Jeff, not used to +associate her with sentiment, that her voice sounded queer and choky. +What could it all mean? +</P> + +<P> +"Who is going?" he demanded imperatively. "Father and mother, and you +and me, I s'pose?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Maggie, beginning to sniff, "your father isn't going." +</P> + +<P> +"Then mother is going, and you too, Maggie, will be there to mend my +clothes," he said in a satisfied way. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, I'll gang wi' ye, my bairn, my bonnie laddie—I'll no leave +ye in a strange land by yersel'—but not your mother." +</P> + +<P> +Jeff threw a look of extreme disdain towards the guardian of his +wardrobe, and cried out angrily: +</P> + +<P> +"Not mother! I don't believe you, Maggie. You can't know anything +about it. Mother <I>must</I> be going. You know she has never left me +since I was born." +</P> + +<P> +Then he flew to the door and shouted down the passage in a boisterous +way, his pale face growing quite red and angry with excitement. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother, you <I>are</I> going to England. Say you <I>are</I> going, and that +Maggie doesn't know." +</P> + +<P> +No answer came. Perhaps in that short silence a dim presentiment of +the terrible truth was felt by this little boy, so soon to be separated +from all he so fondly loved. +</P> + +<P> +Jeff was soon rattling the door-handle of his mother's room in his +usual impetuous way. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother, mother, open quickly!" +</P> + +<P> +There never was a repulse to that appeal. But the door was opened +without even a gentle word of expostulation, and Jeff was drawn into a +darkened room. The mother had got up from her sofa, for there was a +mark on the cushion where her head had been. She stood in the middle +of the room, now quite still, with her arms thrown about her boy. He +did not see at once how very pale she looked, nor did he notice how her +lips trembled. +</P> + +<P> +"You will not send me away from you, mother. Oh, I will be good. I +will never be naughty or troublesome any more if you will come to +England with me. Mother, I <I>promise</I>. I cannot go without you; oh no, +I cannot!" +</P> + +<P> +Jeff was sobbing loudly now. The silence oppressed him. He felt +instinctively that a solemn time had come in his life. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not break my heart, my boy. Come on the sofa and sit beside me, +and I will try and tell you what you must know." +</P> + +<P> +Then as he sat very close to her, clasping her thin hands in his own +feverish little fingers, she told him why it must be. Jeff knew quite +well that a great many children were sent to England from this station +in the plains and that they never came back. He had lost many little +companions in this way, not when they were quite babies, but just after +they began to run about and to grow amusing. There were none as old as +he was left here. +</P> + +<P> +When his gentle mother began to remind him of the last summer's heat, +and recalled how he sickened and drooped in the sultry breathless days, +he remembered all he had suffered and how very tired and languid he +felt. Now the summer would soon be here again, for it was the end of +March already, and the doctor had said that if Jeff was not sent away +to a cooler climate he would certainly die. +</P> + +<P> +"We are not rich, my darling, your father and I, and he must stay here +this year through the summer. I could not take you up to the hills as +I did last year when you were so ill. You are everything to me—you +are all I have got, my darling—" her voice broke a little. "You would +certainly get ill again, and you might even leave me altogether—you +might die—if I kept you here. Your grandmama knows my trouble, and +she has written to ask me to send you to her. You will live with them +all at Loch Lossie till some day we can come home." The pretty lady +sighed and pushed her soft brown hair away from her forehead. +</P> + +<P> +"Two or three years, Jeff, my darling, will pass soon—to you and me. +I shall hope to hear that you are growing strong and well, and that you +are mother's own brave lad, waiting patiently till she is able to meet +you again. Be a man—do not grieve me now, my own little lad, by any +tears. There are many things I want to say to you before you go, and +if you cry—well—I cannot say them." +</P> + +<P> +The little boy's face was quite hidden on his mother's knee. She felt +him sob once or twice, and then all was quite still in this great shady +room. So still that at last the poor mother thought her noisy active +Jeff must have fallen asleep. Her hand was resting on his head, while +her beautiful sad eyes gazed through the open window and across the +parched bit of garden towards the high hills far away. Oh! if only she +could take her child up there to the mountains and rest peacefully with +him near the melting snows, and see the colour come back to his pale +cheeks in the beautiful green gardens. She did hot weep, though her +heart was very sore. For it seemed very cruel to send the child so far +away to kinswomen who were strange to him—who she knew were not gifted +with any loving tenderness towards childhood, any compassion or +sympathy for waywardness. They would not understand Jeff. Might not +the cold discipline warp all the noble generous instincts of her +child's nature? +</P> + +<P> +Then her hand began softly to stroke the quiet head. She could not see +his face, but his little body quivered more than once at her touch, and +she knew then that he could not be asleep. She did not speak to him +any more—she had no words ready—her heart was so full. +</P> + +<P> +Presently Jeff lifted himself slowly from her knee. His glance +followed the direction of her eyes. He did not look her in the face at +once. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother, dear, indeed I will remember. I have been saying it over and +over to myself, not to forget. I will be brave; it is a great thing to +be a brave man father has always said. When you come to fetch me you +shall see that I have not forgotten what you say, but—but do not let +it be too long. It is so hard to be a man—for a boy to be a man—to +be really brave—oh, so very hard! I wish I might cry, you know, but +now you have asked me not to—I cannot—I <I>will not</I>." +</P> + +<P> +The mother rose up quickly and paced the room backwards and forwards, +with hands clasped and eyes bent on the floor. The little boy remained +quite still where she had left him. +</P> + +<P> +"Jeff, not to-morrow, but the day after is when you are to go. Your +father will take you down to Bombay and see the steamer. We have so +short a time together, you and I, and, dearest, I can never say all the +things that are in my heart. You could not remember them if I did, and +even if you could they would only sadden you. It would be a cruel +burden to lay upon you, to tell you of my sorrow." +</P> + +<P> +Jeff did not sob or cry when at last he lifted his brown eyes to his +mother's face. Yet his voice was weak and trembling as he said slowly: +</P> + +<P> +"I will go away from you bravely, mother, as you wish it. I have never +been disobedient, have I? I will try and not forget till you come that +you wish me to be brave—that it is a noble thing to be brave." Then, +with a heart-rending sob, "Mother, oh mother, do not be very long +before you come!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II. +</H3> + +<P> +On the voyage home Jeff found many things to amuse him, and made +friends in every part of the big steamer. The stewards, and the crew, +and the stokers would all smile, or have some joke ready, when his +bright little face appeared round some unlikely corner. For Jeff soon +knew his way about the ship, and was here, there, and everywhere all +day long. Of course he was not always thinking of his home in India, +or of the dear faces he had left behind. Even grown-up people easily +forget their sorrows in new scenes. Still, Jeff would grow grave when +he remembered he had seen the tears in his father's eyes for the first +time, when he had said, "Good-bye, my little son." +</P> + +<P> +Further back still, and yet more sacred, so sacred indeed that he only +liked to think of it after his prayers, he cherished in his memory the +picture of his sad mother, standing in the verandah of their bungalow, +waving her hand to them as he and Maggie were driven away. The tight +feeling at his heart came again at the bare recollection of the tall +slim figure in white, the tearless pale face, the sad sweet smile. +</P> + +<P> +When he lay in his berth at night time—above the creaking and groaning +of machinery, above the din inevitable on a steamer—he heard a gentle +voice bless him as on that last evening at home: +</P> + +<P> +"God be with you, my own little lad. Be brave till I see you again. I +shall be so proud to feel that my boy is a real hero." +</P> + +<P> +On the way to Bombay Jeff had asked his father what a real hero was. +Then he had been told that a hero was "one full of courage and great +patience, and dauntless before difficulties; one who allowed no fear to +overcome him, who fulfilled his duty, and something over it under hard +and trying circumstances." +</P> + +<P> +Jeff was unusually quiet and thoughtful for some little time after this +explanation, and the father could not help wondering why he looked so +grave and sad. +</P> + +<P> +"It will be difficult to be a hero—very difficult," he said at length +with a heavy sigh. +</P> + +<P> +Then the gallant soldier, who was his father, sighed too. +</P> + +<P> +It was not heroic—it was only a simple duty to send his little son so +far from him, and yet how hard a thing it was. +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing that Jeff liked better on the big steamer than going +"forrard" to the men's quarters. He would sit huddled up on a +sea-chest, with his elbows resting on his knees, or would climb into an +empty hammock and remain for hours, listening to the wonderful tales +told him by the crew. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Clark, I really don't think it possibly can all be true—those +stories the men tell, I mean. They must be <I>quite</I> heroes." +</P> + +<P> +The little boy's brown eyes were round and stretched in amazement. The +captain did not take long to draw from him some of the marvellous +narratives and chapters of accidents that had been told to him. +</P> + +<P> +"No, my little fellow, I don't think much of it is true either. We +allow sailors to spin yarns and only believe as much as we like." Jeff +was much better satisfied to feel that a hero was not an impossible +being, and that these rough and ready, hard swearing, rollicking men +were not in reality the stuff out of which was moulded true heroism, +endurance, and nobility. He took comfort now in laughing at their +"make believe" tales of miracles and chivalry. +</P> + +<P> +At last the voyage, which had been all pleasantness to Jeff, came to an +end, and he felt very sorry to think of parting with so many kind +friends. +</P> + +<P> +On a fine April morning, with a deep blue sky and an easterly wind, the +great steamer went up the Thames and was berthed in her dock. +Naturally there was a great deal of stir and much excitement amongst +the passengers, many of whom had not been home to their native country +for long years. Most of the travellers had friends to meet them and +were anxiously on the look-out. Those who had not were attending to +their luggage. Very few were passive spectators of the busy scene. +Jeff was greatly amused by all the bustle and agitation. He might have +been even more so had he not felt so cold. The April winds blew very +keenly on his sensitive little frame, unseasoned to such a piercing +air. Still he tried to see all he could; it was novel and amusing, and +he would write a long letter to mother to-night and should like to tell +her all about it. She must know all these things of course, but then +she might have forgotten. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my little man, and what do you think of London town?" said +Captain Clark approaching Jeff and waving his hand towards a distant +cloud of smoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that London?" said Jeff with an air of deep disappointment. "Oh, +how dirty it looks! it's nothing half as grand as Bombay." +</P> + +<P> +A tall thin gentleman with whiskers beginning to turn gray had walked +past Jeff twice, casting a scrutinizing glance towards him. The little +boy had noticed the stranger because he was so oddly stiff and very +stern looking. At this moment Maggie came up the companion steps and +started towards this gentleman with a cry of recognition. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Colquhoun, here we are, sir!" +</P> + +<P> +The angular gentleman, who stepped so carefully over coils of rope and +the obstacles of luggage, looked precisely as if he had come out of a +bandbox. He was so very much starched, indeed, that Jeff could not +help wondering if a summer in the plains would make him less stiff. As +he came nearer and put out a hand to the little boy, who was his wife's +nephew, it seemed like a piece of wood with mechanical joints. +</P> + +<P> +"So this is Mary's son," he said in a formal way. "How do you do, +little fellow. You're not much of a specimen to send home. I suppose +they have spoilt you pretty well in India. What is your name? Ah, +yes, Geoffry, to be sure; after your father's family, I suppose." +</P> + +<P> +Jeff did not like the way in which Mr. Colquhoun spoke his father's +name. He was quickly sensitive to a tone or look. In after days he +wondered much why an attitude of hostility was always tacitly assumed +towards his father. +</P> + +<P> +"My father's people have always been brave soldiers. Two of his +brothers were killed in the mutiny; they were heroes, I think. They +were called Geoffry and Roger." +</P> + +<P> +The little boy made up his mind that he should never like the new +uncle. The disparaging accent on his father's name was an insult. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Colquhoun had married Jeff's aunt, his mother's eldest sister, and +lived at Loch Lossie with grandmama, under whose roof Jeff was to be. +</P> + +<P> +But Jeff did not know yet that grandmama was only the nominal ruler +there. +</P> + +<P> +The little boy began to wonder at once if his young cousins would speak +in the same dry methodical way as their father. It was just like +measuring off words by the yard. How very tiresome it would be to +listen to all day. +</P> + +<P> +And would all people in England be so clean and precise as this new +uncle? +</P> + +<P> +During the short railway journey up to London from the docks, Jeff +watched Mr. Colquhoun with an uneasy stare that would have been +embarrassing had the object of this attentive scrutiny become aware of +it. Old Maggie's nudges and whispered remonstrance produced no effect. +</P> + +<P> +By and by the travellers were taken to a big hotel near a railway +station, and dinner was ordered for them in a great gilt coffee room. +They were informed they would have to wait at the hotel till the night +express started for Scotland. Jeff was much happier in his mind when +Mr. Colquhoun drove away in a hansom to transact his business. Left +alone with Maggie, he proposed a walk through those wonderful busy +streets outside, and when he came back he sat down to write his Indian +letter. +</P> + +<P> +This was finished and posted before his uncle returned, and Jeff felt +very much relieved that it was safe beyond recall. Those cold critical +eyes might have glanced over the contents: and the little boy was aware +that his candour regarding his newly found relative was not flattering. +Maggie and Jeff slept in a Pullman car that night and arrived at Lossie +Bridge early in the morning. +</P> + +<P> +Tired and cold as was this delicate boy his mind was open to receive an +impression of wild beauty in the surrounding country. He thought he +had never seen or even dreamt of anything so beautiful and grand. His +animated enthusiasm and undisguised pleasure seemed to warm something +in his uncle's breast. He even smiled. +</P> + +<P> +The tears rose to Jeff's eyes. Ah! yes, he could understand now why +that dear mother, so far away, pined for her native hills and lakes. +</P> + +<P> +The mists lifting from the rugged mountain sides, with the morning sun +shining bravely on a glittering lake, was a sight most glorious. The +sound of running brooks, the swish of cascades—sounds most strange to +Jeff's ears—made music everywhere. +</P> + +<P> +He was silent with wonder and enjoyment during the long drive from the +station. Grandmother's house on Loch Lossie was a fine stone-built +residence, facing the lake on the south. +</P> + +<P> +It was backed up by the stern heather-clad hills, which sheltered it +from rude north winds. A carriage drive wound along the side of the +lake for nearly a mile, and Jeff was amazed at the orderly aspect of +the shrubberies adjoining it. Everything was clipped and pruned. The +wild luxuriant tangle of Indian jungles, the richly sweet smell of +tropical growths, and the brilliant colouring of foreign flowers were +all so different to this. +</P> + +<P> +Maggie recognized the familiar features of the landscape with repeated +cries of surprise or pleasure. Her hard and wrinkled face beamed with +the joy of a returned exile. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Maggie, you never talked about Scotland to me at all," said Jeff +in some astonishment as he saw actual tears glistening in her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't them as does the most talking as feels the most," she said +sharply, dashing away the unusual moisture. +</P> + +<P> +As they got nearer to the big house, which looked so cold and bare, +Jeff saw that a boy and a little girl stood under the portico awaiting +their arrival. +</P> + +<P> +It was now past seven o'clock and the sun had dispersed the last thin +veil of mist over the mountains, and was shining with might on the +glittering windows of the big house which was to be Jeff's new home. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III. +</H3> + +<P> +"This is your cousin from India, children," said Mr. Colquhoun, as he +lifted Jeff down from the back of the dog-cart, where he sat with +Maggie. +</P> + +<P> +Then the little traveller saw that the other boy wore a kilt, and was +not at all like his father. The girl had on a sun-bonnet, and Jeff +only got a glimpse of a pair of rosy cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"You are Brian and Jessie. I have heard about you often. Mother has +your photographs. I cannot see if Jessie is as pretty as her picture; +but how thin your legs are, Brian, like my <I>dhobees</I>. Uncle Hugh, do +tell me why do <I>dhobees</I> always have thin legs? Father doesn't know." +</P> + +<P> +Uncle Hugh was one of those very discreet people who never attempt a +reply to children's questions. +</P> + +<P> +"Go into the house, Brian, and take your cousin to have some breakfast +in the nursery. Is your mother up yet? Mind you both come down tidy +in time for prayers." +</P> + +<P> +"But please, Uncle Hugh, I never have breakfast in the nursery. Father +and mother think I am old enough to eat with them. Maggie, <I>do</I> tell +him it is true. Must I really go with them? Can't I see grandmama or +Aunt Annie, first? They are mother's own, her very own relations, you +see. And she did send so many messages. I have said them over and +over again to myself, not to forget. It is very important is it not, +Uncle Hugh, to deliver your despatches?" +</P> + +<P> +Alas for poor Jeff! His pleading was not heard. He had yet to learn +the firm and obdurate nature of the starched gentleman with whiskers. +</P> + +<P> +"Brian, obey me at once. Show your cousin the way upstairs." +</P> + +<P> +And then Jeff, further constrained by old Maggie's hand, was marched +away up two flight of stairs, through a long corridor and double baize +doors, then down another narrower passage into a large square room. It +seemed to Jeff that there was a great deal of heavy furniture +everywhere, and thick carpets, and an excess of light flooding the +rooms. In India the sunshine was always excluded. +</P> + +<P> +Breakfast was laid on the table in the nursery. There were steaming +bowls of porridge and a large glass dish of marmalade set out. An +odour of bacon also was perceptible. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't my governor a stiff one?" said Brian in a jeering way, as his +cousin drew near the great coal fire and drew off his little worsted +gloves—the gloves which mother had knitted. +</P> + +<P> +"Is your governor a tyrant too?" +</P> + +<P> +Jeff shook his head in a fierce negative. +</P> + +<P> +"My governor never bullies his men, if you mean that, Brian. Don't you +care about your father? I don't call him a very nice sort of a father, +but then of course I needn't like him particularly, because he is only +my uncle—only a sort of an uncle too—not a real one." +</P> + +<P> +Brian was a very pretty-looking boy, with auburn hair and large +innocent blue eyes. People said he had a heavenly expression, and +interpreted a mind to match. +</P> + +<P> +Jessie had pulled off her sun-bonnet, and the nurse, Nan, a big bony +woman, was tying a pinafore about her. She could hardly hear the +conversation of the two boys on the other side of the room, as Maggie +and Nan were carrying on a lively exchange of question and answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Cousin Jeff, I'm <I>quite</I> sure you wouldn't like to have breakfast +down-stairs. I did once when Nan was ill, and it was quite drefful," +called out Jessie, nodding her head gravely at the recollection. "Papa +won't let you drink if you have the least bit in your mouth, and he +says everything that is nice isn't good for children. Kidneys and +sausages, and herrings and bacon you're only allowed to smell +down-stairs. Isn't our breakfast ready now, Nan? I am so hungry." +Then the children were bidden to sit down to the table, and Jeff tasted +porridge for the first time. He did not care much about it, and +watched Maggie devour it with no little astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Did mother always eat it, Maggie?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, my bairn; and it's fine stuff to make growing lads." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'll <I>try</I> and like it," said Jeff rather doubtfully, as he made +a second valiant attempt to swallow two or three spoonfuls. +</P> + +<P> +In the course of a very few days Jeff found out that his cousin Brian +was not nearly so angelic as he looked. He bullied Jessie, who was a +good-tempered little girl, and deceived his father and mother with a +wonderful amount of success. +</P> + +<P> +With grandmama, who was really a keen-sighted old lady, his plausible +excuses and affectionate embraces did not meet with the same +acceptance. Not that he really cared, for he was impatient of her slow +ways, and did not feel sorry for her failing sight or feeble limbs; +only, he liked the five shillings and half-sovereigns she occasionally +bestowed, and thought that he might receive more if he pretended a +dutiful behaviour. +</P> + +<P> +Jeff really, however, fell in love with the old lady at first sight. +There are very few old people to be seen in India, and the dignity and +pathos of her appearance touched a tender chord. He admired her fine +white hair and handsome features, all furrowed with the countless +little lines of time. And she wore such stiff brocades and silks, such +beautiful old lace, and the funniest brooches, with pictures in them. +Her soft white hands touched him in a loving way, and she had a gentle +voice something like the dear mother's. +</P> + +<P> +Poor Jeff yearned for the tenderness and affection that seemed so far +off. How long it would be before the hunger in his heart would be +satisfied he dared not think. But grandmama was old and feeble, and he +might not stay long in her sitting-room. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed rather hard to Jeff that she was never allowed to have her +own way—that her life was ruled for her. Aunt Annie would always come +and fetch away the little boy after ten minutes, even when grandmama +had sent for him. +</P> + +<P> +But after some weeks, when it was found that the little boy could sit +still and not tease with too many questions or too much talking, he was +allowed to stay longer; sometimes to play draughts with or read to the +old lady. +</P> + +<P> +About Aunt Annie Jeff did not at once make up his mind. She was a tall +woman, with a strong voice and handsome features, who always seemed +busy and in a hurry. +</P> + +<P> +Brian said she knew Latin and Greek, so Jeff decided she must be +clever. She did not wear pretty clothes or soft laces like his mother. +Her dresses were very plain, of some harsh coarse stuff and dull ugly +colours; her manner was always a little abrupt, and she seemed to have +no patience to listen to anything that children said. Jeff supposed +that she was so wise that she could not profit by anything they might +say. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps nothing in Scotland surprised Jeff more than to find how busy +everyone was, and how much one could do here. Even ladies and rich +people did things for themselves, and their amusements generally seemed +to be like hard work. Young men walked or rode, or played tennis and +cricket incessantly. There was no mid-day sleep; no lying in hammocks +smoking and reading novels. It was never too hot to go out and do +something, though to Jeff it often seemed too cold. By degrees, +however, he became accustomed to the climate, and before the summer had +fully arrived his fair delicate face took a new bloom that would have +gladdened the heart of his mother. He had been more than a month at +Loch Lossie when the following letter was posted to India. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LOCH LOSSIE, <I>May 10th</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Dear darling Mother,—I am not nearly a hero yet. I have not got even +really brave, but I mean to. I don't like lots of things here at all, +and I get angry and quarrel with Brian, because he tells lies—or sort +of lies—and is very unkind to Jessie. He pinches her where it won't +show when she won't do what he wants. Nobody ever believes that Brian +does not tell truth. He seems so obedient, and he never asks questions +or bothers people, and he is <I>so</I> clever with his lessons. He always +seems to know them with hardly looking. The Rev. Mr. M'Gregor, who is +our tutor, you know, says Brian is very intelligent; a most promising +pupil he calls him to Aunt Annie. I think Mr. M'Gregor flatters Aunt +Annie, because he wants to stay our tutor. But I don't think Brian +knows <I>deep down</I> about the things what he learns. He never is +tiresome wanting to see behind things, or to know <I>why</I>. You remember +those questions always did come to me when I did lessons with you and +father. Cousin Jessie is very pretty, and I know she has a very kind +heart. She gave two shillings out of her money-box—all what she had +saved in pennies—to a little beggar girl without any shoes that came +to the door. Aunt Annie was angry about it, because she said, "No one +need to beg or be poor." +</P> + +<P> +Grandmama is a very nice person, but why does she never listen when I +speak of father? I go and read to her sometimes when she is feeling +well, and she says she likes my reading better than Brian's; he gabbles +on so quick and never stops, because he wants to get it over. +Sometimes I stop altogether in the middle of a chapter and talk +instead. We have very nice talks—we talk about you. Then grandmama +always sighs and says how hard it is you are a soldier's wife, and are +poor and are obliged to live in India. They seem to think a great deal +about being rich here; but I think honour and glory is more, and I mean +to be a soldier. +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Annie does not seem to love her children much. She just kisses +them in the morning and at night once on the cheek, <I>without any arms</I>, +and she never goes to tuck them up. +</P> + +<P> +It is funny, I think, but Jess and Brian don't seem to know it is +queer. I call Uncle Hugh the bandbox man—to myself only, of course. +He is never untidy, or hot, or cold. He seems to get up out of bed +tidy; because I saw him in his night-shirt one morning, and his hair +was all straight and smooth. +</P> + +<P> +Mine isn't now when I get up, because they don't cut it so short here, +and it has got all curly. I will ask Maggie to cut off a bit for you +to see. +</P> + +<P> +Maggie has got such a nice brother. He says he remembers you when you +were a little girl, and my eyes are like yours. He is the head-keeper +now, and lets me go out fishing with him. He has got straight red +hair, and oh, such a red beard! and he talks in such a queer way—they +all do here; but I am beginning to understand. Maggie is going to live +at Sandy's cottage soon. He had a wife, but she is dead, and there is +no one to work and cook for him. But I shall see Maggie nearly every +day, and Nan—that is Jessie's nurse—will mend my clothes. +</P> + +<P> +The primroses have been quite lovely. It will be all withered when it +has been through the Red Sea, and will have no smell, but I send you +one all the same. Mother, you forgot to tell me what English flowers +were like—they are beautiful. +</P> + +<P> +I hope the major is quite well, and I do hope he doesn't get any +fatter, because of his poor little horse. I wish he could see how thin +Uncle Hugh is—sometimes I wonder I can't see through him. He walks up +the steepest hills and over the heather without ever stopping. +</P> + +<P> +Tell father I can ride quite as well as Brian, and Uncle Hugh says I +have a good seat. It must be true, because he never praises anybody. +</P> + +<P> +Oh, dear darling mother, my hand is quite tired, and I have taken two +afternoons to write this letter. I wish I could see you and feel you, +though I <I>don't in the least</I> forget what you are like. I can't bear +to look at your picture often, because it makes the tears come in my +eyes, and you might not like me to cry. At night when I go to bed I +shut my eyes very quick and very tight, and try not to remember +anything in India. I generally go to sleep very quick. The next time +I write perhaps I shall be nearly a hero. I am a long way off it yet. +It would be dreadful if I was not one before you come. A thousand +kisses to you and father from your own loving little boy, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +JEFF. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The letter did not stand so irreproachably spelt, but that is what it +said and meant. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV. +</H3> + +<P> +My poor little boy sadly missed many things that were joys or daily +events at home in India. Yet he did not magnify their importance +unduly, and remembered that he must not grieve the loving heart which +probably ached with just as keen a longing as his own. This was +heroism of a negative kind, I fancy. +</P> + +<P> +At Loch Lossie they were not at all demonstrative people. They never +kissed each other in the day-time, or walked arm in arm, or sat very +near together. +</P> + +<P> +To Jeff these things had become natural, and his spontaneous, +affectionate nature seemed suddenly frozen up by circumstances. The +dull ache of longing for kindly, smiling eyes, for little playful +speeches, at times seemed more than he could bear. +</P> + +<P> +And to him who had lived in the constant presence of his mother the +many restrictions laid upon the children at Loch Lossie seemed cruelly +hard; and it was a discipline that seemed to have no meaning, that +seemed to presuppose disobedience. +</P> + +<P> +He might not go in the drawing-room or conservatory without leave, or +look at the books in the library, or pick the commonest flowers in the +garden, or walk near the loch. No promise was ever regarded as sacred +by his seniors. +</P> + +<P> +"But if I give you my word, Uncle Hugh," he had pleaded in early days, +"not to go near the water, or touch the boats, surely I may go down the +drive." +</P> + +<P> +Uncle Hugh only looked down on him with cold denial. +</P> + +<P> +"Little boys are not to be trusted; their promises are not worth much," +he answered. +</P> + +<P> +Then Jeff got very red, and burst out passionately: +</P> + +<P> +"You must have known only boys who were liars. Did you not speak the +truth yourself when you were young?" +</P> + +<P> +Brian pulled at his jacket to modify his speech. Jeff wrenched it away. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't touch me, Brian; I shall say what I like; and I know you don't +always speak the truth. Uncle Hugh, don't you know it is only cowards +who make false promises? Can't you trust me? No one who is +brave—really brave—or who tries to be brave—would tell a lie." +</P> + +<P> +But the appeal seemed to fall on deaf ears. +</P> + +<P> +Not long after this little scene the Rev. Mr. M'Gregor had reason to +complain of Jeff's negligence. He was very inattentive to instruction +and his lessons were never properly prepared. +</P> + +<P> +"The boy, moreover, Mr. Colquhoun, has a tiresome habit of reasoning +with regard to actions, even my actions. This approaches disrespect. +Logic, you are aware, cannot be conveniently applied to every +circumstance of life." +</P> + +<P> +"It ought to be," said rigid Mr. Colquhoun, with a certain degree of +sternness. +</P> + +<P> +"I respect the boy for his fearless questionings and outspoken +sentiments, though I admit they are embarrassing at times." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not sure, Mr. M'Gregor, if Geoffry does not teach us a lesson +sometimes." +</P> + +<P> +Uncle Hugh called him Geoffry, much to Jeff's amusement. +</P> + +<P> +Secretly Uncle Hugh did not highly esteem the boy's tutor, though +necessity compelled him to employ his services. +</P> + +<P> +The Rev. Mr. M'Gregor was, no doubt, a clever man in his way, but he +was not a man of high principle. He hated trouble of any sort, and +expediency was usually his guide. Still he had had much experience in +teaching, and Aunt Annie was quite equal to the task of sounding his +knowledge of classics and mathematics. +</P> + +<P> +These were beyond reproach, and she esteemed it a very fortunate +accident which had thrown him in her way. +</P> + +<P> +One of the most strict laws laid down at Loch Lossie was that the boys +were never to make use of the boats moored at the little landing-stage. +</P> + +<P> +It came to Jeff's knowledge that Brian repeatedly disobeyed this order. +He knew that at dusk his cousin frequently went out alone in a little +skiff that was easily managed. Finally, after many anxious days, he +resolved to tell Brian that he was aware of his disobedience. +</P> + +<P> +Brian turned on him fiercely, calling him "Spy," "Sneak," and "Holly." +</P> + +<P> +Jeff did not lack in daring or intrepidity, and it was hard to be +reproached with timidity by one he knew his inferior in the respect of +courage. Then he remembered that to be patient was not the least part +of a hero's task, and checked the angry words that were about to rise. +</P> + +<P> +One morning Uncle Hugh came into the school-room, where the boys were +always to be found at this hour. His face was graver than usual, and +his voice sounded cold and cruel in Jeff's ears. +</P> + +<P> +"One of you boys has disobeyed me. You have been out in the skiff. I +suppose it was last evening while we were at dinner." +</P> + +<P> +He looked steadily at the two lads, who were gathering their books +together to take down to Mr. M'Gregor's house. Jeff coloured up to the +roots of his curly hair, and looked down, unwilling to confront the +guilty one's confusion. But Brian, with the angelic face and innocent +aspect he habitually wore, was self-possessed enough to ask: +</P> + +<P> +"Did somebody say they saw one of us, papa?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Colquhoun looked at his own son, and never doubted his innocence. +</P> + +<P> +"No, my boy, but I found a pocket-knife in the skiff and a coil of gut, +with two fish. I know you have both knives exactly alike, and probably +only one of you can tell me to which it belongs. Geoffry, have you +your knife in your pocket?" +</P> + +<P> +Silence, and no movement on Jeff's part. In a moment Jeff looked up, +and in his steady brown eyes there was something which Uncle Hugh could +not read. +</P> + +<P> +It was a bold glance, but not a defiant one; a resolute gleam, but yet +a sad one. For days afterwards Mr. Colquhoun remembered that dauntless +look. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Uncle Hugh," he said firmly. +</P> + +<P> +"Brian, where is yours?" +</P> + +<P> +Obedient to his father's command Brian brought one from his pocket. +That very morning, not an hour ago, he had asked Jeff to lend him his +knife, and had not returned it to its rightful owner. Jeff's lips +closed tightly and his eyes fell. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I must believe, Geoffry, that it is you who have disobeyed me. +Have you anything to say for yourself?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did <I>not</I> go in the boat," he said doggedly, picking up some books +and strapping them together, with despair at his heart. Surely this +was being a hero. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not add a lie to your offence and make it worse." +</P> + +<P> +"I have not told you a lie, Uncle Hugh. I—did—<I>not</I>—go," he almost +shouted, shouldering his books. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Colquhoun did not argue or seek to prolong the interview, but in a +few words spoke the sentence of punishment. +</P> + +<P> +"I will give orders that you are not to use your pony for a month, and +that Sandy is not to take you rabbiting or fishing for the same length +of time. You are not to be seen anywhere in the gardens or grounds +except on your way to Mr. M'Gregor's. I have never restricted you boys +in any reasonable pleasures, but I am fully determined to make you +understand that I intend to be implicitly obeyed when I think it +necessary to lay down a rule." +</P> + +<P> +Then Mr. Colquhoun went away, and Jeff threw down his books with a bang. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll fight you, Brian, you coward, you false witness! You're worse +than Ananias," he said, squaring himself for the combat and reddening +all over his face. +</P> + +<P> +"All right. Come on. I'm twice as strong as you, and Sandy has taught +me how to box." +</P> + +<P> +With this invitation Jeff began the battle in a very unscientific way. +Of course he came out of the fray with a bleeding face and torn +clothes. There was no one near to pity him, and he could only wash his +face and hope that the rents would escape Aunt Annie's notice till Nan +had mended them. +</P> + +<P> +For a fortnight this poor little boy moped about the upstairs rooms and +passages in a very miserable way. Jessie was his best consolation, +bringing him news from the garden and stable which interested him. She +also paid a daily visit to Sandy in order to glean little details of +sport, and came back usually with her small face puckered up in anxiety +to forget nothing. +</P> + +<P> +It was really very sad for poor Jeff that the otter hounds should visit +the neighbourhood at this juncture. He had to watch Uncle Hugh and +Brian starting at daybreak three times a week to participate in the +sport. His poor heart was very sore all the time, for Uncle Hugh had +not believed him, and there was no one in whom he could confide. It +was a terrible anguish to bear all alone, and the injustice of his +punishment was the sorest part of his trouble. +</P> + +<P> +Maggie had gone away to live at her brother Sandy's cottage soon after +her return, and he might not even go down and see her now. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Brian kept the knife that really belonged to Jeff, for Uncle +Hugh had not given back the delinquent's implement. It seemed to Jeff +that his cousin took delight in parading his possession and assuming +innocence. He went out of his way to assert his virtue. +</P> + +<P> +One evening, watching the waning light from an upstairs window, Jeff +saw a little skiff shoot out into the open space of water, not shadowed +by the hills. There was a little figure in it. Here was a glorious +opportunity to go down and tell Uncle Hugh and establish his own truth. +For a few seconds a conflict went on in his breast, and then with a +heavy sigh he laid his head on the window sill and burst into +passionate sobbing. When it was almost dark the fit of weeping had +passed off. But he remained at the open window, breathing the balmy +air. Suddenly he was startled by a cry from the water. In vain his +eyes sought to pierce the gathering gloom. Again the cry. Forgetting +all restrictions, with a sudden uncontrollable impulse, he rushed down +the stairs and out into the garden to the lake side. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V. +</H3> + +<P> +"Papa, papa! oh, come quickly! There's some one drowning in the lake. +And oh! I was standing in the hall when Jeff rushed down-stairs and out +of the front door, with his face all white and his eyes staring. He +must have seen from upstairs—he was standing at the window, you know. +Oh papa, perhaps it is Brian; he never came in to tea." +</P> + +<P> +Little Jessie, with eyes distended and panting breath, astonished Mr. +Colquhoun and her mother by the unusual impropriety of bursting open +the dining-room door at dinner-time. In a moment her father was on his +feet and out of the door, followed by the butler and footman. A +presentiment of how it had all happened flashed upon him as he hurried +down to the edge of the water. There were cries, muffled cries, +growing gradually fainter, and splashes as though of some one +struggling; a scream, and then what seemed an ominous silence. +</P> + +<P> +It did not take a minute to launch a boat, and row out a few yards from +the shore. An upturned skiff told its tale of a repeated disobedience. +Clinging to it by one hand was Jeff, with the other he gripped Brian's +hair; but his little hand had just relaxed its hold as Mr. Colquhoun +approached. The effort to hold up his cousin had taxed his strength to +the utmost, and unconsciousness stole over him at the moment of rescue. +</P> + +<P> +They were both saved. In five minutes, time the butler and footman had +carried in the two insensible forms and laid them safely on the rug in +the library. +</P> + +<P> +It was not long before Brian gave signs of life. A gasp, a sigh, a +fluttering breath, and his eyes opened to see his mother hanging over +him. They wandered round the room and saw his father watching beside +Jeff for some sign of returning consciousness. +</P> + +<P> +There was an ugly contraction of Brian's brow at this moment. To Mr. +Colquhoun the moments of doubt were full of anguish. Perchance Jeff +had given his life for his son's, for life seemed long in returning to +the little face that lay so still and white, with the pretty yellow +curls dripping wet. At last Jeff opened his eyes, but it was with no +rational gaze. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother—I did try—they will tell you that I did try," he said +faintly. Then his eyelids closed again, and he muttered, "I will say +it now—'as we forgive them that trespass against us.'" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Colquhoun understood at last. Here was verily a little hero who +had suffered the guilt and punishment of another—a weak and sensitive +child who had borne a wrong silently, and had finally all but lost his +life to save the life of one he knew had sacrificed him. +</P> + +<P> +By and by the doctor came, and Jeff was undressed and taken upstairs +without any other revival. Maggie had been sent for at once, to her +brother's cottage, and was installed in Jeff's little room as his +nurse. The doctor had lifted the wet curls above Jeff's temple, and +had revealed a dark bruise there. Evidently the boy had come in +contact with some obstacle in his wild plunge from the shore to the +skiff, only a few yards off. Jeff and Brian had both been learning to +swim with Sandy this summer; but Brian had made no progress, whereas +Jeff could manage a few strokes. +</P> + +<P> +That was a very anxious night for the household at Loch Lossie. Even +little Jessie was suffered to wander about the passages till after ten +o'clock; and there was no assembly for prayers in the dining-room as +usual. A great shadow and fear seemed to hang over the house. Brian +was taken away by his mother to his own room and put to bed. +</P> + +<P> +"Take him out of my sight. He is the cause of all this," Mr. Colquhoun +had said sternly, seeing he was fully recovered and inclined to make +explanations. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Colquhoun and Maggie sat up together by Jeff's bedside. He lay +most of the night still and white. Towards daybreak a pink spot came +into each cheek, and he breathed more quickly and grew restless. At +last he began to speak: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, mother, I cannot bear it—<I>indeed</I> I cannot bear it! No one loves +me here, it is lonely—and they won't even believe me or trust me—they +think I am a liar. Brian looks so good, and he is never found +out—they think he must be true. When will you come, mother?—oh, I +want you, I want you." +</P> + +<P> +All the pent-up sorrow of weeks and months went out in the last bitter +cry. Then, as if awakened by his own intensity of feeling, Jeff opened +his eyes and was suddenly conscious of his surroundings. +</P> + +<P> +"Uncle Hugh, where am I? Why are you sitting here? Have I been ill? +Oh, yes, I remember all now. I heard Brian scream, and I ran down to +the lake. He was not drowned, was he? Oh, if I had saved him! mother +would be so glad; because he is my enemy, you know. Why does my head +ache so much; it all seems confused too. I wish you would believe me, +Uncle Hugh; indeed I told the truth." +</P> + +<P> +The man of starch bent down till his face was very near to Jeff. His +voice was a little husky: +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you now, my little lad. I could never doubt you again; you +have behaved like a hero!" +</P> + +<P> +Then Jeff half raised himself on his pillows, and the dim morning light +revealed an elastic [Transcriber's note: ecstatic?] smile on his pale +face. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, say that again. I do want to be a hero before mother comes." +</P> + +<P> +He fell back once more, murmuring, +</P> + +<P> +"I am so tired and sleepy, and so happy now. Uncle Hugh, will you hear +me say my prayers? After I had been unhappy mother always heard me say +my prayers. And I think—perhaps I have cheated God lately—since you +punished me, for I would not say 'forgive us our trespasses as we +forgive them that trespass against us.' I did not forgive you or +Brian, and I could not say it. Now I can, and it will be all right. +God will understand." +</P> + +<P> +Soon after Jeff fell into a deep and dreamless sleep. He slept far +into a bright morning, and when the doctor came he pronounced his +little patient as convalescent. +</P> + +<P> +"You may get up to-morrow, and we shall have you out with the otter +hounds on Saturday, my little man," he said with a kind smile. +</P> + +<P> +Jeff's eyes sought Mr. Colquhoun's face with an eager look of inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +"We will see, Jeff"—he called him Jeff for the first time—"but you +must make haste and get well." +</P> + +<P> +And Jeff did get well and rode right bravely. Better sport was never +seen. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI. +</H3> + +<P> +Jeff was now ten years old, for nearly two years have gone by since he +came to England. He has grown very much, and is a tall muscular boy, +with a bright smiling face; only when he is alone or unconscious of +observation he is sometimes subdued, and there is a yearning wistful +look in his big brown eyes that seems to declare he is not quite happy. +</P> + +<P> +"You have news from India to-day, Geoffry," said Uncle Hugh one morning +rather stiffly as he met the boy coming down the stairs with a letter +in his hand. "Your Aunt Annie has also had a letter from your mother." +</P> + +<P> +Jeff looked rather as if he had been crying, and his voice trembled a +little when he answered Mr. Colquhoun: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, there is news. <I>She</I> is coming—<I>at last</I>. But oh, she is ill!" +</P> + +<P> +Jeff nearly broke down here. "Uncle Hugh, I may go to London and meet +her next week." +</P> + +<P> +The passionate pleading of the boy's voice in the last words was +indescribable. +</P> + +<P> +He had grown used to negatives presented to his requests during his +stay at Loch Lossie, but this was a widely different and an urgent +matter. +</P> + +<P> +"I think, my boy, it will be better not. Your aunt has fully discussed +the matter with me, and she does not wish it. She thinks that her +meeting with her sister will be a painful one; she did not part on very +friendly terms with your mother. A reconciliation will be more +pleasant at Loch Lossie." +</P> + +<P> +Jeff coloured deeply. He knew what all this meant. Uncle Hugh's +carefully-worded speech was clear to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know—Sandy told me. You and Aunt Annie did not want her to +marry father, because he was poor and only a soldier in a marching +regiment. You were all unkind to her about it and made her very +unhappy; but she did not care for money and a grand house—and—and she +loved father. She is very happy with him—we were all happy together +till I had to be sent home. Think of it only, Uncle Hugh, two whole +years without seeing her. Didn't you love your mother too? And now to +lose a single day or hour, after so long! Oh, do let me go, Maggie +will take me if you can't." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Colquhoun stood a moment in silence looking out of the window. His +heart went with the boy, for Jeff had grown dear to him, with his frank +impulsive ways and deep strong affections. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well, perhaps something may be done. You had better go and have +a little talk about it to your aunt before you go to Mr. M'Gregor's." +</P> + +<P> +Jeff looked very blank and despairing as he turned round and went +slowly up the stairs again. Aunt Annie was one of those superior +people who never change their mind. She took a vast amount of pride in +her own prompt judgment, and not for worlds would have admitted herself +in the wrong. Jeff was sure that the most urgent pleading would not +prevail to alter her decision. +</P> + +<P> +No sympathetic throb for the child and mother once more to be united +would alter her resolution. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Jeff, I have told your uncle that I have fully made up my mind +that the reconciliation to take place between your mother and her +family shall be under this roof. It is impossible for a child of your +age to understand this matter, and I beg that you will cease to argue. +Your mother and I parted in great bitterness, but that is past and +forgiven." +</P> + +<P> +Jeff made a little gesture of anger. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>My</I> lips will be closed with regard to bygones, and when Mary is once +here I shall never recur to painful matters." +</P> + +<P> +This was all very grand and magnanimous in words, but the effect it had +upon Aunt Annie's auditor was anything but soothing. +</P> + +<P> +"But surely mother, when she comes by herself and is ill, would think +it kinder of you to meet her at once," he said in hot indignation. +</P> + +<P> +But no words availed, and Mrs. Colquhoun kept to her determination. +She probably did not observe the set and dogged look upon the boy's +face as he turned to leave the room. He was of the same blood as +herself, and something of her own resolute nature formed part of his +character. +</P> + +<P> +But Aunt Annie turned back complacently to the translation of her +German novel, without giving another thought to the deep strong +child-nature with which she came daily in contact. The persistence of +her small adversary had, indeed, ruffled her serenity for a few +minutes, but her emphatic denial of his request must certainly have +convinced him of her strength of purpose. What was the bitter +disappointment to the little aching heart in comparison with the +maintenance of her own dignity and authority! +</P> + +<P> +But Jeff went brooding down the avenue with his books slung over his +back, and on his face there was a set look of despair, which boded no +good to Mr. Colquhoun's authority. +</P> + +<P> +The week passed quietly, and without any further pleading on Jeff's +part; only, he was unusually quiet and thoughtful. +</P> + +<P> +On the morning before the expected arrival of the steamer from India, +Jeff was missing from Loch Lossie. Brian came in hot haste to his +father, eager to inform him of the unwarranted disappearance. Brian +was fond of establishing his own virtue by declaring the faults of +others. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. M'Gregor must not be kept waiting, Brian. You go down to him at +once. Never mind your cousin." This was not what Brian had +anticipated, and he departed in great disgust. +</P> + +<P> +"I do believe he's gone up on the moor," said this youngster +vindictively as a parting shot, sincerely hoping that Jeff might be +called to account for some serious delinquency. He had never forgiven +him for having been found out himself in a serious fault last year. +The recollection of Jeff's endurance under a false accusation was a +continual mortification to his small soul. He knew that his father had +never forgotten that episode, and from time to time regarded him with +suspicion of a new deception. +</P> + +<P> +All that day till nightfall, though keepers and scouts were sent about +in all directions, no word came of the missing lad. Inquiry was made +in the nearest township and at Lossie Bridge station in vain. No +little traveller had been seen to arrive or depart. Late at night a +porter from the next station down the line came up to the house and +informed Mr. Colquhoun that a little boy answering to the description +of Jeff had taken that morning's mail to London from Drumrig. +</P> + +<P> +It was too late for Mr. Colquhoun to set off in pursuit of the culprit +that night, but all preparations were made for his departure the next +morning. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile Jeff had arrived in the great city, to which he was a +stranger, towards evening. A little waif and stray in London, with +only five shillings in his pocket! But no fears assailed him. He was +encouraged by the great hope of the meeting on the morrow. His heart +began beating at the very thought of the loving arms into which he +would nestle. +</P> + +<P> +Naturally he was puzzled to know what to do with himself. It was more +than probable that the great hotel at the railway station would swallow +up his five shillings and leave him without the means of getting to the +steamer. He addressed himself to a friendly-looking porter who was +staring at him with a certain amount of curiosity, seeing he had no +luggage: +</P> + +<P> +"What does it cost to get a bed in there for the night?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +The porter grinned satirically. +</P> + +<P> +"More nor such as you can pay. Yer wouldn't get much change out of a +sovereign, I'll be sworn." +</P> + +<P> +He walked down the platform, and Jeff saw that he was making merry with +one of his friends over his inquiry. In terror lest some detaining +hand might even yet be stretched forth, he hurried out of the station +and was soon lost in the small streets about King's Cross. +</P> + +<P> +He at length found a humble-looking lodging, attracted thereto by a +card in the window, to the effect that "Lodgings for single men" were +to be had. +</P> + +<P> +The woman who opened the door to him looked doubtfully at this youthful +customer, but the production of a couple of shillings and an offer from +Jeff to pay in advance settled all difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going down to the docks to-morrow to meet my mother, who is +coming from India," he said, giving a frank explanation of his plans. +"I shall have to leave quite early and I will pay you to-night." +</P> + +<P> +The woman smiled at the dignified attitude of her would-be lodger, and +bade him come in and she would find him a bed to suit. +</P> + +<P> +She saw very well that this was no roughly-nurtured child, and possibly +guessed partly at the truth. +</P> + +<P> +There were two or three labouring men taking supper in a back kitchen, +and a strong smell of onions and frying fat pervaded the atmosphere. +</P> + +<P> +Jeff felt it would not do to appear squeamish in such company, and drew +near to the fire, making a pretence of warming his hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's a new lodger, Timothy; you make room for him," said the woman +with a broad grin. +</P> + +<P> +"Runned away from school, young marster, I'll be bound," said one rough +giant, catching hold of Jeff by the arm. The boy turned his brown eyes +steadily on his captor. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I have never been at any school," he said with composure. "But +they would not let me meet my mother, who is coming home from India, so +I took all the money out of my savings-box and came by the train +without telling anyone." +</P> + +<P> +The navvy released him. +</P> + +<P> +"From Ingy! That's a long way to come. And they wouldn't let you meet +her! It was a darned shame. You're a well plucked one for your size. +Can ye stand treat, young maister? We'll drink to the health of the +lady from Ingy." +</P> + +<P> +Jeff took his few coins out of his pocket with a dubious frown. +</P> + +<P> +"There's my bed to pay for here, and some supper, and I've got to get +to the docks to-morrow by ten o'clock. This is all I've got; perhaps I +can spare you a shilling." +</P> + +<P> +They were honest labourers, though rough, and took his shilling, and no +more, and went off to the public-house. +</P> + +<P> +Jeff asked for an egg and some tea and bread and butter, and then said +he would go to bed. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll put you along of my boy 'Arry. He sleeps wonderful quiet, and +some of them is roughish customers to lie alongside of when they comes +in from the 'Lion,'" said the woman as she lighted a candle. +</P> + +<P> +Jeff sighed when he was ushered into the dingy attic where he was to +pass the night, thinking of his own little white bed at Loch Lossie and +all the dainty arrangements of bath and dressing paraphernalia. +</P> + +<P> +The next morning he was astir at day-break, and without casting a +glance at his sleeping companion he went softly down the stairs and +laid his payment on the kitchen table. He had some difficulty in +unbarring the door, but succeeded after many endeavours. +</P> + +<P> +Though it was an April morning the air was very raw and bleak at this +early hour, and the boy shivered repeatedly. +</P> + +<P> +At a coffee-stall in an adjoining street he bought a thick slice of +bread and butter and a steaming cup of what was called tea, sweet and +strong, if not particularly fragrant. Fortified by such nourishment +against the biting air, he inquired of the first policeman he met the +nearest way to the station, and reached it soon after seven o'clock. +There was an hour and a half to wait before his train started, but he +sat down on a sheltered bench and remained an unnoticed little figure +till the train drew up. At about the same hour Mr. Colquhoun was +crossing the border in a southern express in pursuit of the runaway. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII. +</H3> + +<P> +It was the same steamer that Jeff had come home in two years ago. Much +the same sort of scene was going on on the deck as on a former occasion. +</P> + +<P> +The burly form of Captain Clark might be descried from afar pacing up +and down. It seemed all like a dream to the boy, vividly recalling his +own arrival. He rubbed his eyes hard, scarcely feeling sure of his own +identity. +</P> + +<P> +The great steamer had been in dock over half an hour, and those +passengers who had not disembarked at Gravesend were busy with their +luggage. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Clark, don't you remember me? It is Jeff Scott." +</P> + +<P> +The boy had taken off his cap in a salute to his old friend. The +beauty of his yellow curls was fully revealed. All the sickly paleness +resulting from tropical heats had disappeared from Jeff's face, and he +stood now on the deck a fair specimen of a healthy English lad. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Clark instantly recognized the steady brown eyes. They +recalled another pair of eyes, infinitely sadder, but oh, how like! +The golden-haired lady down-stairs had been put under his especial +charge, with many injunctions to see to her welfare. But the voyage +had not brought back the expected health to her cheek or light to her +eyes. It was with a heart full of pity that this good man turned to +the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh, my boy, and is it really you? I am glad to see you. Have you +come to take a passage back with me?" +</P> + +<P> +But Jeff was not in the mood for any joking this morning. +</P> + +<P> +"I have come to see mother," he said with infinite gravity. "I know +she is one of your passengers. Let me go to her at once. Who will +tell me which is her cabin?" +</P> + +<P> +The good old sailor's weather-beaten face changed a little. +</P> + +<P> +"You will perhaps take her by surprise, my lad. She is ill—very +weak—she cannot stand any shock. Which of her friends or relatives +has come to meet her?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have come—only," said Jeff, "I ran away to do it. She would expect +me, of course." +</P> + +<P> +Captain Clark looked at the boy, whose fair face flashed at some +painful recollection. +</P> + +<P> +"Well done, Jeff." The old captain's voice was husky. "Come with me +at once. We will find your mother's maid or the stewardess, but you +must promise to be very gentle and not to agitate her." +</P> + +<P> +Jeff smiled with superior wisdom. How could his presence agitate his +beloved mother? +</P> + +<P> +At one of the state-room doors off the saloon Captain Clark knocked +gently. +</P> + +<P> +An elderly woman answered the summons at once, and held up her finger +with a warning "Hush! she is asleep, poor lady! do not wake her." +</P> + +<P> +Then Jeff came a little forward, trembling with eagerness, his eyes +full of yearning. +</P> + +<P> +"This is her boy, Mrs. Parsons, who has come alone from Scotland to +meet her." +</P> + +<P> +Jeff's steadfast eyes met the woman's, but he did not understand the +look of pity in them. Why should anyone be sorry for him, now that the +sad years of separation had come to an end? +</P> + +<P> +"Come in then, laddie, very softly. She's been talking day and night +of her bairn; but you must, mind, let her have her sleep out. She lay +awake the long night through." +</P> + +<P> +Then Jeff was cautiously admitted. +</P> + +<P> +Child as he was, he staggered a little at the aspect of the white still +form extended on a berth. He drew his breath quickly for a few seconds +as his eyes rested on the dear familiar face—familiar, and yet how +altered! +</P> + +<P> +The fine oval face had indeed fallen away sadly, and the soft golden +hair waved away from a brow like marble. Deep dark lines beneath the +closed eyes hollowed the cheeks and seemed to speak of pain and +sleepless nights. Slow tears welled up to Jeff's eyes and fell +silently one by one. +</P> + +<P> +He turned to the woman and spoke in a whisper: +</P> + +<P> +"She has been very ill? She never told me." +</P> + +<P> +"Very ill," said the elderly matron curtly. It was difficult to +restrain her own tears. +</P> + +<P> +Then Jeff sat down quietly and remained half-hidden by the curtain that +sheltered the sleeper. Presently the noise of trampling overhead +seemed to rouse the invalid. She stirred and sighed without opening +her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Parsons, will you ask if any letters or telegrams have come for +me. I shall never get ashore without my friends. <I>Surely</I> someone +will come." Again a long-drawn sigh. +</P> + +<P> +Jeff's little brown hand stole round the curtain and very softly +clasped the thin white fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother, <I>I</I> am here—your own little lad. Mother, oh, mother! Mother +dear—" +</P> + +<P> +The soft brown eyes opened with a startled look. Then suddenly the +intensity of yearning mother-love met Jeff's gaze. In a moment he was +on his knees beside her with his arms about her neck. +</P> + +<P> +"Never, never to leave you any more, mother—to feel your hands—to +kiss your cheek every night—to nurse you—to make you well—to cover +you with love. Oh, how <I>could</I> I ever bear it all! There is none like +you—none—none." +</P> + +<P> +The sweet pale face flushed in an ecstasy of gratitude and passionate +feeling beneath the endearing epithets and the loving touches. +</P> + +<P> +"My lad—my little lad," she kept repeating to herself in a low murmur, +"he has come to meet me, to make me well." +</P> + +<P> +In the few moments that succeeded, Jeff poured forth the tale of his +adventurous flight from Loch Lossie. He made haste to soften the +neglect of his mother's relatives. +</P> + +<P> +"They did not know you were very ill, mother. They only thought you +were a little bit ill before you left India. Aunt Annie said your maid +would bring you down to Scotland quite well; but oh, I had the ache in +my heart. It was a real pain, and I felt I could not wait, and I knew +you would not be angry." +</P> + +<P> +"Angry, my darling!" the mother said with a wondering smile, touching +his hair with her weak fingers. "How pretty your hair has grown, Jeff, +and you are so tall and look so well! Your father would be pleased to +see you so big and strong. He will come home soon now. We are not so +poor as we were. His uncle has left us some money, you know; that is +why I was able to come to England." +</P> + +<P> +It flashed across Jeff's mind that Mrs. Colquhoun must have been aware +of his parents' improved circumstances when she invited her sister to +Loch Lossie. He put away the thought from him. +</P> + +<P> +"And your grandmama, tell me all about her, Jeff, and your little +cousins. I have longed to hear from your own lips about everyone." +</P> + +<P> +There was a lovely pink flush on the mother's face now, and her +beautiful eyes were as bright as stars. Mrs. Parsons came forward, +and, looking at her anxiously, said gently: +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed, ma'am, but I think you had better talk no more just now. I +will fetch your beef-tea, and just let the laddie sit quietly beside +you, where you can see him." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Scott smiled gently, clasping Jeff's brown fingers more closely. +</P> + +<P> +"He will not leave me, Mrs. Parsons—promise—even if I go to sleep." +</P> + +<P> +And so Jeff sat through the morning hours hardly speaking or stirring. +</P> + +<P> +At about twelve o'clock Captain Clark came to the door and was bidden +to enter. He had come to say that he had made every arrangement to get +Mrs. Scott comfortably conveyed to London, and that Mrs. Parsons must +get her mistress ready early in the afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +"And here is a telegram, Mrs. Scott, just come for you," he said, +holding out the brown envelope. Languid fingers went out to receive +the missive. Was not all her world beside her? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<I>From Mr. Colquhoun, York Station, to Mrs. Scott, S.S. Jellalabad, +Albert Docks.</I> +</P> + +<P> +"Will be at St. Pancras Hotel this evening. Send reply there. Say +where you are staying. Is Geoffry with you?" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The answer was soon written, and the kind captain took it away to +despatch. Preparations for Mrs. Scott's removal were carried on as +quickly as possible, and Jeff made himself useful by running backwards +and forwards with messages. +</P> + +<P> +In the evening the sick lady and the boy, under Captain Clark's care, +reached the apartments in Brook Street that had been secured for them. +About seven o'clock Uncle Hugh made his appearance. He forbore to +speak one word of anger or reproach to Jeff; even greeting him with a +certain degree of kindness. The poor boy was alone in the sitting-room +turning over the pages of an old <I>Graphic</I>. His eyes bore traces of +recent tears. +</P> + +<P> +"And how is your mother getting on, Jeff? I hope we shall be able to +take her back to Scotland to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"To-morrow, Uncle Hugh? oh, no! She is very ill—much worse than we +thought. Perhaps she will be ill a long time. The doctor is here now. +The railway tried her so much. She has fainted thrice since we got +here." +</P> + +<P> +All Jeff's stoical fortitude broke down when he began to speak—the +tears could not be kept back, and he sobbed bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +"Uncle Hugh, what shall I do? She does not look like the mother she +used to be! She cannot walk across the room or even sit up." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Colquhoun had not realized anything seriously the matter with his +sister-in-law, and this was the first intimation he had received of her +critical condition. +</P> + +<P> +By and by, when he had seen the doctor, he was made to recognize the +gravity of the case. There was very little hope of the gentle mother's +recovery. All the anticipations of convalescence in Scotland, and a +reconciliation at Loch Lossie, were at an end. He remembered his +wife's last injunction, "Be sure you bring Mary down here at once, and +don't have any excuses." +</P> + +<P> +Alas! poor Mary would never travel any more to her old home. Her days +of rest were at hand. +</P> + +<P> +Uncle Hugh was very gentle and considerate towards Jeff that night and +during the ensuing days that dragged so slowly. The boy could hardly +be persuaded to leave the house for half an hour, and always hurried +back with feverish impatience after the shortest absence. He came in +mostly laden with primroses and violets—her favourite flowers; often +going into two or three shops to get them, never sufficiently satisfied +with their freshness. +</P> + +<P> +One night Jeff had gone to bed earlier than usual, for he mostly +lingered about the passages or wandered restlessly from room to room +till it was late. This evening he had been greatly comforted by some +fancied improvement in the poor invalid's appearance. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother darling, you are better—say you are better to-night, and that +you will soon be well enough to go back to Loch Lossie," he said as he +hung over her at saying "good-night." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled fondly upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"You wish me to get better so very much, Jeff, I almost feel as if I +must." +</P> + +<P> +"You must, you must," he repeated vehemently. +</P> + +<P> +It hardly seemed any time since he had gone to bed when Jeff was roused +by Uncle Hugh touching him on the shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Get up, my boy, quickly, your mother wishes you to come to her." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Colquhoun's face was very grave, and his habitually cold voice had +a thrill of sympathy in its tones. The boy was up in a moment. +Nothing was surprising now. When he had put on his clothes he went +down-stairs to his mother's room. The door was ajar and he pushed it +open. There was a solemn hush here, though there were plenty of lights +about, and a kettle steaming on the hearth. Jeff noticed at once an +overpowering smell of drugs. There was a strange man in the room. The +boy with a cold chill at his heart recognized him as a doctor. How +still the figure on the bed was! How marble-white the face propped up +by many pillows! The mother heard the gentle footfall of her beloved +child, and the soft brown eyes unclosed at his approach—unclosed with +the ever-loving glance. A fleeting smile passed over her face. +</P> + +<P> +"My little lad," said a voice, oh, so faintly, but with such infinite +tenderness, "you have been quick in coming. I have sent for you to say +another good-night. Jeff, darling, try and understand—I am +going—where it is always morning—I am going to leave you—after such +a little stay—" +</P> + +<P> +The boy had thrown himself beside her on the big bed. He had never +seen the approach of death. He could not understand it. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother, why should you go? why should they take you away from me +again? Oh, no, no! Please, sir, do not be so cruel; I'm so lonely +without her." +</P> + +<P> +He turned with anguished eyes to the grave gentleman who had placed a +hand on the dear mother's pulse. +</P> + +<P> +Again she spoke: +</P> + +<P> +"My boy, you must understand, God has called me—I am dying. In the +morning I shall not see your dear eyes; I shall never touch your head +again. Oh, dear, dear head—oh, soft curls!" She paused a minute and +a little sob broke from her. +</P> + +<P> +"Jeff, Uncle Hugh has been telling me about you the past few days. It +has been a great happiness—a great comfort to know that you are so +brave and truthful. There are faults, my darling, still; but I think, +my own, that you will be a hero some day." She smiled upon him with +indescribable content. "I have no fears for you. You will bear what +is given you to bear patiently. You will not grieve your father—you +will remember that—" Her voice failed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, mother, stay with me. I can never be great or good without +you—things are so hard. Only stay with me a little while. No one has +ever loved me as you love me." +</P> + +<P> +A glow of light passed over the sweet face. +</P> + +<P> +"Darling, no one <I>will</I> ever love you like I have loved you. Jeff, you +have been a great happiness to me. By and by, when you come to me, I +shall know, perhaps, that you have remembered all that I have said to +you. Oh, doctor, the pain—again." +</P> + +<P> +She gasped for breath, and Mrs. Parsons lifted her up and put some +cordial to her lips. When she spoke again she wandered a little: +</P> + +<P> +"I was so happy in India—we were all so happy together. Dear +husband—our little son—is growing up all that we could wish him—by +and by—he will comfort you. I shall know—perhaps that you speak of +me—sometimes." +</P> + +<P> +"Mother, you <I>shall</I> know," burst from Jeff. He spoke in a hoarse way. +Only by a supreme effort could he choke back his sobs. Now he had +raised himself and was gazing into the beloved eyes, which seemed to +see some far-off vision. +</P> + +<P> +"And, mother, I promise, when you are gone—I will be—all you wish. I +will never, never forget—all my life through—and when—I see you +again—I shall see you again, you know—you will know how much I have +gone on loving you—and remembering. Oh, mother, can't I go with +you?—must I wait here alone? You will never kiss me, never touch +me—and when—I am a real hero—your voice will not praise me. Take me +with you, mother, mother!" Then Jeff fell back unconscious, and was +carried out of the room by Uncle Hugh, who was sobbing like a child. +The angel of death did not tarry. In the morning Jeff knew that his +sweet mother had said her last "good-night." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Years have gone by, and Jeff Scott is a man now. He is reckoned a real +hero in these days, one whose name has been a household word. He is a +soldier like all the men of his race—a right gallant soldier who wears +a V.C. upon his broad breast. He has seen much service, and done brave +deeds by flood and field, under the roar of cannon, and in instant fear +of death. +</P> + +<P> +His fiery impetuous spirit is in a measure subdued, but still his rash +acts of bravery have been reproved with a smile by his superior +officers. +</P> + +<P> +In one campaign he had swam a river under hot fire of the enemy, +carrying despatches between his teeth—he had rallied his regiment by +picking up the colours dropped by two wounded comrades, though his own +right arm was shattered by a shot—he had defended the sick and wounded +in a quickly thrown up fort with desperate bravery against a host of +attacking enemies. +</P> + +<P> +He seemed to hold his life only to spend it for others. No privations +were hard to him. He bore with a smiling face heat or cold, and +encouraged with a cheerful word dispirited soldiers. +</P> + +<P> +"Sir," said a gallant general, "you have won a Victoria Cross three +times over. I honour you for your heroic bravery. Your mother may be +proud to hear of such a son." +</P> + +<P> +Ah! what a tender chord was touched by those words. In the darkness of +the African night Jeff went out with a heavy heart from his tent, and, +looking up at the silent stars, wondered if <I>she</I> knew, if <I>she</I> +approved. +</P> + +<P> +And when he went home, and was sent for to Osborne to receive his +decorations from the Queen's hand, the honour heaped upon him seemed +more than he could bear. When the greatest lady in the land spoke a +few kind words of praise the tears started to his brave brown eyes. +Perchance the aspect of such a stripling moved her womanly heart to a +special throb of sympathy, he looked so young to have achieved such +deeds of valour. +</P> + +<P> +But the applause of the world in general will never sound attractively +in Jeff's ears; society will never claim him as one of her pet lions. +</P> + +<P> +At Loch Lossie they speak of him with respectful admiration, and Aunt +Annie no longer holds out any opinions against such a distinguished +young man. She loses no opportunity of proclaiming her kinship to +young Captain Scott. But Jeff only spends a short time occasionally in +Scotland; most of his leave is generally passed with his father. +</P> + +<P> +The deep strong affection between father and son seems to become a +closer bond as the years rolls on. They speak sometimes of the dead +mother, and even now Jeff's voice hushes and his steady eyes are misty +at the mention of her name or the recalling of her words. He loves her +with a love that time has no power to weaken; he has kept all her +sayings faithfully in his heart; her letters to him are his most +cherished possessions. +</P> + +<P> +The passionate intensity of his nature has deepened and strengthened +with his manhood. He never forgets. Oh, brave, true heart! oh, loyal +breast! oh, faithful hero! guarding well the noble standard of courage +and truth that was given you to guard in boyhood's days. +</P> + +<P> +"Her little lad" that she loved so well is indeed "one full of courage +and great patience, and dauntless before difficulties; one who allows +no fear to assail him, who fulfils his duty and <I>something over it</I> +under hard and difficult circumstances." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Hero, by Mrs. H. 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Musgrave + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Little Hero + +Author: Mrs. H. Musgrave + +Illustrator: H. M. Brock + +Release Date: March 4, 2010 [EBook #31498] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE HERO *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art] + + + + + +[Frontispiece: JEFF LEARNS THAT HE IS TO BE SENT TO ENGLAND] + + + + +A Little Hero + + +BY + +MRS. MUSGRAVE + + +Author of "In Cloudland" "The Lost Thimble" &c. + + + + +BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED + +LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY + +1887 + + + + +_Printed and bound in Great Britain_ + + + + +OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES + + Little Miss Vanity. Mrs. Henry Clarke. + What Hilda Saw. Penelope Leslie. + Kitty Carroll. L. E. Tiddeman. + Rosa's Repentance. L. E. Tiddeman. + The Coral Island. R. M. Ballantyne. + The Two Prisoners. G. A. Henty. + Among the Bushrangers. G. A. Henty. + Manco, the Peruvian Chief. W. H. G. Kingston. + An Indian Raid. G. A. Henty. + The World of Ice. R. M. Ballantyne. + The Loss of the "Agra". Charles Reade. + Charlie Marryat. G. A. Henty. + Martin Rattler. R. M. Ballantyne. + The Young Captain. G. A. Henty. + Up the Rainbow Stairs. Sheila E. Braine. + A Little Hero. Mrs. Musgrave. + The Skipper. E. E. Cuthell. + A Highland Chief. G. A. Henty. + +BLACKIE AND SON, LIMITED + +LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY + + + + +A LITTLE HERO + + +CHAPTER I + +He was eight years old, and his name was Geoffry. But everyone called +him Jeff. The gentle lady who was his mother had no other children, +and she loved him more than words can say; not because he was a good or +pretty child--for he was neither--but because he was her one little +child. + +Jeff had big wide-awake, brown eyes, that seemed as if they never could +look sleepy. His hair was yellow, but cut so short that it could not +curl at all. + +This was very sensible, for he lived in the hottest part of India. But +his mother certainly thought more about keeping him cool and +comfortable than about his good looks. His hair would have made soft +and pretty curls all over his head if allowed to grow longer. Jeff had +no black nurse, like most little boys have in India. An old +Scotchwoman called Maggie, who had left her northern home with Jeff's +mother when she was married, did everything for the little boy that was +required. She certainly had a great deal of mending to do, for Jeff +was active and restless, and tore his clothes and wore holes in his +stockings very often. And Maggie was not always very good-tempered, +and used to scold the little master for very trifling matters. + +But she loved her lady's child dearly for all that, and Jeff very well +knew that she loved him and that her cross words did not mean much. + +I think everyone in his home loved the little lad. He was so merry and +bright, so fearless of danger, so honest and bold in speech, that he +won all hearts. + +His life had been a very happy one till now. But one day all the +brightness and happiness came suddenly to an end, and Jeff thought that +he could never feel quite so light-hearted again. He could never be +sure that anything would last. + +"Mother dear, do tell me, why are you getting me so many new clothes?" +he said one morning, resting his elbow on his mother's knee, and +playing with the soft blue ribbons that trimmed her white dress. + +Upon the table there was quite a big heap of new shirts and dozens of +stockings all waiting to be marked. + +"I am sure I cannot wear all these things here, because they are quite +thick and warm, and I know we are not going to the hills this summer, +for I heard father say he could not afford it." + +Maggie came in at this moment with another tray piled up with collars +and handkerchiefs. Then the mother put down her book and drew her +little boy's head closer to her breast. He could hear her watch +ticking now. Jeff heard, and felt too, that her heart was beating +quickly. He smiled upwards at the loving grave eyes. + +"But you know you haven't been running, mother." And he laid his +little brown hand against her breast. Poor heart! aching with a grief +it dared not express, bursting with an anguish it had long concealed. + +"My little lad, how can I let you go from me?" she said very softly, +still holding him near to her. He raised himself out of her arms +quickly and looked with wondering eyes at Maggie and the heap of +clothes. + +"Where to? Where am I going?" he said, with all a child's eager +curiosity shining in his eyes. "But not without you, mother?" + +Then the poor mother turned away with a sob, saying, + +"Maggie, you tell him. I can't--I can't." + +And when Jeff recovered his astonishment he saw that his mother had +gone out of the room. + +"My bairn, we're going over the water together--you and me--to +England--to your grandmother's." + +Old Maggie's nose was rather red, and it seemed to Jeff, not used to +associate her with sentiment, that her voice sounded queer and choky. +What could it all mean? + +"Who is going?" he demanded imperatively. "Father and mother, and you +and me, I s'pose?" + +"No," said Maggie, beginning to sniff, "your father isn't going." + +"Then mother is going, and you too, Maggie, will be there to mend my +clothes," he said in a satisfied way. + +"Yes, yes, I'll gang wi' ye, my bairn, my bonnie laddie--I'll no leave +ye in a strange land by yersel'--but not your mother." + +Jeff threw a look of extreme disdain towards the guardian of his +wardrobe, and cried out angrily: + +"Not mother! I don't believe you, Maggie. You can't know anything +about it. Mother _must_ be going. You know she has never left me +since I was born." + +Then he flew to the door and shouted down the passage in a boisterous +way, his pale face growing quite red and angry with excitement. + +"Mother, you _are_ going to England. Say you _are_ going, and that +Maggie doesn't know." + +No answer came. Perhaps in that short silence a dim presentiment of +the terrible truth was felt by this little boy, so soon to be separated +from all he so fondly loved. + +Jeff was soon rattling the door-handle of his mother's room in his +usual impetuous way. + +"Mother, mother, open quickly!" + +There never was a repulse to that appeal. But the door was opened +without even a gentle word of expostulation, and Jeff was drawn into a +darkened room. The mother had got up from her sofa, for there was a +mark on the cushion where her head had been. She stood in the middle +of the room, now quite still, with her arms thrown about her boy. He +did not see at once how very pale she looked, nor did he notice how her +lips trembled. + +"You will not send me away from you, mother. Oh, I will be good. I +will never be naughty or troublesome any more if you will come to +England with me. Mother, I _promise_. I cannot go without you; oh no, +I cannot!" + +Jeff was sobbing loudly now. The silence oppressed him. He felt +instinctively that a solemn time had come in his life. + +"Do not break my heart, my boy. Come on the sofa and sit beside me, +and I will try and tell you what you must know." + +Then as he sat very close to her, clasping her thin hands in his own +feverish little fingers, she told him why it must be. Jeff knew quite +well that a great many children were sent to England from this station +in the plains and that they never came back. He had lost many little +companions in this way, not when they were quite babies, but just after +they began to run about and to grow amusing. There were none as old as +he was left here. + +When his gentle mother began to remind him of the last summer's heat, +and recalled how he sickened and drooped in the sultry breathless days, +he remembered all he had suffered and how very tired and languid he +felt. Now the summer would soon be here again, for it was the end of +March already, and the doctor had said that if Jeff was not sent away +to a cooler climate he would certainly die. + +"We are not rich, my darling, your father and I, and he must stay here +this year through the summer. I could not take you up to the hills as +I did last year when you were so ill. You are everything to me--you +are all I have got, my darling--" her voice broke a little. "You would +certainly get ill again, and you might even leave me altogether--you +might die--if I kept you here. Your grandmama knows my trouble, and +she has written to ask me to send you to her. You will live with them +all at Loch Lossie till some day we can come home." The pretty lady +sighed and pushed her soft brown hair away from her forehead. + +"Two or three years, Jeff, my darling, will pass soon--to you and me. +I shall hope to hear that you are growing strong and well, and that you +are mother's own brave lad, waiting patiently till she is able to meet +you again. Be a man--do not grieve me now, my own little lad, by any +tears. There are many things I want to say to you before you go, and +if you cry--well--I cannot say them." + +The little boy's face was quite hidden on his mother's knee. She felt +him sob once or twice, and then all was quite still in this great shady +room. So still that at last the poor mother thought her noisy active +Jeff must have fallen asleep. Her hand was resting on his head, while +her beautiful sad eyes gazed through the open window and across the +parched bit of garden towards the high hills far away. Oh! if only she +could take her child up there to the mountains and rest peacefully with +him near the melting snows, and see the colour come back to his pale +cheeks in the beautiful green gardens. She did hot weep, though her +heart was very sore. For it seemed very cruel to send the child so far +away to kinswomen who were strange to him--who she knew were not gifted +with any loving tenderness towards childhood, any compassion or +sympathy for waywardness. They would not understand Jeff. Might not +the cold discipline warp all the noble generous instincts of her +child's nature? + +Then her hand began softly to stroke the quiet head. She could not see +his face, but his little body quivered more than once at her touch, and +she knew then that he could not be asleep. She did not speak to him +any more--she had no words ready--her heart was so full. + +Presently Jeff lifted himself slowly from her knee. His glance +followed the direction of her eyes. He did not look her in the face at +once. + +"Mother, dear, indeed I will remember. I have been saying it over and +over to myself, not to forget. I will be brave; it is a great thing to +be a brave man father has always said. When you come to fetch me you +shall see that I have not forgotten what you say, but--but do not let +it be too long. It is so hard to be a man--for a boy to be a man--to +be really brave--oh, so very hard! I wish I might cry, you know, but +now you have asked me not to--I cannot--I _will not_." + +The mother rose up quickly and paced the room backwards and forwards, +with hands clasped and eyes bent on the floor. The little boy remained +quite still where she had left him. + +"Jeff, not to-morrow, but the day after is when you are to go. Your +father will take you down to Bombay and see the steamer. We have so +short a time together, you and I, and, dearest, I can never say all the +things that are in my heart. You could not remember them if I did, and +even if you could they would only sadden you. It would be a cruel +burden to lay upon you, to tell you of my sorrow." + +Jeff did not sob or cry when at last he lifted his brown eyes to his +mother's face. Yet his voice was weak and trembling as he said slowly: + +"I will go away from you bravely, mother, as you wish it. I have never +been disobedient, have I? I will try and not forget till you come that +you wish me to be brave--that it is a noble thing to be brave." Then, +with a heart-rending sob, "Mother, oh mother, do not be very long +before you come!" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +On the voyage home Jeff found many things to amuse him, and made +friends in every part of the big steamer. The stewards, and the crew, +and the stokers would all smile, or have some joke ready, when his +bright little face appeared round some unlikely corner. For Jeff soon +knew his way about the ship, and was here, there, and everywhere all +day long. Of course he was not always thinking of his home in India, +or of the dear faces he had left behind. Even grown-up people easily +forget their sorrows in new scenes. Still, Jeff would grow grave when +he remembered he had seen the tears in his father's eyes for the first +time, when he had said, "Good-bye, my little son." + +Further back still, and yet more sacred, so sacred indeed that he only +liked to think of it after his prayers, he cherished in his memory the +picture of his sad mother, standing in the verandah of their bungalow, +waving her hand to them as he and Maggie were driven away. The tight +feeling at his heart came again at the bare recollection of the tall +slim figure in white, the tearless pale face, the sad sweet smile. + +When he lay in his berth at night time--above the creaking and groaning +of machinery, above the din inevitable on a steamer--he heard a gentle +voice bless him as on that last evening at home: + +"God be with you, my own little lad. Be brave till I see you again. I +shall be so proud to feel that my boy is a real hero." + +On the way to Bombay Jeff had asked his father what a real hero was. +Then he had been told that a hero was "one full of courage and great +patience, and dauntless before difficulties; one who allowed no fear to +overcome him, who fulfilled his duty, and something over it under hard +and trying circumstances." + +Jeff was unusually quiet and thoughtful for some little time after this +explanation, and the father could not help wondering why he looked so +grave and sad. + +"It will be difficult to be a hero--very difficult," he said at length +with a heavy sigh. + +Then the gallant soldier, who was his father, sighed too. + +It was not heroic--it was only a simple duty to send his little son so +far from him, and yet how hard a thing it was. + +There was nothing that Jeff liked better on the big steamer than going +"forrard" to the men's quarters. He would sit huddled up on a +sea-chest, with his elbows resting on his knees, or would climb into an +empty hammock and remain for hours, listening to the wonderful tales +told him by the crew. + +"Captain Clark, I really don't think it possibly can all be true--those +stories the men tell, I mean. They must be _quite_ heroes." + +The little boy's brown eyes were round and stretched in amazement. The +captain did not take long to draw from him some of the marvellous +narratives and chapters of accidents that had been told to him. + +"No, my little fellow, I don't think much of it is true either. We +allow sailors to spin yarns and only believe as much as we like." Jeff +was much better satisfied to feel that a hero was not an impossible +being, and that these rough and ready, hard swearing, rollicking men +were not in reality the stuff out of which was moulded true heroism, +endurance, and nobility. He took comfort now in laughing at their +"make believe" tales of miracles and chivalry. + +At last the voyage, which had been all pleasantness to Jeff, came to an +end, and he felt very sorry to think of parting with so many kind +friends. + +On a fine April morning, with a deep blue sky and an easterly wind, the +great steamer went up the Thames and was berthed in her dock. +Naturally there was a great deal of stir and much excitement amongst +the passengers, many of whom had not been home to their native country +for long years. Most of the travellers had friends to meet them and +were anxiously on the look-out. Those who had not were attending to +their luggage. Very few were passive spectators of the busy scene. +Jeff was greatly amused by all the bustle and agitation. He might have +been even more so had he not felt so cold. The April winds blew very +keenly on his sensitive little frame, unseasoned to such a piercing +air. Still he tried to see all he could; it was novel and amusing, and +he would write a long letter to mother to-night and should like to tell +her all about it. She must know all these things of course, but then +she might have forgotten. + +"Well, my little man, and what do you think of London town?" said +Captain Clark approaching Jeff and waving his hand towards a distant +cloud of smoke. + +"Is that London?" said Jeff with an air of deep disappointment. "Oh, +how dirty it looks! it's nothing half as grand as Bombay." + +A tall thin gentleman with whiskers beginning to turn gray had walked +past Jeff twice, casting a scrutinizing glance towards him. The little +boy had noticed the stranger because he was so oddly stiff and very +stern looking. At this moment Maggie came up the companion steps and +started towards this gentleman with a cry of recognition. + +"Mr. Colquhoun, here we are, sir!" + +The angular gentleman, who stepped so carefully over coils of rope and +the obstacles of luggage, looked precisely as if he had come out of a +bandbox. He was so very much starched, indeed, that Jeff could not +help wondering if a summer in the plains would make him less stiff. As +he came nearer and put out a hand to the little boy, who was his wife's +nephew, it seemed like a piece of wood with mechanical joints. + +"So this is Mary's son," he said in a formal way. "How do you do, +little fellow. You're not much of a specimen to send home. I suppose +they have spoilt you pretty well in India. What is your name? Ah, +yes, Geoffry, to be sure; after your father's family, I suppose." + +Jeff did not like the way in which Mr. Colquhoun spoke his father's +name. He was quickly sensitive to a tone or look. In after days he +wondered much why an attitude of hostility was always tacitly assumed +towards his father. + +"My father's people have always been brave soldiers. Two of his +brothers were killed in the mutiny; they were heroes, I think. They +were called Geoffry and Roger." + +The little boy made up his mind that he should never like the new +uncle. The disparaging accent on his father's name was an insult. + +Mr. Colquhoun had married Jeff's aunt, his mother's eldest sister, and +lived at Loch Lossie with grandmama, under whose roof Jeff was to be. + +But Jeff did not know yet that grandmama was only the nominal ruler +there. + +The little boy began to wonder at once if his young cousins would speak +in the same dry methodical way as their father. It was just like +measuring off words by the yard. How very tiresome it would be to +listen to all day. + +And would all people in England be so clean and precise as this new +uncle? + +During the short railway journey up to London from the docks, Jeff +watched Mr. Colquhoun with an uneasy stare that would have been +embarrassing had the object of this attentive scrutiny become aware of +it. Old Maggie's nudges and whispered remonstrance produced no effect. + +By and by the travellers were taken to a big hotel near a railway +station, and dinner was ordered for them in a great gilt coffee room. +They were informed they would have to wait at the hotel till the night +express started for Scotland. Jeff was much happier in his mind when +Mr. Colquhoun drove away in a hansom to transact his business. Left +alone with Maggie, he proposed a walk through those wonderful busy +streets outside, and when he came back he sat down to write his Indian +letter. + +This was finished and posted before his uncle returned, and Jeff felt +very much relieved that it was safe beyond recall. Those cold critical +eyes might have glanced over the contents: and the little boy was aware +that his candour regarding his newly found relative was not flattering. +Maggie and Jeff slept in a Pullman car that night and arrived at Lossie +Bridge early in the morning. + +Tired and cold as was this delicate boy his mind was open to receive an +impression of wild beauty in the surrounding country. He thought he +had never seen or even dreamt of anything so beautiful and grand. His +animated enthusiasm and undisguised pleasure seemed to warm something +in his uncle's breast. He even smiled. + +The tears rose to Jeff's eyes. Ah! yes, he could understand now why +that dear mother, so far away, pined for her native hills and lakes. + +The mists lifting from the rugged mountain sides, with the morning sun +shining bravely on a glittering lake, was a sight most glorious. The +sound of running brooks, the swish of cascades--sounds most strange to +Jeff's ears--made music everywhere. + +He was silent with wonder and enjoyment during the long drive from the +station. Grandmother's house on Loch Lossie was a fine stone-built +residence, facing the lake on the south. + +It was backed up by the stern heather-clad hills, which sheltered it +from rude north winds. A carriage drive wound along the side of the +lake for nearly a mile, and Jeff was amazed at the orderly aspect of +the shrubberies adjoining it. Everything was clipped and pruned. The +wild luxuriant tangle of Indian jungles, the richly sweet smell of +tropical growths, and the brilliant colouring of foreign flowers were +all so different to this. + +Maggie recognized the familiar features of the landscape with repeated +cries of surprise or pleasure. Her hard and wrinkled face beamed with +the joy of a returned exile. + +"Why, Maggie, you never talked about Scotland to me at all," said Jeff +in some astonishment as he saw actual tears glistening in her eyes. + +"It isn't them as does the most talking as feels the most," she said +sharply, dashing away the unusual moisture. + +As they got nearer to the big house, which looked so cold and bare, +Jeff saw that a boy and a little girl stood under the portico awaiting +their arrival. + +It was now past seven o'clock and the sun had dispersed the last thin +veil of mist over the mountains, and was shining with might on the +glittering windows of the big house which was to be Jeff's new home. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +"This is your cousin from India, children," said Mr. Colquhoun, as he +lifted Jeff down from the back of the dog-cart, where he sat with +Maggie. + +Then the little traveller saw that the other boy wore a kilt, and was +not at all like his father. The girl had on a sun-bonnet, and Jeff +only got a glimpse of a pair of rosy cheeks. + +"You are Brian and Jessie. I have heard about you often. Mother has +your photographs. I cannot see if Jessie is as pretty as her picture; +but how thin your legs are, Brian, like my _dhobees_. Uncle Hugh, do +tell me why do _dhobees_ always have thin legs? Father doesn't know." + +Uncle Hugh was one of those very discreet people who never attempt a +reply to children's questions. + +"Go into the house, Brian, and take your cousin to have some breakfast +in the nursery. Is your mother up yet? Mind you both come down tidy +in time for prayers." + +"But please, Uncle Hugh, I never have breakfast in the nursery. Father +and mother think I am old enough to eat with them. Maggie, _do_ tell +him it is true. Must I really go with them? Can't I see grandmama or +Aunt Annie, first? They are mother's own, her very own relations, you +see. And she did send so many messages. I have said them over and +over again to myself, not to forget. It is very important is it not, +Uncle Hugh, to deliver your despatches?" + +Alas for poor Jeff! His pleading was not heard. He had yet to learn +the firm and obdurate nature of the starched gentleman with whiskers. + +"Brian, obey me at once. Show your cousin the way upstairs." + +And then Jeff, further constrained by old Maggie's hand, was marched +away up two flight of stairs, through a long corridor and double baize +doors, then down another narrower passage into a large square room. It +seemed to Jeff that there was a great deal of heavy furniture +everywhere, and thick carpets, and an excess of light flooding the +rooms. In India the sunshine was always excluded. + +Breakfast was laid on the table in the nursery. There were steaming +bowls of porridge and a large glass dish of marmalade set out. An +odour of bacon also was perceptible. + +"Isn't my governor a stiff one?" said Brian in a jeering way, as his +cousin drew near the great coal fire and drew off his little worsted +gloves--the gloves which mother had knitted. + +"Is your governor a tyrant too?" + +Jeff shook his head in a fierce negative. + +"My governor never bullies his men, if you mean that, Brian. Don't you +care about your father? I don't call him a very nice sort of a father, +but then of course I needn't like him particularly, because he is only +my uncle--only a sort of an uncle too--not a real one." + +Brian was a very pretty-looking boy, with auburn hair and large +innocent blue eyes. People said he had a heavenly expression, and +interpreted a mind to match. + +Jessie had pulled off her sun-bonnet, and the nurse, Nan, a big bony +woman, was tying a pinafore about her. She could hardly hear the +conversation of the two boys on the other side of the room, as Maggie +and Nan were carrying on a lively exchange of question and answer. + +"Cousin Jeff, I'm _quite_ sure you wouldn't like to have breakfast +down-stairs. I did once when Nan was ill, and it was quite drefful," +called out Jessie, nodding her head gravely at the recollection. "Papa +won't let you drink if you have the least bit in your mouth, and he +says everything that is nice isn't good for children. Kidneys and +sausages, and herrings and bacon you're only allowed to smell +down-stairs. Isn't our breakfast ready now, Nan? I am so hungry." +Then the children were bidden to sit down to the table, and Jeff tasted +porridge for the first time. He did not care much about it, and +watched Maggie devour it with no little astonishment. + +"Did mother always eat it, Maggie?" + +"Yes, my bairn; and it's fine stuff to make growing lads." + +"Well, I'll _try_ and like it," said Jeff rather doubtfully, as he made +a second valiant attempt to swallow two or three spoonfuls. + +In the course of a very few days Jeff found out that his cousin Brian +was not nearly so angelic as he looked. He bullied Jessie, who was a +good-tempered little girl, and deceived his father and mother with a +wonderful amount of success. + +With grandmama, who was really a keen-sighted old lady, his plausible +excuses and affectionate embraces did not meet with the same +acceptance. Not that he really cared, for he was impatient of her slow +ways, and did not feel sorry for her failing sight or feeble limbs; +only, he liked the five shillings and half-sovereigns she occasionally +bestowed, and thought that he might receive more if he pretended a +dutiful behaviour. + +Jeff really, however, fell in love with the old lady at first sight. +There are very few old people to be seen in India, and the dignity and +pathos of her appearance touched a tender chord. He admired her fine +white hair and handsome features, all furrowed with the countless +little lines of time. And she wore such stiff brocades and silks, such +beautiful old lace, and the funniest brooches, with pictures in them. +Her soft white hands touched him in a loving way, and she had a gentle +voice something like the dear mother's. + +Poor Jeff yearned for the tenderness and affection that seemed so far +off. How long it would be before the hunger in his heart would be +satisfied he dared not think. But grandmama was old and feeble, and he +might not stay long in her sitting-room. + +It seemed rather hard to Jeff that she was never allowed to have her +own way--that her life was ruled for her. Aunt Annie would always come +and fetch away the little boy after ten minutes, even when grandmama +had sent for him. + +But after some weeks, when it was found that the little boy could sit +still and not tease with too many questions or too much talking, he was +allowed to stay longer; sometimes to play draughts with or read to the +old lady. + +About Aunt Annie Jeff did not at once make up his mind. She was a tall +woman, with a strong voice and handsome features, who always seemed +busy and in a hurry. + +Brian said she knew Latin and Greek, so Jeff decided she must be +clever. She did not wear pretty clothes or soft laces like his mother. +Her dresses were very plain, of some harsh coarse stuff and dull ugly +colours; her manner was always a little abrupt, and she seemed to have +no patience to listen to anything that children said. Jeff supposed +that she was so wise that she could not profit by anything they might +say. + +Perhaps nothing in Scotland surprised Jeff more than to find how busy +everyone was, and how much one could do here. Even ladies and rich +people did things for themselves, and their amusements generally seemed +to be like hard work. Young men walked or rode, or played tennis and +cricket incessantly. There was no mid-day sleep; no lying in hammocks +smoking and reading novels. It was never too hot to go out and do +something, though to Jeff it often seemed too cold. By degrees, +however, he became accustomed to the climate, and before the summer had +fully arrived his fair delicate face took a new bloom that would have +gladdened the heart of his mother. He had been more than a month at +Loch Lossie when the following letter was posted to India. + + +LOCH LOSSIE, _May 10th_. + +Dear darling Mother,--I am not nearly a hero yet. I have not got even +really brave, but I mean to. I don't like lots of things here at all, +and I get angry and quarrel with Brian, because he tells lies--or sort +of lies--and is very unkind to Jessie. He pinches her where it won't +show when she won't do what he wants. Nobody ever believes that Brian +does not tell truth. He seems so obedient, and he never asks questions +or bothers people, and he is _so_ clever with his lessons. He always +seems to know them with hardly looking. The Rev. Mr. M'Gregor, who is +our tutor, you know, says Brian is very intelligent; a most promising +pupil he calls him to Aunt Annie. I think Mr. M'Gregor flatters Aunt +Annie, because he wants to stay our tutor. But I don't think Brian +knows _deep down_ about the things what he learns. He never is +tiresome wanting to see behind things, or to know _why_. You remember +those questions always did come to me when I did lessons with you and +father. Cousin Jessie is very pretty, and I know she has a very kind +heart. She gave two shillings out of her money-box--all what she had +saved in pennies--to a little beggar girl without any shoes that came +to the door. Aunt Annie was angry about it, because she said, "No one +need to beg or be poor." + +Grandmama is a very nice person, but why does she never listen when I +speak of father? I go and read to her sometimes when she is feeling +well, and she says she likes my reading better than Brian's; he gabbles +on so quick and never stops, because he wants to get it over. +Sometimes I stop altogether in the middle of a chapter and talk +instead. We have very nice talks--we talk about you. Then grandmama +always sighs and says how hard it is you are a soldier's wife, and are +poor and are obliged to live in India. They seem to think a great deal +about being rich here; but I think honour and glory is more, and I mean +to be a soldier. + +Aunt Annie does not seem to love her children much. She just kisses +them in the morning and at night once on the cheek, _without any arms_, +and she never goes to tuck them up. + +It is funny, I think, but Jess and Brian don't seem to know it is +queer. I call Uncle Hugh the bandbox man--to myself only, of course. +He is never untidy, or hot, or cold. He seems to get up out of bed +tidy; because I saw him in his night-shirt one morning, and his hair +was all straight and smooth. + +Mine isn't now when I get up, because they don't cut it so short here, +and it has got all curly. I will ask Maggie to cut off a bit for you +to see. + +Maggie has got such a nice brother. He says he remembers you when you +were a little girl, and my eyes are like yours. He is the head-keeper +now, and lets me go out fishing with him. He has got straight red +hair, and oh, such a red beard! and he talks in such a queer way--they +all do here; but I am beginning to understand. Maggie is going to live +at Sandy's cottage soon. He had a wife, but she is dead, and there is +no one to work and cook for him. But I shall see Maggie nearly every +day, and Nan--that is Jessie's nurse--will mend my clothes. + +The primroses have been quite lovely. It will be all withered when it +has been through the Red Sea, and will have no smell, but I send you +one all the same. Mother, you forgot to tell me what English flowers +were like--they are beautiful. + +I hope the major is quite well, and I do hope he doesn't get any +fatter, because of his poor little horse. I wish he could see how thin +Uncle Hugh is--sometimes I wonder I can't see through him. He walks up +the steepest hills and over the heather without ever stopping. + +Tell father I can ride quite as well as Brian, and Uncle Hugh says I +have a good seat. It must be true, because he never praises anybody. + +Oh, dear darling mother, my hand is quite tired, and I have taken two +afternoons to write this letter. I wish I could see you and feel you, +though I _don't in the least_ forget what you are like. I can't bear +to look at your picture often, because it makes the tears come in my +eyes, and you might not like me to cry. At night when I go to bed I +shut my eyes very quick and very tight, and try not to remember +anything in India. I generally go to sleep very quick. The next time +I write perhaps I shall be nearly a hero. I am a long way off it yet. +It would be dreadful if I was not one before you come. A thousand +kisses to you and father from your own loving little boy, + +JEFF. + + +The letter did not stand so irreproachably spelt, but that is what it +said and meant. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +My poor little boy sadly missed many things that were joys or daily +events at home in India. Yet he did not magnify their importance +unduly, and remembered that he must not grieve the loving heart which +probably ached with just as keen a longing as his own. This was +heroism of a negative kind, I fancy. + +At Loch Lossie they were not at all demonstrative people. They never +kissed each other in the day-time, or walked arm in arm, or sat very +near together. + +To Jeff these things had become natural, and his spontaneous, +affectionate nature seemed suddenly frozen up by circumstances. The +dull ache of longing for kindly, smiling eyes, for little playful +speeches, at times seemed more than he could bear. + +And to him who had lived in the constant presence of his mother the +many restrictions laid upon the children at Loch Lossie seemed cruelly +hard; and it was a discipline that seemed to have no meaning, that +seemed to presuppose disobedience. + +He might not go in the drawing-room or conservatory without leave, or +look at the books in the library, or pick the commonest flowers in the +garden, or walk near the loch. No promise was ever regarded as sacred +by his seniors. + +"But if I give you my word, Uncle Hugh," he had pleaded in early days, +"not to go near the water, or touch the boats, surely I may go down the +drive." + +Uncle Hugh only looked down on him with cold denial. + +"Little boys are not to be trusted; their promises are not worth much," +he answered. + +Then Jeff got very red, and burst out passionately: + +"You must have known only boys who were liars. Did you not speak the +truth yourself when you were young?" + +Brian pulled at his jacket to modify his speech. Jeff wrenched it away. + +"Don't touch me, Brian; I shall say what I like; and I know you don't +always speak the truth. Uncle Hugh, don't you know it is only cowards +who make false promises? Can't you trust me? No one who is +brave--really brave--or who tries to be brave--would tell a lie." + +But the appeal seemed to fall on deaf ears. + +Not long after this little scene the Rev. Mr. M'Gregor had reason to +complain of Jeff's negligence. He was very inattentive to instruction +and his lessons were never properly prepared. + +"The boy, moreover, Mr. Colquhoun, has a tiresome habit of reasoning +with regard to actions, even my actions. This approaches disrespect. +Logic, you are aware, cannot be conveniently applied to every +circumstance of life." + +"It ought to be," said rigid Mr. Colquhoun, with a certain degree of +sternness. + +"I respect the boy for his fearless questionings and outspoken +sentiments, though I admit they are embarrassing at times." + +"I am not sure, Mr. M'Gregor, if Geoffry does not teach us a lesson +sometimes." + +Uncle Hugh called him Geoffry, much to Jeff's amusement. + +Secretly Uncle Hugh did not highly esteem the boy's tutor, though +necessity compelled him to employ his services. + +The Rev. Mr. M'Gregor was, no doubt, a clever man in his way, but he +was not a man of high principle. He hated trouble of any sort, and +expediency was usually his guide. Still he had had much experience in +teaching, and Aunt Annie was quite equal to the task of sounding his +knowledge of classics and mathematics. + +These were beyond reproach, and she esteemed it a very fortunate +accident which had thrown him in her way. + +One of the most strict laws laid down at Loch Lossie was that the boys +were never to make use of the boats moored at the little landing-stage. + +It came to Jeff's knowledge that Brian repeatedly disobeyed this order. +He knew that at dusk his cousin frequently went out alone in a little +skiff that was easily managed. Finally, after many anxious days, he +resolved to tell Brian that he was aware of his disobedience. + +Brian turned on him fiercely, calling him "Spy," "Sneak," and "Holly." + +Jeff did not lack in daring or intrepidity, and it was hard to be +reproached with timidity by one he knew his inferior in the respect of +courage. Then he remembered that to be patient was not the least part +of a hero's task, and checked the angry words that were about to rise. + +One morning Uncle Hugh came into the school-room, where the boys were +always to be found at this hour. His face was graver than usual, and +his voice sounded cold and cruel in Jeff's ears. + +"One of you boys has disobeyed me. You have been out in the skiff. I +suppose it was last evening while we were at dinner." + +He looked steadily at the two lads, who were gathering their books +together to take down to Mr. M'Gregor's house. Jeff coloured up to the +roots of his curly hair, and looked down, unwilling to confront the +guilty one's confusion. But Brian, with the angelic face and innocent +aspect he habitually wore, was self-possessed enough to ask: + +"Did somebody say they saw one of us, papa?" + +Mr. Colquhoun looked at his own son, and never doubted his innocence. + +"No, my boy, but I found a pocket-knife in the skiff and a coil of gut, +with two fish. I know you have both knives exactly alike, and probably +only one of you can tell me to which it belongs. Geoffry, have you +your knife in your pocket?" + +Silence, and no movement on Jeff's part. In a moment Jeff looked up, +and in his steady brown eyes there was something which Uncle Hugh could +not read. + +It was a bold glance, but not a defiant one; a resolute gleam, but yet +a sad one. For days afterwards Mr. Colquhoun remembered that dauntless +look. + +"No, Uncle Hugh," he said firmly. + +"Brian, where is yours?" + +Obedient to his father's command Brian brought one from his pocket. +That very morning, not an hour ago, he had asked Jeff to lend him his +knife, and had not returned it to its rightful owner. Jeff's lips +closed tightly and his eyes fell. + +"Then I must believe, Geoffry, that it is you who have disobeyed me. +Have you anything to say for yourself?" + +"I did _not_ go in the boat," he said doggedly, picking up some books +and strapping them together, with despair at his heart. Surely this +was being a hero. + +"Do not add a lie to your offence and make it worse." + +"I have not told you a lie, Uncle Hugh. I--did--_not_--go," he almost +shouted, shouldering his books. + +Mr. Colquhoun did not argue or seek to prolong the interview, but in a +few words spoke the sentence of punishment. + +"I will give orders that you are not to use your pony for a month, and +that Sandy is not to take you rabbiting or fishing for the same length +of time. You are not to be seen anywhere in the gardens or grounds +except on your way to Mr. M'Gregor's. I have never restricted you boys +in any reasonable pleasures, but I am fully determined to make you +understand that I intend to be implicitly obeyed when I think it +necessary to lay down a rule." + +Then Mr. Colquhoun went away, and Jeff threw down his books with a bang. + +"I'll fight you, Brian, you coward, you false witness! You're worse +than Ananias," he said, squaring himself for the combat and reddening +all over his face. + +"All right. Come on. I'm twice as strong as you, and Sandy has taught +me how to box." + +With this invitation Jeff began the battle in a very unscientific way. +Of course he came out of the fray with a bleeding face and torn +clothes. There was no one near to pity him, and he could only wash his +face and hope that the rents would escape Aunt Annie's notice till Nan +had mended them. + +For a fortnight this poor little boy moped about the upstairs rooms and +passages in a very miserable way. Jessie was his best consolation, +bringing him news from the garden and stable which interested him. She +also paid a daily visit to Sandy in order to glean little details of +sport, and came back usually with her small face puckered up in anxiety +to forget nothing. + +It was really very sad for poor Jeff that the otter hounds should visit +the neighbourhood at this juncture. He had to watch Uncle Hugh and +Brian starting at daybreak three times a week to participate in the +sport. His poor heart was very sore all the time, for Uncle Hugh had +not believed him, and there was no one in whom he could confide. It +was a terrible anguish to bear all alone, and the injustice of his +punishment was the sorest part of his trouble. + +Maggie had gone away to live at her brother Sandy's cottage soon after +her return, and he might not even go down and see her now. + +Meanwhile, Brian kept the knife that really belonged to Jeff, for Uncle +Hugh had not given back the delinquent's implement. It seemed to Jeff +that his cousin took delight in parading his possession and assuming +innocence. He went out of his way to assert his virtue. + +One evening, watching the waning light from an upstairs window, Jeff +saw a little skiff shoot out into the open space of water, not shadowed +by the hills. There was a little figure in it. Here was a glorious +opportunity to go down and tell Uncle Hugh and establish his own truth. +For a few seconds a conflict went on in his breast, and then with a +heavy sigh he laid his head on the window sill and burst into +passionate sobbing. When it was almost dark the fit of weeping had +passed off. But he remained at the open window, breathing the balmy +air. Suddenly he was startled by a cry from the water. In vain his +eyes sought to pierce the gathering gloom. Again the cry. Forgetting +all restrictions, with a sudden uncontrollable impulse, he rushed down +the stairs and out into the garden to the lake side. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +"Papa, papa! oh, come quickly! There's some one drowning in the lake. +And oh! I was standing in the hall when Jeff rushed down-stairs and out +of the front door, with his face all white and his eyes staring. He +must have seen from upstairs--he was standing at the window, you know. +Oh papa, perhaps it is Brian; he never came in to tea." + +Little Jessie, with eyes distended and panting breath, astonished Mr. +Colquhoun and her mother by the unusual impropriety of bursting open +the dining-room door at dinner-time. In a moment her father was on his +feet and out of the door, followed by the butler and footman. A +presentiment of how it had all happened flashed upon him as he hurried +down to the edge of the water. There were cries, muffled cries, +growing gradually fainter, and splashes as though of some one +struggling; a scream, and then what seemed an ominous silence. + +It did not take a minute to launch a boat, and row out a few yards from +the shore. An upturned skiff told its tale of a repeated disobedience. +Clinging to it by one hand was Jeff, with the other he gripped Brian's +hair; but his little hand had just relaxed its hold as Mr. Colquhoun +approached. The effort to hold up his cousin had taxed his strength to +the utmost, and unconsciousness stole over him at the moment of rescue. + +They were both saved. In five minutes, time the butler and footman had +carried in the two insensible forms and laid them safely on the rug in +the library. + +It was not long before Brian gave signs of life. A gasp, a sigh, a +fluttering breath, and his eyes opened to see his mother hanging over +him. They wandered round the room and saw his father watching beside +Jeff for some sign of returning consciousness. + +There was an ugly contraction of Brian's brow at this moment. To Mr. +Colquhoun the moments of doubt were full of anguish. Perchance Jeff +had given his life for his son's, for life seemed long in returning to +the little face that lay so still and white, with the pretty yellow +curls dripping wet. At last Jeff opened his eyes, but it was with no +rational gaze. + +"Mother--I did try--they will tell you that I did try," he said +faintly. Then his eyelids closed again, and he muttered, "I will say +it now--'as we forgive them that trespass against us.'" + +Mr. Colquhoun understood at last. Here was verily a little hero who +had suffered the guilt and punishment of another--a weak and sensitive +child who had borne a wrong silently, and had finally all but lost his +life to save the life of one he knew had sacrificed him. + +By and by the doctor came, and Jeff was undressed and taken upstairs +without any other revival. Maggie had been sent for at once, to her +brother's cottage, and was installed in Jeff's little room as his +nurse. The doctor had lifted the wet curls above Jeff's temple, and +had revealed a dark bruise there. Evidently the boy had come in +contact with some obstacle in his wild plunge from the shore to the +skiff, only a few yards off. Jeff and Brian had both been learning to +swim with Sandy this summer; but Brian had made no progress, whereas +Jeff could manage a few strokes. + +That was a very anxious night for the household at Loch Lossie. Even +little Jessie was suffered to wander about the passages till after ten +o'clock; and there was no assembly for prayers in the dining-room as +usual. A great shadow and fear seemed to hang over the house. Brian +was taken away by his mother to his own room and put to bed. + +"Take him out of my sight. He is the cause of all this," Mr. Colquhoun +had said sternly, seeing he was fully recovered and inclined to make +explanations. + +Mr. Colquhoun and Maggie sat up together by Jeff's bedside. He lay +most of the night still and white. Towards daybreak a pink spot came +into each cheek, and he breathed more quickly and grew restless. At +last he began to speak: + +"Oh, mother, I cannot bear it--_indeed_ I cannot bear it! No one loves +me here, it is lonely--and they won't even believe me or trust me--they +think I am a liar. Brian looks so good, and he is never found +out--they think he must be true. When will you come, mother?--oh, I +want you, I want you." + +All the pent-up sorrow of weeks and months went out in the last bitter +cry. Then, as if awakened by his own intensity of feeling, Jeff opened +his eyes and was suddenly conscious of his surroundings. + +"Uncle Hugh, where am I? Why are you sitting here? Have I been ill? +Oh, yes, I remember all now. I heard Brian scream, and I ran down to +the lake. He was not drowned, was he? Oh, if I had saved him! mother +would be so glad; because he is my enemy, you know. Why does my head +ache so much; it all seems confused too. I wish you would believe me, +Uncle Hugh; indeed I told the truth." + +The man of starch bent down till his face was very near to Jeff. His +voice was a little husky: + +"I believe you now, my little lad. I could never doubt you again; you +have behaved like a hero!" + +Then Jeff half raised himself on his pillows, and the dim morning light +revealed an elastic [Transcriber's note: ecstatic?] smile on his pale +face. + +"Oh, say that again. I do want to be a hero before mother comes." + +He fell back once more, murmuring, + +"I am so tired and sleepy, and so happy now. Uncle Hugh, will you hear +me say my prayers? After I had been unhappy mother always heard me say +my prayers. And I think--perhaps I have cheated God lately--since you +punished me, for I would not say 'forgive us our trespasses as we +forgive them that trespass against us.' I did not forgive you or +Brian, and I could not say it. Now I can, and it will be all right. +God will understand." + +Soon after Jeff fell into a deep and dreamless sleep. He slept far +into a bright morning, and when the doctor came he pronounced his +little patient as convalescent. + +"You may get up to-morrow, and we shall have you out with the otter +hounds on Saturday, my little man," he said with a kind smile. + +Jeff's eyes sought Mr. Colquhoun's face with an eager look of inquiry. + +"We will see, Jeff"--he called him Jeff for the first time--"but you +must make haste and get well." + +And Jeff did get well and rode right bravely. Better sport was never +seen. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Jeff was now ten years old, for nearly two years have gone by since he +came to England. He has grown very much, and is a tall muscular boy, +with a bright smiling face; only when he is alone or unconscious of +observation he is sometimes subdued, and there is a yearning wistful +look in his big brown eyes that seems to declare he is not quite happy. + +"You have news from India to-day, Geoffry," said Uncle Hugh one morning +rather stiffly as he met the boy coming down the stairs with a letter +in his hand. "Your Aunt Annie has also had a letter from your mother." + +Jeff looked rather as if he had been crying, and his voice trembled a +little when he answered Mr. Colquhoun: + +"Yes, there is news. _She_ is coming--_at last_. But oh, she is ill!" + +Jeff nearly broke down here. "Uncle Hugh, I may go to London and meet +her next week." + +The passionate pleading of the boy's voice in the last words was +indescribable. + +He had grown used to negatives presented to his requests during his +stay at Loch Lossie, but this was a widely different and an urgent +matter. + +"I think, my boy, it will be better not. Your aunt has fully discussed +the matter with me, and she does not wish it. She thinks that her +meeting with her sister will be a painful one; she did not part on very +friendly terms with your mother. A reconciliation will be more +pleasant at Loch Lossie." + +Jeff coloured deeply. He knew what all this meant. Uncle Hugh's +carefully-worded speech was clear to him. + +"Yes, I know--Sandy told me. You and Aunt Annie did not want her to +marry father, because he was poor and only a soldier in a marching +regiment. You were all unkind to her about it and made her very +unhappy; but she did not care for money and a grand house--and--and she +loved father. She is very happy with him--we were all happy together +till I had to be sent home. Think of it only, Uncle Hugh, two whole +years without seeing her. Didn't you love your mother too? And now to +lose a single day or hour, after so long! Oh, do let me go, Maggie +will take me if you can't." + +Mr. Colquhoun stood a moment in silence looking out of the window. His +heart went with the boy, for Jeff had grown dear to him, with his frank +impulsive ways and deep strong affections. + +"Well, well, perhaps something may be done. You had better go and have +a little talk about it to your aunt before you go to Mr. M'Gregor's." + +Jeff looked very blank and despairing as he turned round and went +slowly up the stairs again. Aunt Annie was one of those superior +people who never change their mind. She took a vast amount of pride in +her own prompt judgment, and not for worlds would have admitted herself +in the wrong. Jeff was sure that the most urgent pleading would not +prevail to alter her decision. + +No sympathetic throb for the child and mother once more to be united +would alter her resolution. + +"No, Jeff, I have told your uncle that I have fully made up my mind +that the reconciliation to take place between your mother and her +family shall be under this roof. It is impossible for a child of your +age to understand this matter, and I beg that you will cease to argue. +Your mother and I parted in great bitterness, but that is past and +forgiven." + +Jeff made a little gesture of anger. + +"_My_ lips will be closed with regard to bygones, and when Mary is once +here I shall never recur to painful matters." + +This was all very grand and magnanimous in words, but the effect it had +upon Aunt Annie's auditor was anything but soothing. + +"But surely mother, when she comes by herself and is ill, would think +it kinder of you to meet her at once," he said in hot indignation. + +But no words availed, and Mrs. Colquhoun kept to her determination. +She probably did not observe the set and dogged look upon the boy's +face as he turned to leave the room. He was of the same blood as +herself, and something of her own resolute nature formed part of his +character. + +But Aunt Annie turned back complacently to the translation of her +German novel, without giving another thought to the deep strong +child-nature with which she came daily in contact. The persistence of +her small adversary had, indeed, ruffled her serenity for a few +minutes, but her emphatic denial of his request must certainly have +convinced him of her strength of purpose. What was the bitter +disappointment to the little aching heart in comparison with the +maintenance of her own dignity and authority! + +But Jeff went brooding down the avenue with his books slung over his +back, and on his face there was a set look of despair, which boded no +good to Mr. Colquhoun's authority. + +The week passed quietly, and without any further pleading on Jeff's +part; only, he was unusually quiet and thoughtful. + +On the morning before the expected arrival of the steamer from India, +Jeff was missing from Loch Lossie. Brian came in hot haste to his +father, eager to inform him of the unwarranted disappearance. Brian +was fond of establishing his own virtue by declaring the faults of +others. + +"Mr. M'Gregor must not be kept waiting, Brian. You go down to him at +once. Never mind your cousin." This was not what Brian had +anticipated, and he departed in great disgust. + +"I do believe he's gone up on the moor," said this youngster +vindictively as a parting shot, sincerely hoping that Jeff might be +called to account for some serious delinquency. He had never forgiven +him for having been found out himself in a serious fault last year. +The recollection of Jeff's endurance under a false accusation was a +continual mortification to his small soul. He knew that his father had +never forgotten that episode, and from time to time regarded him with +suspicion of a new deception. + +All that day till nightfall, though keepers and scouts were sent about +in all directions, no word came of the missing lad. Inquiry was made +in the nearest township and at Lossie Bridge station in vain. No +little traveller had been seen to arrive or depart. Late at night a +porter from the next station down the line came up to the house and +informed Mr. Colquhoun that a little boy answering to the description +of Jeff had taken that morning's mail to London from Drumrig. + +It was too late for Mr. Colquhoun to set off in pursuit of the culprit +that night, but all preparations were made for his departure the next +morning. + +Meanwhile Jeff had arrived in the great city, to which he was a +stranger, towards evening. A little waif and stray in London, with +only five shillings in his pocket! But no fears assailed him. He was +encouraged by the great hope of the meeting on the morrow. His heart +began beating at the very thought of the loving arms into which he +would nestle. + +Naturally he was puzzled to know what to do with himself. It was more +than probable that the great hotel at the railway station would swallow +up his five shillings and leave him without the means of getting to the +steamer. He addressed himself to a friendly-looking porter who was +staring at him with a certain amount of curiosity, seeing he had no +luggage: + +"What does it cost to get a bed in there for the night?" he said. + +The porter grinned satirically. + +"More nor such as you can pay. Yer wouldn't get much change out of a +sovereign, I'll be sworn." + +He walked down the platform, and Jeff saw that he was making merry with +one of his friends over his inquiry. In terror lest some detaining +hand might even yet be stretched forth, he hurried out of the station +and was soon lost in the small streets about King's Cross. + +He at length found a humble-looking lodging, attracted thereto by a +card in the window, to the effect that "Lodgings for single men" were +to be had. + +The woman who opened the door to him looked doubtfully at this youthful +customer, but the production of a couple of shillings and an offer from +Jeff to pay in advance settled all difficulty. + +"I am going down to the docks to-morrow to meet my mother, who is +coming from India," he said, giving a frank explanation of his plans. +"I shall have to leave quite early and I will pay you to-night." + +The woman smiled at the dignified attitude of her would-be lodger, and +bade him come in and she would find him a bed to suit. + +She saw very well that this was no roughly-nurtured child, and possibly +guessed partly at the truth. + +There were two or three labouring men taking supper in a back kitchen, +and a strong smell of onions and frying fat pervaded the atmosphere. + +Jeff felt it would not do to appear squeamish in such company, and drew +near to the fire, making a pretence of warming his hands. + +"Here's a new lodger, Timothy; you make room for him," said the woman +with a broad grin. + +"Runned away from school, young marster, I'll be bound," said one rough +giant, catching hold of Jeff by the arm. The boy turned his brown eyes +steadily on his captor. + +"No, I have never been at any school," he said with composure. "But +they would not let me meet my mother, who is coming home from India, so +I took all the money out of my savings-box and came by the train +without telling anyone." + +The navvy released him. + +"From Ingy! That's a long way to come. And they wouldn't let you meet +her! It was a darned shame. You're a well plucked one for your size. +Can ye stand treat, young maister? We'll drink to the health of the +lady from Ingy." + +Jeff took his few coins out of his pocket with a dubious frown. + +"There's my bed to pay for here, and some supper, and I've got to get +to the docks to-morrow by ten o'clock. This is all I've got; perhaps I +can spare you a shilling." + +They were honest labourers, though rough, and took his shilling, and no +more, and went off to the public-house. + +Jeff asked for an egg and some tea and bread and butter, and then said +he would go to bed. + +"I'll put you along of my boy 'Arry. He sleeps wonderful quiet, and +some of them is roughish customers to lie alongside of when they comes +in from the 'Lion,'" said the woman as she lighted a candle. + +Jeff sighed when he was ushered into the dingy attic where he was to +pass the night, thinking of his own little white bed at Loch Lossie and +all the dainty arrangements of bath and dressing paraphernalia. + +The next morning he was astir at day-break, and without casting a +glance at his sleeping companion he went softly down the stairs and +laid his payment on the kitchen table. He had some difficulty in +unbarring the door, but succeeded after many endeavours. + +Though it was an April morning the air was very raw and bleak at this +early hour, and the boy shivered repeatedly. + +At a coffee-stall in an adjoining street he bought a thick slice of +bread and butter and a steaming cup of what was called tea, sweet and +strong, if not particularly fragrant. Fortified by such nourishment +against the biting air, he inquired of the first policeman he met the +nearest way to the station, and reached it soon after seven o'clock. +There was an hour and a half to wait before his train started, but he +sat down on a sheltered bench and remained an unnoticed little figure +till the train drew up. At about the same hour Mr. Colquhoun was +crossing the border in a southern express in pursuit of the runaway. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +It was the same steamer that Jeff had come home in two years ago. Much +the same sort of scene was going on on the deck as on a former occasion. + +The burly form of Captain Clark might be descried from afar pacing up +and down. It seemed all like a dream to the boy, vividly recalling his +own arrival. He rubbed his eyes hard, scarcely feeling sure of his own +identity. + +The great steamer had been in dock over half an hour, and those +passengers who had not disembarked at Gravesend were busy with their +luggage. + +"Captain Clark, don't you remember me? It is Jeff Scott." + +The boy had taken off his cap in a salute to his old friend. The +beauty of his yellow curls was fully revealed. All the sickly paleness +resulting from tropical heats had disappeared from Jeff's face, and he +stood now on the deck a fair specimen of a healthy English lad. + +Captain Clark instantly recognized the steady brown eyes. They +recalled another pair of eyes, infinitely sadder, but oh, how like! +The golden-haired lady down-stairs had been put under his especial +charge, with many injunctions to see to her welfare. But the voyage +had not brought back the expected health to her cheek or light to her +eyes. It was with a heart full of pity that this good man turned to +the boy. + +"Eh, my boy, and is it really you? I am glad to see you. Have you +come to take a passage back with me?" + +But Jeff was not in the mood for any joking this morning. + +"I have come to see mother," he said with infinite gravity. "I know +she is one of your passengers. Let me go to her at once. Who will +tell me which is her cabin?" + +The good old sailor's weather-beaten face changed a little. + +"You will perhaps take her by surprise, my lad. She is ill--very +weak--she cannot stand any shock. Which of her friends or relatives +has come to meet her?" + +"I have come--only," said Jeff, "I ran away to do it. She would expect +me, of course." + +Captain Clark looked at the boy, whose fair face flashed at some +painful recollection. + +"Well done, Jeff." The old captain's voice was husky. "Come with me +at once. We will find your mother's maid or the stewardess, but you +must promise to be very gentle and not to agitate her." + +Jeff smiled with superior wisdom. How could his presence agitate his +beloved mother? + +At one of the state-room doors off the saloon Captain Clark knocked +gently. + +An elderly woman answered the summons at once, and held up her finger +with a warning "Hush! she is asleep, poor lady! do not wake her." + +Then Jeff came a little forward, trembling with eagerness, his eyes +full of yearning. + +"This is her boy, Mrs. Parsons, who has come alone from Scotland to +meet her." + +Jeff's steadfast eyes met the woman's, but he did not understand the +look of pity in them. Why should anyone be sorry for him, now that the +sad years of separation had come to an end? + +"Come in then, laddie, very softly. She's been talking day and night +of her bairn; but you must, mind, let her have her sleep out. She lay +awake the long night through." + +Then Jeff was cautiously admitted. + +Child as he was, he staggered a little at the aspect of the white still +form extended on a berth. He drew his breath quickly for a few seconds +as his eyes rested on the dear familiar face--familiar, and yet how +altered! + +The fine oval face had indeed fallen away sadly, and the soft golden +hair waved away from a brow like marble. Deep dark lines beneath the +closed eyes hollowed the cheeks and seemed to speak of pain and +sleepless nights. Slow tears welled up to Jeff's eyes and fell +silently one by one. + +He turned to the woman and spoke in a whisper: + +"She has been very ill? She never told me." + +"Very ill," said the elderly matron curtly. It was difficult to +restrain her own tears. + +Then Jeff sat down quietly and remained half-hidden by the curtain that +sheltered the sleeper. Presently the noise of trampling overhead +seemed to rouse the invalid. She stirred and sighed without opening +her eyes. + +"Mrs. Parsons, will you ask if any letters or telegrams have come for +me. I shall never get ashore without my friends. _Surely_ someone +will come." Again a long-drawn sigh. + +Jeff's little brown hand stole round the curtain and very softly +clasped the thin white fingers. + +"Mother, _I_ am here--your own little lad. Mother, oh, mother! Mother +dear--" + +The soft brown eyes opened with a startled look. Then suddenly the +intensity of yearning mother-love met Jeff's gaze. In a moment he was +on his knees beside her with his arms about her neck. + +"Never, never to leave you any more, mother--to feel your hands--to +kiss your cheek every night--to nurse you--to make you well--to cover +you with love. Oh, how _could_ I ever bear it all! There is none like +you--none--none." + +The sweet pale face flushed in an ecstasy of gratitude and passionate +feeling beneath the endearing epithets and the loving touches. + +"My lad--my little lad," she kept repeating to herself in a low murmur, +"he has come to meet me, to make me well." + +In the few moments that succeeded, Jeff poured forth the tale of his +adventurous flight from Loch Lossie. He made haste to soften the +neglect of his mother's relatives. + +"They did not know you were very ill, mother. They only thought you +were a little bit ill before you left India. Aunt Annie said your maid +would bring you down to Scotland quite well; but oh, I had the ache in +my heart. It was a real pain, and I felt I could not wait, and I knew +you would not be angry." + +"Angry, my darling!" the mother said with a wondering smile, touching +his hair with her weak fingers. "How pretty your hair has grown, Jeff, +and you are so tall and look so well! Your father would be pleased to +see you so big and strong. He will come home soon now. We are not so +poor as we were. His uncle has left us some money, you know; that is +why I was able to come to England." + +It flashed across Jeff's mind that Mrs. Colquhoun must have been aware +of his parents' improved circumstances when she invited her sister to +Loch Lossie. He put away the thought from him. + +"And your grandmama, tell me all about her, Jeff, and your little +cousins. I have longed to hear from your own lips about everyone." + +There was a lovely pink flush on the mother's face now, and her +beautiful eyes were as bright as stars. Mrs. Parsons came forward, +and, looking at her anxiously, said gently: + +"Indeed, ma'am, but I think you had better talk no more just now. I +will fetch your beef-tea, and just let the laddie sit quietly beside +you, where you can see him." + +Mrs. Scott smiled gently, clasping Jeff's brown fingers more closely. + +"He will not leave me, Mrs. Parsons--promise--even if I go to sleep." + +And so Jeff sat through the morning hours hardly speaking or stirring. + +At about twelve o'clock Captain Clark came to the door and was bidden +to enter. He had come to say that he had made every arrangement to get +Mrs. Scott comfortably conveyed to London, and that Mrs. Parsons must +get her mistress ready early in the afternoon. + +"And here is a telegram, Mrs. Scott, just come for you," he said, +holding out the brown envelope. Languid fingers went out to receive +the missive. Was not all her world beside her? + + +_From Mr. Colquhoun, York Station, to Mrs. Scott, S.S. Jellalabad, +Albert Docks._ + +"Will be at St. Pancras Hotel this evening. Send reply there. Say +where you are staying. Is Geoffry with you?" + + +The answer was soon written, and the kind captain took it away to +despatch. Preparations for Mrs. Scott's removal were carried on as +quickly as possible, and Jeff made himself useful by running backwards +and forwards with messages. + +In the evening the sick lady and the boy, under Captain Clark's care, +reached the apartments in Brook Street that had been secured for them. +About seven o'clock Uncle Hugh made his appearance. He forbore to +speak one word of anger or reproach to Jeff; even greeting him with a +certain degree of kindness. The poor boy was alone in the sitting-room +turning over the pages of an old _Graphic_. His eyes bore traces of +recent tears. + +"And how is your mother getting on, Jeff? I hope we shall be able to +take her back to Scotland to-morrow." + +"To-morrow, Uncle Hugh? oh, no! She is very ill--much worse than we +thought. Perhaps she will be ill a long time. The doctor is here now. +The railway tried her so much. She has fainted thrice since we got +here." + +All Jeff's stoical fortitude broke down when he began to speak--the +tears could not be kept back, and he sobbed bitterly. + +"Uncle Hugh, what shall I do? She does not look like the mother she +used to be! She cannot walk across the room or even sit up." + +Mr. Colquhoun had not realized anything seriously the matter with his +sister-in-law, and this was the first intimation he had received of her +critical condition. + +By and by, when he had seen the doctor, he was made to recognize the +gravity of the case. There was very little hope of the gentle mother's +recovery. All the anticipations of convalescence in Scotland, and a +reconciliation at Loch Lossie, were at an end. He remembered his +wife's last injunction, "Be sure you bring Mary down here at once, and +don't have any excuses." + +Alas! poor Mary would never travel any more to her old home. Her days +of rest were at hand. + +Uncle Hugh was very gentle and considerate towards Jeff that night and +during the ensuing days that dragged so slowly. The boy could hardly +be persuaded to leave the house for half an hour, and always hurried +back with feverish impatience after the shortest absence. He came in +mostly laden with primroses and violets--her favourite flowers; often +going into two or three shops to get them, never sufficiently satisfied +with their freshness. + +One night Jeff had gone to bed earlier than usual, for he mostly +lingered about the passages or wandered restlessly from room to room +till it was late. This evening he had been greatly comforted by some +fancied improvement in the poor invalid's appearance. + +"Mother darling, you are better--say you are better to-night, and that +you will soon be well enough to go back to Loch Lossie," he said as he +hung over her at saying "good-night." + +She smiled fondly upon him. + +"You wish me to get better so very much, Jeff, I almost feel as if I +must." + +"You must, you must," he repeated vehemently. + +It hardly seemed any time since he had gone to bed when Jeff was roused +by Uncle Hugh touching him on the shoulder. + +"Get up, my boy, quickly, your mother wishes you to come to her." + +Mr. Colquhoun's face was very grave, and his habitually cold voice had +a thrill of sympathy in its tones. The boy was up in a moment. +Nothing was surprising now. When he had put on his clothes he went +down-stairs to his mother's room. The door was ajar and he pushed it +open. There was a solemn hush here, though there were plenty of lights +about, and a kettle steaming on the hearth. Jeff noticed at once an +overpowering smell of drugs. There was a strange man in the room. The +boy with a cold chill at his heart recognized him as a doctor. How +still the figure on the bed was! How marble-white the face propped up +by many pillows! The mother heard the gentle footfall of her beloved +child, and the soft brown eyes unclosed at his approach--unclosed with +the ever-loving glance. A fleeting smile passed over her face. + +"My little lad," said a voice, oh, so faintly, but with such infinite +tenderness, "you have been quick in coming. I have sent for you to say +another good-night. Jeff, darling, try and understand--I am +going--where it is always morning--I am going to leave you--after such +a little stay--" + +The boy had thrown himself beside her on the big bed. He had never +seen the approach of death. He could not understand it. + +"Mother, why should you go? why should they take you away from me +again? Oh, no, no! Please, sir, do not be so cruel; I'm so lonely +without her." + +He turned with anguished eyes to the grave gentleman who had placed a +hand on the dear mother's pulse. + +Again she spoke: + +"My boy, you must understand, God has called me--I am dying. In the +morning I shall not see your dear eyes; I shall never touch your head +again. Oh, dear, dear head--oh, soft curls!" She paused a minute and +a little sob broke from her. + +"Jeff, Uncle Hugh has been telling me about you the past few days. It +has been a great happiness--a great comfort to know that you are so +brave and truthful. There are faults, my darling, still; but I think, +my own, that you will be a hero some day." She smiled upon him with +indescribable content. "I have no fears for you. You will bear what +is given you to bear patiently. You will not grieve your father--you +will remember that--" Her voice failed. + +"Oh, mother, stay with me. I can never be great or good without +you--things are so hard. Only stay with me a little while. No one has +ever loved me as you love me." + +A glow of light passed over the sweet face. + +"Darling, no one _will_ ever love you like I have loved you. Jeff, you +have been a great happiness to me. By and by, when you come to me, I +shall know, perhaps, that you have remembered all that I have said to +you. Oh, doctor, the pain--again." + +She gasped for breath, and Mrs. Parsons lifted her up and put some +cordial to her lips. When she spoke again she wandered a little: + +"I was so happy in India--we were all so happy together. Dear +husband--our little son--is growing up all that we could wish him--by +and by--he will comfort you. I shall know--perhaps that you speak of +me--sometimes." + +"Mother, you _shall_ know," burst from Jeff. He spoke in a hoarse way. +Only by a supreme effort could he choke back his sobs. Now he had +raised himself and was gazing into the beloved eyes, which seemed to +see some far-off vision. + +"And, mother, I promise, when you are gone--I will be--all you wish. I +will never, never forget--all my life through--and when--I see you +again--I shall see you again, you know--you will know how much I have +gone on loving you--and remembering. Oh, mother, can't I go with +you?--must I wait here alone? You will never kiss me, never touch +me--and when--I am a real hero--your voice will not praise me. Take me +with you, mother, mother!" Then Jeff fell back unconscious, and was +carried out of the room by Uncle Hugh, who was sobbing like a child. +The angel of death did not tarry. In the morning Jeff knew that his +sweet mother had said her last "good-night." + + * * * * * + +Years have gone by, and Jeff Scott is a man now. He is reckoned a real +hero in these days, one whose name has been a household word. He is a +soldier like all the men of his race--a right gallant soldier who wears +a V.C. upon his broad breast. He has seen much service, and done brave +deeds by flood and field, under the roar of cannon, and in instant fear +of death. + +His fiery impetuous spirit is in a measure subdued, but still his rash +acts of bravery have been reproved with a smile by his superior +officers. + +In one campaign he had swam a river under hot fire of the enemy, +carrying despatches between his teeth--he had rallied his regiment by +picking up the colours dropped by two wounded comrades, though his own +right arm was shattered by a shot--he had defended the sick and wounded +in a quickly thrown up fort with desperate bravery against a host of +attacking enemies. + +He seemed to hold his life only to spend it for others. No privations +were hard to him. He bore with a smiling face heat or cold, and +encouraged with a cheerful word dispirited soldiers. + +"Sir," said a gallant general, "you have won a Victoria Cross three +times over. I honour you for your heroic bravery. Your mother may be +proud to hear of such a son." + +Ah! what a tender chord was touched by those words. In the darkness of +the African night Jeff went out with a heavy heart from his tent, and, +looking up at the silent stars, wondered if _she_ knew, if _she_ +approved. + +And when he went home, and was sent for to Osborne to receive his +decorations from the Queen's hand, the honour heaped upon him seemed +more than he could bear. When the greatest lady in the land spoke a +few kind words of praise the tears started to his brave brown eyes. +Perchance the aspect of such a stripling moved her womanly heart to a +special throb of sympathy, he looked so young to have achieved such +deeds of valour. + +But the applause of the world in general will never sound attractively +in Jeff's ears; society will never claim him as one of her pet lions. + +At Loch Lossie they speak of him with respectful admiration, and Aunt +Annie no longer holds out any opinions against such a distinguished +young man. She loses no opportunity of proclaiming her kinship to +young Captain Scott. But Jeff only spends a short time occasionally in +Scotland; most of his leave is generally passed with his father. + +The deep strong affection between father and son seems to become a +closer bond as the years rolls on. They speak sometimes of the dead +mother, and even now Jeff's voice hushes and his steady eyes are misty +at the mention of her name or the recalling of her words. He loves her +with a love that time has no power to weaken; he has kept all her +sayings faithfully in his heart; her letters to him are his most +cherished possessions. + +The passionate intensity of his nature has deepened and strengthened +with his manhood. He never forgets. Oh, brave, true heart! oh, loyal +breast! oh, faithful hero! guarding well the noble standard of courage +and truth that was given you to guard in boyhood's days. + +"Her little lad" that she loved so well is indeed "one full of courage +and great patience, and dauntless before difficulties; one who allows +no fear to assail him, who fulfils his duty and _something over it_ +under hard and difficult circumstances." + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Hero, by Mrs. H. 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