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If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Harry Fenimore's Principles - -Author: Isabel Thompson Hopkins - -Release Date: May 17, 2021 [eBook #65362] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Juliet Sutherland, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARRY FENIMORE'S PRINCIPLES *** - -+-------------------------------------------------+ -|Transcriber’s note: | -| | -|Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | -| | -+-------------------------------------------------+ - - -[Illustration] - - - - -HARRY FENIMORE’S PRINCIPLES. - -BY THE AUTHOR OF - -“A SUMMER IN THE FOREST,” “FLOY LINDSLEY -AND HER FRIENDS,” ETC. - -[Illustration: Logo] - -_American Tract Society_, - -150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. - - - - -COPYRIGHT, 1877, -BY AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. - - - - -HARRY FENIMORE’S - -PRINCIPLES. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - - -Outside the city limits the country was glowing with garnet and gold, -but within the boundary of walls and pavements, only here and there a -solitary tree, or a vine trailing over a balcony, showed what October -had been doing, and now the short autumn twilight was drawing its gray -veil over even those. But nothing daunted, and as if determined to -keep up for itself, the city began to sparkle here and there with an -illumination of its own, and gas-lights began to gleam from one window -after another, giving for the moment before the blinds were drawn, a -free chance for a peep at the evening just beginning inside. - -The light flashed from the windows of two houses at the same instant. -One stood quite toward the outer limits of the city, and though its -inmates and its furnishings were poor enough, it had a broad outlook -over all the brilliant glory of the country round about, while a great -old butternut-tree, knotted and gnarled by many a year, scattered its -leaves in a golden shower over the roof and down the long yard leading -to the road. The other fronted on one of the fashionable avenues of -the city, where the square of grass before each door was only large -enough for a single shrub, or a garden vase but inside, ivies twining -fresh and green upon the walls, a conservatory window full of flowers, -and the pleasant warmth of the crackling fire in the grate, seemed to -balance the gayety of life outside, and make things very nearly equal -again. - -Whether the advantage was really on the side of the queer rambling old -house under the butternut-tree, or belonged to himself, sitting in the -ivied library of the brown stone front, Hal Fenimore was quite too busy -to decide, as the servant reached his torch up to the chandelier, and -with one burst after another the gas rushed to meet it, and the room -flashed into a sudden burst of light. - -“That’s good,” he exclaimed, as it flooded down upon the table where -with elbows firmly planted, and his hands pushed through his hair, he -had been impatiently waiting for his companion, Tom Haggarty, to make -the next move in their game. - -“I don’t know about it, though,” he added to himself, under his breath, -as he discovered something to which he had been quite blind before, but -which stood out so plainly now that he did not see how Tom could fail -to see it for another moment. Everything had been going on swimmingly -on his side, up to that moment; but there stood his queen in the very -line of march of one of Tom’s bishops, and not a piece of any size to -interfere! If Tom would only continue blind to his opportunity for one -move more, till there should be time for a masterly retreat! - -Poor little Tom! He did not look like an antagonist much to be dreaded, -as he sat vis-a-vis to Hal, with not only an anxious, but a bewildered -expression upon his face, first lifting a hand towards one of his -pieces, and then withdrawing it, as if his uncertainty had only doubled -by the movement. At last, in a sort of desperation, he made a plunge at -his only remaining knight and moved it into a worse position than it -occupied before. Then, still more hopelessly perplexed by Hal’s chuckle -of triumph at the escape of his queen, and his taunting, “A’n’t you -a bright fellow to play with!” he made two or three aimless moves, -and Hal cried “Checkmate!” in a tone that completed his humiliation. -It was very unpleasant somehow; he wondered if the player who did not -checkmate always felt so. If he did, Tom certainly thought chess a very -disagreeable game. So he slipped down from his chair and told Hal, who -was still rejoicing in the conclusion of things, that he thought he -must go. - -“Don’t go,” said Hal, “let’s play another.” - -“I guess I can’t; I guess I _must_ go,” said Tom; and finding his hat, -he got out of the front door, and heard it close behind him with a -miserable feeling that seemed to run down to the very depths of his -pockets, to the effect that Hal and himself had a clear understanding -between them that he was a stupid little fellow, and that a good player -was more than a match for him. - -When Hal came back to the library, rubbing his hands with renewed -triumph as he glanced at the chess-board, he also saw through the open -door of the dining-room, that dinner had been brought in, and that his -was the only vacant seat at the table. - -So scrambling the pieces into their box, he made haste to take his -place, apologizing for his tardiness by saying that he had been to the -door with Tom. - -“But, Hal,” said Mrs. Fenimore, as if a sudden thought struck her, “why -don’t you sometimes invite one of the boys who know the game better? -you seem always to have some little atom of a fellow who has not played -three games in his life, and you have nothing to do but beat him.” - -“That’s the very fun of it,” replied Hal; “I beat Tom all out just now, -and sent him home feeling meaner than the fag end of nothing. That’s -the way of course if you ever come across a fellow that isn’t smart -enough to defend himself.” - -“Why, Hal Fenimore! Do you say such a thing as that? You certainly -never learned such principles at home, and I should be very sorry to -think you had gathered them up since you came to be with your uncle and -me.” - -“I didn’t know it was principles,” said Hal, coming down a little from -his high horse of complacency; “I never thought anything about it, -in any way, only a fellow always likes to make another feel a little -shabby if he can, because then he feels finer himself.” - -“Why, Hal!” was all the lady could exclaim, as she turned to look -closely in his face to see if he was really in earnest. “I wonder -how you would have liked chess-playing if your uncle had taken that -way to ‘feel fine’ as you call it, when he taught you? As far as I -can recollect, he found his pleasure entirely in encouraging you, and -helping you on over the rough places till you were able to stand by -yourself.” - -“Oh, that’s different,” said Hal. “Men don’t feel like boys. I suppose -when I am a man, I shall teach my small nephews and nieces, and never -see a mistake they make.” - -“I don’t know about that,” said his uncle; “you’ll be pretty likely to -find yourself a grown-up Hal Fenimore when that day comes, and your -friends Tom Haggartys still, and nothing more or less. I give you fair -warning. A good deal depends upon how you strike out with your pawns, -in real life as well as in chess, my boy.” - -“But men try to get ahead of each other, and they fight battles and get -victories,” persisted Hal. - -“I beg your pardon,” said his uncle, “high-minded men don’t like to -fight battles with adversaries much weaker than themselves; and as for -‘getting ahead,’ that is a very different thing from standing still and -crowing over some poor little companion that you have managed to push -down.” - -“Well,” said Hal, who found the discussion did not seem to turn very -decidedly in his favor, “I only know how boys do; but one thing they -have to look sharp for is having their lessons, and I must get to mine -in a great hurry now, if you will excuse me.” - -The library fire crackled and glowed in the grate until it almost -seemed a pleasant thing that the evenings were getting frosty, and Hal -soon forgot all questions of mutual rights, in the more pressing one -of division of fractions, which took such complete possession of him -that he started as if out of a dream, at the sound of his aunt’s voice -saying, “I declare, Hal, I think I’ll invite Tom Haggarty here, and -give him lessons every evening for a week. He’s a bright little fellow, -and would be a match for you, if he didn’t beat you, in a very short -time.” - -Poor little Tom! If he could only have heard her say it, what a comfort -it would have been! The miserable feeling that had come over him as he -said Good-night to Hal, had stuck fast ever since, till he had fairly -gone to bed to get rid of it, and was lying at that moment, with his -little cold nose tucked away under the blankets, trying to smother the -conviction that he was the stupidest and most insignificant fellow in -the world, and that Hal would be sure to remind him of it at school the -next day. - -“Now, Aunt Melanie!” exclaimed Hal, “I can’t understand how you make so -much of that game of chess. Tom will find a boy smaller than himself -stumbling at his lesson to-morrow, and he’ll crow over him, as uncle -calls it, and then that little one will find another pushed out at a -game of ball and have his crow, and so they will all take their turns -and come out even.” - -“Take their turns at what?” said his uncle, looking up from his -newspaper. “At putting on all manner of airs with themselves, when they -have really done something contemptible, and then at being made to feel -contemptible when perhaps they have done the best they could. It hurts -either way, my boy, and it isn’t starting with your pieces in good -range, let me tell you once more.” - -“Well,” said Hal, growing a little uncomfortable again, “I wish I -could get these figures into range, at all events. I believe there’s -no battleground where things go quite so hard as they do on a fellow’s -slate;” and plunging in again amid rules and examples, he thought -little more of poor Tom or his woes, until he went to join him in the -land of dreams. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - - -The golden shower that the old butternut sent down upon the queer roof -outside the city, was the nearest approach to the real thing the house -ever saw, for though it had had its day with very grand people, they -had all died or moved away long ago, and left it to grow shabby and -old-fashioned as it might, until at last the city had bought it for a -very small sum, and established within its walls the few old people -and strays that the authorities were bound to support. So now it was -nothing more nor less than the city almshouse, and the strip of land -running back from it to the road behind, was called the poor-farm, -though it seemed rather as an odd sort of compliment to the paupers, -(boarders they preferred to be called,) than as a statement of fact, -for there was only room to raise such vegetables as were needed for -daily use in the summer, and the potatoes and great yellow pumpkins -that were stored away for winter-days. - -But old Ben, who had the care of the garden, such as it was, was proud -enough of his charge, and would have ruffled up in a moment at any one -who dared to call it small. - -Ben had seen better days himself, as well as the old house, and had -kept many a rich man’s grounds and conservatories in hand; but after -all, was not a garden a garden wherever it was, and had not the good -Lord called himself a husbandman, and said that he walked in the garden -of his spices? - -So when Ben found himself sick and unable to stir from his little room, -just as all the winter things were ready to be brought in, it fretted -and troubled him terribly for a few days, but at last he grew quiet. -They might wait, he said; he was waiting himself till the Husbandman -should see fit to bring him in. He did not have to wait long; and when -the matron saw that he was really gone, she seemed to hear the words he -had repeated so many times ringing in her ears. - -“Waiting! Dear, dear, and what else are we all doing? What are any of -us doing here but to wait?” she had said to old Sue on the morning when -they saw that harvest-time had come for Ben at last. - -Sue had nodded assent, and a queer little bit of humanity, half -standing, half sitting, quite unnoticed, in one of the queer old -windows, had nodded too, but not for himself. He could not suppose she -meant to include him. - -“All but me!” he added to himself; that was what he always said, and -somehow it never did seem as if anything was intended for him. The -women had not noticed him, partly because he was so small, his great, -dreamy eyes looking over at them from a point hardly higher than the -window-sill, and partly because no one ever noticed Creepy further than -to speak a kind word, or to manage some little thing that he thought -might go towards his comfort. He came and went as he liked, but so -noiselessly that the gaze of his great eyes, devouring everything from -one corner to another, made the new-comers start, until they were used -to it, and found out at last that it was only “the poor crooked thing,” -as Mrs. Ganderby the matron called him--the stray child with the -crooked back, whom no one had ever claimed or ever would. - -No one ever asked any work of Creepy, and indeed it seemed doubtful -whether anything would ever be found for those white hands, so like a -baby’s in their powerless touch; and it was not always certain, after -all, that one would meet him here or there about the house. There -were days and weeks together when he was only able to sit where some -one placed his chair; in summer oftenest under the shade of the old -butternut, and in winter by some one of the queer little windows where -the sun could lie the longest. Old Enoch had made the chair for him, -and a most remarkable specimen of handicraft it was. - -“Does credit to your head and heart, Enoch,” said the doctor when he -saw it. - -Enoch took off his hat and made the best bow his rheumatism would -allow; but pleasant as it was to receive a compliment from the doctor, -even that could not add to his pride in his work. - -“Thanks,” he said. “In course I ought to know my business, for ’twas -the best master-workman in the country round I was ’prenticed to, and -’twas more than forty year my work was called a match to his, far and -near, and would have been yet to this day, if a fall from the big -steeple hadn’t brought me down to stiff joints for the rest of my old -age. Ben had a great deal to say about gardening, to be sure, but what -good would people get out of potatoes to put in their mouths if they -had not a shelter over their heads? I should like to ask. And Ben was -always making it such a thing to remember that the blessed Lord called -himself a husbandman when He was here; but was He not a carpenter -first and foremost, and before he even talked a word about sowing seed?” - -Ah! “blessed Lord” indeed! Who else could have made poverty and work -seem sweet? - -So there sat Creepy, always looking and listening, never saying -anything about the pain in his crooked little back, even when it was at -the worst; never saying much about anything, in fact, only nodding and -smiling quietly while he listened to the rest. Except, to be sure, the -one little thing that he was always saying, the same that he had said -in Ben’s room; but even that was almost always whispered to himself. - -“All but me!” - -And indeed it did not seem that many things were intended to include -Creepy. The other paupers had their times of getting new clothing -allowed, but it was never considered necessary for Creepy; the matron -always found some portion of some cast-off garment that had resisted -wear and tear sufficiently to be brought round again, by her devices, -into the right size and shape for “the poor crooked thing,” as she -always called him; “it took such a scrap,” she used to say, “though -dear knows it had been a precious job to worry out a pattern for such a -back and shoulders. She didn’t know whose wit and patience would ever -have done it but her own.” - -And when the census-taker came, Creepy sat in his hollow chair, and -fixed his great dark eyes upon them both, while she gave the names of -Enoch and Sue, and the twenty or more, older or younger, who made up -the list of their companions. - -“And so that’s all, is it?” said the census-taker. - -“That’s all,” replied the matron. - -“That’s all,” repeated Creepy, nodding, “all but me.” - -“Now may Heaven forgive me,” exclaimed the matron, as passing through -the old porch she caught sight of Creepy, “if I did not speak the -truth; but who would ever have thought of the poor crooked thing, and -more than all, of giving such a name as that to go and be printed -before all the world, which no one knows who gave it to him, more than -where he came from himself, may the good Lord have pity upon him.” - -She bustled on in too much haste to let her conscience smite her very -deeply, for there was a stir in the almshouse that morning. It was one -of the glorious golden days in October, and from time immemorial it had -been the custom of the house, once in the year, for every one, old and -young, to get work out of the way, don their best clothes, and set off -in a triumphant march still farther out beyond the city, out to the -great belt of yellow woods that lay just on the border of the bay. And -there they would rustle about in the fallen leaves like children, and -fill up the emptied lunch-baskets with nuts for the winter evenings, -and never come back till the golden light of afternoon began to -falter, and it was time to get home before twilight damp should fall -on rheumatic bones. And this was the morning for them, this time. But -they never had been so late getting off. The census-taker had hindered -the matron until she declared at last when he was really gone she was -in such a toss she hardly knew which way to turn first; and then they -missed Ben who had always been such a dependence and it seemed as if -something was all wrong, going without him for the first time. - -But they were off at last, and Creepy watched them until the last -figure disappeared under some yellow trees that stood at the corner of -the road. It was Sue, and she was just taking Enoch’s lunch-basket out -of his hand. - -“Give it to me, man,” she said, “are you forgetting all about that lame -shoulder? ’Twill be stiffer than a rusty hinge to-morrow.” - -“It’s you who are forgetting,” said Enoch. “You might remember that you -are five years older than any one of us, and that your feet will be -failing you before we reach the next turn.” - -“And isn’t this the very day of the year for forgetting?” answered Sue. -“We always forget on this day even that we are paupers, for are not the -soft breeze and the blue hills and the crystal air around us the good -Lord’s, and has he not given all his creatures a share in them alike?” - -“What a thing it must be,” Creepy sat thinking to himself, “to move so -light and free as they do, and to go so far. It seems as though they -were all melted into gold, passing under those trees, and that’s the -last I see of them.” - -The last he saw of Sue and the rest, but what came pushing out from -under the gold, and nearing the almshouse so fast that Creepy saw -it plainer and plainer every moment? A jet-black horse and a light -chaise--Creepy knew them in an instant. It was the city physician’s -chaise, Dr. Thorndyke’s, and had stood at the almshouse door a few -moments every day while Ben was sick. - -The matron saw him too. - -“Now whom can he have been visiting on that road?” she said to herself. -“Dear knows, there’s no house beyond us within the city limits but the -Jellerbys’ and the Diffendorffers’. And now he’s hurrying back for dear -life to folks of more importance.” - -Very much mistaken was Mrs. Ganderby for once. So far from hurrying -back “for dear life,” the horse’s pace was slackened as it drew near -the almshouse, and just as it reached the gate, was drawn up with a -short rein. - -“Now may all that’s good deliver us!” exclaimed the matron, pulling -her apron-strings into a hopeless knot, in her hurry to get it off. -“Who does he think is dying or ready to die in the house to-day, that -he must needs come unawares upon respectable housekeepers on the one -morning in the year when there’s excuse if everything is not in its -place as early as others. It’s none but a young doctor, surely, who has -time to call when he is not sent for.” - -It was of no use; the knot would not be untied, and the doctor could -not be kept waiting, so Mrs. Ganderby proceeded to open the door, -smoothing her apron and her temper as she went, until the doctor -suspected nothing out of the way with either. And, indeed, it would -have been hard to keep any vexation in one’s soul, when fairly face to -face with Dr. Thorndyke, his own was so full of friendly greeting and -good cheer; and, moreover, there was something in the hearty, vigorous -way he was setting out in his own life that was positively refreshing, -and made one feel he must certainly be the man to attack any of the -numerous ills that might beset their own. - -“Good-morning, Mrs. Ganderby,” said the doctor, “you wont take it amiss -that I have come this time without being sent for, I hope.” - -“O dear, no, sir; I’m sure it’s only too great a compliment that you -should take a moment from all you have to think of. I’m only sorry our -people have all gone off to-day for a tramp to the woods, that I dare -say seems foolish enough to any one who has more range of pleasures; -but however that may be, they’re all gone, and there’s no one at home -but myself, nor no one could be more pleased to see you, sir; walk in, -I beg.” - -“All gone,” repeated the doctor, a shade coming on his face. “Thank -you; but did you say they were all gone?” - -“All but me,” nodded Creepy, from where he sat under the big tree, -sharing with wondering eyes and ears in the excitement of the doctor’s -visit; but no one noticed him. - -“Gone for a day in the woods, sir,” said Mrs. Ganderby apologetically; -“it seems childish for people of the age and infirmities of most of -them; but it’s a rare day, sir, which it’s also a way of the house to -get away once or twice in the year.” - -“You don’t mean to say that the lame child, the little cripple I have -seen here, has gone for a walk like that?” - -“What, Creepy! Dear heart, the poor crooked thing couldn’t make his -feet serve him out of sight down the road, which it’s a strange thing I -never can seem to recollect mentioning him with the rest, although it -certainly isn’t from any want of pity for the child that Heaven hasn’t -seen fit to give a body like other people.” - -“Then he is at home,” said the doctor, quite himself again; “and where -shall I find him, Mrs. Ganderby? It is rather early in the day to -detain a housekeeper, and I presume he may be quite at leisure.” - -“Why certainly, sir; it’s little else than leisure the poor thing -has, sitting from morning till night in his chair, which, if you have -leisure enough to spare him a few moments, it may be a great blessing -to him, I am sure. He’s just there, sir, under the big butternut, and -if you’ll have the goodness to come in, I’ll bring him in a moment.” - -“No, no,” said the doctor, discovering Creepy for the first time; “I’ll -go to him,” and with a few rapid steps down the gravel walk, he was at -Creepy’s side, leaving Mrs. Ganderby to declare at her leisure that -“wonders never would cease, though if the doctor had the goodness in -his heart, and the time on his hands to look after the poor crooked -thing, there was no one who needed it more; which it was not at all -probable that any one could do anything for the like of him, however.” - - - - -CHAPTER III. - - -Not so wonderful perhaps, after all. If there was a doctor in the -world, besides the soulless visitor of the year before, stupid enough -to praise the workmanship of a cripple’s chair, and never feel himself -roused at the demand made upon his own skill by the cripple, it was -not Dr. Thorndyke. He had not passed half way from the door of Ben’s -room to the bedside before his eye caught the strange, dwarfed, little -figure stationed motionless in the window, but following every movement -in the room with its great, dreamy eyes. - -The matron admired and wondered at the careful but swift conclusion of -his study of Ben’s case; and when he had--she did not know how--made -her feel sure he understood it, and had shown so kind an interest in -the old man, and had gone again, it was scarcely five minutes by the -great clock in the hall since he came in. But she did not once imagine -that in the same time he had come closer to Creepy, and seen more -clearly what the poor, twisted little frame and the shrinking heart -were needing, than she had in the whole three years she had taken the -responsibilities of the almshouse upon herself. - -“But not now,” he said to himself as he passed the window with so quick -a glance that Creepy had no idea he even saw him; “we want more time, -that child and I. I think there’s a chance there for a doctor to amount -to something, for once in a way.” - -So here he was, for Dr. Thorndyke never lost much time when once he -had determined upon a thing; and he was fairly seated beside his new -patient before Creepy had recovered from the amazement of hearing -himself inquired for sufficiently to draw a breath. - -“So, so, young man,” said the doctor, stooping for a quick look into -Creepy’s face, “enjoying the free air and the sunshine with the rest of -the world, eh? Well,” and he lifted his hat to catch the breeze, “it’s -a day to make the most of, and I haven’t seen a more tempting place to -pass an hour anywhere. How the light showers down through these yellow -leaves! Is there enough for you and me both for a little while, do you -think?” - -Creepy could not have spoken to save his life, but the answer shone out -of his eyes, and the doctor was satisfied with that. - -“It’s a day to make one feel like a boy again,” he said, pulling up a -handful of grass and showering the seeds through the sunlight. “And so -they’ve all imagined they were children and gone off to the woods, I -hear?” - -“All but me,” said Creepy, nodding at the doctor, with eyes still fixed -upon his face. - -“All but you; you thought this was your place, and kept it, eh? Well, -it’s not every one who has wisdom for that, though we all have our -places in the world, if we could but find them.” - -“All but me,” said Creepy, nodding again. - -The doctor shot another glance into his face. “You’re very much -mistaken,” he said; and then turning to pull more grasses, added -suddenly, “Why didn’t you go with them?” - -“I never go anywhere.” - -“And why not?” asked the doctor, tossing the seeds out into the air -again. “What would happen if you were to go? A pain here and there? A -pain in that back, for instance?” - -The eyes answered again. - -“And not a new pain? A pain that comes quite often, and stays as long -as it likes--is there at this very moment, perhaps?” - -Creepy nodded, but he could not have spoken for his life. It seemed to -him he was talking face to face with a magician. How should _he_ know, -when the people in the house were never told, could only guess, and he -had seen none of them this morning. - -“And don’t you know that’s all wrong?” went on the doctor. “Other boys -of your age play in the sunshine every hour they can get out from the -schoolmaster’s clutches.” - -The never-failing answer came to Creepy’s lips, but he did not speak. - -“Do you know what runs across the road, just beyond the turn under -those yellow trees? There is a brook down there, and not far below it -passes through a shady spot, and gets very deep and almost as cold as -ice. That’s the very place for trout! Suppose you and I go down when -the season comes round again, say next spring, for instance. There are -some great rocks there under the trees, and we could take it as lazily -as we liked.” - -Now the doctor knew very well that if he had proposed that Creepy -should take him on his shoulders and prance away moonward, he could not -have amazed and bewildered him more; and it showed plainly enough in -Creepy’s face, but the doctor would not understand. - -“You think it strange I could find the time, don’t you? That is true -enough; it could not come very often--once in a season, perhaps, as a -great treat. But for to-day it is pleasure enough to sit here in the -sunshine. I wonder who made this bench? The same hand that fitted your -chair, perhaps?” - -“No,” said Creepy; “it was Ben. He used to make them while he was a -gardener. He got roots and crooked branches in the woods and twisted -them together. That was while he was waiting.” - -“Waiting?” asked the doctor. “What was he waiting for?” - -“Waiting to be gathered in. The matron says we’re all waiting. All but -me.” - -“And why not you? Are you in such haste that you cannot wait? You -_must_ wait for spring, before we go fishing, at least. Then you shall -help me gather branches for just such a seat. I must have one on my -piazza. That is to say, if you can get away from school then, eh?” and -the doctor tossed out more seeds, and they floated away and showered -down over the walk, to start up and make Enoch a deal of hoeing in the -spring. - -But nothing to compare with the thoughts he had tossed, and with -seemingly a more careless hand, into Creepy’s heart in the five -minutes he had been sitting on the rustic seat that had been such a -pride to Ben. And there was no waiting with them. Every one had struck -root already, and sprung up into some sudden, bewildering feeling, -until there was a terrible confusion in the little hot-bed. Why had the -doctor come to see him? No one ever came; no one ever sat down to talk -with him. Every one was kind, always kind; but every one went on his -own way. Go fishing! He go fishing? Had he not just told him he never -went anywhere? Could not he see for himself, for did not a doctor know -everything? And how should he help him cut down trees, or how should he -go to school? Schools were made for every one else, that is true; but -no one, except Ben, had ever helped him even so far as to read. Was the -doctor mocking him? Did he not see that he was only made to sit in his -shapeless chair, and feel the pain going up and down the crooked back -like a devouring thing? Why did he talk to him as he would talk to any -one else? - -“Shall we call it an engagement?” said the doctor, looking quickly in -Creepy’s face again. - -“What did you come here for?” cried Creepy, suddenly, with eyes and -voice. “Why do you ask me such things? You never saw me before!” - -The doctor rose up and stood before his chair, stretching himself to -his full height. - -“Yes I have seen you before, and you have seen me. You have seen how -strong I am, how light and quick my step is, how full of life all my -veins are, and how that makes it a pleasant thing for me to live. And I -have seen how weak and tired you are, and how your life is only to sit -here and bear pain, as no child ought to do. And that is why I came, -to see what can be done about it all! Don’t you know that sick people -get well, and weak people strong, and crooked limbs are made straight, -sometimes?” - -The burning eyes were dropped now, and Creepy only smiled and shook his -head. - -“Don’t you know that, my little man?” - -“All but me.” - -The doctor stooped and lifting the lame child gently from his chair, -gathered him up in his arms and held him, looking down into his face. - -“Do you know you are mistaken? I do not think we can make things -altogether straight with you, that is true; but I think we can send -that pain where it will never find its way back again, and put -strength into those limbs, so that you shall go and come with the rest, -and find out what it really is to live and move in God’s world; _that_ -is what I want to see about. I do not feel any doubt we shall succeed. -Shall we try?” - -The doctor could not see under the great drooping eyelids and the -quivering lashes, but Creepy scarcely seemed to breathe. Not with the -thought of what the doctor had said, for his words only seemed a sound -passing out into the sunshine; their meaning did not touch him as even -a possibility. But he was speaking, was here, was holding him tenderly -in his arms--that by itself was bewildering enough--he could only hold -his breath and lie still. - -“So you don’t say no? You are not afraid to try?” - -Creepy shook his head. - -“Shall we begin to-morrow?” - -“Yes.” - -“Good,” said the doctor, with a quick but gentle pressure of the strong -arms, and then they placed Creepy carefully in the queer chair; the -doctor looked closely into his face once, and said Good-by. In another -moment he had passed over the walk where the scattered seeds were to -make so much trouble, sprung into the chaise, and given the rein to -the black horse, and the sound of its hoofs was ringing back from -halfway down to the turn in the road under the yellow trees. - -Great was the excitement in the almshouse when the matron, after -bottling up the news of the doctor’s visit all day long, poured it out -on the returning party in the evening. - -“He had been there for nothing in the world but to see the poor crooked -thing, though with manners enough to make a show of asking for the -rest, and had sat talking under the butternut-tree for a full half -hour, five times as long as he had ever stayed by Ben when he was -dying; which she couldn’t get the child to repeat the half he had -said; but the most she could make out was, he was coming every day, -or for aught she knew three times a day, to try some plan of his own -to straighten the poor thing out: which she was sure it was more like -the Lord regarding the sparrows sold for a farthing than any other -happening she had ever seen, if he had sent a young man of the sense -and skill of that one, all unrequested, to lay himself out to mend a -little life like that. And no one could be more rejoiced than she if -he could do it, nor more ready to give praise for a miracle of her own -times, though at the same time she knew it was only a young doctor who -could afford to go about picking up cases that never sent for him, and -that nobody could say were responsible to him in one way or another, if -he did not choose to see it.” - -The basket of nuts for the winter evenings, which had made such work -with the arms of one after another of the party before they got it -home, was forgotten where it stood, while they listened with open -mouths and ears to the matron’s speech, and when Enoch in his haste -to go and see if Creepy looked just the same after what had happened, -struck it with his foot and sent the contents rolling half across the -room, no one said a word, or stirred from his place to gather them up. - -“Dear, dear!” said Sue, “but the Lord remembers all in their turn, if -they do but wait his time! And it’s come sooner to him than to some, -but there never was patienter waiting, nor would have been for a -hundred times as long, if it had been His will!” - -“Well, there’ll be waiting enough yet, to see what comes of it all,” -said the matron. “Sometimes doctors cure and sometimes they kill, and -sometimes they do nothing at all, which it remains to be seen whether -it will be one or the other with the poor crooked thing.” - -“Dear, dear,” said the old woman who had taken the most care of Ben, -“what are we all doing here but to wait?” and then finding there was -really nothing more to be heard, she and Sue bustled off to see about -supper, and then to carry their tired bones to rest, and to dream over -all the events of the wonderful day. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - - -Such a battery of eyes as was on the watch for the doctor’s visit the -next morning! Not one of the paupers could be persuaded to any work -that would take his individual pair out of range of the street; each -one had an excellent reason for choosing a station where he could shoot -a glance out of the window, or down the yard, and no very long interval -was allowed between the shots either. Mrs. Ganderby herself found it -highly important to keep in the front part of the house and just make -sure that Enoch was going on well with a bit of repair he had set -himself about on the doorstep. Creepy sat under the butternut-tree, and -the yellow leaves had fluttered down till they lay in a golden circle -around his queer little chair; the doorstep was mended, Mrs. Ganderby -could not find another spot out of order within reach of the front -windows; one after another the old clock in the hall had ticked away -the hours of the glistening October morning, and still no black horse -came dashing up before the door. “If I hadn’t seen the doctor with my -own eyes yesterday,” said Mrs. Ganderby, “I should say it was all a -light-headed notion of the poor crooked thing that he was here at all, -which he certainly was here, however; but what he had to say about -coming again is another question that will take care of itself before -the day is gone.” - -[Illustration] - -Greater and greater grew the wonder and suspense. Was the doctor coming -at all, and what was he going to do if he came? That was so far beyond -what they knew, that they set themselves to imagining, until if they -had seen him alight, one hand holding a terrible knife, with which to -remove the lame child’s poor twisted spine, and the other a big anvil -on which to hammer it straight again, they would not have been very -much more astonished. Could they believe their eyes and ears, when at -last, as the sun was getting round by the west, the ring of the horse’s -hoofs was heard, and almost before he was fairly reined up, the doctor -sprung out empty-handed, and was on the doorstep chatting with Mrs. -Ganderby as gayly as if nothing of any solemnity had ever happened in -the world, or was expected to happen while it should stand? - -Sue crept round to the shadow of the jut where the old clock stood, -just to get an idea of what he was saying. Praising the matron’s bed of -nasturtiums which she had saved from the frost, and asking her what -receipt she used for pickling them! Dear, dear, but this was a strange -world! What had doctors to do with pickles? and how were they to notice -the taste of one thing from another, coming in to dinner as they did -with pockets full of poisons, and the cries of the sick and dying in -their ears? But hark! They had stopped talking about the nasturtiums. - -“By the way, Mrs. Ganderby,” said the doctor, “that little fellow that -I was talking with yesterday, the lame child; it seems to me something -might be done for him, and I propose that we should try. It’s rather -dull music for a boy of his age; ten or twelve is he, Mrs. Ganderby?” - -“Indeed, sir, the land knows as well as any of us do, how old the poor -crooked thing may be; you can judge better perhaps yourself, sir. But -whether it’s more or less, it seems a cruel thing and unnatural like, -to see him sit in that chair and let all the summer-days go by, and -know no more of what living is than some poor squirrel shut up in its -cage.” - -“Precisely what I was going to say, Mrs. Ganderby, and though of course -it would be folly to talk of bringing everything right, in a case like -that, still I am sure we can do a great deal. I say ‘we,’ because I -shall have to depend a great deal on your kindness in making things go -as I wish.” - -“Well certainly, sir,” said Mrs. Ganderby, stroking her apron and her -gratified pride at the same time; “if there should be anything in my -power, which I should have been the last one, however, to suppose a -poor drought-stricken little life like that could be brought to look up -much in this world.” - -“I want him to have some pleasures,” said the doctor; “something for -those eyes to look at besides what they have dreamed over for a year. -Books, for instance. Perhaps there is not a great variety in the house?” - -“Well, sir, as to that, you would hardly expect the number to be -great; but such as they are, I don’t at this moment remember just what -the poor crooked thing’s book learning may be, though I mind that I -sometimes used to see Ben and himself over a page together when Ben was -here. I should say he knew his letters at least.” - -The doctor snapped one of Enoch’s doorstep splinters in two, and sent -it flying halfway up the horsechestnut-tree that stood a few paces off -the grand walk, and in another moment Sue had to dart from her retreat -in her corner, for Mrs. Ganderby was coming in, and the doctor was -already making a pathway through the yellow circle around Creepy’s -chair. - -And in another half-hour he was gone, and what wonderful thing had -been done, so far as Creepy was concerned, no one could see; but for -the rest of the house, half the people in it had been set to work. -Mrs. Ganderby was bustling about, declaring she only hoped she might -have strength given her to carry on her mind all the ifs and ands, -and things to be done and undone, the doctor had laid out for her to -think of; and something had been slipped into Enoch’s hand, and thence -into his pocket, nobody knew what; but he had come in with great airs -of importance, and was telling every one how he was to go to the -wheelwright’s and get a pair of wheels to be fitted to Creepy’s chair, -and how he was to wheel him down the road every sunny day, and let -him see what lay beyond the turn, under the trees, or anywhere else -he might take a fancy to go. And Sue, who had once taught a district -school in the village where she was born, for a whole summer term, was -engaged to spend half an hour every afternoon, in leading Creepy out -among the mysteries of an arithmetic, slate, and pencil, that were to -be sent to him the next day. - -It was well for Creepy that he did not hear all this for an hour or -more after the doctor went away, for he had excitement enough in -his own part of the visit, and yet they had seemed to be having the -quietest talk in the world, for the most part. - -“So they got a big basket of nuts yesterday, did they?” the doctor -asked carelessly as he sat down. “Well, that is good sport, but nothing -to compare with trouting. Now, when you and I go trouting, some -day--well, you’ll see how it all is. The nuts don’t try to get away -from you and the trout do--that is one difference; but the fact is, -it’s such very great sport, there’s no use in trying to describe it, -though there have been books written about trouting. Did you ever see -one?” - -“No,” said Creepy with great wondering eyes. - -“Very likely, but you’ll come across them some day. In the meantime I -suppose you read what you like best, or do you take up whatever comes -in your way?” - -“Nothing does come in my way,” said Creepy, “since Ben died. He only -had two books, but they gave them away to somebody, afterwards, and -that’s all there were in the house.” - -“That was the whole library?” asked the doctor, with a smile Creepy did -not exactly understand. - -“Yes, that was all, and there were pieces gone off from both of them, -but there was enough left for Ben to teach me.” - -“So Ben taught you, did he?” said the doctor, having learned exactly -what he wished. “Ben was a rare fellow, to make schoolmaster and -gardener at once. Did he ever teach you, I wonder, how much flint there -is in a stalk of grass like this?” And he pulled one up, and began to -make mischief with the seeds again. - -“Queer, isn’t it?” he went on, as Creepy only said “No,” with a still -more wondering look. “And there is still more in a stalk of wheat; -that is what makes it strong and straight, partly, and ought to make -you strong and straight too, when you eat it. By the way,” turning his -eyes suddenly upon the queer little jacket Mrs. Ganderby’s “wits and -patience” had “worried out,” “would you mind taking that jacket off one -moment, and letting me just pass my fingers up and down your back?” - -Creepy’s hands trembled a little, but he got it off. He never liked to -have anything touch his back, it always hurt him so. - -“There,” said the doctor; “now tell me, please, do you feel any pain -when I put my finger here?” - -It was the gentlest and tenderest of touches, but it was hard for the -lame child to bear. He hesitated, but the doctor waited for an answer. - -“Yes,” he said. - -“Ah! and now here, please. Do you feel this same pain now?” as he -removed the touch to another point. - -“Yes.” - -“And here too?” moving it again. - -“Yes.” - -“Just as I thought. Now that’s all wrong. We must put a stop to that -somehow or other. I wonder if I can’t get this jacket on again without -as much trouble as it would give you?” and the doctor took up the -shapeless little thing as gently as Ben ever handled the choicest -hot-house plant. Creepy never could tell how it went on, only the wish -ran through his mind that the doctor would always do it for him. It was -so easy, and not a bit of the pain he always felt so long after he put -it on himself. - -“Don’t you think that is a pretty horse of mine?” began the doctor, -sitting down again on Ben’s seat. “We must have a ride after him -together some day. Not just now, perhaps--it is going to be cold very -soon-but when the warm spring days come again, then we’ll try it. And -you’ll be having a good pull at your school-books in the meantime, I -suppose. Boys of your age are all busy with their arithmetics and ugly -things of that kind, eh?” - -Creepy shook his head. - -“All but me.” - -“And why not you? Don’t you know every one has to serve his time with -these things, to get ready for other work by-and-by?” - -“All but--” - -“Tut!” said the doctor, getting up quickly and sending his last bunch -of grass stalks fluttering out on the wind. “Who taught you to say -that? Whoever it was made a great mistake, or wanted to cheat you out -of your rights, I don’t know which. The world was made for you, just as -much as for any one else, and you are to have your share, and find your -place in it with the rest. Will you remember that, my little man?” and -he stopped for a look in Creepy’s face. - -He could not see that Creepy’s heart was throbbing his breath away with -all the watching and the wonder, and the thanks that had gathered up -there since morning, and with hearing such words spoken, although they -didn’t seem any more real than yesterday. - -But he saw how it was swelling up the veins in his forehead, and -drooping the eyelids over the great eyes, and he did not wait for -an answer, but walked away and paced back and forth over the yellow -carpet. Then he sat down on the rustic seat again, and chatted as -he had the day before, of what lay out in the world, and along the -trout-stream; then he said Good-by, had his talk with Mrs. Ganderby, -found Enoch and Sue, and settled matters with them, and was off. And no -one suspected that he had been up and at work all the night before, and -had not been able to catch a moment from the duties of the day, until -just then, and that he still saw work ahead to stretch well on into the -night, before there was a chance of rest. - -Hal Fenimore and Tom Haggarty had but just commenced their evening with -library fires crackling and companions gay enough to atone for all -the ups and downs of the day’s school, when Creepy slipped off to his -little bed, thankful to lie down and see if his heart would not stop -that beating that was tiring him so, and if the pain in his back would -let him lie still enough to straighten out all the thoughts that were -making such confusion in his brain. - -What had the doctor said? There was a place in the world and a share -in it for him, as well as the rest? But the place must be just here, -under the old butternut; it couldn’t be anywhere else. And he was to -grow stronger, and the pain to grow less, every month until spring, -and then begin to go to school like other boys. What a strange sound -that had! It was pleasant to have the doctor say so; it seemed like a -dream; but one had always to wake up from dreams, and find things were -not so. “All boys go to school.” All but--ah, the doctor did not like -to have him say that. At all events, he was to have a book and study; -and he was to see with his own eyes what lay beyond the turn in the -road. Enoch was to see to his going, and Sue and Mrs. Ganderby were -to do other things, and the doctor was coming again. All these people -thinking of him! It was of no use trying to understand it; if he could -only go to sleep! And yet he feared the dream would be gone when he -waked in the morning; he should find not a word of all to be true. - -He shut his eyes just for a moment as he thought, but when he opened -them again the sun was shining through the patched curtain at the -window, and the night was gone. Had the dream taken flight with it? -There was but one way to find out, so he dressed himself with trembling -fingers and crept noiselessly out towards his crooked chair. Enoch -was there before him. Tools lying all around on the yellow leaves, and -the old carpenter so busy with his work that he did not hear Creepy’s -footsteps rustling over them too. The sun had not been fairly above -the horizon before Enoch was off in search of those wheels, belaboring -himself at every step of the way for a stupid blockhead that could -make a chair for a cripple, and never have the idea of putting on a -running-gear come into his head, though he had it before his eyes every -day that the one it was made for never went outside the fence from one -year’s end to another! But where would the money have come from if he -had thought of it ever so long ago? Money makes most wheels turn in -this world, and it’s not strange if a five-dollar bill put into your -hand should bring some of them round to a lame child’s corner once in -a way, as well as elsewhere. A likely young man, that doctor, and wise -enough to know where to choose the right workman to do his job; that -was more than could always be said of them, much as they might know -about people that were laid on their beds and good for nothing! - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - -The black horse had begun his work in some of the up-town streets -before Enoch had finished his, and was hurrying past a handsome brick -building just as a crowd of boys were entering it. - -“There’s about the place, now,” said Doctor Thorndyke, “where I’d -like to see my little patient with the crooked back, after I once get -him on his feet again. He’d hold his own with the best of them in his -books, if he couldn’t in a foot-race, I’ll warrant, if he only had the -chance; and there’s nothing that would shake him up, and put a stop to -that miserable ‘all but me’ notion of his, like taking his place among -his mates, as he would in a school like that. The only thing is to -get him there. It takes a good deal of a back to sit at one of those -desks;” upon which the doctor fell into such a fit of musing that he -drove three doors beyond the house he was aiming at before he bethought -himself what he was about. - -Meanwhile the schoolhouse, at which he had looked with such covetous -eyes for Creepy, seemed half alive with hustling, bustling boys; the -five-minute bell had already rung, and all were making the best of -their way to their places, some flying up to the second floor, two -stairs at a time, some passing in more quietly at other doors, while -here and there a lingering step ventured on a few seconds’ delay to -steal a last glance at a lesson that would have no further chance -after exercises were once commenced. Only one figure stood still at -the foot of the stairs: poor little Tom Haggarty, who had slept off -his humiliation about the chess to some extent, but felt it rushing on -again with most disagreeable force at sight of Hal, and was terribly -anxious to keep at a safe distance from him for the present. - -“If I can just keep out of his track till recess,” thought Tom, “he’ll -get warmed up with something else, and wont be apt to think of it. _I_ -don’t want him to be telling all the boys he can wind me round his -finger in a game like that. ’Twasn’t hardly fair, either, for I hadn’t -tried but two or three times, and he’s had lots of lessons, and there’s -no end of pieces and moves to carry in a fellow’s head.” - -But Hal was one of the lingerers, and it seemed as if he never would -move on. All the other boys on his floor had passed in, and were taking -their seats, while with half an eye on the clock, Hal still stood -outside the partly open door mulling over his arithmetic lesson, that -he knew would be the first to come upon the floor. Tick, tick, went the -clock, and pit-a-pat went Tom’s heart. Could he dare another second? If -that door should be shut before he reached the top of the stairs, there -was a tardy mark for him, and he was making a tremendous effort about -marks this term. Would Hal never move? Perhaps he could creep up softly -without his noticing. He put his foot on the first stair, then on the -second, keeping his eye on Hal, when suddenly he was no longer there. -He had glided in and the door was shut! In a second Tom was at the top -and with his hand on the door-knob. The monitor, who had not really -removed his own from it to turn the key, allowed it to open. Tom who -felt small enough at that moment to have gone through the keyhole, was -admitted, and stealing a glance at Hal, already in his seat, met a look -that told him things were worse than ever. - -He would have given his new hat if he had not seen it, for let him -work as he would at his lessons, that look, with what it promised for -recess, hung about him like some ugly hobgoblin all the morning, and -seemed to put a twist into everything. He called Eheu a noun, and -said the Barbadoes were in the Arctic ocean, and finished an algebra -example, on the blackboard, in long division, and altogether, when -recess came, he felt so completely down that he didn’t care about going -out at all, and if he had cared ever so much, he would not have come -across Hal for all the recesses in the quarter. So he sat at his desk, -and heard the shouts of some tremendous fun coming up to his window, -and when the rest came in all aglow with October sun and air, his head -ached, and he couldn’t see head or tail to the lesson that lay before -him. - -But one o’clock came at last; out poured the stream again, and luckless -Tom ran on with the rest, hoping that the tide swelled high enough to -hide him between the waves, but they parted just in time to let Hal get -a glimpse of him. - -“Hallo, Checkmaty!” he shouted, “how are bishops this morning? Don’t -you want to send your compliments to a fellow’s queen?” - -“Checkmaty?” echoed Ned Farraday, a boy in the next class to Tom’s; -“what’s that? Did you corner him?” - -“Corner him! you ought to have seen me wind him up last night! There -wasn’t as much left of him as would point off a fraction. If he had -been as slow with his moves as he was in getting to school this -morning, he might have done better. How’s that tardy mark going to look -on the report, my man? ’Twont help much towards your three hundred, eh?” - -“I wasn’t tardy!” answered Tom defiantly, for the question of the three -hundred was too tender to bear touching. - -“Oh, you weren’t!” cried Hal. “Wasn’t he, boys? you saw as well as I -did.” - -“Didn’t he get in?” asked one of the boys. “I didn’t see.” - -“Get in!” said Ned Farraday, taking up the keynote Hal had given; “I -should think not much! The door was shut fair and square before it saw -his shadow. If anybody don’t believe it they can look on the book and -see.” - -“Look on the book and see,” set up a chorus of voices on all sides. - -“I tell you there’s no mark there,” declared Tom again, getting very -red, and the miserable feeling that had got as far as his pockets last -night, was running down to his very boots. - -“I wouldn’t say much about marks if I were you, Ned Farraday,” called -out a boy a little larger than he. “I heard the professor call your -Latin a failure, and that marks you down to six, and you know very -well if Tom _was_ tardy it only marks him eight.” - -Ned grew red in his turn and drew in his horns at once, but Hal went on. - -“I say, Checkmaty, how long has Eheu been a noun? Ever since it meant a -_lass_, hasn’t it?” - -“And _I_ say,” interposed a voice that had not yet spoken, “what’s the -use of badgering a fellow that’s smaller than any nine out of ten of -you here, and can keep up with the best of you if you only give him a -chance. I heard the professor say Tom was six months ahead of his age -in his classes; and as for this morning, you know well enough there’s -no tardy mark when the door hasn’t been locked. Why can’t you be men -enough to see there’s no fun in crowding a fellow? Come along, Tom; -we’re going to have a game of base-ball this afternoon, and I want you -for first pitcher. Let’s all go and get dinner, and be on the ground at -four o’clock.” - -It was Aleck Halliday, and Tom had felt his heart come up out of his -boots with a great thump the instant he heard his voice, for he knew -well enough it never spoke except to make somebody feel all right, if -not positively jolly. - -He slipped over to Aleck’s side and walked along feeling safe in the -shadow of his tall shoulders, and almost sunshiny once more in the -light of his handsome, friendly face. Tom had often wondered what Aleck -was made of; he was sure there was some material in his composition -very different from what went into other boys, but he had never -quite decided whether it was what usually went to make up princes, -or something higher still and supposed to have wings. Any how, a boy -that was being “badgered,” as he called it, might be sure Aleck would -fume and chafe a few minutes, as a great, noble Newfoundland might -watch a cat worrying a mouse, and then, when he couldn’t bear it any -longer, plunge in and scatter the sport, and stand guard by some little -nook or cranny till the victim had a chance to escape. And as for the -badgerers, an indefinite suspicion that they had been doing something -mean was very sure to creep over them, and the ghost of an idea that it -might be nobler sport to help a fellow along, than to push him down, -would glimmer faintly at them from a distance; but unfortunately this -never lasted long, and they were pretty sure to be ready for the next -mouse that might come in their way. - -But for this time the fun was over; Tom was safe, and the mousers -scattered off in search of a more substantial mouthful in the shape -of dinner, and one or two lessons to be got well in hand before four -o’clock, so that no demands of body or brain should interfere with the -promised fun on the ball-ground. - -No one was more fond of the game than Tom; and though he was the -smallest boy in his set, he was considered one of the best players, -for he was swift as a deer, and had a true eye and hand, and a deal of -pluck at carrying out what he undertook; that is to say, so long as -nobody snubbed him, but that was the one thing he could not stand, and -the moment anybody did it, he felt everything that would ever make a -man of him oozing out at his finger-ends, and was ready to knock under -for ever. He wished he wasn’t such a little fool about it; other boys -snubbed each other, and were snubbed in turn a hundred times a day, -and never seemed to mind it much, but it was no use with him. If there -were only more Aleck Hallidays! But never mind. He was going to play -a good game this afternoon, he felt it in his bones, and perhaps Hal -would think something of him again, if he made a first-rate run for his -side--of course he would be on his side if he were to play with Aleck. - -But to his surprise he found Hal had decided to play a match-game -against Aleck; and Tom, feeling pretty strong under his captain’s -shadow, ventured to prophesy a victory for his own side. - -“Where are you going to get it?” asked Hal. - -“We’ve got better fellows on our side than you have,” answered Tom, -with an innocent idea that the truth should be spoken at all times. - -“I suppose you count yourself among them,” said Hal with a sneer; “name -them over, and when they play.” - -“No, I don’t count myself among them,” said Tom, wishing he had sense -enough to let things alone; but Aleck calling to Hal just then to -choose an umpire, the mouse ran off once more. - -The umpire and the scorer were soon chosen; the umpire pitched up -a cent, which coming down in Aleck’s favor, gave him his choice of -innings, and he of course chose the second. - -As Hal was captain of his side, he struck first, and sent the ball a -little beyond Tom, who was pitcher. Tom picked it up and threw it to -the first-baseman, who caught it on the fly just as Hal was a single -step from the base. - -Tom halloed for judgment, but Hal was pronounced “not out” by the -umpire. - -“That isn’t fair,” said Tom. - -“I say it is,” said Hal. - -“It’s not. I wouldn’t play to it, Tom,” cried his left-fielder. - -“Well, your side can get some one else, then,” said Hal. - -“Never mind,” said the catcher on Tom’s side; “let’s draw lots for a -‘say so.’” The lot was drawn, and gave the decision in Hal’s favor. - -“Three grunts for Tom,” said Hal, with the same disagreeable chuckle -that had worried Tom so much the night before. - -“No, no,” cried Aleck; “it was out by fair rights.” - -“You’re not going to dispute the umpire, are you?” said Hal; but the -umpire called time, and the game went on. - -At Tom’s next pitch, Hal ran for the second base; but the catcher was -too quick for him, throwing the ball to the second-baseman, who caught -it, and this time Hal was fairly out. - -“Judgment on that,” cried Hal and the second-baseman. - -“Out on the second,” said the umpire. - -“There!” cried Tom as Hal went past him; “that proves it was out on -the first, anyhow. A pretty place a player like you gets into when he -calls for judgment.” - -Tom’s side was now in; if he could only do something that would put -him for once above the range of Hal’s success! Fired with this hope -and with the thought of winning laurels for such a captain as he had, -he took up the bat with the determination to do something brilliant; -but venturing one glance at Hal, caught sight of a sideways gesture -that he knew well enough was meant to remind him of the fatal swoop -of Hal’s bishops the night before, his hand faltered, and the ball, -instead of taking the direction he intended, struck directly in front -of him. There was no chance now but in his heels, and flying like a -deer, he made the first three bases successfully, but that was all. On -the home-base, he could not tell how it happened, he was put out by the -catcher. - -“Aha!” came up a taunting laugh from Hal’s side; “there’s a case that -don’t call for judgment very much;” and Tom walked off and sat down by -some of his fellows, feeling miserable enough. What _was_ the reason -all games were so disagreeable, no matter how hard a fellow tried to do -his best? - -“Never mind, Tom,” said Aleck’s cheery voice, “Davis will make up for -it, and you got those three bases handsomely.” - -Tom looked up; he hadn’t ventured to raise his eyes before, lest Aleck -should show that he had disappointed him; but there he was, with just -as friendly a glow in his face as if Tom had covered him with glory. -Tom felt his heart warming under it again in an instant, and in another -moment Carter, the catcher, had knocked the ball down beyond the -centre-field, and got a home-run. - -Tom felt all right again now, and began to cheer on the other men to -do their best, determined that he would bring in his own honors when -his turn came again. The next three runners got a score apiece, but the -fourth knocked a fly to left field, and was out; the next got out on -two strikes and Hal’s side was in again, with ten runs ahead when they -took the field. - -The game however went on pretty equally. Aleck played his best, though -there were some mishaps and disappointments on each side, until the -eight inning, when Tom’s side got fairly “choked,” and left Hal’s still -ahead by ten runs. - -“Who did you say had the best fellows on his side?” asked Hal -triumphantly, as he passed near Tom. - -“Now Tom, my boy,” said Aleck, “this is our last chance; show us your -best playing and help the others on, and we’ll beat them yet.” - -This was enough to have spurred Tom on to meet the thunders of a real -battle-field, if Aleck’s honor had demanded it, and he took his place -with all the determination of a Trojan. - -But Hal saw it was his last chance too, and waiting till his second -baseman, who was also his second best man, was ready, told him to -strike directly for Tom and “scare him.” Tom started and thought -he was in time, but a cry from Hal of “There’s a queen’s head for -you, Checkmaty! Catch her!” flew faster than the ball. It came too -disagreeably on top of the surprise; Tom muffed the ball, and three -groans were set up from the other side. - -Tom never could do anything after he had been hooted. He made a failure -of everything that followed. The rest seemed to catch discouragement -from him, and the game ended in favor of Hal’s side, with a majority of -eleven, the score being forty-one to thirty. - -The boys crowded together to discuss the game, but Tom had a prodigious -amount of something to do at a distance. He could hear Aleck’s catcher -trying to prove that the second baseman had been all wrong somewhere, -and Hal’s triumphant laugh came floating down to where he stood; he -wouldn’t have gone any nearer him to hear all the discussions in the -world. And as for Aleck! he was sure he’d find it hard to forgive him, -this time, if never before. - -He managed to slip off one side of the crowd, without much notice, and -made the best of his way toward home. What _was_ the reason things -always went wrong that he had anything to do with? Other boys didn’t -seem to have half the trouble, or else they didn’t mind it as much. -But he was sure Carter must have felt horridly to have Davis trying -to make out that he had done just the wrong thing, and the rest all -seemed so eager to have it proved. He wondered why there couldn’t be -some pleasure in proving a fellow had done well now and then; but there -couldn’t be, for nobody ever seemed to like it. - -“I say, Tom,” shouted a voice behind him, and there was Aleck, -overtaking him with long strides. - -“I say, Tom--hallo, old fellow, you’re not drawing such a long face as -that over a game of ball are you? It isn’t worth it, my man! It’s fun -enough while it lasts, but nothing after it’s over.” - -“I was afraid you’d think it all my fault,” Tom managed to say, though -dreading even the sound of his own words. - -“All your fault! Nonsense! you made as good a score as any of them, and -some of the others were out on more runs than you. I didn’t play any -too well myself, but ’twas the way luck would have it, I suppose, and -we’ll beat them all the same next time. But I was going to say, you’ve -been helping me all the afternoon, and I thought you were bothered with -those examples this morning; don’t you want a lift before to-morrow?” - -“Helping him!” Tom could have hugged the ground he walked on! - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - - -How the October and November days flitted away! And when one knew -that December was coming, and the wheels of the queer chair could -never rattle over the frozen ground and plough through the snow! It -made no difference, time scurried on just the same. The only comfort -was in making the most of it, and that was certainly done at the -almshouse. Nobody counted the number of times the wheel-chair was -seen going slowly and carefully down toward the wonderful world that -lay out beyond the turn, or up the other way toward the city. And -sure as the hour came round, there was Sue ready for her part in the -doctor’s programme, and many a time the work carried her back to old -days until she forgot her bargain, and the half hour stretched on into -two or three times its length. How the pages were turned over in that -arithmetic! But that wasn’t all for Creepy. There were the doctor’s -visits! When he was there, such wonder, and such content; and when he -was gone, there were the hours to be counted till he would come again. -Every one in the house came to know the sound of the black horse’s -trot, coming down the road, and just how many seconds might be allowed -between its being reined up and the doctor’s having his hand on the -door-knob. Very few they were, the listeners soon found; there was -hardly time for Creepy’s heart to give a bound and say, “There he is!” -But after he was once at Creepy’s side, no one would have dreamed that -he was in a hurry. Time enough to hear just how many drives Enoch had -given him, and to see the lessons that had been gone over, and to ask -here and there, carelessly as it seemed, about the pain, and how the -medicines were going. Then there was always a little chat about what he -had seen going on in the city, and what the boys were doing there, so -that, as he used to say laughing, Creepy shouldn’t be altogether behind -the times when he took his place among them. Then a moment with Mrs. -Ganderby, or a compliment to Enoch, or Sue, and he was off again. - -And all the while the days were slipping by, until November, dull -and grim as some of its last hours had been, was fairly crowded out, -the ground was frozen hard, and a few flakes of snow came fluttering -down. Then the doctor found Enoch standing, cap in hand, in the hall, -looking at the crooked chair, which, if it had been queer at first, was -certainly queerer still since he had rigged the “running-gear.” - -“Is there any trouble, Enoch?” he asked, for the old carpenter was -running his hand through his hair, and with the most uncomfortable -expression upon his face. - -“Ah, sir, you never came in better time,” said Enoch; “it’s plain -enough there’ll be no further use for these wheels this year, and they -make an awkward thing to be standing about in the way; and yet it’s a -job I don’t like to put my hand to, to undo a piece of work like that. -And it’s only a few months after all.” - -“A few months till when?” asked the doctor. - -“Why, sir, till they’re wanted again,” said Enoch, staring in the -wonder whether the doctor had asked a stupid question for once. - -“Well,” said the doctor, “if you intend to keep a hospital here for -broken legs and crippled children, I advise you to take good care -of your wheels, but so far as my little patient is concerned, the -sooner you make kindling-wood of them the better. I intend to have him -walking into the city every day when the roads are settled again in the -spring.” - -Enoch’s stare grew ten times broader, but it was of no use. The doctor -was gone, and if he had not been, Enoch would never have dared to ask -him which of them had lost his senses. - -“Now, my little man,” he was just that moment saying to Creepy, “we’ve -come to a corner in our line of march. I’m not satisfied with what -we’ve been doing for that pain, but I wouldn’t fight it any harder -while these pleasant days lasted. There’s not going to be much getting -out, I’m afraid, for a while, and this is the time to take. Suppose I -should want to do something now and then that would make the pain seem -even worse for a little while, would you have courage to try it with -me?” - -Up to Creepy’s mind rushed a story that Ben used always to be telling -whenever anything came along that seemed a little hard to bear, about -a certain slave, a great while ago and a great way off, Ben did not -remember when or where, but he believed it was in the East, wherever -that might be. And he did not remember what his name was, but that -did not matter; he knew that his master one day ordered him to be -beaten for a trifle, and when some one asked how he could bear it so -patiently, he answered, “Shall I receive so much good at the hand of -my master, and shall I not receive this little evil also?” And his -master, hearing of it, was so filled with admiration that he gave him -his liberty, and he became a famous philosopher. - -But Creepy could not have told the doctor about it for his life, so he -only nodded, and said, - -“I am not afraid.” - -“Good,” said the doctor; “and you need not be. It is only that there -will be some days when things look rather forlorn, but every one of -them is bringing you nearer to spring, and don’t forget that we are -going fishing together when that time comes.” - -So on went the weeks, and the days of pain came in among them here and -there; but there were so many other things to think of! The arithmetic -was no longer the only book, by any means; a geography and a copy-book -came along one after the other, and for times when he did not feel like -using those, there were stories enough to be read. But the doctor’s -visits were more than all the books, and the great eyelids did not -droop any more when he came, but Creepy had learned to look him square -in the face, whatever incredible thing he might be saying. But he would -not come _this_ morning; that was certain enough, he thought, as he sat -looking out of the window at the snow that came drifting through the -air until it seemed the clouds themselves were falling. Faster and -thicker every moment, and yet it had been coming all night; the trees -were groaning under their loads, the drifts were like great ocean-waves -up and down the road, and the grass-seeds the doctor had scattered over -the path in the fall were buried ten times deeper than ever before; for -though Enoch had had his shovel ready ever since breakfast, there it -stood by the old clock; there was no use turning out to make paths yet. - -So Creepy stood at the window, just waiting to see what would happen -next, until his eyes were almost blinded; but there was certainly -something coming down the road! Only a little dark object at first, but -nearer and larger every moment. The black horse and his sleigh! And -almost before Creepy could rub his eyes and try to see more surely, -they were at the gate, Enoch’s path was broken for him, and the doctor -was at the door shaking the snow from his shoulders and taking off his -fur cap to knock down a pyramid from the crown, before Mrs. Ganderby -should find it melting over her floor. - -“So you thought it was the sheeted ghost of myself, eh?” he said, -laughing, as Creepy opened the door; and Creepy laughed too, for -that was one of the things he had learned of late, though not from -any book. “You’re mistaken, sir; I never was heartier in my life. -There’s nothing like fighting a storm, to send one’s blood gayly to -his finger-ends. And how are you this morning, my little man? Brave -and well? Not quite equal to breasting this weather yet, eh?” and he -stooped with one of those quick looks into Creepy’s face that always -made his heart leap up into his throat. - -And the weather, as if finding that it had done its worst and troubled -nobody, took a new tack; the clouds shut their gates and drew off, then -began to break away, and by the time the doctor was ready to go, were -rolling like great fleeces over a blue sky, and the sun was pouring -down, and the whole work of the storm lay in one measureless, glorious -glitter over the earth. - -“It looks well this morning, doesn’t it, this world that we own?” said -the doctor, as he snatched a glance while he drew on his overcoat. “A -pretty proud bit of ownership for us all, I think, don’t you? Some of -its treasures may not be distributed just even, all around, but the -thing itself belongs to us. Eh, my man?” - -What was he saying? Who? He said a great many things that seemed like -dreaming, and yet, he surely would not say them, if they did not seem -real to him! - -As for a bit of this life belonging to Creepy, he didn’t call that a -dream any longer, since he had the doctor’s friendship; it seemed to -him he not only lived, but basked in the sunshine, since that joy had -come in. But God’s world, the real, great, wonderful world that lay out -beyond the turn in the road, out beyond the city even, stretching away -into beauty and treasure that he often tired himself with trying to -imagine; ah, that could never be! That was for the well and the strong -and the rich; for people who rode in their carriages, and would only -think him fit to run after them and open the carriage-door. For the -doctor too, of course, for every one ran after him, and _he_ would be -rich some day. But for himself-- - -The doctor stooped, shot a look into his eyes, and saw it all. In -another moment he had lifted Creepy gently in his arms, as he did that -first day under the old butternut, and was holding his face right -before his own. - -“Look here, my little man,” he was saying, “I want to have this thing -understood once for all. I have been trying to put some new ideas into -this head of yours, these three months now, but I have not succeeded -as well as I wish, and I must see if I can make myself understood this -time. Who do you think made this world, and who do you think He made -it for, this King of ours who has taught us all to call him Father? -Don’t you know that whatever a king owns, the princes have a share in -as heirs; and more than that, there’s a dominion set apart for them now -and then, as a birthright? This is a great, glorious, beautiful world, -as everything our King makes is, and he made it for us, his children; -and the Prince Royal, our Elder Brother, who came and walked among us, -bought it again for us by his life and his death, after things began -to go wrong. I tell you, my boy, we’re of royal blood, you and I, just -as much as the greatest man that other men bow down to; we can’t be -_more_ than the children of the King, any of us. Only see to it that -you keep close to the Prince Royal, and follow his steps like a child -of the house, and you can claim your share with the tallest and the -strongest of the sons. And if you don’t get hold of a square acre that -men will call your own, in the course of your life, you can look at the -blue hills and the soft skies, and walk among the broad fields and the -flowers, with just as happy and as glad a throb in your heart as the -people who have paid thousands for them. Do you understand, little -man? Do you believe what I say?” - -Once more Creepy couldn’t have spoken for his life; but though the -understanding and the believing that the doctor was asking for were -only stealing over the edge of his heart, like the first ray of -morning, yet they were making a glow there not so very different from -the rosy light he had seen the dawn spread over the snow-drift under -his window. It flushed up to his cheek with very much the same color, -and satisfied the doctor better than words could have done. With the -same quiet, gentle pressure that Creepy remembered so well, he placed -him in his chair again and was gone. - -He was gone, and Creepy stood by the window once more; but was it -the same little almshouse cripple that had looked out from it in the -morning? It seemed to him that chains had fallen from him, as his heart -opened wider and wider to the doctor’s words. The warm glow grew to a -great throbbing joy, and he felt himself stretching up from the stunted -little soul he had been, and _almost_ laying his hand upon things more -joyful than he had ever dreamed that even a strong man could reach. - -The Prince Royal his Elder Brother? That meant the Lord Christ, of -course. The doctor had spoken of him more than once, but Creepy had -not dared put the “all but me,” aside then. But why not? Keep close to -Him? Why shouldn’t he? Didn’t he come close to the doctor? and wasn’t -the Lord Jesus like him, only a thousand times stronger, and wiser and -gentler even than he; for wasn’t He a physician himself when He was -here, and wasn’t He always the same? Did He not call the weak and the -lame to Him, and did He not once take some of them in his arms, just as -the doctor had taken him to-day? Children of the King, and the Elder -Brother sharing his birthright with them? Oh, how different the world -looked this time out of the queer old window! He stood still and almost -held his breath, for it seemed to him as he looked up into the blue -sky, that he felt some one drawing near, and the same bewildering joy -that had come when he first felt the doctor’s arms around him, rose up -in his heart once more, only stronger and deeper than before. For was -not this some one who would never go away? - -“Which I did say,” exclaimed Mrs. Ganderby to Sue, a few days -afterwards, as Creepy passed through the room with two or three of his -precious books in his hand, “which I did say wonders never would cease; -and here is the showing of it before our own eyes, for I mentioned -at the same time that sometimes doctors cure and sometimes they kill, -and sometimes they do neither one nor the other; and here it is, not -only that he’s getting the poor crooked thing where he’s going about so -light on his feet that the name Creepy will soon be no further use to -him; but the child that I thought would never learn to look anybody in -the face otherwise than to beg their pardon for being in the world at -all, is certainly getting a way of holding up his head and going about -as if he’d found out that his soul was his own, in spite of anything -that heaven or some people that were lower hadn’t seen fit to do for -his body, which there is no one could be more pleased than myself to -look on and see it, though if it isn’t altogether like a miracle of the -olden times, I don’t know what any one could put themselves about to -call it.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - - -The hum of Tom’s schoolroom had gone steadily on all this time, and -was busier than ever, if possible just now, looking forward to the few -days’ vacation just at hand, after which would come the short closing -term of the year, followed by examination-day, the culmination of all -excitement to the graduating class. Aleck was at the head of that, -and Tom tried not to think of the day when he would go; it seemed to -him school would be like a boxing-match without gloves after that; he -wondered if he ever _should_ get used to rubs and knocks so as to go on -comfortably through the world. As for a world where people did not like -giving them well enough to keep you in much danger, he never dreamed -of such a possibility. If he could only pluck up enough not to mind it -more than other boys! And yet he was sure, if the truth were told, they -didn’t like snubbing and being crowed over much better than he, but -they had a way of getting over it as he couldn’t. - -However, if he stopped for more reflections, his arithmetic examples -would not be done, and he plunged in among them with such zeal, that -the last one was soon unravelled, and stopping to breathe a moment -before taking up his Latin, he caught sight of a little performance -going on between two of his neighbors, Carter, the catcher who had -retrieved fortunes for Tom the afternoon when luck was so against him -on the ball-ground, and Davis, who sat just behind him, and at Tom’s -elbow. They were in a class higher than Tom’s, and had some pretty -tough knots come in their way, as he very well knew, and they were at -work at them just now, but each very much in his own fashion. Carter -sat with one hand drawn through his hair, and pressing it tight with -all his fingers as if that would help pull through his difficulties, -and with knotted brow was working away like a Trojan, with no eyes or -ears for anything off the battle-field, while Davis behind him shuffled -over his pages for some rules or example that should throw a little -light, frowned, put down a few figures, rubbed them out again, and -pushed his slate impatiently aside. - -At last, happening to peep over Carter’s shoulder, he saw the result of -his toil. Every example but the last done to a fraction, and lying in -neat figures in its own corner of the slate. A gleam of satisfaction -spread over his face, and drawing a little closer, he quietly and with -rapid strokes, transferred every one to his own slate. All but the -last. Carter was still at work upon that, but it wouldn’t come. Over -and over again the figures were erased, and the example begun again at -the beginning. - -“Pshaw!” exclaimed Davis under his breath, “time’s nearly up;” and -writing a note to one of the older boys who sat near, he quietly passed -it over to him, and in a few moments received it again, with the -example clear as daylight on the back, and requiring but a moment to -transfer it to his slate. - -None too soon, however, for the bell rang as he put down the last -figure, and the class was called to the blackboard. - -Carter was at the head, a place he had held for some time by -persistent, hard work, and accordingly explained the first example -with a precision that showed it lay clear-cut in his own mind. Others -followed rapidly, and the last fell to Davis. - -“Have you the last, Davis?” asked the professor. - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Let us have it, then.” - -He made his proposition and began, but there seemed to be some -trouble. He was not apt to get confused, but this certainly made -hodge-podge. - -“Where is that example?” asked the professor. - -“There, sir,” said Davis, handing up his slate. - -He ran his eye rapidly over it, and returned it. - -“That is all right,” he said, “and very well done, and so are all -the rest. You must learn to keep what you know a little more at your -command, Davis. How many of you have the example?” - -How they had managed poor Carter could not imagine, but every hand -except his own went up. - -“You haven’t it, Carter?” - -“No, sir, I couldn’t get it.” - -“I shall have to send you down, I’m sorry to say.” - -The boys made a great deal more haste than was necessary, he thought, -to let him pass down and change places with Davis, adding one or two -very expressive winks to remind him that his hope for a star on the -record of that term was gone. - -But the reminders came in much plainer language at recess. - -“Here we go up, up, up, and here we go downy, downy!” cried a voice, -followed by a chorus. - -“I can’t help it,” said Carter. “I couldn’t get it, and I don’t see how -you did.” - -“Don’t you wish you knew?” sneered Davis. - -“Isn’t he game, to flunk at a straw like that?” shouted one of the -boys, who had had the example comfortably done for him the night before -under the gaslight at home. - -“Never mind, Carter; perhaps the professor will let you go back to -long-division next term.” - -Carter looked so distressed that Tom, though furious at the whole -affair, began to take a little courage that he wasn’t so much more of -a fool about such things, after all, than some other fellows, when -Aleck’s voice was heard to come to the rescue. - -“What’s that about long-division? If it’s anything that wants a long -head, and a sure one too, Carter is the right one to take it. I’ve -watched him all the term, and he’s had more of those tough examples -right than I ever did when I went over them, and works them out on his -own hook, too, without as much cribbing as some fellows want for a -single lesson. Come round this afternoon, can’t you, Carter? I’m going -to unrig my iceboat, and you can handle a tool much better than I can.” - -Off scattered the mousers, the bell rang, and it was every man looking -out for his own again, till the exercises were ended and the tide -poured outward once more. - -Aleck walked on very busy with his thoughts, but this time they had -nothing to do with lessons, nor even with examination-day, unless as -an event that was to knock away his stays and launch him forth to make -such headway as he might out of the quiet harbor of his schooldays. -He had no fear of breasting contrary winds, or of ploughing the rough -waves of life with a stout heart; the only trouble was to decide on the -port he wished to clear for; and this question, though it would have -been easy enough if he had had only himself to consult, seemed balanced -and counterbalanced whichever way he turned. But Carter never had a -suspicion that anything worried him as they worked away on the iceboat -that afternoon; he only thought Aleck was the handsomest fellow and the -best company in the world, and wondered how it was everything went so -smoothly where he was, the rough places always melting down, as the ice -and snow were vanishing outside under the shining of the March sun. - -He couldn’t help telling him so at last, and Aleck laughed. - -“Do they?” he said, “I didn’t know they did; but there’s something -in one’s way of looking at things, I suppose. If the sun were to -pull a cloud of disgust over his face every time he saw a hummock of -ice, they’d be likely to hold on a little longer. Looking straight -at an ugly thing, with a bright face of your own, works pretty well -generally, I think;” but when Carter was gone, and lessons pretty well -out of the way, Aleck had need to try his own maxim, for the question -that had been on his own mind in the morning came up again in full -force, and didn’t look any smoother or rounder for its brief absence. - -It wasn’t a brown-stone front, like Hal Fenimore’s, in the library of -which Aleck sat, but a bit of a gothic cottage slipped in between two -large brick houses, with a clear sunset outlook from the rear, and a -bay-window trailing with vines in front, while a tiny wing, that had -begged room for itself on one side, formed a conservatory, from the -windows of which flowers of every hue had refreshed the eyes of the -passers-by through all the long, dreary winter months. If Creepy could -but once have rested his eyes upon them! His most gorgeous dreams of -what this world might be would have paled into gray twilight before -their unimagined beauty. - -The brick houses on either side stood guard over the cottage, as if -they had taken it up for a pet, and inside its walls everything seemed -to be petted as well. In every nook and corner stood some delicate, -graceful thing, and every article of furniture, every picture on -the walls, and every ornament about the room, seemed chosen to be -loved. But the fairest ornament of all to Aleck’s eyes was the sister -from whom everything else had taken its coloring and its tone, and -he glanced involuntarily up from his book now and then to watch the -graceful movements of her white fingers as they followed the pattern of -her embroidery. - -“I don’t believe there’s a fellow in the city that’s got anything to -compare with her,” he thought as his eye rested on the poise of the -beautiful head, the golden hair drawn back in waves and ripples from -her forehead, the soft eyes drooped over their work, and the half-smile -with which she followed her thoughts, whatever they might be. “I -_know_ there isn’t,” and down he plunged again into syntax, roots, and -terminations. - -The brown eyes were raised at him just then, and let the embroidery -wait a moment, while their owner thought what a manly, handsome -fellow Aleck was, and how like his father, and how proud she should -be some day when she should see him taking his father’s place in his -profession, his father’s old friends welcoming him, and new ones of -his own rising up on every side. There were a good many sacrifices to -be made, and a good deal of waiting to be done, before that day should -come, but it would repay them all a thousand times. - -Aleck lost all this, deep in the mazes of an irregular verb, but he was -out again by the time the eyes had gone back to their embroidery, and -snatched a minute for another look and thought of his own. - -“Poor old Nell!” he said to himself, “she has set her heart on making -a lawyer of me, and I--” up and down went the balances again, and then -the lesson would have attention once more. - -“Yes, yes, I see; it’s irregular, and it works under Rule 53. I’ll make -a note of that.” Another glance at Nelly, and down went the balance -again. “And if she does, what is it going to cost? Four years at -college, three at law studies, and as many more, if not twice as many, -before anybody’ll give me enough to do to keep soul and body together; -and by that time, where will she be? All the bloom of her life brushed -off while she’s waiting for me to come to something! Pshaw!” and in he -went again among the Ps and the Qs of the dictionary. - -The lesson was done at last; he was master of every word, and closed -the book, but that was only to open the discussion of the future again. - -“And I know very well how it’s to be done, too,” he went on. “There’s -just enough, as things are now, to keep up the house for her, if I were -to take care of myself; but when it comes to pulling me through those -seven or eight years, there’s only one way to do it. Think of selling -out everything here, and letting her follow me about in some ugly -boardinghouse or other, with only the chance of my being able to make -things up to her by-and-by!” and for once Aleck seemed to have found -something he could not melt down by looking at it. - -“Finished, Aleck?” - -“Yes, Nelly, and to-morrow finishes the week, and next week finishes -the term; then three days holiday, then ten weeks more.” - -“And then?” said Nelly, and the half-smile brightened into something -radiant. - -Aleck hesitated. He knew the picture she was drawing; how was he going -to rub it out, and drag her into all the bothers of a new decision? But -he couldn’t put it off much longer. Perhaps it had better come at once. - -“Never mind about then,” he said gayly, “let’s talk about now a little -while. I never thought I should get ahead of you in anything, Nelly; -but I don’t believe you had your first offer before you were sixteen, -and I had mine day before yesterday.” - -Nelly laughed. - -“I hope you didn’t vow secresy,” she said. - -“On the contrary, Uncle Ralph wished me particularly to consult you.” - -“Uncle Ralph! What is it, Aleck? I don’t understand.” - -“He wants me to go into the store with him, and offers to teach me all -he knows, and to give me a share in the business as soon as I am ready -for it.” - -The smile vanished, and a shade of pity came over the beautiful face. - -“Poor Uncle Ralph! He is alone in the world, and I suppose he longs to -have some of his own kith and kin with him every day. I am sorry he -asked you, it will be so hard to refuse him.” - -“You don’t think I had better go, then?” - -“Why, Aleck!” - -That was all she said, but the tone and the look said a thousand times -more. - -Aleck laughed in his turn. - -“Do you say why? Well, I say, why not? I don’t believe I shall ever -make such a prodigy of a lawyer, sister mine, and it’s a horribly long -pull ahead before I show whether I do or not, and here is a chance to -take care of myself right away, instead of dragging on you a dozen -years; and I tell you, Nelly, it would take all the man out of a better -fellow than I am to do that.” - -“Hush, Aleck! You know how much papa wished you to have a profession, -and his own above all others.” - -“I know it, Nelly,” said Aleck, gently; “but perhaps,” and he glanced -questioningly in her face, “perhaps he sees some things differently -now. At any rate,” he added more lightly, “there are more professions -in these days than there used to be, and I’m sure a druggist’s, or at -least a chemist’s, is counted among the most respectable of them. And -as for Uncle Ralph, every one knows that he makes a profession of his -work. Why, what do you think came to him from England the other day? -A certificate of fellowship in the Royal Academy of Sciences! Imagine -me in that place! Wouldn’t that shine brighter than being called a -brother by the members of some county bar?” - -“Aleck, why will you trouble me by talking so?” - -“Trouble you, Nelly! I wouldn’t for the world; but Uncle Ralph wants -his answer day after to-morrow.” - -“Well, it is ready for him; he need not have waited as long as that. -Tell him we both love him with all our hearts, for his own sake and -dear papa’s, and if he is lonely nothing would give us greater joy than -to have him come right here with us, but that it was papa’s wish you -should study.” - -Aleck had left his seat and stood behind his sister’s chair, bending -caressingly over the knot of golden curls. - -“Nelly,” he said, in low earnest tones, “papa did not know how little -there would be left; he did not know how it would have to be done. He -was a gentleman himself, every inch, and he wanted me to be one; but -which would he say was most worthy of the name, to take the little -that belongs to my beautiful sister, and use it up, on the chance of -returning it after years and years, or to go into an honorable place -where I can be of more use in a month, saving life and health, than -I could in a year of settling quarrels and splitting hairs? Nelly, -I _can’t_ do it! I _can’t_ take what belongs to you! If I ever get a -profession, I must wait till I can earn the money, and that will put -the happy day so far off that you will be a tired-out old lady, waiting -for it,” and he laughed again, for Aleck never looked on the gloomy -side many minutes at a time. - -“And if money were as thick as blackberries,” he went on, “I’d rather -be a doctor, anyhow; and this comes next door to it, and I’m not sure -but a little above, for the doctors can’t move hand or foot without the -druggists. I tell you, Nelly, there’s more in it than you think, and I -might come out so scientific, and such a wise man, that you wouldn’t -venture to speak to me except in the most respectful manner. It isn’t -as it was in old times, when doctors took a spoonful of almost anything -out of their pockets for a patient! I wish you could just see them come -to Uncle Ralph with some difficult, delicate thing that they want done, -and that they can’t do themselves with all their wisdom, to save their -lives and their patients’ too! And I promise you it’s a place where -the greenbacks come in! And I should get my share of them, instead of -starving to death, waiting in my office like a spider in his web, to -catch my first unlucky fly!” - -He waited for an answer, but Nelly did not speak. “Nelly,” he began -again, very softly, “I believe papa can see into Uncle Ralph’s heart -now, and if he can, I know what he would say. I only got a glimpse, -just one peep through his eyes, and it almost brought the tears into -mine. They plead pretty hard, Nelly!” - -Nelly’s lips were pressed tightly together, and then parted suddenly. -“Day after to-morrow, did you say, Aleck? Don’t speak of it again till -then. I will tell you when that time comes.” - -When it came, “Aleck, dear,” she said, with a smile, “do whatever you -like best, and whatever you think best. I shall be satisfied, whatever -it is.” - -“All right,” said Aleck, with his gayest glow in his face; “I’ll go and -see Uncle Ralph.” - -So it was settled: and Aleck never knew the pang it cost her to give -up the long-cherished plan for his future, or how thankfully she would -have made any sacrifice necessary to its accomplishment; and she had no -suspicion that he had sacrificed the darling dream of his life, rather -than feel himself a weight upon her, and say No to the lonely heart -that was craving what only he could give it. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - - -The doctor had fallen into more than one fit of musing since the one -that carried him three doors beyond his destination on the morning -Enoch’s wheels were being fitted, and the result was, that he had come -to a determination. But as he always kept his determinations very -quietly to himself until it was time to act upon them, no one was any -the wiser for it as yet. But at last, when the snow-banks had dwindled -away under the spring sun, until only a stray mound was left here or -there, and the earth began to peep out once more, brown and bare, the -doctor made up his mind that the time had come. He had just arrived -at that conclusion, when his office-door opened, and some one came -softly in. He knew the step, and could see the tall, gaunt form of old -Joan, the housekeeper, with her apron-strings tied in a hard knot, her -silver-rimmed spectacles, and her high-crowned cap, just as well as -if he had raised his eyes from his book. But Joan never liked to be -noticed when she came in; so he went on reading, with his feet in the -chair before him, as though no one were within a thousand miles. - -Joan had only come to see about the fire, that was all; at least all -she meant should be understood; but the doctor knew very well, from -the endless brushing she was giving the hearth, that she had something -on her mind that would bring her round in front of his chair if he -only gave her time enough, and this suited him very well, as he had -something to say to her himself. Joan had followed the doctor from the -time he needed a nurse until he required a housekeeper, and she would -have been almost ready to quarrel even with him, if she had heard him -talk to Creepy about their owning shares in the world together, for -it was very much her opinion that the world was made for the doctor -exclusively; and if there were a few other people in it, that was -principally for the purpose of supplying him with a round of patients. - -“Ah but he’s a braw laddie, and ony auld heart might weel be proud o’ -raising sic a bairn,” she said to herself, as she glanced toward him -once or twice while she still brushed vigorously away at the hearth, -“though it’s true I never taught him the fashion he has o’ taking the -chair before him that’s almost higher than his head to tilt his feet -in, like a parrot fingering the trammels o’ his cage. It’s no so unco -handsome as the rest o’ him, but what can a young man do, shut up in a -room like this, with never a fair face to smile on him from ane years -end to anither; and if he were to bring a young wife hame wi’ him, wha -kens where old Joan might find hersel’ then? Na, na, it’s no change o’ -that kind I’m asking, but _some_ things ought to gae differently, for -the pride o’ the house, and if he doesna see it for himsel’, why then -old Joan maun e’en speak her ain thocht, that is a’.” - -But the speaking did not seem so easy after all, and Joan had -come fairly round before the doctor’s chair, as he had expected, -hearth-broom in hand, without getting her words into shape. - -This wouldn’t do. He had something to settle with Joan himself, and he -must catch her in a propitious frame: at the same time he knew that if -he spoke first, everything would go wrong; so without looking up from -his book, he carelessly touched another that lay on the chair before -him, with his foot, and down it went upon the floor, and the flood -gates were opened. - -“Hoot, mon!” exclaimed Joan, stooping to pick it up, and wiping it -tenderly with the corner of her apron, “hoot, mon, and canna ye be -content wi’ finding yoursel’ maister o’ a book like this, that not -one out o’ ten thousand o’ your neebors has learning eno’ to ken the -meaning o’ the very cover itsel’, that ye maun toss it under foot in -sic a fashion? It’s no that I begrudge gathering it up again, but I -dinna like aught belonging to yoursel’ to meet wi’ disrespect, and -that’s what I’m fearing ilka day will be coming to the house, a’though -no fault o’ mine. Not that I fash mysel’ sae muckle if folk maun e’en -mind ither folk’s affairs, but I’m an auld woman to be keeping up the -credit o’ an establishment like this.” - -“You want some one to help you, Joan?” - -“Help me!” exclaimed Joan indignantly, brushing her apron off sidewise -with both hands, as if to brush away the aspersion, “ye ken weel enough -Joan wants nae help, nor ever will, while her two hands can serve the -laddie she raised up to be the learned man he is, wi’ half the city -running after him to save their lives and show them the way out o’ -trouble. Nae, nae, it’s no the work I’m fretting after, it’s only the -gude and proper face o’ things before the een o’ the world.” - -The doctor looked up at her as if he could not understand a word. - -“But you’ve always been called a remarkably good-looking woman, Joan, -and I don’t see that you look a day older than you did the first time I -saw you.” - -“Whist, mon!” and Joan brushed the apron harder than ever, “wad ye -drive the patience clear frae a body? Dinna ye ken that ilka time -there’s a summons for your services, if it’s the richest mon in the -town sending for you to come and bring him back from the grave, there’s -naebody but an auld woman with her cap and spectacles to open the door -for him? The cap may be as white as snaw, but it’s no the livery that’s -becoming to a skelfu’ doctor’s house, and are whose name will soon be -kenned far an’ wide among the wisest o’ ’em.” - -“But what would you have me do, Joan? A young doctor may have all the -wisdom of Solomon, but he’s got his way to make, and his porridge to -earn, for all that, and he must wait awhile before he can afford to -waste his fees on the vanities of life.” - -“Waste! And wha kens better than yoursel’ that it would be neither -waste nor vanity to ha’ things fitting and becoming and commanding -the respect that’s due a high calling like your ain? And what great -physician’s house did I ever see among my ain at home that had na his -footman or two to open the door before ever a body had time to lay -hold upon the handle o’ the bell?” - -“Suppose I get one then?” asked the doctor, looking very gravely in her -face. - -“You’re no serious,” she said; “you’re no so easy to persuade, or to -come round to the sound o’ reason a’ in the moment a body just sets it -before your een.” - -“No,” said the doctor, “I don’t suppose I am, but the truth is I’ve -been thinking of the same thing myself. But you know,” and the doctor -got up, laid down his book and shook himself, “you know, Joan, every -ladder must have its lower rounds, and you must not expect all the -glory of midday, when the sun is just getting above the horizon. Now -suppose my new man should be rather small and rather young, so young -in fact that it would be a good thing for him to go to school, out of -office hours. That wouldn’t make any difference, I suppose, in the -welcome you would give him, or the kindness you would show him when he -came in your way?” - -Joan looked doubtful. - -“It’s no a’ the gither what I wad choose,” she said, “but half a -bannock’s better than nae loaf at a’, and young folk grow, if you do -but gie ’em time. But he suld be a braw laddie, weel favored and wi’ -good back and legs.” - -“Weel favored enough,” said the doctor laughing, “but as for the back -and legs, they are good in their way; and getting better every day, but -I fear we can’t make any more of them than the best a hunchback ever -had.” - -Joan’s face grew white. A hunchback opening the doctor’s door? She -would open it herself if she were a hundred years old, sooner than that -should happen! - -“I’ll tell you about him,” went on the doctor, not seeming to notice -her; and beginning as far back as the night in Ben’s room, he gave Joan -a running sketch of the lame child as he had found him, of the dreary -life, the great wistful eyes, the pain that was never tired, and the -sensitive soul, shrinking away behind the “all but me” that had seemed -always to rise like stony walls before it. - -“Now a strong man with any soul in him can’t see a child in a prison -like that, without wanting to knock the gates down for him, if he can,” -went on the doctor, “and that’s what I’ve been trying to do the last -six months, with the help of all hands out there; and I don’t think -we’ve made a bad piece of work of it as far as we’ve gone. I’ve got -the little fellow on his feet again, and he’s had more than one walk -already, since the snow is passing off, and he’s beginning to believe -all I’ve told him, or thinks he does, but it’s more like a story than -anything else, so far, and I want to make it a reality. I want to get -him away from that place out there, and get him in here where things -are civilized, and put him, as soon as he gets a little more strength, -into the best school there is, and let him measure himself with other -boys of his age, and see what he can make of himself and the world he’s -come into. And I don’t see any way to do this, but to indulge myself -in an office-boy for certain hours of the day. The child must have a -shelter, and some one to look to; and he’ll want more than I can be -to him too. A friend something like yourself for instance, Joan;” and -the doctor darted one of those quick looks and wonderful smiles at the -housekeeper, that always made Creepy’s heart leap to his throat. Joan’s -face ceased to be white long before the doctor had finished, and there -was something the matter with her spectacles; she couldn’t see well -through them, and there was a struggle going on behind them that was -plain enough. It was a drawn battle for a few moments more, and Joan -flourished the hearth-broom again, as if determined to knock over one -side or the other with it, but at last she spoke. - -“Puir bairnie,” she said, “it’s no mysel’ that wad we in the way o’ a -work like what you hae been doin’, and if I have na the skill to help -you in what you hae to do wi’ the puir crooked back, I can e’en comfort -the lane heart a bit now and then, and help it take courage for the -fight with the world, that is na sae bad after a’ as some folk would -ca’ it, nor bad enough to think the worse o’ a young doctor that’s -willing to shelter one o’ the Lord’s sorrowful bairns, when he might -hae the finest pair o’ hands in the country to open the door for those -that are looking for him.” - -“Good for you, Joan,” said the doctor, smiling again, “and you needn’t -fear any one is going to look as far as the limbs after they once get -sight of the pair of eyes that shine out above them.” - -“That’s all right,” he added to himself a moment later, as he shook the -reins over the black horse’s head. “Creepy has Joan for his friend for -ever; now for Mrs. Ganderby.” - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - - -Joan left the doctor’s office and retired to her own part of the house -with mingled thoughts and sentiments. She had persuaded the doctor to -grant her cherished wish: there was to be some one beside an old woman -to open the door for his calls, and some one, if not in livery, at -least in a tailor’s suit. But a crooked back! How was that ever going -to look? - -“Weel, weel, it were a deed o’ charity at the least, and like the -doctor’s ain sel’ to see that sic a thing could be done at the same -time he waur gratifying old Joan’s pride, and doing the worthy and -respectable thing for himsel’. And who kenned but it might gie a bit o’ -look o’ distinction to the house, after a’? And who could leave a bairn -like that to greet his days awa’ alane and unpitied in what the doctor -who kenned the truth o’ it a’ was pleased to call a prison. Not auld -Joan. Nane suld ever say that.” - -Her reflections were hardly ended, before the black horse had sped away -over the distance from the office to the almshouse, and the doctor was -at the door again. That had long ago ceased to surprise any one; the -wonder to-day was that, instead of making his way at once to Creepy’s -corner, he remained at least ten minutes closeted with Mrs. Ganderby, -and when at last the door opened, he held it ajar long enough for Sue, -just ready to dart away from the old clock, to hear her say, - -“Well, well, sir, if you have such a thought in your heart, it’s not -for me to do anything but rejoice that the Lord has shown such pity -upon him, which at the same time, there’s no one in the house but will -be sorry to miss the poor crooked thing, nor can do anything but wonder -how you can find any way to manage things for a poor little ill-favored -creature like him, much less to find him of any use to yourself; though -after the change you’ve succeeded in making already, which it often -seems to me you have done it more as the apostles used to cause the -lame to walk than as a real living man of our day could be expected, no -one can feel inclined to doubt or to wonder at anything you undertake.” - -In another moment Sue had fled away just in time, and was calling upon -Enoch and all the rest to help her imagine what this mysterious speech -could mean, and amid all this excitement the doctor was at Creepy’s -side again, and darting one of the old quick inquiring looks into his -face. But it was a joyous look too, and Creepy responded with a smile; -he had learned to do that long ago, but ever since the morning the -doctor had talked to him about the Brotherhood, the blood had seemed to -flow with a fuller throb through his veins, and he could raise his head -and meet the look of any one with what it seemed to him must be the -same feeling that was making the earth blossom out into spring, green -grass and flowers once more. - -“So, so, my little man! All bright and well this morning, and troubles -vanishing away like the last rags and tatters of winter that have been -hiding in the corners of the field? Well, that is as it should be; and -now, if you haven’t been taking a walk with Enoch and tiring yourself -out already, suppose you should get into that chaise of mine, and see -how life seems to me, driving about in it all day. I can’t let you -learn what exercise is all at once, and I want to get you into drill -for that fishing excursion of ours; it will be time for it now before -we can say Jack Robinson.” - -Six months ago this would have made Creepy’s heart stand still, and -then beat with such a great, trembling pulse that he could hardly have -breathed, but now he only got up from his chair with a glow in his -cheeks and a great shining in his eyes, and said he was ready. - -“Good! And suppose, if you shouldn’t be tired of everything before we -get there, suppose we should stop at my house a while, and see if you -can find anything to amuse yourself with? And if you should, and if I -should be busy, as I am very likely to be, suppose we should not come -back at all to-day; or if we didn’t feel in the mood of it, not even -to-morrow, and give you a chance to see if you like life anywhere else -as well as here?” - -The black horse seemed to understand that something to deal tenderly -with was being lifted into the chaise. He stopped pawing the ground as -he always did when he heard the doctor’s step, and instead of dashing -off at the first touch of a loot upon the chaise floor, he stood as -if such a thing as moving had never been heard of, and only looked -over his shoulder with wondering eyes as the doctor placed Creepy -exactly where he wanted him among the cushions, and tucked the lap-robe -carefully round on that side. But it was only a moment; they were all -right then and off, but there was a touch on the rein that told him -very plainly they were not going as fast as usual, and that every -roughness in the road was to be left one side, or, if that couldn’t be, -smoothed over by the best motion possible. - -“Driving isn’t quite what it might be, yet,” said the doctor; “but -things are getting better every day, and by the end of another week we -may see the dust flying, after all. Do you see that bit of green grass -showing itself over there? We had better feast our eyes while we can, -for we shall be coming to city pavements before we know it.” - -But he seemed to be in no hurry to come to them, or indeed to come to -anything or any place in particular. They took the first turn in the -road, it is true, the same that Creepy used to wonder at in days gone -by, and which Enoch had showed him, in the queer chair, so many times -since; but instead of keeping on after that towards the city, they -swept off into another, and then leisurely on till they came to what -seemed hardly more than a lane, overhung by sweeping branches of great -old trees. - -“There,” said the doctor, “that is the way we shall take when we bring -our fishing rods along with us. Do you see those willows down there, -yellow as gold, and buds swelling on every twig. When they have fairly -burst forth, and made green leaves of themselves, that will be the -time for us to come. But this morning I don’t know that we can do -better than drive a little farther.” - -Creepy did not answer a word, but that was of no consequence with the -doctor; he always understood him just as well when he could not speak. -Was this the world that he had dreamed of so long? Was this what life -had always been to other people, “all but him,” this thrill that was -filling every vein, this joy at his heart, this free fresh air, this -sunlight, this feeling that there was something more, still lying -beyond every turn? He leaned back among the cushions and drew long -deep breaths, as if in that way he could drink more deeply, and make -something more his own. - -The doctor chatted on, they took one turn after another, until at last -there were no more to take, and they were coming fairly into the city. -And now the doctor watched his patient more carefully; he saw that the -great blue veins were swelling up in his forehead as he had not seen -them now for a long time. The palaces and castles, as they seemed to -Creepy’s eyes, the countless, wonderful throngs of people, the hurry -and bustle and bewildering noise, were going to be too much for him; -they must take the shortest cut home. - -That brought them past the little cottage between its two brick -guardians, and Creepy caught sight of the conservatory window. In an -instant he had started up with a sudden cry, his cheeks turned pale and -then crimson, and he leaned past the side of the chaise until, for a -second, the doctor thought he had lost him. - -“Wait a bit, my man,” he said, laughing, as he caught Creepy’s arm; -“they’re worth looking at, that is true enough; but I can’t quite -consent that you should break your neck for the sake of a peep at them. -Sit up now, like a sensible fellow, till I can roll up the curtain and -then we will walk past once or twice and see what we can make of it -all.” - -The curtain was rolled up, and the black horse brought to a walk and -then turned to pass the window again. This time Creepy’s heart _did_ -stand still! Geraniums, azaleas, roses, heliotropes, and jessamines; -and almost loveliest of all, some one standing behind the flowers, her -face as fair as any of them, and her golden hair bound back from her -forehead like rippling sunlight. - -She had caught sight of Creepy too, Nellie Halliday, and though she -could not read the whole story on the quivering face and great shining -eyes, her quick glance told her enough, and when the horse had been -turned again and was passing once more for Creepy’s last look, she had -broken off a handful of the rarest flowers, thrown up one of the sashes -a little way, and stood holding them toward him with a smile. - -Creepy turned one entreating look toward the doctor, and then felt the -reins put into his hand; the doctor had sprung down and was taking them -from her. - -“Excuse me,” she was saying, “I thought the little fellow was an -invalid, and that perhaps they might be a pleasure to him, but I’m -afraid I am venturing too much,” and a blush like one of her own roses -spread over her face as the doctor took them from her hand. - -“Quite the contrary,” said the doctor; “my little patient is indebted -to you for his first taste of one of God’s rarest gifts;” and with his -hat still in his hand he was in the chaise again, and the flowers in -Creepy’s grasp. - -“Well, and what do you think of them?” he asked gently, after a few -moments as Creepy still held them reverently, scarcely pressing his -white fingers upon their stems, and turning them from side to side -before his enraptured eyes. - -He turned and looked in the doctor’s face. “I think,” he said, “the -King must have made them for his princess.” - -“Good!” said the doctor, “that’s it exactly--or for a princess now and -then. At least I believe that was one who stood holding these out to -you.” - -But there was no time to talk about the flowers, they had stopped -before the doctor’s door. Could Creepy bear anything more? - -With a word to the black horse, the doctor had lifted him gently from -the chaise, and they were going up the steps together. And this was -where the doctor lived! This had been one of the dreams over which -Creepy’s thoughts had run a thousand times, trying to imagine where -it could be, and what it could be like. And here it was, an everyday -sort of place enough to city eyes, too closely between others for any -thought of conservatory windows, a brown-stone front, and an iron -railing up the steps; but grandeur itself to Creepy’s eyes. And now -they were in the office. Books, books on every hand, and marvellous, -mysterious glittering things that he could not divine the use of; an -arm-chair or two, a lounge, and an ivy trailing over the window. But -the doctor gave him very little time to go from one to the other. - -“Now, my man, or my prince,” he said, with one of his old smiles, -“I want you to remember that even you might possibly, under some -circumstances, get tired, and I’m afraid your physician may not be -pleased if it goes too far; you have done a good deal for one step -out into life, and I have some writing that hasn’t been done. Suppose -I just make you all right on that lounge a while, and you keep quiet -there half an hour or so, while I do a little work by myself. There--I -think that’s about right; now if you should by any accident fall asleep -a few moments, there would be no harm done.” - -The doctor settled himself to his writing, and appeared to have -forgotten there was such a thing in existence as the throbbing little -life that lay upon his sofa; but he did not forget it, not for an -instant, and stole a look once in a while to see how things were going. -He was afraid there had been a little too much; he had planned all he -thought would do very well before the matter of the flowers came up. -But he was soon relieved by seeing the great eyelids droop, then rest -quietly, and in a few moments more he was sure his patient was asleep. - -“That’s good,” he said as he took one more look to make sure he was not -mistaken; “only a child could do that, and I’m glad to see he has even -so much of it in him. Perhaps he’ll grow young enough to make up for -lost time, after all.” - -When Creepy opened his eyes, everything was as he had left it; the -doctor still sat at his table, not an article in the room had moved -from its place, not a wonder had lessened, not a vision had vanished -away. He wasn’t even sure he had been asleep, and the doctor said -nothing about it as he laid down his pen and turned to look at him. - -“There, that’s done,” he said, “and now, I suppose, I ought to go out. -Do you feel rested enough to amuse yourself for a while? I think I’ll -call old Joan to help you for this time. You must make friends with -Joan, for you wouldn’t have had much of a doctor if it hadn’t been for -her. I was smaller than you, and not a bit stronger, when she undertook -to make something of me.” - -He rang the bell, and the gaunt form, cap, and spectacles appeared. - -“Joan, this is the little man I was speaking to you of; he is going to -stay with me to-day, perhaps to-morrow, perhaps longer, if we can make -him like it. Can’t you find something to entertain him with while I -make a few calls?” - -Joan’s face was a study as she looked at the tiny, crooked form, the -pale face, and the great dark eyes that still lay on the corner of -the lounge. First, amazement, then perplexity and the tender pity and -readiness to help that are somewhere in every woman’s heart, no matter -how sharp the outlines of her shoulders; and in none more warmly than -in the old Scotch nurse’s, doubtful as she had looked for a moment. - -“Indeed, mon,” she said, “it’s nae sae muckle auld Joan remembers o’ -the tricks that used to amuse yoursel’ in days gone by; not that the -time’s sae very lang past, either, but it’s brought its changes wi’ it, -and I’ve ta’en my share o’ them, I suppose. But I’ll do what’s in my -power for ony visitor o’ yours gladly enough, and more than a’ for a -tired little heart sic as this seems to be.” - -“Well, well,” said the doctor, “I’ll venture it. Tell him some of the -marvellous stories I used to hear, or take him in your own part of the -house, if he likes, and let him see how we manage to live here all by -ourselves. Good-by, my little man; I’ll see you again before you’re -half done with Joan,” and he was gone. - -It seemed a long time, and yet a short one, before the black horse’s -hoofs were heard clattering up to the pavement again. It took all -Creepy’s quick wits to follow Joan in her strange talk and make head -or tail of what she was saying, and she found something quite as new to -herself in the gentle, patient soul, the twisted form, and the “unco -sorrowfu’” look that met her out of the brown eyes. - -But they both kept their difficulties to themselves, and got bravely -along with them; and, best of all to Creepy, Joan was never tired of -talking of the doctor. - -“It’ll take a lang day and a lang search,” she said, “to find anither -man of nae mair years than his that can measure off against his little -finger in all that suld mak the warld the better or the happier for his -living in it. There’s mair wisdom in his head than in a hundred that -think themselves equal wi’ him; an’ sic a braw an’ winsome laddie as he -waur, an’ sae strang an’ gladsome, never dree or wearied, an’ I never -kenned him afraid to raise his head amang the proudest, nor feel that -he couldna fash himsel’ to lift up the weakest and the humblest o’ them -a’. Ye canna see it a’ yet, but maybe ye hae kenned him lang enough to -get a glimmer o’ the truth. Dinne ye think sae, bairnie?” - -“I think,” said Creepy, slowly rising up from where he lay, and fixing -the great brown eyes on Joan’s face, “I think the weak and the sick -must come to him as they came to the Lord Christ when he was here. -Don’t you think He has taught him to be like Himself?” - -From that moment Joan would have fought with wild beasts, if it had -been necessary, to protect and cherish her new charge. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - - -A week later Creepy was as quietly domesticated in the doctor’s house -as if he had been left among the inside finishings by the builder; -and instead of the shrinking from everybody and everything that would -once have made it impossible to him, the warm glow in his veins, that -he had thought must be like spring to the earth, kept on, as warm and -as life-giving as ever; his own old “All but me” seemed to have fled -away, and the doctor’s “Why not you?” to have made some little hold for -itself at last. - -And there was still one more change that covered up, if it did not -eclipse, all others: a new suit from the tailor’s, which, though not -“worried out” by Mrs. Ganderby’s “wits and patience,” smoothed away -so much from the queer figure, and showed to so much advantage the -delicacy of face and form there really was, that Joan was actually -proud to have them appear at the front door. - -But the books were the great thing, after all. A whole new set, and the -doctor to hear his lessons, though the doctor did not think as much of -that as Creepy did. - -“Well enough for a while,” he said to himself, “till I can bring him -up to the mark, but I don’t want him moping at home with an old fellow -like me; I want to get him into that schoolhouse over yonder, and let -him get his blood stirred among boys like himself.” - -“Like himself!” he repeated, with a smile; “well, no, not exactly that, -that’s a fact. They’ve got better backs than he has, but he’s got a -head that will beat any half dozen of them together, if they don’t -look sharp. If I saw other people putting a boy of his health over the -ground he’s making, in the same time, I should say they were a set of -fools, but it seems nothing more than play to him. I believe I could -get him admitted there in another six weeks, and he’ll make a steady -run through, if I can only keep up his health, and then--” - -The doctor glanced with a look quite like fatherly pride at Creepy, -where he sat with his hair pushed back from his forehead, his slender -fingers buried in the pages of his book, and the brown eyes devouring -what lay before them. - -“And then,” he went on, “I don’t know about trusting him at college. -I’m not sure he’ll have strength for that; but we’ll make a doctor of -him yet, and one that knows what he’s about too, if I’m not very much -mistaken.” - -And so the time slipped away; long, velvety grass made one forget -the snow had ever lain in the fields, the willow-buds had burst and -were swinging like long, gray plumes over the brook, and Creepy and -the doctor had been trouting along its shore. That was a day that -bewildered him as much as the sight of Nelly Halliday’s flowers, but -the doctor was not afraid this time; the cool, fresh air and the quiet -rests under the old trees with the picnic-baskets were a balance on the -other side, and Creepy’s quiet laughs breaking out now and then told -that everything was going right. - -“So,” said the doctor that evening, as Creepy lay curled up in the -sofa-corner for a rest, “do you remember the two things we talked about -under the old butternut-tree? Fishing and going to school, weren’t -they? Well, now we’ve tried one of them and like it pretty well, hadn’t -we better be getting ready for the other?” - -Creepy only laughed and drew himself up with a look that rewarded -the doctor for all the pains he had taken. It was the “Why not you?” -smiling quietly out of his eyes, for after he had really gone fishing -with the doctor, what else might not come to pass? - -But not quite yet. Creepy must get used to as much of the new wine of -life as he was tasting now before the doctor could venture on filling -any nearer to the brim; and moreover he was afraid the “Why not you?” -was still a pretty feeble little thing. If anything should happen to -crush it down and break it off to the roots, he did not know as he -should ever be able to raise it again. He was very much afraid the “All -but me” would start up once more and choke it out for ever. - -So Creepy went on with his lessons, and understood Joan better every -day, and drove about behind the black horse until the palaces and -castles began to look more like houses for real men and women. But best -of all was a walk now and then quite by himself past Nelly Halliday’s -window, and more than once he had come home with just such a handful of -treasures as had set him beside himself the first day he came into the -city. - -But if Creepy was getting used to the affair of the flowers, and began -to take it quietly, so that it didn’t set him in a toss any more, the -doctor didn’t seem to be. - -“Pshaw!” he said to himself as he saw them, “that’s the privilege a -child has without asking for it! I’d give a month of my life to see a -face like that again, and I don’t dare even to steal a look through -the side of my chaise as I drive by, while he can walk up to the very -window-pane and wait till it opens to him.” - -But he only asked quietly, “Who gave them to you, my little man?” - -“The princess,” said Creepy, seriously enough. - -The doctor laughed, and said, “Good,” again, but the second time Creepy -had a different answer. - -“The princess cut them for me, but some one else who was with her -jumped through the window and brought them to me. He was handsome, -too,” and then the doctor had two to envy, instead of one. - -He would not have disturbed himself much about it, though, if he had -seen that it was only Aleck, and had heard him at that very moment -telling Nelly, with great fun in his eyes, that it was all very fine -for him to play humble servant and dispense her favors, until some -older pair of beseeching eyes than their new visitor’s should stand -pleading before the door. - -But Nelly’s sweet thoughts were wandering off after Creepy, and she -would have envied the doctor to his heart’s content had she known that -he had the happiness of doing every day and all day long what had only -fallen in her way two or three times, and might never come again. - -“I wish we knew where the little fellow lives, Aleck, and whom he -belongs to. Somebody is kind to him, I know; but it seems strange they -don’t provide him with a few flowers of his own, he seems so ravenous -for them. I’m almost glad they don’t, though, it is so delightful to -have him coming here now and then.” - -The doctor thought it strange, too, and was just then berating himself -for a stupid fellow, that it had never occurred to him how they -would have brightened up the almshouse the last winter. However, he -couldn’t be altogether sorry, and if things had come round so that -Miss Halliday’s flowers were straying into the office, and bringing -in a light and a fragrance such as the dull, old room had never known -before, it was too pleasant to quarrel with altogether. - -“An’ what’s the doctor been making up his mind to, now, I wonder?” -said old Joan to herself as she lingered about with her dusting one -morning. “Something, I ken well eneugh by the glint in his een and the -close-pulled line about his lips. Something is sure to happen when his -face sets itsel’ that fashion;” and she was right. - -“Joan,” he said, “the boy is ready to go to school. It is high time; -it’s altogether too dull music shut up here with only an old woman -and a young doctor to speak to from one day to another. The last term -of the year is half out, it is true, but he had better go the half -and make a few acquaintances to amuse himself with through the long -vacation, and then he’ll be ready to start fair and square when the -next year begins.” - -“Hoot, mon,” she said, “canna ye see that the wee bairnie is doing weel -enough whaur he bides, that ye maun tak him and turn him loose amang a -parcel o’ boys that’s mair like wild animals than anything fit to be -trusted wi’ a tender flower ye hae but just now taught to haud up its -head a bit at the best? Only let ane o’ them trample down your wark wi’ -a rough-shod foot, an’ whaur would it be then?” - -“That would be an ugly piece of work,” said the doctor; “but boys are -not so bad as you think, and a wild animal would be a mild term for one -that wouldn’t lend a helping hand when a little fellow like Creepy came -in his way. And that’s the very thing I want; there are some things you -and I can’t do for him, let our will be ever so good.” - -“Weel, weel,” said Joan, “its no becoming for me to be disputing wi’ a -doctor about his patient; but if any harm comes, it may need doctor and -nurse baith to bring things right again.” - -“We wont look for anything of that kind,” said the doctor; “and as for -‘bringing things right,’ I don’t see that much help is needed from -anybody just now. Did you ever think the boy would stand as straight, -or walk as fast, as you see him to-day? It’s about time to say Good-by -to that name of his, I think, though I don’t know exactly where to look -for another.” - -“And what need hae ye o’ anither, if anither means aught different frae -your ain?” said Joan. “Havena ye as fair a name as the world turns its -ear to, and dinna ye intend keeping the bairn near eneugh yoursel’ to -let him hae a share in it? What harm wad come to ony o’ us if folk -should learn to ca’ him Thorndyke?” - -“None in the world,” said the doctor, laughing, “and if you and he are -agreed, we’ll call it settled.” - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - - -The hurrying, scurrying, scrambling stream of boys was once more -leaping and pushing, running and walking up the schoolhouse-stairs, -where Tom had waited so long in vain hope that Hal would “move on.” -There were not so very many of them, not more than thirty-five or forty -at the most; but there was something in the way they were getting up -stairs that would have made any one who wasn’t used to it sure there -were legs and boots enough for fifty or a hundred. They subsided -considerably at the schoolroom-door, though not altogether, as the -bell had not yet rung, but one by one, as they passed in, they seemed -struck into dumb astonishment at what they saw. It was only Creepy -standing by his desk while the professor looked over his books, and -talked pleasantly of the place he had better take in the classes. But -the queer, twisted little form, the great head with its high, white -forehead and brilliant eyes, and the color coming and going like a -living thing in the pale cheeks, seemed to put a spell on the boys, and -held their eyes as if they had seen a hobgoblin, until the professor -turned his own upon them with such a flash and frown as sent them off -to their seats and their own affairs in a twinkling. But Creepy hardly -heard what the professor was saying; the rush had taken his breath -away, and though he had not dared look up as it came, he felt every -step that passed near him, and his heart was throbbing again as it had -not since the day when he crept out to his little room after the first -visit from the doctor. - -And it would not be quiet after the bell had rung, and every one was -so busy that he had ventured as many glances as he liked about the -room. Was this school? Were these the boys he was to know and call his -schoolmates and companions? But so many! Such a great crowd! He had not -thought so many boys ever got together in one school; he had hardly -thought there were as many in the city! How should he ever come to know -one from the other? how would he ever dare to speak to any of them? -Oh, why did he come away from the doctor and Joan? He felt happy, and -remembered that he was one of the princes when he was with them; and -the professor, too, he did not mind; the doctor and he had had such a -pleasant talk when the doctor came to introduce him, and he had said so -many kind things already. No, he should never be afraid of him, but -there were too many of these boys, and still more in the next room. - -His head felt dizzy and he laid it down upon his desk, and listened to -the hum a while with his eyes shut. How was he ever going to study in -the midst of it? - -But somehow, after the first half hour, it did not seem quite so much, -and by the time the bell struck ten o’clock, Creepy was going on with -his lessons with a steadier pulse and almost a feeling of pleasure -warming up in his heart again. What if he were to like it, after all! -What if some of the boys were even to like him, and they should come -to be friends, as the doctor wished! At any rate, he should see their -games at recess! The doctor had told him about them, and given him a -great many directions not to run too much until he got a little used to -it; he couldn’t understand very well yet, but it would all come right -if he once saw. - -Hum, hum, went the schoolroom, and on went the routine of lessons. If -any of the other boys had been told the new-comer thought it exciting, -they would have called it about the strangest thing they ever heard -of. Carter and Davis were busy at that very moment in the next room -over an illustrated almanac they had been getting up, to show how many -days and hours still remained before it would all be over, and the long -vacation come on. How many hours said almanac had taken from their -studies, and how much care had been necessary to conceal it from proper -authorities, were questions they did not vex their souls about; it was -trouble enough to Davis to furnish the plan, the leading ideas, and the -plain work, while Carter designed the illustrations, and a pretty good -thing they had made of it altogether, they thought. - -It lay open now on Carters desk, just inside his astronomy, and he made -a sign to Davis to look at the last and crowning design just completed. - -Davis signalled “Tip-top” with telegraphic taps of his pencil upon his -slate, and then the astronomy-class was called. - -The boys filed past the open door that led from the small room into the -one where Creepy sat, with a quiet, regular step until Aleck reached -it, and his eyes wandering through, caught sight of the face that had -looked in at the conservatory-window with such rapture two or three -times, but had been missing now so long that he and Nelly had feared -they should never meet it again. Without knowing he did it, he came -to such a sudden halt that Carter, who was behind him, was “brought up -all standing,” his astronomy knocked from his hand, and the almanac -went skimming away until at last it fluttered down directly before the -professor’s feet. - -“Thank you,” said the professor, with a nod and a bow to Carter; “yes, -I will look at it with pleasure,” and picking it up he turned leaf -after leaf, and studied one after another of the chefs-d’œuvres. - -“Ah,” he said, after what seemed to the two boys an eternity of -suspense, “I really was not aware I had such an artist in the school. -Modesty is a virtue, and shrinks from having its work exhibited, but -such masterpieces as these I must beg to hold up for one moment to the -admiration of the class,” and mounting the platform he took his seat at -the desk, and holding up the almanac to the view of the whole room, he -turned the pages and exhibited one after another of the grand designs -for the five weeks remaining, in every one of which a caricature of -himself formed a prominent figure. - -A suppressed murmur arose as the pictures met the devouring eyes of the -boys, beginning with a bonfire of compositions at which the professor -was trying to warm his icy heart, and ending with the Fourth of July -in the shape of a spread eagle with wings of stars and stripes, the -school bell in one talon and the blackboard brush in the other, flying -away with the professor bodily, while a pile of books like a small -haystack was heaped upon its back, geographies, Virgils, philosophies -and grammars, helter-skelter, and hanging together no one could tell -how. - -Carter looked as if he would sink, or at least as if he would give all -he expected to die possessed of, if a knot-hole would open and let him -escape, but Davis made a tremendous effort and kept so unmoved a face -that no one suspected him of having anything to do with the affair. - -“Allow me to congratulate you,” said the professor, as he returned -the almanac, “not only is such talent worthy of commendation, but the -faithful use of time, and the expenditure of precious moments upon -work of genuine importance, will if formed into a habit, become of -life-long value, and I must congratulate myself that accident has -brought the indication of such promise to my notice;” and with another -bow he placed the fated subject of discussion in Carter’s hands, which -would far sooner have reached themselves out for a flogging than to -acknowledge such an ownership. - -The lesson went on, but a more vivid picture filled Aleck’s mind -than any Carter’s pencil could produce. That face at the desk in the -other room! Their eyes had met, and Creepy had recognized him at the -same instant and with a great bound of joy, and was over his book now -without seeing a word, with no room for anything but the thought that -he was here; and Aleck himself had to take good care that he did not -stumble in his recitation, he was so busy thinking what Nelly would -say when he told her whom he had found, and how she would delight to -surprise him with a handful of flowers on his desk now and then. - -But the recitation was over at last and with it the first division of -the morning session; the bell rang for recess and the stream poured out -once more, though soberly as a funeral procession compared with the way -it had passed in a few hours before. - -This was what Creepy had been longing for, and yet when the moment -fairly came, it seemed to him he could not stir. If he could only see -that face that had looked in at the door! But he saw only one strange -one after another, and each glancing curiously at him as it passed. - -But the professor caught sight of him just then and divined the -difficulty. - -“Don’t you feel like going out? I think I would try if I were you,” he -said with the same smile that had been so reassuring in the morning. -“Here, Haggarty,” he added to Tom, who had hung behind as usual, to -keep clear of something he knew Hal had on his tongue’s end, “take this -boy along with you, can’t you, and see that he makes a good time out of -it somehow. It don’t do to sit here too long without a breath of air.” - -They went down stairs together, and though Creepy thought Tom seemed -to be casting sidelong glances at him, it never occurred to him that -he saw anything peculiar beyond his being a stranger, and the shouts -coming up from the playground had such a tempting sound, that he -hurried over the stairs in a way that astonished Tom beyond measure. - -“This is the way,” said Tom, pushing open the door, and leading Creepy -out, with a feeling that he would do anything in the world if he only -knew what was the right thing, but that he really didn’t, he took -refuge in a corner close at hand, and a little off the common track of -the players. - -“Hurrah for Carter and his almanac!” was the shout just now coming up, -“Carter’s almanac, the newest thing out!” - -“I say, old fellow, is it time to look out for storms?” cried Hal -Fenimore’s voice. - -“And I say, what quarter of the moon is best for sowing winter wheat?” -said another. - -“You don’t give away those almanacs, do you?” cried a third; “if you do -I want the first chance.” - -“Come, come,” said Aleck, who had been distressed enough at being the -unlucky cause of all the trouble, “what’s the use of harping for ever -on one string. Let’s have a game of ball, or time will be up before we -know it.” - -The mousers scattered again, and drew off for their game, while another -set were establishing bounds for a run of tag. All this had been Greek -to Creepy; he hadn’t understood a word, but it would all come to him in -time, he supposed, if he could ever get through this business of being -acquainted. Aleck had watched for him when the stream first poured out, -but had given him up before now, and moved off, and poor little Tom, -feeling more and more awkward every moment, made a great effort at last -to say, “They’re going to have a game; don’t you want to come?” - -Creepy hesitated a moment, trying to find voice. - -“What a plague! He isn’t going to answer at all,” thought Tom, and -in a fit of desperation, dreading above all lest Hal should get a -sight of the situation, plunged his hands into his pockets, and walked -away to join the players. A sudden thought sent Aleck back into the -school-room, and Creepy, who had caught one glimpse of him, felt his -last hope depart. - -“However nobody seems to be taking any notice,” he thought, “and I can -look on, at any rate, I suppose, of course.” - -So this was a real game of ball, that he had so longed to see ever -since the doctor first described it to him! He couldn’t understand it -yet, any better than the talk about the almanac, but the shouts and the -quick runs and the eager contest took hold of him in a moment, and he -forgot himself and his embarrassment together. - -“Oh what sport that must be,” he thought, as the game went on; “and how -strong they are, and how swift, and what throws they make! I wonder if -I shall ever learn? Of course I shall, the doctor said I should;” and -his cheek warmed again, not as it had when the boys rushed into the -school-room, but with as spirited a glow as the swiftest runner felt in -his. - -“Hurrah!” shouted the chorus, at an extra toss, and “hurrah,” echoed -Creepy, silently to be sure, but with none the less gusto for all that. - -“Oh how I should like to try! I wonder when they’ll ask me;” and -suddenly the thought that no one noticed him, which had been such a -refuge at first, rushed on him with a very disagreeable suggestion and -brought the old “all but me” nearer to his lips than it had been for -months. But just then he saw that they _were_ noticing him; the game -was halting and more than one group were putting their heads together -and glancing towards his corner with whispers that must have something -to do with him. - -“You ought to ask him to play,” said Tom, whose feeling of -responsibility in the matter had made him decidedly uncomfortable all -the time--only, as he had declared at first, he really didn’t know what -to do. - -“Humph,” said Carter, who, still smarting under his own humiliation, -felt that it would be a relief to put somebody else in his place, “ask -_him_ to play! A bright idea that would be. What’s a fellow like him -going to do?” - -The words floated over to Creepy’s ears, though they were not really -intended to do so, and sent the blood tingling to his fingers’ ends, -and the thought of the doctor seemed as far off as if a whole world -lay between them. - -The boys laughed and the game began again, but a feeling like ice was -gathering around Creepy’s heart. He was not to play! They would not -ask him! “Why not you?” Perhaps he did not hear, perhaps he had made a -mistake. Oh, where was the doctor? Why had he ever come here at all? - -“I say, you ought to do it,” began Tom again, uneasily; “the professor -said he was to have a good time out of it somehow.” - -“Suppose you mind your own business,” said Carter; but it seemed to -Davis, who felt himself “just on the brink” with the professor about -the almanac, that he might lay an anchor to windward, and he made his -way across to where Creepy stood. - -“Hallo, can you pitch a ball?” he asked. - -“I don’t know, I never tried,” said Creepy, forcing the words from -between his lips. - -“Well, take this,” said Davis, falling back a little, “and stand about -where you are, and let me have it the best you know how.” - -Creepy took the ball and threw it with a trembling hand; it struck the -ground some distance from Davis’ feet. - -“Ha, ha,” shouted Carter, “how’s that for high?” - -“How is that for Humpy?” answered Hal Fenimore, in a rather low tone, -but heard well enough for all that. - - - “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, - Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.” - - -Half a dozen voices in the crowd took up the chorus, and it rang across -the playground until Tom looked up at the professor’s window in agony. - -Ah, those words! The lame child understood it all now! In one instant -the veil his good angel had hung for all those years between his -eyes and his deformity was taken away and an evil demon seemed to be -chuckling the whole truth in his ear. - -He was a cripple, a hunchback, an ugly thing to look upon! He should -never be like other people, and other people would never forget that he -was unlike them. Wherever he went he was to be marked, ridiculed, and -avoided! A prince indeed! Ah, the doctor had been mocking him, mocking -him, with all the rest! The lonely life he had thought ended to-day, -had in reality only begun, for “what was a fellow like him going to -do?” Who wanted a humpback to take a share in their games, much less to -be counted among their friends? What was there for him but to shrink -away and hide from scornful eyes for ever? - -His eager, glowing face had turned white as marble; the great eyes -dilated and flashed. He drew himself up for a moment, quite beyond -his poor shrunken height, and then with a wild cry, started from the -grounds and fled away down the street. Away, away! Anywhere that his -flying feet could carry him, only _away_ from everybody and everything! - -The boys stood and looked in each others’ faces without a word. “I -guess you’ve done it now,” said Davis, turning to where Carter stood. - -“I didn’t do it,” said Carter, too near being really terrified to -retort as warmly as he might another time. “Better aim where it belongs -if you’ve got anything to say.” - -At this moment Aleck ran down the steps, looking as if in search of -some one. - -“I say, Tom,” he began, “where’s that little fellow that came this -morning? I thought he was up stairs, but the professor says he made him -over to you. What have you done with him?” - -Tom’s tongue was fast to the roof of his mouth, and Aleck looked at the -tell-tale faces of the other boys. - -“Look here!” and his eyes flashed as the boys had never seen them, -“don’t tell me there’s a coward among you dastardly enough to touch a -helpless little fellow that’s carrying a burden like that!” - -“We didn’t touch him,” muttered Hal Fenimore. “I suppose he didn’t like -what we had to say, and he stepped out.” - -“Didn’t touch him! You’d better have touched him, better have struck -him in the face a hundred times over, than--which way did he go?” - -Tom pointed to one of the gates, and Aleck followed through it in a -flash, and was looking up and down the street; but in vain--only brisk, -erect walkers were passing on as far as his eye could reach. He ran a -little way past one corner and then another, but no crooked, dwarfed -little figure was in sight; and burning with indignation, he came -hastily back, to find the bell had rung and the boys had taken seats -some time before. - -And was that the professor standing in the desk, his eyes flashing -fire, his face white, and his voice so terrible that half the boys had -got their heads hidden behind one thing or another, as if they thought -it was going to strike them? - -“Didn’t think, and didn’t touch him!” he was thundering, in answer -to the excuses offered; “you _did_ think; you thought it would be a -pleasure to see a suffering little life crushed down still farther -under your taunts! And you _did_ touch him; you touched him with words -that were sharper than a serpent’s tooth, and may rankle like poisoned -arrows in his heart to the latest day of his life! No one could ever -have made me believe that I had such a school; and I could give it up -now, and give my whole time to one little fellow like that you have -driven away, with more hope of reward than I feel with you to-day.” - -There was no reprimand for Aleck’s tardiness; the professor understood -too well. He had missed the two boys together, and on inquiring for -them the truth had come out. It seemed as if the rest of that morning -never would take itself away, but it was gone at last, and the boys -filed out under the still scornful glances of the master. - -But as Aleck passed he beckoned him to the desk with a different look. - -“You are a friend of that little fellow?” he asked. - -“I’d like to be,” said Aleck; “but though I’ve seen him two or three -times, I didn’t know his name or even where he lives.” - -“You know where Dr. Thorndyke’s is?” - -Aleck nodded assent. - -“Well, he belongs there, and I want to send our apologies to the -doctor; excuses I have none. Will you go and see how much harm has -been done, and say whatever can be said? And assure the doctor, if he -will try once more, not only shall there be no more trouble, but every -possible reparation shall be made.” - -Aleck took the commission gladly, but at the same time doubtfully -enough. Now he should be able to tell Nelly that he had really found -him; but to “say whatever was to be said,” was not so easy, by a long -mark. Still he must know the worst of what had been done, and perhaps -it might not be so very bad, after all, and it would certainly be -some comfort to the little fellow to hear what a towering wrath the -professor was in about it. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - - -The black horse stood at the door, but Joan had no idea of letting -Aleck see the doctor. It was part of her duty to stand guard over his -minutes and save them for him when she could. - -“The doctor’s hame,” she said; “I’ll nae deny it, but it’s no -office-hours, and I mind he’s engaged just at this moment. If ye wad -hae the gudeness to call again atween the hours o’ twa and three ye -might see him then wi’ convenience to every one, or if ye will e’en -leave an order on the slate. It hangs just here in the reach o’ all.” - -“Thank you,” said Aleck; “but if the doctor is engaged, can I see--” -he hesitated, for in all the excitement of coming off he had not even -asked the professor Creepy’s name. - -“The little fellow that--that came to school this morning?” he went on. - -“The wee bairnie? He’s no come hame, and unco whiles it is to keep a -bit thing like him cooped between walls where never a breath of free -air or sunshine can find its way.” - -“He’s not come home?” said Aleck in alarm, “then I _must_ see the -doctor!” and Joan, frightened herself, though she did not know why, -opened the office-door without another word. - -The doctor stood before the library with an open book in his hand, -studying up authorities on a difficult point, but one glance at Aleck -brought back his thoughts and sent a misgiving through them like a -flash; he remembered seeing him on the school-grounds that morning. - -“Have you a message from the little fellow at the school?” he asked, -with one of his quick looks, and without waiting for Aleck. - -“No, sir, I hoped I should find him here; but the professor wished me -to say how much he regretted--indeed, sir, he is very sorry, as well -as very angry, and we cannot really tell how it happened, but the boys -did something or said something at recess that troubled him, and he -disappeared before any one could tell which way he went. The professor -was sure he was at home, or he would have sent sooner, but--” - -Before the sentence was finished the doctor had thrown his book across -the room with such force that it went flying through the open window, -where nothing but the iron railing of the little balcony outside saved -it from the sidewalk, and the doctor himself was halfway out of the -front-door. He turned suddenly and put his hand on Aleck’s shoulder. - -“Thank you, my man,” he said, “and thank the professor for me, if you -please,” and in another instant he was gone, and sparks were flying -from under the black horse’s hoofs, almost out of sight down the road -leading to the almshouse. He did not know why he chose it, except that -it was the way he had taken so many times to find him before, and the -one most familiar to Creepy himself. On, on, a mile, more than a mile, -no distance at all to the flying hoofs, but a walk the doctor had never -consented to Creepy’s trying yet, though he had begged for it more than -once. The almshouse was in sight now, but there was Enoch working on -the road, and taking off his hat with as grand a flourish and as serene -a smile as if he had never heard of such a thing as trouble in the -world. Creepy could not have gone that way, but here was the old turn -in the road that he used to visit so often. - -A sudden thought struck the doctor. They had passed in there to follow -the trout brook, and down the road, perhaps half a mile away, was a -great overhanging rock, facing the brook, covered with moss, and a deep -velvety bed of moss beneath it. Creepy had looked at it, and said what -a place that would be to hide from a storm, and the doctor remembered -the half-laughing half-serious look in his face as he said it. - -He turned the black horse with a whirl round the corner and down the -road toward the point where the rock lay. Not a trace of any one yet, -and none to ask whom they had seen; but now the rock was coming in -sight, and what was that fluttering on a torn splinter of the fence? -Something white, a little thing, one of the very handkerchiefs Joan -had been hemming in such a hurry that “the wee bairnie suld be as weel -supplied wi’ everything as ony he might meet wi’ at the school.” - -Was that Creepy, that poor little huddled up heap of something lying -there, with hands holding tightly the very roots of the moss, and a -white face half buried in its depths? - -For one instant, at the sound of the doctor’s step, he raised the eyes -that had been so bright that morning; but in another he had turned them -hastily away. - -“What did you come here for?” he cried, as he had once before so long -ago; “what does any one come to me for? I came here to be alone! No -one must come to me again! No one must ever look at me until I die!” - -The doctor stooped and lifted Creepy gently but firmly in his arms. - -“Yes, they must,” he said, “_I_ must come and take you away from here -this very moment. Don’t you know you might die, lying on such a bed as -that all this time?” - -“Oh, I _wish_ I could! I wish I were dead, dead, dead!” and then -suddenly raising his head, he looked almost fiercely in the doctor’s -face. - -“No I don’t! I _don’t_ wish it, for then the angels would cry out, -‘Look at Humpy!’ when they saw me coming! Oh, where shall I go? Where -will no one ever come?” - -What the doctor would have said at that moment, if he could have -reached the right people to say it to, and how much more terrible -than even the professor’s his words would have been, there was no -opportunity to know. He clenched his teeth together for a moment as if -he were fighting a terrible battle with something, and then spoke in -tenderer tones than even Creepy had ever heard from him, but with the -same ring in them that had always brought comfort to the lame child. - -“Where shall you go? I hope you don’t want to go anywhere away from -me; don’t you know you are all I have in the world, little man?” - -Once more Creepy opened his eyes and looked at him. All through the -long hour that he had lain there, an hour that had seemed like a year -of agony sweeping through his life, the same evil voice that had -whispered to him on the playground, had brought up every such word the -doctor had ever spoken, and thrown them at him like cruel taunts! He -had been mocking him with all the rest! It was not _true_ there was a -place in the world and a share in it for him, as well as other people! -He had never meant it, he had known better all the time! How dared he -ever tell him so! - -But he was here again, he had come to find him, he _did_ care! He had -not meant to mock him, it was _not_ all a vanished dream! - -With a low cry he threw his arms around the doctor’s neck and clung -convulsively there, and in another moment Jet looked wonderingly over -his shoulder again while the doctor, one arm still holding the crippled -child, stepped into the chaise and gathered up the reins with his free -hand. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - - -There never had been anything in the professor’s school like the -excitement that was buzzing in every corner the next morning before the -bell rang. The boys were gathered in groups here and there, and the -affair of the day before, and its probable consequences, were the only -subjects under discussion. - -“I say, Carter,” said one of the smaller boys, “I guess you wont hear -much more about the almanac, after what you had to do with this!” - -“What did I have to do with it?” retorted Carter. “If you’ve got -anything to say, you’d better keep it for the one that was first to -call out _Humpy_!” - -“And if it comes to that,” answered Hal, bravely enough, but looking -rather pale, “the first one never would have been heard if a dozen or -more of you hadn’t taken it up and shouted it loud enough for all the -world to hear. There’s a few of you to divide what the professor has to -say anyhow.” - -“Well, never mind who it was,” said another voice, “but what’s up -anyhow? What’s the mischief done, and what’s the professor going to do -about it?” - -No one seemed to have an answer to these questions, and at last Tom -ventured, though terrified at the sound of his own words. - -“They say he’ll never get over it; they say he’s going to die.” - -“Pshaw!” said Carter, “die of what?” but Tom’s words sounded very -disagreeably and there was a moment’s silence again. - -“Well,” said one of the larger boys at last, “it’s too bad anyhow; it’s -a shame to crowd a little fellow like that, that’s never had half a -chance, though I don’t know as anybody meant to do it; but anyhow the -professor is in a terrible way, and I don’t know how he’s going to get -over it, if one or two fellows don’t get a ticket of leave before he’s -done with the thing.” - -This had about as ugly a sound as what Tom had said, and the boys -feeling there wasn’t much comfort to be had in pursuing the subject, -broke up and went slowly into their places. But that was only fleeing -into the very teeth of the tempest. The black eyes of the professor -were fixed on the door, and each one as he entered had to pass under a -look so scathing that it seemed every guilty conscience must be read -through to the depths. And when he did speak, the words of yesterday -seemed only the first mutterings of a storm that was crashing over -their very heads to-day. - -“Would you like to hear the message Dr. Thorndyke sends to my school -this morning? He sends you word that he doesn’t know whether you have -killed the little fellow or not; the chances of life and death seem -about equal at present; but that you might about as well have killed -him, as to do the work you did for him, body and soul! - -“And _I_ would rather have heard that any misfortune had fallen on -you, than that you were capable of so cowardly a deed: striking at the -one little glimmer of light that was struggling up in a poor life like -that, and putting it out for ever, for aught you know! I have seen -enough of the same spirit among yourselves--the spirit that delights in -seeing another humiliated and pained; and it’s base and contemptible -enough even where each one takes his turn and stands his chance with -the rest. But when it comes to a little creature who, with hardly the -physical strength that lies in the left-hand of one of you great, -cowardly fellows, is trying to stand up, and _is_ standing like a hero -under the burden Heaven has seen fit to lay upon him, I have no words -for it. If I had had the least conception of the natures you have, I -would have gone down into the playground and defended him from you as -I would from a company of tigers; and with more need, for I believe -many a wild beast would have found some noble instinct by which the -strong cherishes the weak, and have saved his life. And if I can learn -the names of those who are responsible in this affair, I will expel -them every one from my school, for nothing I can teach them from books -will ever make anything better than brutes of them, until they learn -what are the first elements of a manly nature and a life that is above -contempt!” - -There was no hiding away this time. No one dared to hide, lest he -should be taken for the guilty one; but guilty and innocent alike -almost felt their blood stand still before the professor was done -with them, and could bring those flashing eyes back from their sweep -around the room and fasten them down upon anything like a book. Carter -felt that if he could only live through the next six weeks, till his -graduation, he would not meet the professor’s eyes again as long as -he lived, if he could help it; Hal Fenimore had a mental somerset by -which his memory carried him back to the night of his chess-playing -with Tom, and a vague idea occurred to him that what his uncle had -said about “principles” then hadn’t altogether a different key-note -from what the professor was thundering this morning; and poor innocent -little Tom sat trembling with the feeling that in some way the whole -thing lay at his door, and would almost have been ready to change -places with Creepy, if that could in any sense have undone or atoned -for it. - -Aleck sat feeling almost as much distressed as Tom with the thought -how different everything might have been if he had spied Creepy before -going back to the schoolroom, where his errand had really been to see -if he could find him. He had followed slowly behind, when the doctor -left the house in such hot haste, wishing he could do something or -search somewhere--but where? He felt sure the doctor knew, however, -from the unhesitating way he had dashed off, and it would be all right; -but when evening came he felt as if he must go once more and see how -things really were, and, moreover, he had given only half of the -professor’s message. Perhaps there had been no great harm done, after -all, and it would be such a comfort to know. - -But he would hardly have mustered courage if he had realized the -reception he was to meet with. The moment Joan recognized him she -bristled like a watch-dog that had seen one onset upon his charge, and -did not know how to be furious enough in guarding it from a second. Her -face was white and hard, the spectacles sat grimly on her nose, and -she held the door so little open that her own form filled the space, -as if she thought Aleck was going to squeeze himself in if the least -opportunity were left. - -“He’s asleep,” she said in a sharp, dry tone, “and the doctor says -he’s to remain sae for mony an hour yet, and it’s o’ the Lord’s mercy -that there’s aught in the power o’ medicine that can do it for a puir -suffering soul and body that a parcel o’ iron-clad boys have made it -their pleasure to trample upon.” - -“Is he so very ill?” asked Aleck, too much troubled to be intimidated -by her manner. “The boys will want to know how he is.” - -“The boys!” exclaimed Joan; “we want nane o’ their messages, but if ye -will tak them ane from mysel’, ye might tell them--” - -She checked herself. “Na, na, that were a sinfu’ thought; I maun forgie -as I hope to be forgi’en; but it’s a cruel sight to look upon a little -life that the doctor had been cherishing and nourishing as no other -man could or would hae done, and see it lyin’ there now a crushed and -blighted thing.” - -“Is he too ill?” ventured Aleck once more; “do you think he will be too -ill when he wakes to care for these flowers my sister has sent him? He -has seemed to like them once or twice before.” - -“And were it your very sel’,” exclaimed Joan, throwing open the door, -“were it your very sel’ that made the bairnie’s heart sae glad mony a -time, when he’d never kenned before sae muckle as the fashion God made -a flower to grow in? Come inside, then, and see the doctor himsel’. It -will do his heart good to see a face that has once looked friendly on -the bairn.” - -“No,” said Aleck, “I wont come in now, thank you, but I would like to -come every day for a while and ask how he is.” - -“Come, then,” said Joan, “and as often as ye like, and the first day -he’s weel eneugh to speak to ony friend but the twa that’s truest to -him, ye shall e’en talk wi’ him a bit yoursel’.” - -Joan wondered what made the doctor start, just the merest trifle, as -she carried the flowers to him and told him where they came from, and -she didn’t hear him say to himself, “So, so! the little fellow has -been thinking he hasn’t a friend in the world, and he’s richer than I -am this very moment!” She marched off up stairs again to take another -look at Creepy, and make sure the medicine was doing its work, and -that he was still asleep. But the doctor had looked out for that; and -wherever Creepy might be wandering, this world with all its ugliness -and sharp places was shut out; perfect rest for body and heart was the -only hope for saving them from going down together under the shock they -had received, and not until late the next morning did Creepy open his -eyes with anything like a clear look at things around him. - -There stood the doctor, looking as strong and as fresh and exactly the -same in every way as the first day he saw him under the old butternut. - -“Well, little man, and so you have waked at last. You and I both had a -nap of it last night; but the sun is shining and the birds are singing -for us once more.” - -“All but me!” - -“All but me!” those self-same dreaded, almost forgotten words once -more. So that miserable work of yesterday had brought them to life, -and killed everything else at the same time! The doctor stepped out -of sight, and for one instant Creepy did not know where he was. Only -at the window, having a sharp tussle with yesterday’s battle again; -but the next moment he was at Creepy’s side once more, looking just as -before, and holding Nellie Halliday’s flowers before his eyes. - -“See here, little man, the world is beautiful after all, is it not?” - -“All but me,” and the great eyes looked wearily at the doctor. - -It took all the self-command the doctor could muster at that moment to -place the vase quietly on the table again, and take Creepy’s pulse in -his fingers without letting him suspect how hotly his own were flying. - -“What is it?” he asked as gently as if there were neither battles nor -enemies to be thought of, as Creepy closed his eyes and turned wearily -on his pillow. - -“Only the pain.” - -“The old pain?” - -Creepy nodded, and the doctor laid down his hand and stepped quietly -out of sight again, for that was the very story he had dreaded to -hear. There it was, raging and burning up and down the twisted spine, -the same trouble as of old, and threatening not only to undo all the -winter’s work, but to make mischief ten times greater than had ever -been there before. - -“Hoot!” muttered Joan from the half-open door where she had been -watching the whole scene, “and fever too, plain eneugh, and as dree a -pain i’ the head, I warrant, as in the puir back itsel’, wi’ sic great -cords o’ blue veins swellin’ above the bairn’s brow. Not a word wad the -doctor hearken when I told him a cripple like itsel’ wad be wantin’ a -nurse ane day; but now the day has come, the nurse shall be Joan and -nane beside;” and stalking noiselessly to the head of the bed she took -her stand. - -Aleck came the next day and the next; there was only the same story to -be told. - -“He’s no himsel’ at all yet, wi’ all the drugs and sleeping potions -we’re striving to rest his soul and body wi’,” Joan said, and Aleck -turned away, feeling miserable enough. As he reached the corner, he -heard some one call him, and Carter came running up from behind. - -“I say,” he said, pointing back toward Dr. Thorndyke’s, “have you been -up there?” - -“Yes,” said Aleck. - -“What’s the news there?” - -“Just the same.” - -“Do they call him very sick?” - -“I’m afraid so. It’s the shock, they say, and the long run, and lying -so long on the wet ground. They say even if he pulls through this, -he’ll never be well again.” - -“Well, it’s a shame,” said Carter, “and I’d give all I’m worth if I’d -had nothing to do with it. But I felt so confounded mean when they were -all letting me have it about that miserable almanac, that I couldn’t -help letting fly at the first game that came along.” - -“And did that take off any of the meanness?” asked Aleck. - -“Did it? I tell you I could have sold myself for a yellow dog any -minute since. I didn’t see it at the time; but if I ever get through -with this, I’m going to start things on a different tack somehow. The -only trouble is to see just how.” - -“I’ll tell you how,” said Aleck. “If you could manage to remember how -the Lord has treated us, and that the only way to make a gentleman -or a Christian, is the one he taught us, to love him first, and your -neighbor as yourself.” - -“Yes, but it makes a fellow too much of a prig to keep going over all -that in his mind all the time, and measuring a text to everything he -does or says.” - -“Well, don’t go over it in your mind then,” said Aleck smiling; “just -feel it in your heart, and you’ll be all right without stopping to -measure anything when the time comes.” - -“I don’t know,” said Carter, “but I must manage it somehow; I’ll never -be mean enough to make anybody else feel mean again, if I can help -it. But what’s the professor going to do about it? Has he found out -anything yet?” - -“I don’t know; I think he’s got an idea he’d have to come into the -graduating class, and he don’t like to break that up. And I heard the -doctor begging him not to make any trouble.” - -“Good for him,” said Carter, with a grateful warming at his heart; “it -would make a horrid mess for me at home if I got into trouble just now. -The executive has some pretty strict notions, and I should be likely -to lose something I’ve been fighting hard for, for a year. Do you -know what I want to strike for when I’ve done with Latin grammar and -all that rubbish? I want to go to sea, and my father wants me in the -counting-house with him. Think of that! Mounted up on a stool behind a -set of leather-covered books, with never a chance to stretch yourself, -or breathe the air from morning till night, and smelling of everything -from gunny-bags up.” - -“And what do you expect to smell if you get aboard ship?” asked Aleck -laughing. - -“Oh, I don’t know; horrid things enough, I suppose, but there -will always be a sniff of the glorious old ocean, and the feeling -you’re a free man, any how. That is to say, after you get on to the -quarter-deck, and that’s what I shall aim for, and make it too, as -fast as those things can be done. There are ships enough coming to the -counting-house every year to give all the boys in the firm good berths -if they wanted them; and as I’m the only one that does, it would seem -pretty tough if I couldn’t have one. The counting-house! Bah!” - -“Where do you think I’m going, if you think the counting-house so bad?” -asked Aleck. - -“I don’t know. Where?” - -“In with Uncle Ralph.” - -“You don’t mean it!” exclaimed Carter, looking at him in amazement. “I -thought you were a dead shot for the law.” - -“So dead that I shall never come to life again, I guess,” said Aleck. -“Just step in one week after graduation, and you’ll find me there -behind the counter, mixing up everything that ever went into a mortar, -and not feeling myself anything but a free man either. But you never -could rest on dry land since I knew you, and I suppose you must follow -your destiny.” - -“And when I have caught it, I’ll come to you to fit out my medicine -chest, and we’ll have time then to decide who’s having the best of it,” -said Carter. “But see here, can’t a fellow do anything down there at -the doctor’s? It would be a sort of comfort to make amends if there was -any way to do it.” - -Aleck shook his head. - -“He wont be fit to see any one for longer than I like to think, and I -believe his old nurse would sooner let a flying dragon into the house, -if she knew you belonged to the school. Making amends is a comfort that -don’t always come after a piece of work like that.” - -“That’s a fact,” said Carter; “well, let me know if there’s a chance -turning up anywhere;” and the two boys separated. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - - -Aleck came for news every day for a week before he got any different -report, but at last the hard anxious look had lifted a little from -Joan’s face, and she almost smiled as she saw who was there. - -“The bairnie’s waked once mair,” she said, “and lifts his een at us as -if he kenned wha were his friends again, and the doctor’ll no object to -his having a pillow on the lounge for a bit change, the day. But the -pain is unco dree, and shows no sign o’ wearin’ out for many a day, -though the Lord suld een show pity and tak it frae him at the last. -But ye’ll come again, and I mak nae doubt we’ll soon find the day when -ye can speak wi’ him yoursel’, and get his ain thanks for all your -kindness.” - -But the doctor was not quite ready for any more experiments just yet. -If he had been sure that Creepy had only seen Aleck at the window, -he would gladly have tried, but he would have liked to keep every -remembrance of the school out of his sight for ever. - -But in a few days more, it showed plainly that something must be done, -or he would have only the same little patient as a year ago on his -hands, and with nothing like the hope there was of better things. - -“They’ve done their work well, those boys,” he said. “I should say -that was the same grieved hopeless face, the same old pain, and the -same silent matter-of-course bearing of it, that I found under that -dismal old butternut-tree a year ago. The only difference is, it’s got -a ten-times stronger hold than it ever had before, the pain as well -as the rest of it, and I’m afraid it’s a life business this time. I -can’t get a word from the child unless I fight for it, and I don’t dare -try even that, for fear of that miserable ‘all but me,’ that’s taken -possession of him again. I wish those fellows at the school could just -once see the smile he tries to give me, as if he wanted things to be -comfortable with _me_, though there was no hope for _him_ in the world. -And there isn’t, if time and doing just the right thing don’t bring him -up out of this better than I see any promise of just now; and what that -right thing is, isn’t so easy to decide from one day to another.” - -The doctor paced the room two or three times, and then stopped and -shot one of the old quick looks and warming smiles into Creepy’s face. - -“See here, little man, do you know what friend has been bringing you -these flowers ever since you were sick?” - -Creepy shook his head. - -“I haven’t any friends except you--you two,” he said. - -“Haven’t you? Perhaps you have more than you think. Do you remember who -jumped through a window to give you a bunch of roses one day? It is he, -and he wants to see you. Do you think you feel well enough to-day?” - -“Oh no!” exclaimed Creepy, shrinking back among his pillows with almost -a look of terror, and a hot flush coming up to his face, “don’t let -_any_ one come here! Don’t let any one come to see me ever again, as -long as I live!” and the doctor saw the slender fingers tremble as he -shut them tightly together. - -“Well, well,” said the doctor quickly, “no one shall come until you -wish it, but perhaps you will think differently before long. You will -be tired of Joan and me some day;” and he turned off to talking of -something else. - -But he would not leave it so long. - -“This will never do,” he said, when he had waited a few days more and -Creepy was regularly established on the lounge; “the child must have -his medicines, however bitter the first taste may be, and he needs just -what he did need when I sent him to school. If he had found companions -then, instead of a set of wild animals--” The doctor stopped, for he -didn’t like to finish the sentence, even in his thoughts. The contrast -of what might have been, with what was likely to be, was too sharp. - -So he turned suddenly and lifted Creepy in his arms. “Look here, little -man,” he said, “whose word would you take first, mine or the first -person’s you might happen to come across?” - -Creepy hesitated. - -The recollection of the whispering he had heard as he lay under the old -rock, shot through him. “The doctor had been mocking him with all the -rest;” but he could not think so; he knew it was a lie--and yet! - -“Eh, little man?” asked the doctor again, waiting for his answer. - -“I know--I know you always tell me what you think is true,” he said at -last. - -The doctor wouldn’t notice how he shaped what he said, and went on. - -“Good. Do you remember I told you once there was a place in the world -and a share in it for you, the same as for anyone else? Well, I told -you the truth, and it is just as true to-day as it was then, but -there’s a battle to share in, as well as a kingdom. We’ve each got to -take our place in the ranks, little man, and you with the rest, and -you’ve got some fighting to do that doesn’t come to all of us for each -one has his own. As a general thing you’ve got to fight this old pain -of yours I’m afraid. I hoped it was sent where it would never find its -way back, but I’m afraid now we shall have more or less of it in the -way, for a good many years. And you’ll have to fight with feeling tired -and ill a good deal, while you see others well and strong; and you’ll -have to remember that you are small and crooked while you see them tall -and straight. And you will have to know that every one who looks at you -for the first time will notice this, though those who know you will -never think of it, unless to be sorry. - -“Do you think you can step right into the ranks and meet all this -like a brave soldier, remembering that you are serving the King and -the Elder Brother? Never mind about answering just now; you can think -about it awhile, and remember he has not set you to do this without -providing you with weapons. He has given you a nature that can make -every one love you, and a brain that can make every one respect you, -and can enable you to leave half the rest of the world behind in -anything you undertake; and I promise you you’ll get stronger, and find -yourself richer, every day you carry on the fight, like a brave little -man as you are.” - -The fight began then and there! _Must_ he, _could_ he go out into the -world again? Must he let any one but the doctor and Joan look at him? -must he hear what any one might choose to say? He _had_ thought he -could _never_ open the doctor’s door again, never see a boy of his own -age, never see any one. But if it was serving the King and the Elder -Brother! If _they_ wished it! And if they would think he were a coward -or a shirk if he didn’t come up! - -There isn’t sharper fighting on many a battle-field, than went on in -the corner of Creepy’s lounge that day; but it was too sharp to last -long, and he was too brave a little soldier to lose the battle; and -when Joan opened the door for Aleck the next morning, a voice, not very -strong to be sure, but clear and true, called from the little room at -the head of the stairs, “Ask him to come in, please.” - -“Come, then,” said Joan, only too gladly, and Aleck sprang up the -stairs and pushed open the door which stood a little ajar. - -Creepy’s courage had almost left him again, by that time. What if he -should say anything about that day? - -Aleck himself had taken one second on the way to wonder how he was -going to manage it, but he stepped in as briskly and as gayly as if -they were the oldest friends in the world, and everything had always -been going on merrily between them. - -“Why, how are you?” he said, giving his hand to Creepy; “we’ve missed -you so long from the window, Nelly and I, that we were afraid you -weren’t coming any more, and how to find you we didn’t know. And here -you are, not five minutes walk from us after all! You see we couldn’t -let it go so, after we had once got to expecting you, and so when you -stopped coming I returned some of your visits. That’s fair, isn’t it? -But you’ve been horridly sick, haven’t you? Shut up here all these -pleasant days, and no end of pain, they tell me.” - -“Yes,” said Creepy, “but that doesn’t matter much. I was used to pain -a long time, and if it comes back now, why it’s only the same thing, -you know.” - -[Illustration] - -“Well, if it went off once, it will again, I hope; and the first thing -when it’s better, we shall be looking for you. There isn’t much in the -conservatory just now of course, but the garden almost goes ahead of -it. Did you ever take care of flowers?” - -“I never saw one till I saw yours,” said Creepy; and then seeing a look -of astonishment, he added, “I never saw anything, until the doctor -came.” - -“I don’t know about that,” said Aleck, laughing, that Creepy need not -see how he really felt, “those eyes of yours look as if they had seen -a great deal, and looked through it all pretty well too. But books are -the main things, I guess, from what I see about here. Does the doctor -let you read yet?” - -“Not much; he brought me a book yesterday, but I’m not to read it yet.” - -“That looks jolly,” said Aleck, taking up the book and running over the -illustrations. “There’s a sail-boat that looks for all the world like -mine. Do you like sailing? I’m going out in the harbor this afternoon, -and I wish you were well enough to go along. Perhaps you’d like a -row-boat better; everybody likes rowing, I believe.” - -“All but me,” said Creepy, and then he was glad the doctor was not -there to hear; he did not mean to say it, but it slipped out. - -“It does want a pretty strong arm,” said Aleck, “and I don’t know that -it’s quite equal to sailing, after all;” and then he went off into a -long discourse about boats and yachts and rigging, that was rather -bewildering to Creepy; but it was so pleasant to hear it for all that, -that he almost forgot everything else, and the battle of the day before -went clear out of sight. But it all rose up again when Aleck said he -was afraid he was staying too long, and then returned to the subject of -Creepy’s visits. - -“You’ll come and let Nelly see you again the first day you’re well -enough, wont you?” - -The hot flush came up once more, and Creepy shrank back among the -pillows, as he had when the doctor had asked him to see Aleck, and for -a moment the enemy had the upper-hand again. - -“Oh, I can’t! I can’t let her see me, and I don’t want ever to look at -her again; she is too beautiful!” - -“And don’t you like beautiful things?” asked Aleck, though fearing -that he understood only too well. - -“Yes; but if _she_ should look at _me_! If she should say ‘Humpy!’ She -would think it, if she didn’t say the words, and I couldn’t bear it.” - -There! he had done the very thing he had thought would kill him if -Aleck did it! - -In a moment Aleck was on his knee before Creepy’s corner, and had one -arm placed gently and tenderly about his neck. - -“Are you thinking of that still?” he said. “Haven’t you got those -miserable words out of your head yet? If you only knew how the boys -are always saying such things to each other, and how nobody ever minds -it or thinks of it again. It’s a horrid way they have, and they ought -to have seen that you weren’t used to roughing it; they’ve been sorry -enough since, but if you only knew how they never gave a thought to -what they were saying, you might forget it.” - -“But they told the truth,” said Creepy, looking drearily at Aleck; -“they called me Humpy, and said, ‘What is a fellow like him going to -do?’ and it was true! No, I can’t forget it, but I can bear it; the -doctor says I must, to be a good soldier, but I shall always know it is -true.” - -“And what if it is true? What if you are not as straight as they, and -haven’t the strength for all the rough things they have going on? Don’t -you know you’ve got a face that would make up for all the backs in -the world, and that you can leave all the boys where they can’t find -themselves in their studies?” - -Creepy shook his head. - -“It isn’t only they; every one will say it as long as I live.” - -“Nobody will say it that has any sense, and you can soon show the rest -of them that they don’t know what they are talking about. You’ll make a -place for yourself in the world to be proud of yet.” - -Creepy looked up with the same smile that worried the doctor so when he -saw it. - -“No,” he said, “I don’t think there’ll be anything for me but to fight. -The doctor used to think I should have my share, but he doesn’t think -so now; he thinks I shall always be sick. Not that he says so, but I -know.” - -“Oh, don’t say so, don’t even think so, until you know it is true. And -even if it should be true, don’t you know how close the Lord Jesus used -to come to the weak and the sick, and that he’s just the same now in -his heart? It always seemed to me it would almost pay to suffer a good -deal, just to know how tender his heart was towards you, and how he -must be thinking of it all, and only waiting for the day to come when -he can take it all away. He must have a great many thoughts about you, -that he never has about great, strong, rough fellows like the rest of -us.” - -Creepy did not answer for a moment; he could not have told Aleck for -his life what a help it was to hear him say all these things. He only -looked in his face, and said, “I shall never be one of His princes, but -I’ll try to make as good a soldier as I can. And I hope you’ll come -again--that is--you’ve been so kind that I forgot--but, of course, -you’ll have other things to do.” - -“Of course I’ll come,” said Aleck; “I should not know how to be -refused, after this. I’ve got to keep a sharp look out ahead, it’s -true, till after examination; but a fellow must have his pleasures -somewhere, you know. Good-by; I’ll be sure to find you better when I -come again.” - -The doctor thought so too. Creepy was off the lounge the next day, -and in a day or two more insisted upon beginning to open the door -for patients again. The pain was there still, and bad enough, it is -true, and there was too much of the old expression in his smile; but -there he was, going quietly about again, very much as if nothing had -happened, except indeed that there was no strength yet. - -“Look at that!” said the doctor. “If one visit from a boy four years -older than himself has been such a medicine, what would it have been if -he could have gone to school with twenty of his own age, as I wanted -him to, instead of being hunted down by a set of--well, no matter what -they were--the very first day I trusted him among them!” - -The doctor was right, but he hadn’t got hold of quite the whole of it. -Aleck’s visit had done a great work, true enough, but the best part -of it was helping Creepy to clinch the victory the doctor’s words had -set him to fighting for just before. And if he had lost the feeling, -perhaps for ever, that had made Mrs. Ganderby notice how light his step -was, and how he “held up his head to look other folks in the face,” -there was something else keeping his heart warm, and giving him courage -for what might be before him. He couldn’t help seeing what he had to -meet; no one could convince him that it was not there; but he would be -one of the King’s soldiers; he would fight as bravely as he could! - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - - -Examination-day passed off as it always did at the professor’s school, -creditably, if not brilliantly, for teachers and scholars. Aleck was -decidedly the star, but Carter and Davis both did well; and in the -lower classes Hal and Tom came off with a very respectable score and -some flying colors. Tom had kept out of Hal’s way as he would have -avoided rocks and shallows if he had been putting to sea; and Hal was -for once so entirely engrossed in keeping his own lookout, that he had -no leisure to watch for slips in his neighbors, or to enjoy them if -they happened to occur. There was enough for the boys to talk over for -at least the first week of holidays, and Carter lost very little time -in getting hold of Aleck for a talk about past, present, and future. -The future had the best of it, though, and he was jubilant over the -prospect that it gave. - -“Isn’t that what you call pretty jolly?” he went on. “Carter & Co. have -consented at last, and are going to give me a chance in life, instead -of making me into a wooden thing mounted on a stool and doing short -sums in arithmetic for them all day! Just imagine me standing on the -quarter-deck and giving orders to every soul on board, and feeling my -vessel bound over the blue waves as I direct!” - -Aleck laughed. - -“Do you expect to take command the day you go aboard?” - -“Well, no, it must be confessed, that isn’t the usual way. I’ve got to -share my mess with the roughest of them for a while, and work my way -up; but I shall have a command just as soon as I am fit for it.” - -“And when will that be?” asked Aleck. - -“When I understand the ship and the ship’s work. A man isn’t fit to -give orders until he knows how everything, to the very last twist of a -rope, ought to be done, and how to do it himself, too.” - -“And is that all?” - -“I don’t know,” said Carter, a little puzzled; “that’s what the -officers say. Shouldn’t you think that was about the whole of it?” - -“It may be,” said Aleck; “but I was always taught that a man wasn’t -ready to command others until he had learned to command himself.” - -“Pshaw!” said Carter. “What a fellow you are to preach! I don’t believe -I could tell you what time it is, that it wouldn’t give you a handle -for a sermon or a lecture, whatever it may be. But the truth is, you -hit the nail on the head so well that I can’t help liking it every -time. I’ll treasure that up, and what you said the other day about -making a man and a gentleman of myself.” - -“By becoming a Christian!” said Aleck. - -“Well, I suppose so, only it sounds so much like prigging to put it -that way.” - -“What sounds like prigging? If a ship-captain should offer to take -you under his special instruction after you get aboard, and teach you -all he knew, and make a first-rate officer of you, would you call it -prigging if you were to try your best to learn, and come as near his -own mark as you could?” - -“No, indeed! And if I can only get a chance on the Cumbermede, I should -be proud to be even the shadow of the captain, for I tell you what it -is, I don’t believe a finer officer ever stepped the quarter-deck! But -he wont notice me, not for a year at least. It would be beneath him, of -course.” - -“Well, I’ll tell you who will notice you, and not think it beneath him, -either, and that is the Great Captain, and you know what he is; all the -hosts of heaven call him glorious. You can study him and study with -him and wear his colors, and get closer to his standard every year, and -not be very much of a prig either.” - -“And is that what you call being a Christian? I thought it was all in -drawing down your face and quoting Scripture, and never doing anything -to have a good time.” - -“I don’t believe you thought any such thing,” said Aleck, “you have -too much sense for that. A Christian is a follower of the Lord Jesus -Christ, and nothing more or less, except that you can’t very well -follow him without believing in him first and loving him afterwards.” - -“Well, a fellow might look at it that way, and not be a milksop, after -all; and I’ve got to get hold of something or other that will carry -me a peg beyond where I was that day we got the professor into such a -rage. It wasn’t the rage I cared for, but I did feel so contemptibly -mean; and an idea came across me that there must be some different rule -a fellow could work by; but I don’t know as I should ever have seen it -any plainer if you hadn’t given me a lift.” - -“You’ll want more lifts than I can give you,” said Aleck; “it’s only -the Commander-in-chief that can take raw recruits like us and bring -them up to the ranks; but he’ll never think it beneath him to help the -lowest of us, you may be sure of that.” - -A week from that day the Cumbermede weighed anchor, and Carter, -regularly shipped as ordinary seaman, stood on her deck, the desire of -his heart accomplished. - -“Good-by, old fellow, I shall take that sermon along!” were his last -words to Aleck; and Aleck, after watching the vessel towed well out -into the stream, turned and made his way back to town, and presented -himself for his own enrolment behind the counter at his Uncle Ralph’s. -He could hardly realize he was there at first; it seemed more like a -joke played off for the day than a life-long decision, and he could not -quite persuade himself that he had set sail for a longer voyage than -Carter’s. But as the day wore on, the earnest way his uncle took of -setting him to work at this and that, and the occasional quiet glance -of pleasure that he cast towards him, began to make him feel that it -was a real thing to one party at least, and would soon become so to the -other. - -“I tell you what it is, Nelly,” he said, when business hours were over -at last, and he was at home once more, “I feel as if I had taken a -flying leap somewhere, and hadn’t quite found out what sort of ground -I was going to strike yet. It’s a pretty different thing from old -times, anyhow.” - -“And different from what we thought new times were going to be, once,” -said Nelly, looking up half regretfully from her work. - -“Well, if you could just get one look at Uncle Ralph’s face, you’d -think the difference was pretty good, and I’m sure papa would too. The -only trouble is, Uncle Ralph hasn’t found out yet what a stupid fellow -he has taken up. I declare I thought my poor head would be turned there -to-day; chemistry and science went clear out of sight, and it was -nothing but weights and measures and compatibilities and all the rest. -But I assure you there’s some pleasure in seeing how the best doctors -in the city hang by Uncle Ralph, Doctor Thorndyke among the rest.” - -“Have you been to the doctor’s within a day or two, Aleck?” - -“Yes,” said Aleck, with a sudden change of tone. - -“No better yet, Aleck?” - -“Oh, I suppose so; but it’s a horrid shame to see the way he is. He -never had known a well day in his life till the doctor took hold of -him; but he said there was no reason why he shouldn’t, and he went -to work and did everything that could be thought of for six months or -more, and had just got him where he was finding out what life was--of -course not to be quite as strong as other people, but ready to feel -pretty well and have a good time with the rest of the world; and now -there he is, just able to creep about the house or look at a book now -and then, the old pain ten times worse than ever, and what’s more, the -doctor don’t believe he can ever bring him round to where he was again. -It’s more than he had much hope of at one time to get him through at -all. And that isn’t the worst of it, either; he behaves like a little -man, but I don’t believe he’ll ever forget what happened an hour as -long as he lives.” - -“Oh, he _must_ forget it, Aleck. Bring him up here, and see if we can’t -make him.” - -“I don’t know,” said Aleck, smiling. “I invited him once, but I don’t -know as I can flatter you by telling you what objection he had.” - -“Well, only once persuade him, and I’m sure we can find some way to -make his objections vanish.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - - -A year passed away, and things began to look a good deal clearer to -Aleck; and the farther he went, the more ready he was to confess his -uncle was keeping his promise to show him he could study a profession -behind his counter, as well as he could in a doctor’s office or a -law-school. - -“It isn’t so bad, after all, Nelly,” he said now and then as he came -home with a glowing account of some new experiment, “and you may be -proud of me yet as a distinguished chemist, assayer, and what not. If -you’re not, it will only be because you can’t appreciate me.” - -The year as it closed brought another graduating-class to their -leave-takings at the professor’s, and this time Hal Fenimore gathered -his laurels, and said farewell with the rest, but with no tears of -regret for the past or the future. - -“What a ridiculous little goose Will Carter was,” he said the next day -as he came into Halliday’s for a few minutes’ chat with Aleck; “what a -queer notion that he didn’t like business, and would rather go off and -play middy on that old prison of a ship than enter the counting-house. -I’m going straight in with my uncle, and thankful enough to do it, -and expect to be taken in as partner, and make my fortune before he’s -anything more than second-mate, and it isn’t half the chance there -was at Carter & Co.’s, either. I don’t wonder he didn’t want to go to -college and stuff with Latin and Greek four years more; but to throw -away such a chance as he had at home, to go and put himself under the -thumb of a second-mate, and tar ropes and eat hard-tack for nobody -knows how long before he gets a peg higher!” - -Aleck didn’t tell Hal that he himself was stealing every hour he could -get by day and by night to follow up the college course; he only -laughed, and said, - -“Well, it might go rather hard with your store if nobody took a fancy -to go to sea; I don’t know where some of your best goods would come -from.” - -“That’s a fact,” said Hal; “every one to his taste, and I’m glad -Carter’s got a berth to his fancy, and I hope he’ll make the most of -it.” - -Just as Hal left the store, old Joan opened the door of the doctor’s -office and stepped softly in. There was no fire to be brushed up this -time, but she made one pretext after another until she got round in -front of the doctor’s chair, as she always did when she meant to open -a discussion. But this time it seemed as if she could not manage to -begin, and the doctor, guessing at her subject, concluded he must help -her. - -“Where’s Thorndyke, Joan?” - -That was enough; Joan was fairly launched. - -“Hoot, laddie, and where suld the bairnie be, but moping over a book in -some corner or anither o’ the house? It’s little change frae that he -has; and what wi’ his books and the pain, and nae companions to run in -the free sunshine wi’, e’en if he had the strength to do it, we shall -no find we ha’ him wi’ us much longer; either the gude Lord will take -him a’thegither frae our hands, or we shall hae no bairn at a’, but -only a little auld mon, withered and shrunken before his time.” - -“And what do you propose to do about it, Joan?” - -“What wad I propose to do? Ye ken weel eneugh it’s na proposing or -disposing o’ mine, to say what suld be done wi’ the bairn. It were no -notion o’ mine sending him to the school i’ the first place; but I’m -no sae sure I wadna be more favorable to trying something o’ the kind -once mair, provided sic a place could be found and sic companions as -wouldn’t trample the soul out o’ his body before they had time to see -what it waur made of. But I’m e’en thinking he might hae mair strength -to bear a little rough wind now, and it’s a cruel and unnatural thing -to let a bairn o’ his age ken nae mair o’ life than lies within these -four walls and the covers o’ his book, except indeed when the one -friend he has outside comes to talk a bit wi’ him, or tak him to pass -an hour at his ain house now and then.” - -“And you don’t think that’s as much as any reasonable man could ask?” -said the doctor, as a vision of Nelly Halliday, as she stopped one day -with her pony-chaise to leave Thorndyke, as every one called him now, -at the door, rose up before him. - -“As muckle as what?” asked Joan, quite in a puzzle. “I dinna -a’thegither understand how muckle it may be, but mercifu’ as it is, -and sent frae the Lord’s pity, it’s no eneugh. It’s no eneugh for ony -bairn to gang frae his book to the front-door all day lang, and never -a step farther into the world, and never feel his blood stirred wi’ -ony little brush in life, and always wearing a patient, sorrowfu’ look -that’s eneugh to grieve the hardest heart that could look upon it. Not -that I wad hae the boldness to bring aught before your notice as if ye -couldna see the whole wi’ far better een than mysel’.” - -The doctor got up and paced the room a few times after Joan went out, -and when he sat down again, he had come to another decision. Not that -Joan had put any new thoughts into his mind; she had only dropped a -spark upon tinder that he had been gathering together for some months -past, as he watched Thorndyke from week to week. He was no slower to -act upon a decision than a year ago, and in fifteen minutes more the -black horse stood before Halliday’s, and the doctor was having a little -private talk behind the desk. - -“I’d like to put him in here,” he was saying, “for I can’t think of any -place where he would do so well. The boy has got brains enough to make -almost anything, and I meant to have made a doctor of him, and one that -would have found high-water mark in his profession before many years; -but that’s all over now. If all I can do for him can give him strength -to get over here two or three times a day and meet his work after he -gets here, it’s the most I can hope for; but we’ll make a man of him -yet, and one we can both be proud of, if you’ll take him after he gets -here and do what you can for him. And I assure you, you shall not be -the loser, if you can manage the matter for me as I wish.” - -Mr. Halliday looked thoughtful, but not because he was hesitating as to -his answer. He was thinking of the time when some one, once long ago, -had it in his power to decide for him whether he should be anything or -nothing in the world. - -He turned suddenly with a smile, - -“You don’t care about sending him before to-morrow,” he said. - -“Why, no,” said the doctor, smiling in return. “I don’t know that -to-morrow would not do on the whole.” - -“Well, send him to-morrow, then, or any day after, when you and he are -ready, and Aleck here shall teach him what he knows for a while, and -then I’ll take him in hand and see if we can’t make something pretty -nearly as good as a doctor out of him.” - -“All right, and thank you,” said the doctor laughing; “I don’t doubt -you’ll get him in advance of some of us, and before so very many years -either.” - -So far so good; now for settling the matter with Thorndyke, and he lost -no more time about that than in what had come before. - -“See here, little man,” he said, darting one of the old glances in -Thorndyke’s face, as he came in and found him waiting as usual in the -office, and as usual buried in a book, “do you remember my telling you -once on a time, and possibly more than once, that there was a place in -the world for you as well as for the rest of us?” - -Thorndyke had started, as he always did, at the first sound of the -doctor’s voice, and met it with the same smile that had troubled him -a year ago, but which he had seen so many times since as to expect -nothing else. But as the sentence was finished he shrank back again. -What could the doctor be going to say? If it were only about a share in -the fight, why that was all right, but anything more! The doctor could -not be mistaken in anything else, but it was of no use talking about -that. He could be a soldier, and he was trying hard for it; but one of -the princes! - -“Do you remember, little man?” said the doctor again. - -“Yes, I remember.” - -“Well, that’s just as true as it ever was; but there’s another thing, -that I did not say at that time. The only way to make sure of places, -sometimes, is to step into them, and the only way to get our share, is -to reach out and take it. Do you see?” - -Thorndyke nodded. - -“Well, now, there comes a time to most of us, when we have to do that, -though the change from pleasant old ways makes a rough sort of break -sometimes. For instance, it would go pretty hard with me to miss you -out of the office, but it would not do to keep you here too long, and -I never meant to do it. I meant to make a doctor of you after awhile, -but I’m afraid that isn’t going to do, as things are. Doctors have a -pretty hard time now and then, and as long as that pain holds on, I’m -afraid it wouldn’t do. But what would you say to just going round the -corner to Halliday’s once or twice a day, and trying whether you or -your friend Aleck there can do most toward keeping up the credit of the -firm? How do you think that would do?” - -A soldier! Thorndyke had meant to be one, and thought he had won some -battles, and vanquished some foes for ever, but here the whole thing -seemed to be rising up again, stronger than ever, and the soldier -thrown to the ground in a moment. - -He dropped his book on the table, and hid his face in it for a moment; -then he looked suddenly up. - -“Oh, I cannot,” he cried; “I never, never can! Why do you ask me such a -thing? To stand there all day long and have people come in every minute -to say, ‘Look at Humpy!’ Oh, it would be too much! I don’t believe even -the King would ever think I could do it.” - -A whole year, and that wound no nearer healing than it was at first! -Not even the words forgotten! Then might not the doctor as well give up -all hope that they ever would be! and all hope of everything else but -making life a little easier from day to day! The pain would be there, -in the heart as well as in the back, for life, he feared. - -It was lucky for Carter and Hal Fenimore that he had nothing to say -to them at that instant, but he stopped before Thorndyke’s chair, and -lifting the white face that had dropped upon the book again, held it -gently in his hands. - -“You cannot let people see the form the King has seen fit to give you, -when you can show them at the same time that he has given you a soul -and a brain worthy of any of his princes? Is it hard to choose between -hiding away here like some poor frightened thing, and stepping out -where you can find every hour filled with work any man might be proud -of, and make yourself known and valued all over the city by-and-by? -What should you say if the day were to come when I thought I could not -be satisfied with any prescription that you should not put up? Wouldn’t -that be almost as good as having you for a partner, as I might if you -were stronger? - -“And even if you can’t get over feeling that this costs you a good -deal, can’t you remember that when the Prince Royal was here, his -visage was more marred than any man’s, and yet he let every one look at -it? And if he has a work for you now, and a place where you can gather -up a great share of what is worth having in life, can’t you take it up -for his sake, and for my sake, if not for you own?” - -The blue veins were swelling again, and the old throbbing at the heart -coming back in full force; but he would not forget that he was a -soldier! And yet even a soldier might beg for a truce! - -“Oh, wait, please,” he cried, “only wait till to-morrow!” - -“Of course we will wait,” said the doctor, “and as long as you like; -and in the meantime we will eat our dinner, and after that, suppose we -have a drive together? Not so far as to meddle with the pain, but I -think we might get a breath of what lies outside the city for once in a -way.” - -The battle lasted well into the night, in spite of the drive behind -Jet, and everything the doctor could think of to make it seem as if -there were no such thing as fighting in the world. But though Thorndyke -had begged for a truce, he was determined not to go to sleep till the -enemy was put to rout again, and it seemed at one time as if it were -going to take the whole night to do it. He lay with his eyes wide open, -the moon shining into the little room that had seemed so wonderful when -it was first given him, but only a mockery so many times since; and -the forms of all the terrible things he should have to meet if he did -as the doctor wished stalked about it like evil spirits of the night. -The fight had been sharp enough when he determined to open the door for -patients again, and the first time he went home with Aleck it seemed -as if he should die; but opening the door was for the doctor, and he -had got accustomed to it now; and Nellie Halliday never seemed to see -anything but his face, and had taken it in her slender white hands one -day and asked him if he knew it was a wonderful gift of Heaven; he -could not tell what she meant, but he had never been afraid to let her -see him since then. - -But Halliday’s! There would be hundreds of people coming in all day -long, and he himself would be standing behind the counter scarcely -able to look over it, and every one looking down upon him to see how -strangely he was made! And then going through the street so many times -every day! Going on errands here and there, very likely, and letting -every one wonder where Halliday had found such a strange little -creature to do his work! He could bear the pain, he could bear knowing -that he was never to learn the games of the boys, and to go about with -them as the doctor had thought he should, he could bear never feeling -that he was one of the princes again, but he could not bear this! - -He shut his eyes, but there it all was, just the same; what could he -do? The ugly forms would not be beaten down, and yet he must not give -it up! - -But at last, a different thought rose up, that seemed to make them -shrink away, and he felt himself gaining a little once more! There were -the Prince Royal and the doctor! If they wished it, and it would please -_them_, why should he care for anything else! If he could only once -determine that he did not care! No, he never could do that, but if he -could only be so happy in pleasing them as to trample all the pain that -might come from anywhere else under his feet! And after all, would it -not be a great thing to have a business, a profession of his own, and -know so much that he could be really of some use as well as if he were -like other people, instead of “hiding away all his life,” as the doctor -called it? And perhaps other people _might_ come to respect him for -what he knew and could do, some day! Oh, he could see it all now! Why -had he not seen it before, and how could he ever thank the doctor for -seeing it for him? He would do it; he would be ready any day! - -The battle was won, and the tired soldier turned on his pillow to go to -sleep, with something nearer the old joyous thrill in his veins than he -had thought he could ever feel again. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - - -So it was decided, and when Thorndyke had once decided, he was ready, -and an early day was fixed for his first morning at Halliday’s before -the week was past. - -“Why, hallo, old fellow, if this isn’t about the jolliest go! We’ll -have the old store all in the family yet!” was Aleck’s greeting, so -joyous that it didn’t stop to be elegant; and a “jolly go” it was, as -far as he could possibly help to make it so. Thorndyke could never make -a mistake, in his view; and as to teaching him, that was only letting -him see once how a thing must be done, and he knew it as well as his -teacher. As for Thorndyke, he always felt that the sun shone, and -everything was right, as soon as Aleck came in. All went on as gayly as -it could, and by the time a year had passed, nobody thought the store -was quite right if Thorndyke was absent for a day. Mr. Halliday missed -something, he could not tell what; the customers wanted to know what -had become of “the little fellow;” and Aleck felt as if he were in -imminent peril of some catastrophe, for, paragon as Thorndyke thought -him, he had his one fault, which horrified Uncle Ralph, and humiliated -himself: he _did_ now and then forget something very important to -be remembered, and Thorndyke had not been long in the store before -he established himself as guardian over this possibility, and had -already saved Aleck half a dozen times when just “on the brink” of some -predicament or other. - -But the absences came very seldom, only here and there when the pain -was too bad for a day, and then he was back again: sometimes so out of -sight that only a little rustling told he was there; sometimes just -coming into view above a showcase, and sometimes, again, mounting a -little step which had been run along for him just inside the counter, -and which brought him high enough to wait upon customers conveniently. -It made every one start at first to see those great, brilliant eyes, -the high, white forehead, and the delicate features, looking over at -them, when they could scarcely see what they belonged to. And every -one that knew much of such things could read in the wistful eyes -and patient smile a good deal of what had come into them after that -dreadful day a year ago, with still a little change. The pain was -still there; he knew he should never be like other people, but he was -bearing it as a brave soldier should, and he was glad other people were -not like him, and he should learn to be useful to them, yet. - -So another year went on, and another examination-day was coming at the -professor’s, and Tom Haggarty came in the day before to talk about -it with Aleck, though Aleck had taken good care to hush him up when -Thorndyke came within hearing. - -“It’s just as well not to say anything about that before Thorndyke,” he -said; “it isn’t likely to bring very pleasant reminiscences to him!” - -“That’s a fact,” said Tom; “I shouldn’t think he’d ever want to hear of -the school again as long as he lives; and it’s a horrid shame, too, and -always will be; and I always feel as if I had something to do with it, -though I never could tell how. But wont you come down? We shall have a -high old time, and it’s the last but one for me. You know I’m through -next year.” - -“You’ve done well,” said Aleck. “You’re a little shaver to be fitted -for college.” - -“Little’s nothing,” said Tom. “I was thirteen last fall, and I shall be -almost fifteen when I step off. It has seemed for ever and a day to me -since I first saw the professor.” - -“But that’s too young; you wont think of entering right away, will you?” - -“I don’t know,” said Tom. “I may have to wait a bit, but I sha’n’t know -how to; if it only wasn’t for being a freshman, and the hazing, and all -that. I don’t see how a fellow is ever to get through with that part -of it, but I suppose I’ve got to be hazed wherever I go. If I can live -through it, ’twill be better than to be shut up in a store all my life. -I don’t see how you make it go, with such a smooth face.” - -“Don’t you?” said Aleck, laughing; “come and try it a while, and -perhaps you’ll see.” - -“No, thank you,” said Tom, “I should hate it so that they would turn me -off in a very short time. It’s hard enough to make a fellow’s way in -the world if you let him take the way he likes best, and I’m thankful -enough I’ve got the promise ahead for all the study I can do for the -next eight or ten years. I shall have to strike out for myself then, -and it will be tough enough, I suppose, but I don’t mean to worry -myself about that till the time comes. Come down to-morrow, wont you?” - -Tom went off, and Aleck soon followed towards home, for it was his -hour to go to tea. He walked quickly, for he begrudged every moment -lost on the way, and was soon near the house, with some thoughts -running on that came up once in a while, and which went to make up the -only secret ever kept between himself and Nelly. Tom was right about -business. To be sure, his own came nearer to being professional than -almost anything, and there was some comfort in helping to save people’s -lives, if he did only come in as second fiddler. But his dream of a -profession! Neither Uncle Ralph nor Nelly should ever have a suspicion -of the sacrifice he was making. Why should they? If there didn’t happen -to be money enough for him to study on, it was no fault of theirs; and -if Uncle Ralph could take any pleasure in having him in the store, why, -he need not think the favor was all on that side; he had something to -be thankful for himself. - -But what was that sound behind him? A horse’s hoofs flying wildly up -the pavement, and wheels swaying from one side to the other of the -street! He turned, and one glance was enough to show him what was -happening, and that he had better look out for himself while there was -time. It was Tom Haggarty’s father and the horse he was accustomed to -drive quietly past on his way home every night; but in some way the -animal had become terrified and altogether beyond his control, and -was dashing wildly up the road, and aiming now directly for the spot -where Aleck stood. Aleck had just time to spring aside and mount his -doorstep with a flying leap when the wheels struck the curbstone, the -horse’s hoofs clattered on the sidewalk, there was a crash, a plunge, -an overthrow, and in another moment the horse had cleared himself from -the carriage, and was dashing madly on, while his owner lay senseless -on the pavement. - -In an instant a group had gathered about the fallen man, but Aleck was -first among them, raising his head and searching hastily for his pulse. - -“All right so far,” he said; “he’s breathing yet, but--” and he glanced -quickly towards the window. Nelly was standing there, and answered the -look with a beckoning signal. - -“Lend a hand here, will you?” said Aleck; “we’ll get him inside and -then see what’s to be done next.” - -They lifted him, hardly believing Aleck that he was still alive, and -carrying him in, laid him on the sofa to which Nelly pointed. - -“Is he alive, Aleck?” - -“Yes, his pulse is beating.” - -“Then a doctor, and the nearest one. Remember what a friend he was to -papa!” - -“Not so much the nearest one, as the best one,” thought Aleck as he -sped away. “I’ll have Dr. Thorndyke here, if he can be found, and I -think it’s just the time Jet is most likely to be standing at the door.” - -Yes, there was Jet, the reins thrown over his back, and still panting -after his dash into town from a visit a mile outside; the doctor had -just closed the front-door behind him, and it took but a moment for -Aleck to find him and tell his errand. - -For the first time in his life there was a moment when the doctor -didn’t care a fig about what was wanted, compared to some other -considerations. He should see Nelly Halliday in her own house at last, -after all this time that Thorndyke had been having it all to himself, -without the slightest appreciation of what it was! - -But only an instant; at the next he and Aleck were in the chaise, and -one more brought them to where the shattered carriage still lay before -the door. - -“Isn’t that enough to bring a dead man to life!” thought the doctor -as he stepped into the room. There was the same face he had seen two -years ago smiling from the conservatory-window at Thorndyke, the same -soft eyes, the same rippling sunlight in her hair, just as he had -remembered them all this while, only this time bending over the still -motionless form of her fathers friend, and watching anxiously for some -sign of returning consciousness. - -But there was no time for ceremony. - -“Here is Dr. Thorndyke, Nelly,” said Aleck, and with a quick smile of -recognition she stepped aside and let the doctor come close to his -patient. - -“Ah! Possibly _she_ recollects, too!” thought the doctor. “But pshaw! -there’s nothing to be thought of just here but this poor fellow,” and -he plunged into the examination of his patient. - -Not a word was spoken for a few moments, except as the doctor asked for -what he wanted. - -“A wine-glass, please,” and Nelly handed it to him with a quick, -noiseless movement. - -But when he had given the restorative and was waiting a moment for its -effect, she spoke, - -“Is it so very bad, doctor? Oh, I hope you can say it is not!” - -“It is pretty bad, I am afraid. If we cannot succeed in improving -things in a few moments, I think Aleck had better call a carriage and -get him home as soon as possible. This has been something of a shock to -you already, Miss Halliday.” - -The remedies seemed of no avail; only a low, heavy breathing and -flitting pulse told there was any life remaining, and at a sign from -the doctor Aleck disappeared. It was but a few moments until he -returned with the carriage, but it seemed hours to Nelly as she watched -the doctor trying one remedy after another, and all equally in vain. -The doctor did not tell her he was almost sure it would be so before -he began; he went on as quietly as if there were more hope, with a few -cheerful words now and then, and at last Aleck came with the carriage. - -“You have been very kind, doctor,” she said, when Mr. Haggarty was -placed inside the carriage and the doctor was preparing to go with him. -“I take it almost as if it were done for papa, they were such friends. -You’ll come again, will you not, some brighter day, and let us thank -you?” - -The doctor answered with one of those quick looks in her face which -Thorndyke knew so well. - -“_Some_ one ought to come very soon and see how you are,” he said. -“This has been rather trying for you, Miss Halliday.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - - -Poor Tom! It was a dark to-morrow to which he had invited Aleck, and -darker still the days that followed, that he had thought would be full -of holiday enjoyment! Could it be true that his father was gone? Gone! -What did that mean! Oh, if it only were not true! If every one were -mistaken, or had told him false! - -It seemed to him he could never see the boys again. But Aleck would not -leave him to that very long, and Tom really felt the first touch of -comfort when he heard him asking for him at the door. - -“Oh, but you don’t know anything about it, Aleck; you don’t understand! -No one can understand, until it come, how terrible it seems.” - -“And isn’t that the very way I _can_ understand?” - -Tom stared at him with wide eyes a moment. - -“Oh, I forgot! How could I forget! It was horrid in me, but it seems -as if I could not remember anything or know anything except this one -terrible feeling that is everywhere through the house. And it doesn’t -seem as if it could ever be any better!” - -“It _will_ be better,” said Aleck, but Tom only shook his head. “Don’t -you suppose it was just as terrible in the houses that the Lord Jesus -came into long ago, because there was trouble in them?” - -“I don’t know,” said Tom, hesitating a little, for he was not used to -talking of such things, and didn’t know exactly where he was; “but he -came to bring people back to life, then, and he doesn’t do that now.” - -“No, he doesn’t, but he comes just as close and just as much to bring -comfort as he did then. Suppose he should come so close and speak so -tenderly that you could almost feel his heart beating against yours, -wouldn’t that make it better? And if he should promise he would never -go away, but would watch you even more faithfully than your father -could, and help you along to make the man he hoped to see you, wouldn’t -that make it better?” - -“Perhaps so,” said Tom, not very clear yet that all this amounted to -anything more than talking. - -“I tell you there’s no mistake,” said Aleck. “There are just two or -three things, it seems to me, that we have got to have before we can be -happy, taking us just as we are; we want some one to love and some one -to love us; we want something to do that’s worth doing, and we want our -own affairs to be looked out for at the same time.” - -“But I’ve got to look out for myself, now,” said poor Tom. - -“I know it, Tom, and yet you haven’t, after all. If your father had -been here when you went to college, didn’t you expect to send to him -when you needed anything, or when you didn’t see just what ’twas best -to do about anything? And wouldn’t that have left you free to go right -along with your work, and interest yourself for other people, instead -of all the time worrying about yourself? And can’t you do just the same -with the Lord?” - -“But I loved him so! I miss him so!” cried poor little Tom, breaking -down altogether. - -“I know; that comes hard, and there’s no getting away from it; but I -tell you, Tom, it isn’t going to be such a very great while, and I -don’t believe he’s so very far off either. It may be there’s only a -veil between, and who knows but he can see through it as plainly as -if wasn’t there at all? And you’ll find lots to do; that’s one of the -greatest things after all. Just think what you can come to be in taking -his place at home, besides something for somebody outside, every day -of your life, if you’re only looking out for it. And there’s no one to -say he wont see it; and however that may be, there’s One that will be -sure to, and think a good deal of it too.” - -Tom didn’t say much, but he had his own times of going over in his mind -all Aleck had said, until things did begin to seem a little better -after a while, as Aleck had promised, and going back to school did not -seem so very terrible as he had thought; and as the year came once more -to a close, the thought of the new step into college studies really -looked bright and tempting. - -All but the freshman woes, in the way of hazing and all that sort of -thing. Poor Tom hadn’t yet got over his dread of being snubbed or run -upon, only as he had been in the higher class the last year, and there -was no one left in the school who was quite so endlessly doing it since -Hal had left. He had almost forgotten how uncomfortable it was; at any -rate, he was sure he never could see any worse times than some he had -had with Hal, and he had lived through those somehow. - -So he was making the most of his holidays, and the little interval of -deciding what came next; and going into Halliday’s now and then, for a -few moments with Aleck and Thorndyke, was one of the great resources -of the time. - -He came gayly out one day, to see some one beckoning to him, and -reining in his horse close by. Ah, that was Mr. Willoughby, his -guardian, and Tom ran to the chaise. - -“Going towards home, Haggarty?” he said. “Suppose you jump in, and we -drive out together. I want to talk to you about one or two matters, if -you’re not aiming in another direction.” - -Tom sprang in, only too gladly. He should hear something about going to -college, he was sure. - -“Well, and how does it seem to be a free man once more?” he asked, as -Tom took his seat and they started off. - -“Prime,” said Tom, “only if a free man never has anything to do, I -shouldn’t like it to last very long.” - -“Good,” said Mr. Willoughby, laughing, “and that’s just the very point. -How long should you call long enough?” - -“I don’t know,” said Tom. “I suppose I ought to enter college this -Commencement, if I’m going at all this year; and if I wait till next, I -ought to be studying or working at something before a great while.” - -“And you are sure of going this year or next? Could you not think of -anything but college and be satisfied?” - -Tom started. - -“My father wished me to go to college.” - -“I know he did; but, Tom, he is not here now to send you. You have been -a brave fellow this last year, and I know you will be brave about what -I have to tell you. I have said nothing about money-matters so far, for -I wished you to get through school with a quiet mind; but perhaps it -is best now to let you understand just how things are. There were some -embarrassments in your father’s affairs that he could have overcome if -he had lived a year or two longer, but as things were left, they have -made a great deal of trouble; and in fact, there does not seem to be -the means of carrying out his plans for you. I’m afraid you’ll have to -go to work, my boy, without waiting for college or Germany or anything -of the kind; and the sooner you can make a man of yourself and get a -start in the world, the better it will be for the rest at home.” - -Tom took hold of the side of the chaise; it seemed to him that the -whole of life had been knocked out from under his feet. - -“I can’t think you’ll find business so very bad,” went on Mr. -Willoughby, “and I think you’ve got the making of a good business man -in you; all you want is a fair chance, and a good send off, to begin -with, and that I think I’ve found for you, by good luck. I’ve been -making some proposals to the Fenimores, and they are ready to take you -in there, and see what you can do for yourself, as soon as you can make -up your mind that you’re ready. It isn’t every day that a chance like -that opens to a boy of your age, and I rather think you’ll decide to -make the most of it.” - -Poor Tom! If what Aleck had said to him that day had been a comfort -before, he needed to get closer hold of it yet this time. - -“You’ll find lots to do, Tom, and that is one of the greatest things, -after all; and there’s One that will be sure to see, and think a good -deal of it, too.” - -He kept saying it over to himself, and the rest of what Aleck had said -about “some one caring for him, while he went about his work for other -people.” And he needed it all; “pretty tough,” Aleck called the sudden -change in his prospects, when he heard of it, but even then he hadn’t -the least idea how Tom dreaded coming so directly in Hal’s way as he -knew he should, every day. That seemed to be the last and bitterest -drop in the cup! Not that Hal wasn’t a good fellow; he knew he was, -and that he would do him many a kind turn before the year was out, -but--pshaw! he must get over being such a goose! - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - - -Thorndyke had left the store just as Mr. Willoughby picked Tom up; he -never stayed in the evening and it was six o’clock now. But he had an -errand to do that took him past the little cottage with the bay window, -and there stood Jet and the doctor’s chaise. And the doctor himself -came out of the door, just as he came in sight again on his way back. - -“Stand still, Jet!” said the doctor, and Jet pawed the ground till -Thorndyke came up. The doctor reached him a hand, he climbed in, and -Jet’s hoofs struck sparks again as he carried them towards home. The -doctor scarcely spoke, but there was a shining in his eyes that made -Thorndyke feel he could say a good deal if he chose; indeed he had seen -it there every day of late; he wondered if anything had happened! - -But when he came into the office, he was sitting as quietly over a -medical review as if nothing had ever happened, or would ever happen, -and Thorndyke took his own book and his own seat in the window. But -it did not last long; Thorndyke heard a flutter and a fall, and the -doctor had sent the magazine flying. - -“Come over here, Thorndyke,” he said; “I want to say something to you.” - -Thorndyke started, but before he had got halfway, the doctor met him, -and stood there with his hands on his shoulders, and looking full into -his eyes with the shining out of his own brighter than ever. - -“Little man,” he said, “if I told you you had been the means of -bringing to me the greatest gift of my life, what would you say?” - -For an instant Thorndyke stood as much astonished as on the day when -the doctor first talked to him about fishing and going to school. - -“I never gave you anything,” he said; “you give me everything, and it -makes me feel happy and strong even to know that you are near; but I -never gave you anything. What do I ever have to give?” - -“Tut,” said the doctor stooping a little and looking closer into his -face with the old smile, “don’t you know you are all I have in the -world; all I _have had_, rather. Did you ever see my chaise standing -where it did to-night, before?” - -“Yes,” said Thorndyke, “and I supposed something was the matter, but I -did not ask of course.” - -The doctor laughed, and letting go his hold of Thorndyke, walked back -and forth across the room. - -“Did it ever occur to you,” he asked, after a while, “did it ever occur -to you that you and I had lived here like two miserable old bachelors, -almost long enough? And if there was any one on the face of the earth -that could come here and take this old world of ours and make a new one -of it that would seem a good deal like Paradise, who should you say it -would be?” - -A sudden thought swept over Thorndyke’s mind, though it seemed only a -dream. - -“The princess!” he exclaimed; “but--” - -“Ah, you think that would be like plucking the morning star down from -over our own heads? And so it is, more like that than anything I ever -thought I should dare try, much less have success granted me, if I did; -but she _is_ coming, little man! The King has given her to me! But I -should never have seen her, much less known her, a thousand times less -asked for her, if _you_ had not found her for me!” - -“Well, if this isn’t about the most magnificent thing that ever -happened!” said Aleck the next day, when a sharp look into Thorndyke’s -face told him he knew all; “The doctor is the only man I know in the -world fit to loosen the latchet of Nellie’s shoe, but I don’t believe -there’s another woman fit to do the same for him, and I shall be the -proudest fellow in the city when I can call him brother. Except you, -Thorndyke! He is a heap more yours than he ever will be mine, no matter -what he calls me, and I always thought you were the luckiest fellow in -the world to have a claim on him; but I never thought I should ever -come in for any share! But what will become of me, when I’m left alone -in my glory?” - -This was a question that came into Nellie’s mind also, and she had her -own plans to meet it. When October was turning all the world to garnet -and gold once more, then came the wedding, and Thorndyke was there -with the rest. No pain of any kind could have kept him away; the old -throbbing at his heart rose up, until he could hardly breathe, and when -the bride, with all her beauty and her loveliness, her orange blossoms -and the veil that seemed to Thorndyke like a halo around her golden -hair, stooped and gave him his kiss, he didn’t know whether he were in -the world or not! Only let him get out of sight once more! He slipped -away into a sheltered spot and Uncle Ralph stepped into his place. - -“Uncle Ralph,” said Nelly, when almost all the guests were gone. “I -know you cannot find it in your heart to refuse me anything on my -wedding-day. I want to leave the house just as it is for Aleck, but of -course he cannot stay in it alone. Wont you say goodby to your hotel -room, and come and fill my place here until either you or he follow in -my footsteps?” - -Uncle Ralph pooh-poohed for a while, but he couldn’t find it in his -heart, as Nelly said, to refuse her; and before the wedding journey -was over, bachelor’s hall was thoroughly established behind the -conservatory window. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - - -The Cumbermede had made a long list of successful voyages since Aleck -watched her out of sight and waved his farewell to Carter, and she was -homeward bound once more, with a full cargo and a quick run so far, -before the trade-winds. The moonlight lay soft and clear across the -deck, the phosphorus flashed like monster diamonds in her track, and -not a sound was heard but the low plashing at the bow, as the vessel -made her seven knots, steady before a light breeze. But now the wind -freshened, and the second mate’s voice was heard giving sharp quick -orders to two of his watch. - -“Go aloft there, and close up the main-top-gallant.” - -The men sprang to the rigging, and a few moments more one of them -came down the ratlines and went forward to some work he had left, but -the other seemed to find some delay in accomplishing his share of the -task. The mate glanced impatiently into the rigging once or twice, then -angrily, and then shouted aloft: - -“What are you about up there, you landlubber Jake? If I had a _dog_ -and he didn’t know more than you do, I’d shoot him.” - -The man halfway down by this time, finished his descent and passed the -mate without a word, but a dark scowl covered his face. The mate caught -sight of it and his fury increased; he seized the man by the collar and -pushed him violently toward the wheel. - -“There, go and try your hand at that,” he said, “and see if you can -keep a decent face before your betters! A miserable fool that never saw -three months’ service since he was born, shipping as able seaman, and -then grumbling about under his officers’ feet till it’s enough to drive -them mad! If the next wave should take you overboard ’twould be the -best thing that could happen!” - -The sailor recovered his balance and went off to relieve the man at the -wheel, but the scowl grew darker, and harder lines gathered about his -mouth. Eight bells sounded at last, and the first mate’s watch came -tumbling up from their berths, to relieve those on duty. But it was too -warm to go below, and after loitering a few moments till the second -mate had disappeared to turn in, two or three of the men sauntered -forward, the dark scowl among them, and getting noiselessly together -in the shadow of the foremast, began to talk in low undertones, that -could not reach far aft of their position. - -“I tell you, I wont bear it any longer,” said Jake between his teeth. -“One or other of us has got to go under, and that before another -twenty-four hours is past.” - -The man next him gave a low laugh, and then seeing how black the -other’s face was, grew sober again. - -“Pshaw, Jake, you look as if you were in earnest. I should think you -were a landlubber, as the mate says, if you’re going to take notice of -anything an officer says to a hand! If he’d shoot his dog for what you -did, it’s only a wonder he didn’t knock you overboard. A sailor don’t -count for as much as a dog any day.” - -“He knows I’ve only had my hand out of the sling for two days, and how -was I going to handle the earrings,” muttered Jake; “I tell you I mean -what I say. If I can get two or three to stand by me, well and good, -and if not I’ll tackle him alone. I’d as lief jump overboard with him, -as lead this life any longer.” - -“Jake’s about right,” growled the other sailor, under his breath; -“’twould be as good a day’s work as I ever did to stand by Jake and -see the second mate get his dues.” - -“Humph! and do you know what they call that? That’s mutiny, in plain -English, and we should have the other officers with their pistols out, -and if we didn’t get a little cold lead for our pains, we should find -out how bread and water tasted in the hold for a few weeks.” - -“Who cares for that?” said Jake. “Let ’em come on, if they want to! -They wouldn’t shoot down three or four of us; and if they should try -it, we might get some new recruits on our side, and see which of us -could take the ship into port. If I was a dog when I came aboard, he’s -made a devil of me since, and he may look sharp that I don’t carry him -where I belong, with me.” - -“You wouldn’t get any of the first mate’s watch to stand by you, if the -worst comes to the worst,” said the growling sailor; “a man’s got to do -his duty with him, but when he’s done it he treats him as if he had a -soul in him, after all.” - -“That’s a fact; Carter’s the only officer I ever saw that could get -duty out of a watch and never speak an ugly word to them,” said the -other; “he don’t seem to like it. But he’s sharp as a gun to the mark, -at the same time, where any other man would get tipped over for it.” - -“I’d be sorry to go against _him_” said Jake, “and so I hope he’ll -let me alone, that’s all; for I’ve got where nothing will stop me. If -you’ll give me your hand on it, shipmates, we’ll set sail together, -and if we drop anchor in a worse port, it wont be till I’ve had some -satisfaction, anyhow.” - -“I don’t say but I’m ready,” said the growling sailor; “we shall find -we’ve raised a lively gale of wind, but I don’t much care where it -blows me. I’ve made as many voyages as any man aboard, and been kicked -and cursed my share; but when it comes to crowding a man every hour and -minute of a day, what do you say, Jim?” - -“I say I don’t like to stand to windward of a shipmate,” said Jim, “but -it will be a bad business, and we’re homeward bound. You’d better speak -to Ratlins, anyhow, and see what he says. He’s gone below.” - -“And that’s where we’d better go,” said the growling sailor, “or the -birds of the air will be getting their eye on us before we’re ready.” - -Carter had taken part of his watch below, late as it was, to finish -up some ship’s writing, and his stateroom being close by the -companion-way, he had heard what passed between the second officer and -Jake. - -“Pshaw!” he said to himself, fidgeting in his chair, “what’s the use of -that, Penfield? If a man’s rough enough to need that, you can’t hope -to make anything of him; and if he isn’t, it hurts. A man’s got some -feeling, whatever shape he’s in,” and a vision of a crooked little -form, fleeing away like the wind, rose up before him, as it always had, -from that miserable time at the professor’s to this very day, whenever -he heard any one use taunting or cutting words. - -He went on with his writing, but the second mate’s words seemed to echo -in his ears. - -“I wish Penfield wouldn’t be such a bear,” he said again as he put -aside his book to turn in at last for a nap before his watch was -called; “it don’t do to show a soft side with a man, to be sure, and -I know he’s got some rough fellows in his watch; but he’s got two or -three that started as fair as most men, and he’ll make beasts of them -all if he goes on this way. I haven’t heard him speak to a man of them -since he came aboard but as if hanging was too good for him.” - -Carter’s nap was sound enough to make up for its shortness, and he -paced the quarter-deck all right and fresh for the four hours before -him as the second mate went below. - -“’Tisn’t a bad idea that every wave we cut brings us so much nearer -home,” he said as he watched the foam flying back over the bow. “‘A -life on the ocean wave!’ that’s the only thing, to be sure; but, after -all, it’s always certain the roughest hand aboard is counting how many -days we’ve made on the home-run. Well, I’ll be glad to see it, for one.” - -His thoughts made the trip before the sentence was finished, and -brought up where they were very apt to do, in a place he always started -for before he had been half a day ashore--Halliday’s. - -“What a number-one fellow that Aleck is,” he went on, “and I owe him -for some things I never should have seen if he hadn’t showed them to -me,” and for the thousandth time some of Aleck’s words came up to his -mind. - -“The only way is to remember how the Lord has treated us, and the way -he has taught us, to love our neighbor as ourselves. - -“And that’s something I wish we officers remembered a little oftener; -to be sure they say you can’t treat a sailor like a man, and keep him -where he ought to be. But Penfield is too much of a Tartar, and he’s -got one fellow there that it don’t do any good to, and he don’t see the -difference. Some of them will take anything; but this Jake, though he -seemed fair enough when he shipped, is getting blacker every day, and -the ship that takes him next voyage will find him more so, I’m afraid. -I wonder what those fellows are talking about, forward there; they -ought to be below, but I’ll manage not to see them, if they don’t stay -too long.” - -They glided down, one after the other, as he spoke, and a moment after -Jake was at Ratlins’ bunk and rousing him cautiously from a rather -sonorous dream. “Hush!” he said, “there’s no need of saying anything -just yet;” and leaning closer to him, he whispered the substance of -what had been said at the foremast in his ear. - -Ratlins raised himself on his elbow and swore a bitter oath. - -“How did you know that was the very thing I was dreaming of? But what’s -the use? A sailor is only made to be kicked like a dog, anyhow, and if -one mate kicks harder than another, why that’s all it is, and we’re -homeward-bound, you know.” - -“Homeward-bound,” muttered Jake; “_he’s_ homeward-bound if I get hold -of him, for I’ve got murder in my heart, and it’s his own lookout, for -he put it there! I’ve got a mother at home that’s done praying enough -for me to bring a worse ship into port, but she may as well give it -up about this time. I tell you, Penfield is going overboard before -his second dog-watch is over, unless I can get three or four of you -to lend me a hand and help me settle him in some way that he’ll know -more about, and wont leave a mark on me that _she’d_ feel quite so much -aground about, if she knew it. What do you say? Ned and Jim are pretty -much agreed.” - -“Oh, luff a little, shipmate,” said Ratlins, “and let a fellow sleep on -it, anyhow. I’ll stand by you somehow, for he deserves it; but I reckon -you’ll ease off a little by morning, if you don’t lay to altogether.” - -“Not I,” said Jake; “but give me your hand on doing _something_.” - -Ratlins gave him his hand, and Jake went to his bunk to nurse his -revenge and lay plans for what should be done in case the men would -agree to unite. - -“But if they _don’t_,” he muttered, “’t wont save the mate. When a -worm does turn, it’s sure to sting, and he’ll never go through another -midnight-watch safe with me!” - -The breeze died down again, and the watch was a lazy one, and Carter’s -thoughts, after making voyages round the world, came back to Jake again. - -“Now I suppose a fellow like that is my neighbor,” he said, “let -sailors be what they will. God put a soul in him once, anyhow, and -I can’t believe it’s altogether dead yet. Of course it isn’t, or he -wouldn’t care for Penfield until it came to breaking his head with -a marlingspike, or something of that kind. I’ve got a fellow in my -watch that couldn’t feel anything less than that, but it isn’t so with -Jake. I wonder if I could manage to give him a lift. Who knows but -there’s somebody watching for him at home, that doesn’t want to see him -spoiled? At any rate, there’s One watching above, that laid down his -life for him as well as the rest of us, and it’s a pity to see a fellow -so tormented, if nothing worse should come of it.” - -Penfield’s dog-watch came, the men did their duty, and then went -forward for breakfast. Jake’s face had lost none of its darkness with -the sunrising, but was harder and more threatening than ever. - -“Well, shipmate,” whispered Ratlins, as they sat down, each with his -tin-dipper of coffee, his allowance of duff and ship’s biscuit, “how -many knots is she making this morning? The breeze has gone down a -little, hasn’t it, by daylight?” - -“No, it hasn’t,” said Jake; “and remember you gave me your hand on it, -last night, to stand by.” - -“So I did,” said Ratlins, “and my two hours on the dog-watch this -morning has given me more of a relish for it; but still--” - -“No hanging fire,” said Jake. “Ned and Jim, where are you? If you’re -bound another way, I can cruise alone, and if I go down, it wont be -without carrying some one else with me.” - -“Who said you were to cruise alone?” said the growling sailor, breaking -a biscuit on his knee; “I guess we can fix something before to-night,” -and the whispering grew lower and thicker, until even Jake seemed -satisfied. - -When seven bells struck that noon, Carter came on deck, and seemed to -be loafing about for the half-hour before his watch came on, but in the -course of it he managed to come across the second mate, where a few -words could pass between them unobserved. - -“Look here, Penfield,” he said, “I want to make a little change in the -watch if it’s all the same to you. That long-limbed fellow there, Jake, -I’ve taken a notion to try my hand on him, and I’ve got a fellow among -mine that don’t work in so well with the rest. I’ll let you try what -you can make of him, and you turn Jake over to me.” - -The mate stared; a queer sort of proceeding, he thought, and wouldn’t -be called ship-shape on some vessels, but he knew Carter owned in the -Cumbermede, and he supposed he could do as he liked. - -“Taken a notion to Jake,” he said, suppressing the oath that rose to -his lips, out of respect to his superior officer, “I should as soon -think of taking a notion to one of the imps below. You’re welcome to -him if you want him; I’m sure I don’t care if he goes to the bottom. A -miserable dog, for ever under foot, and taking more swearing to get a -little duty out of him, than any three men on board.” - -“Well, I’ll try him,” said Carter; “you let him know, and I’ll send -Dave over to you.” - -Jake stood in the broiling sun, scraping the paint from the house--ugly -work in the heat, and a hideous noise, but no vessel ever stood into -port in more perfect trim than the Cumbermede, and this voyage every -particle of the old paint must be removed from aft, and she was to -shine brighter than ever in new. He did not stir as he heard the mate -approach, but he watched him with eye and ear from under his broad -hat. The mate stopped beside him, and Jake set his teeth, with the -thought that whatever came, it was one of the last times. - -“You go over to the first mate’s watch to-night, and much joy may he -have of you,” was all he said, and passed along. - -Jake started, and the knife almost fell from his hands. Were they -suspected? Discovered? What did it mean? - -But he went on with his work, as if the mate had only spoken to a -statue. Penfield passed back and forth, but Jake did not dare lift his -eyes to read his face. At any rate, he had the rest of the day for a -lookout; it would be his watch below soon, and he could consult with -the others. - -“Now I tell you, shipmates, that’s a lucky thing all round,” said -Ratlins. “Maybe they’ve got a scent on the wind; I don’t know, but -it don’t look to me much like foul weather, and if they’re only -wind-clouds, why then we’re all out of a bad business easy; and what do -you care what the second-mate is to us, Jake, so long as he keeps out -of your wake?” - -“But I wont keep out of his,” said Jake. “Do you think I’ll let go as -easy as that?” - -“Easy,” said Ned. “You may as well reef topsails and scud before the -wind a day or two, anyhow, till you see how she trims. We sha’n’t be -out more than three weeks now, and there’s no great fun going into port -down in the hold, with iron bracelets on.” - -“What’s that got to do with paying off scores?” said Jake; but though -the scowl was still dark, he turned in without another word. - -All through the midnight watch there was a sharp fight going on between -the hatred in Jake’s heart and some new influence that seemed to be -cooling and soothing the fire, he did not know how. Was he going to be -a spooney, and let what he’d vowed one night die out the next, or get -frightened by Ratlins’ talk about cold lead and iron bracelets? But -after all, what was the second mate to him any longer? Yet he _had_ -been something to him, and was he going to forget it? Never! - -The watch wore away, and still the struggle went on. - -“If it only wasn’t for the old woman at home!” thought Jake. “She’s -kept a long watch and done a good deal of praying, in hopes to make -something of me. And I _might_ have been something if it hadn’t been -for--!” and Jake shook his fist towards the mate’s room. “But after -all, foul deeds leave a black mark on a man’s soul, and she’d fret her -heart out if the hearing of it should come to her. But if every man’s -hand is against me, who says it’s my fault if my hand’s against every -man? It’s so long since I’ve had a word spoken to me as if I had as -much of a soul as the plank under my feet, that I don’t know as I have -any to put a stain on; and whose fault is it, I say? And if I don’t -keep the men to their word to-night, they’re bound no longer. And what -difference does it make? There’s nobody that thinks I’ve got any soul -to save.” - -Carter’s voice was heard giving orders to haul taut the main-sheet. The -tones were quiet and decided, but there was something in them that made -the men spring to with a will, and the work was done almost in a minute. - -“Belay there, my hearty!” said Carter; and Jake, who had the end, -glanced suddenly in his face, and caught a look of kindliness, -friendliness, and good cheer, more perhaps than discipline would have -allowed, the mate to show if he had thought it would be observed. - -The work was done! What chord had he touched? Jake did not know, but he -felt a change sweeping through his heart like coming out of an icebelt -into tradewinds. A few moments later the bell relieved the watch; Jake -plunged below and threw himself into his bunk, his face covered with -his hard hands and sobbing like a child. - -Carter had been the means of bringing one man to repentance, and saving -the life of another--perhaps of half a dozen more. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - - -The same evening that Penfield’s fate was hanging in the balance, Uncle -Ralph sat cosily by the library fire, newspaper in hand, and waiting -for Aleck to come home. Everything was so sure to go well with his two -faithful clerks, and the new luxury of home was so tempting, that he -was getting into the way of leaving business early, and for the first -time in his life enjoying his own fireside for an hour or two in the -evening. But the newspaper was upside down this time, and his own -thoughts seemed to be uppermost and so engrossing that he started when -he heard Aleck’s key in the door. - -“Well, sir,” he said, as Aleck came in with as light a step and as -glowing a face as if such a thing as work had never been heard of, -“I’ve been making a discovery, sitting here all alone; and that is, -that I’ve been a poor fool not to have made a home for myself, in -some shape or other, thirty years ago! Don’t you follow my example, -old fellow. You must get a wife all in good time, but still it is -possible there are some other things to be thought of first. What day -is to-morrow?” - -“Tuesday, I believe,” said Aleck. - -“Humph! Yes. Anything else?” - -“Only my birthday, so far as I know. I shall be twenty-one, I suppose, -if I live to see it.” - -“Ah! Well that is what I was thinking about half an hour ago, I -believe; and I was only waiting for you to come home to ask you how you -would like to have ‘Halliday’s’ known as ‘Halliday & Co.’ in future.” - -Aleck started. - -“O uncle, I don’t deserve that! That is too much!” - -“We wont go as far as to talk of deserts,” said his uncle. “If I could -tell you how my life came to be a lonely one, and how lonely it has -been, you could understand better what you have been to me the last few -years. If you had refused me when I asked you to come, I don’t know -what I should have done, and it would be ten times worse to part with -you now; and as one never knows what notion a young man may take, you -see I’m only casting an anchor to windward for myself, if I can pin you -a little closer. There aren’t many men lucky enough to have two such -right-hands as you and Thorndyke; and if I can get one of them for a -partner, why, we’ll divide the other between us, that is all. Thorndyke -is a genius! If he keeps on at this rate, we old men may have to step -aside and let him come in as number one some day, yet. But you are my -brother’s son, Aleck, and I want you in my sight and by my side as long -as I live; you have been the greatest comfort of my life; you have made -a green spot in it the last few years, and it would be like going back -to Sahara to give you up.” - -Aleck did not sleep much that night; not for worlds would he have told -his uncle that he had been fighting away with college studies all these -years; and as he had watched Thorndyke coming on, a faint hope had -grown stronger and stronger that he might take his place some day, and -so much more than fill it that he could slip away without being really -missed. But that was all gone now; he would never leave his uncle! -And as for himself! Well, he had been happy in the store, even while -dreaming all the time of getting away, and if he could once settle -that question, and be done with fidgeting about it, he might be _very_ -happy. And he was quite sincere in all his gratitude to his uncle. He -was giving him a position to be envied by any business man, and there -was no better place than Halliday’s for making a fortune, at all events. - -So it was all settled, and no one was more proud of the new arrangement -than the senior clerk, as Thorndyke now became. - -“And a lucky fellow you are, Thorndyke, to get your foot on that round -in the ladder,” said Tom, who had come in to see how Aleck carried -his new dignity, and stopped, as he always did, for a few words with -Thorndyke. “If I thought I should ever get to that I should take -courage, but it seems as if I never should; and I don’t know that I -shall be any better off, after all, when the day comes at last.” - -Thorndyke glanced quickly in Tom’s face. It had seemed to him looking -rather wobegone for some time past, and he wondered if Tom was having -any trouble. He could give a faint guess, for he had been sent over to -Fenimore & Co.’s a good many times since he had been in the store, and -though the thought of Hal was so inseparably connected with the one -terrible memory of his life, that he had avoided even the sight of him -when possible, he had heard him speak to Tom with those same taunting -tones that brought the whole thing up with a rush, and made him tingle -to his fingers’ ends for Tom. Never since that dreadful day could he -hear an unkind word spoken to any human being without a shiver through -his own heart; and when it came in Hal’s own voice, he could only look -at Tom and wonder how he could bear it, and wish he were a strong man -and a rich one, that he might somehow get hold of him and pull him out -of the reach of it. - -“It wont be very long, will it?” he asked; “isn’t Hal going in as -partner soon?” - -“Yes,” said Tom, “in two or three months; but there’s Gray between -us, you know; and, after all, I don’t know that it makes any great -difference. It will be the same old mill, whatever wheel in it I turn, -and the same ugly grind. Some day before I know it I shall find it has -ground whatever soul I ever had into such small dust I cannot find it.” - -“If you think there is any danger of that, why don’t you get out of -it?” asked Thorndyke, more earnestly than he dared to show Tom, and the -next moment he was almost frightened at the look that came into Tom’s -face. - -“I tell you,” said Tom, “it’s all very fine to ask a drowning man why -he don’t catch at some straw, when there are half a dozen other people -hanging on him at the same time. If it wasn’t that they’re depending -on me at home, and have been waiting for me all these years, the world -isn’t so wide but I’d put half of it between me and Fenimore’s before -many days had passed. But, as things are, of course there’s nothing for -it but to stick by. I’ll hold on as long as I can, but if I go down, -and the rest with me, I can’t help it.” - -Tom’s eyes met Thorndyke’s with an almost desperate look, and then he -turned suddenly away. “Pshaw, Thorndyke, I tell you again you don’t -know what a lucky dog you are. Shut up here with a fellow like Aleck I -should not think you had a trouble left in the world!” - -So it was all out! It was Hal, as Thorndyke had thought! And with Tom’s -forlorn face turning away as if ashamed of what he had said, Thorndyke -felt more troubled than ever. What could he do about it?--as he had -asked himself many times before. - -But after Tom had gone the consciousness of another pain came over him; -he had felt it like a stab, at Tom’s last words, but he was too much -engrossed by anxiety for him, to dwell upon them at the moment; now -they came echoing back: “I shouldn’t think you’d feel you had a trouble -in the world.” - -And was that all Tom knew, all he realized after all these years and -with his memory of that terrible day long ago? Well, that was just as -Thorndyke had meant it should be, just as he was trying to have it all -the time; and why should he feel this strange pain when he found it was -so? He had been so bent on being a brave soldier. - -He had let every one look at him, and heard whisperings now and then, -and had done his work, and gone home with a smile for the doctor and -Nellie, and the thought of the great Captain had kept him strong -through it all. It had been hard enough sometimes, and some of the -hardest had been when the other boys came in to tell Aleck about their -games or their excursions, or to beg him off to join them. - -“All but me!” always came quickly up with its old ring, and brought -with it the echo of what the doctor had said when he nodded good-by to -him at the school-room. - -“Remember you don’t run too hard till you are used to it; but I wont be -afraid to match you with the fleetest of them, in a few months’ time.” - -He thought no one had ever guessed a word; the pale face and great -dark eyes looked quietly over the counter, or went about their work, -or smiled good-by as Aleck went off, as if they had no thought of -anything else; but Aleck and the doctor knew it all; and the doctor -used to tramp up and down the room now and then, until Nelly would -glance up wonderingly from her work. - -“The very same! The very same look he gave me the first time he opened -his eyes at me, after it began to seem as if he might pull through -after all! Nothing in the world for him, and it’s all right there -shouldn’t be, and he’s glad there’s such a good time for you and me; -that’s what there is in that smile of his.” - -“I don’t see how he can quite feel that there’s nothing in the world -for him when he has us all,” said Nelly gently. “He surely can’t forget -that.” - -“No,” said the doctor, “he does not forget that, and I don’t believe -the thought of us is out of his mind a moment from the time he leaves -the house in the morning, and he hangs upon it till he comes back at -night; but still, life has something outside of us, or ought to have, -to a fellow like him. And it would have had, if it hadn’t been for a -set of miserable----” - -The doctor’s book was very near taking another fly out of the window; -but he only added quietly, “However, he’ll find out that he’s somebody -yet, and make his fortune, if nothing more. Halliday says he’s a -genius, and he’ll be known as the first chemist in the state, some day.” - -The doctor was right about Thorndyke’s “hanging on.” It seemed as if, -aside from the thought of the Prince Royal, he lived and moved in the -doctor and Aleck; and as for Nelly, she had never come to seem quite -like a real person yet, always the beautiful vision of the flower -window. The doctor was first of all, of course; Thorndyke watched his -every movement as if it were food for his eyes, no matter how engrossed -they might be with any work. But still, it only seemed wonderful -that he had them all; he could not make it seem anything that really -belonged to him; only a grace from day to day. - -But poor Tom! He was sure he was having trouble somehow, and to see -any one in trouble was always trouble itself to Thorndyke; what could -he do? How could he make things seem any better? If he could only get -Tom over to Halliday’s, with Aleck! But that would be throwing away the -years he had been working and waiting for promotion at Fenimore’s. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - - -Tom was too busy just then to be thinking of promotion, or of woes by -the way; the busy season was coming on, and he had just been advanced -to the wholesale room; quite a step, and he couldn’t help liking it, -though Hal was in the same department. Hal was a good fellow enough -when he didn’t happen to feel like saying anything disagreeable, and -when he did--pshaw! would Tom never get over being a goose? - -Hal was busy in his turn; a customer had just come in whom the junior -partner had turned over to him with the whisper that it was especially -important he should be pleased, and Hal had been sharpening his -business wits to capture him. But it seemed for some time as if he -would not be caught; he knew precisely what he wanted and would not be -taken in any other net. But if he knew what he wanted it would only -be the more of a failure if Fenimore & Co. couldn’t suit him, and Hal -redoubled his energies, and called every resource into requisition. - -At last it seemed as if triumph were at hand. The customer caught -sight of a lot of goods and stopped suddenly before them. - -“There!” he exclaimed, “there’s something I should like, if they’re -what they seem to be;” and he stooped to examine them. - -Hal caught a look from the junior partner which said, “Don’t have any -difficulty there; push your advantage,” and he waited anxiously for -what should come next. - -The inspection was concluded, and the goods pronounced very handsome. - -“Now what do you ask for those?” - -At another look from the partner, Hal named the price, a trifle lower -than the mark. - -“That’s reasonable,” said the customer. “I think I’ll take the whole -lot;” and Hal’s triumph rose to high-water mark as the junior smiled -across to him. A good piece of work for so early in the morning, for -this was a man who bought heavily and paid well, but had never brought -his patronage to Fenimore & Co. before. - -“But wait a moment,” he said, “are these all you have?” - -“All we have,” said Hal, “and we had the only invoice. We sold a -smaller lot to Pollard & Leighton, and I assure you no one else will -have them.” - -“Ah! Pollard & Leighton have them? Then I do not care to take them, and -as I see nothing else that I require, I will bid you good morning,” and -with a bow he left the store. - -The junior partner hardly waited for him to be out of hearing. - -“And a nice piece of work you’ve made of it for a fellow almost -twenty-one, and coming into the firm before long! He didn’t ask you -if any of the goods had been sold, and you needn’t have gone out of -your way to tell him; but even if you must needs do that, it was quite -another thing to give names. We’ve lost that man now, I suppose.” - -Hal walked into the next room without a word, more annoyed and -chagrined than at anything that had happened since he had been in the -store. He had made a great mistake and there was no getting over it, -and he had sufficient pride in Fenimore & Co. to feel sorry enough at -the best; but the junior being so disturbed about it made the matter -worse. However there was no use fretting, and perhaps he should find -something in the next room to help him forget it. - -Yes there was something sure enough. Tom had got hold of an equally -desirable customer, and was making a great swing with him. His spirits -were rising tremendously, and by the time he had finished his sale -he had forgotten that anything disagreeable had ever happened in the -course of his life. - -“Who was that?” asked Hal. - -“A man from Illinois,” said Tom, “and a pretty good thing we’ve made of -it too.” - -“Let me see the bill,” said Hal, and he ran his eye over it. - -“Look here,” he exclaimed, putting his finger on a point in the list -where Tom’s pride was particularly centred, “you didn’t sell him those -goods at the price marked here, did you?” - -“Of course I did; why not?” - -“Why not?” asked Hal, with the sting of the old sneer made sharper than -ever by the freshness of his own annoyance, “no reason in the world -that I know of, except that it is five cents a yard less than we paid -for them.” - -Tom stood aghast, and his tongue seem fast to the roof of his mouth. -His first week in the salesroom, and a blunder like that! Should he be -sent down again in disgrace, or only left to feel as if he ought to be? - -Hal’s own trouble went clear out of sight, and he laughed a most -exasperating laugh that Tom was only too familiar with. - -“Better take that bill down to the senior,” he said. “Illinois is a -great state; perhaps he’d like to send you out there to establish a -branch.” - -Tom’s memory suddenly ran back, he didn’t stop to ask how, to a certain -night, years ago, when he sat over his game of chess under Hal’s -gaslight, and the same miserable feeling that had sent him home so fast -that evening hugged him tight as he went down to the counting-room to -have things set right if there was any way to do it. He remembered in -what a hurry he had tucked himself away under his blankets that night; -but there was no such skulking to be done now; he had got to face -things the best way he could. - -And he _could_ face almost anything if people only wouldn’t say -something disagreeable about it! He supposed it was ridiculous, but it -was no use; he would rather any one would knock him down any day. Well, -he must try to keep out of Hal’s way for a few days; that was all that -could be done this time. - -But that was of no use either. Hal stood square in the doorway, with -two or three clerks at his side, the next morning, and the very first -salute was, “How’s Illinois this morning? Suppose we give three cheers -for the Hoosier state?” - -For one moment Tom felt as if _he_ could have knocked somebody down; -but that wasn’t like Tom, and was gone again as quickly as it came, -only the old forlornness that had come to be almost an everyday thing -since he came into the store, stuck by. - -The last straw breaks the camel’s back, and this time Tom found himself -getting desperate. He pushed past Hal, and made his way to his post, -but he was thankful enough that no important business came to him that -day; he should have made worse work of it than yesterday, for his only -thought was how to get out of it altogether, a thousand miles away if -he could, he didn’t care where or what became of him afterwards, if -only he need never see Hal again! And he _would_ get away! Hal was to -be junior partner himself soon, and things would be worse than ever, -and even if the day _should_ ever come when the firm kept their promise -to Mr. Willoughby, Hal would be above him still; and for ever, so far -as he could see. He would rather earn his living with a pick-axe, if -he could only be left to feel like a man while he carried it on his -shoulder. - -“Don’t care what becomes of you, Tom Haggarty! All very well, but what -is going to become of the rest waiting for you at home?” whispered -something in his ear. - -Ah, there it was, and it always came round to that again, no matter -what desperate resolves he took up for a moment. - -Yes, he supposed he must stick where he was and take what came, though -he believed he’d rather be a galley-slave, provided nobody ever spoke -to him; it must be he wasn’t much of a man, after all, or nobody would -dare taunt him quite as often as Hal! - -There was his voice at this moment! - -“Where’s the hoosier general betaken himself? I want to inquire how -he’s brought out profit and loss this morning;” and Tom heard a laugh -from the younger clerks that seemed the echo of Hal’s own. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - - -“Doctor! are you there?” called a voice through Dr. Thorndyke’s -speaking-tube, in the dead of night. - -“Yes,” was the answer; “what’s wanted?” - -“Come down right away, can’t you? It’s Aleck. Uncle Ralph isn’t all -right, I think.” - -“Wait three minutes for me,” and they were scarcely past when the -front-door opened and the doctor was ready. - -“What do you say, Aleck? What’s wrong?” - -“I can’t tell, indeed,” said Aleck as they hurried on; “some sound I -heard led me to fear that he was in trouble, and I went to his room. He -seems to be sleeping, but he looks strangely, and I can’t rouse him.” - -Neither could the doctor. He knew that as soon as he got one look in -the face, but he did not say so; he stepped quietly to the bed and -shook him gently by the shoulder, then lifted an eyelid, listened to -the heavy breathing, and looked Aleck slowly in the face. - -“Stimulants?” asked Aleck, eagerly. - -The doctor shook his head. - -“No use, my boy; we will try, if you like, but the work is done, I’m -afraid.” - -Aleck brought something, but only to find, as the doctor said, it was -of no use. - -“Oh, what is it?” he cried; “what _is_ the matter? Why cannot we do -something?” - -“Because there is nothing to be done, Aleck, nothing but to wait and -watch by him, that he may not be alone at the last.” - -“Oh, why would not he listen to me!” groaned Aleck. “It has seemed as -if he were beside himself of late, arranging his business. I could not -see why he need hurry things so, but I have found him busy over his -papers every night when I came home, and left him busy when I went to -bed. I was sure he was doing too much, but I never thought of this!” - -“That is the secret of it,” said the doctor, “but not the whole secret. -He has not been well; he has felt some symptoms probably that urged him -to it; either weight alone he might have borne.” - -“And there is no hope? He is going to leave us? Oh, do let me call -Nelly!” - -“Not quite yet,” said the doctor, detaining him gently; “let us watch -him awhile. A little nearer morning would be better for Nelly.” - -So they watched and waited, and just as morning dawned and Nelly came, -Uncle Ralph was gone, not even knowing that any one stood by his side -to say good-by. - -Gone! Aleck had almost forgotten all the word meant, it was so many -years now since he and Nelly were first left alone together, and he had -not realized how nearly his father’s place had been filled since his -uncle came to make his home at the cottage. And now it was all over -again! The world looked dark enough as he opened the front-door to step -out into it again the next morning, but it was as real as ever, and -making more demands upon him than ever before. There were a thousand -things to be done and thought of, and after a day or two Aleck found -himself, though still bewildered with all that had happened, called -upon on every hand--everything referred to him at the store, and he -knew there must be affairs to be attended to beyond what the books -could show. - -The first thing was to send for his uncle’s lawyer. He came at once, -but the usual form of condolence was rather shortened, and he looked in -Aleck’s face with a smile. - -“And now, sir, you must allow me to present my congratulations to -yourself.” - -“To me!” exclaimed Aleck, between surprise and anger; what could he -mean? - -“Yes, sir, to you, as sole heir of your uncle’s estate, which has been -supposed for some years to be large, but the amount disposed of in the -will may even surprise yourself.” - -“The will! I did not suppose a will existed, and indeed I know it did -not a while ago.” - -“Very possibly,” said the lawyer; “but there is one deposited in my -safe at present bearing, I think, the same date with your admission -into partnership, and with the exception of a handsome legacy to your -sister and to the young man associated with you here--Thorndyke, I -think his name is--you will find yourself the recipient of the whole; -and I must beg once more to congratulate you on a fortune and a -business establishment such as fall to the lot of few young men.” - -Aleck stood bewildered, but when Thorndyke heard the news, the “all -but me” was forgotten in his smile for once. “O Aleck, it’s glorious! -The Prince Royal has given it to you, I know he has, and it’s only the -small beginning of what you deserve, and what He’ll find for you some -day.” - -“What I deserve?” said Aleck, putting his hands on Thorndyke’s -shoulders and looking earnestly in his face. “I do not deserve anything -from Him.” - -Thorndyke shook his head. - -“What did He say about a cup of cold water to one of the least? I -should have died of thirst if it had not been for the doctor and you; -you know that very well.” - -“And don’t you think I would rather have had Uncle Ralph than all the -fortunes in the world?” - -“Yes, I know you would, and I have lost him too; but, O Aleck, you -can’t help my being glad for what has happened to you.” - -“And something has happened to you, too, young man, if the story is -true at all.” - -“Oh, I hope not,” said Thorndyke; “that wouldn’t be right. What have -I ever done, and I owe him everything! No, Aleck, I want you to take -everything, and just let me stay and help you always; that is more than -I deserve.” - -“Tut,” said Aleck, “we’ll see, my boy; but if you shouldn’t stay by, -the old ship would go down on very short notice; you know well enough, -I was never anything more than the tail of the comet, since I undertook -this business.” - -“The story,” as Aleck called it, was quite true, and thanks to all the -toil Uncle Ralph had expended upon his affairs, those last few weeks, -Aleck stepped into his new dignities with very little perplexity or -trouble. - -Some people shook their heads and said they were a young set of hands -left at Halliday’s, to steer such a craft as that. But they soon found -that higher authorities did not think so; the physicians’ patronage -came in just the same, so the rest of the world concluded to give up -their doubts, and popular as Aleck and Thorndyke had always been, it -was more than ever the thing to go to Halliday’s. - -So all went on smoothly and well, only they missed Uncle Ralph more -than they could tell. But as time wore on, Thorndyke, who was always -watching Aleck, thought he saw more of a shadow in his face than even -his loss could account for; it was not natural for Aleck to look as if -his thoughts were busy with something outside, while people and things -close by were forgotten, or only attended to as if they disturbed him. -But once or twice when Thorndyke tried to sound him, or even ventured -to ask what he was thinking about, he got for answer a sudden lighting -up of Aleck’s face, and the old gay laugh that had been music to -Thorndyke so many times. - -[Illustration] - -“Thinking about you, old fellow!” he would say, and put his hands on -Thorndyke’s shoulders a moment, and for a little while seemed to have -come back again. But not for long. He had told the truth, as he always -did, and he was thinking about Thorndyke; but that was not all, and the -thinking went on, until at last the problem was worked out, questions -were settled, and Aleck came back to stay. This time Thorndyke asked no -questions; only a quick look and a smile passed between him and Aleck, -and they understood each other perfectly. But Aleck had something to -say, if Thorndyke did not ask, only not quite yet. - -“Not yet,” he said to himself. “I must wait for his birthday; and after -waiting all these years, a few months wont count for much.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - - -The few months slipped away and the birthday came, or at least the day -that was always celebrated as such; for though neither Mrs. Ganderby -nor any of the other people under the shadow of the old butternut-tree -had the least idea when or where the record should have been made, the -doctor called him just twelve when he first saw him, and insisted upon -a birthday every year that same day in October. - -Aleck went to the store an hour before time to catch him and have his -talk out before people began to come in. But early as he was, Thorndyke -was there before him, and a customer too; so Aleck retreated into the -sheltered corner behind the desk to wait his opportunity. Thorndyke -gave him a nod and a radiant look as he came in, for these birthdays -were times when, for one day in the year, the “all but me” was _forced_ -to flee away; the doctor had always planned some excursion, and -managed that he could bear it; and the little room, that had seemed -such a paradise the first time he saw it, was gradually filling up -with treasures, more and more beautiful every year, until the walls -would hardly hold anything more. Uncle Ralph’s was missing this time, -but all the rest were there, even to old Joan’s; and the flowers that -had always come from Nelly since the very first, “went ahead,” as -Aleck called it, of all that had ever come before. The doctor was in -high spirits, and Thorndyke thought “the princess” had never been so -bewitching in her gentle, lovely ways. He _couldn’t_ say “All but me” -this morning; he had almost forgotten it, and there was actually a bit -of color in his cheeks, and the great eyes shone as Aleck had not seen -them since that day he stood before the window so many years ago. - -Aleck sat and watched him as he went about to fill the prescription -waited for. - -“Good for him!” he said to himself; “the boy looks gay this morning. -But I declare I wish I didn’t remember how he looked that miserable -day at the school. That thing between his shoulders was hardly worth -noticing then; I wonder the boys saw it at all--and now! It seems as -if it almost buried that splendid head and face of his, and I know the -pain is always there by the patient, wistful look out of his eyes. And -his step that flew down the street so that I couldn’t catch him that -day! It never breaks now from that slow, noiseless way it has. Well, -it’s no use thinking what might have been, and I suppose I should never -have had him here if all had gone well. Will that man _never_ be ready -to go? Ah, there he is actually steering for the door!” - -But at the same instant somebody else came in, only a little child, -however, wanting something that would take but a moment. So Aleck -possessed his soul in patience; there surely would not be any one else -in, it was so early. - -But what was the matter with Thorndyke? - -The child stood innocently enough before the counter, but Thorndyke’s -face was growing white, the glow was gone, and sharp lines coming in -its place, and the thin fingers trembled so that it seemed as if the -package never would be tied. But it was done at last, and Thorndyke -handed it to the child with the same smile and the same gentle -“Anything more?” that the customers had learned to expect. But when -the door was shut, Aleck started. What _was_ the matter? Thorndyke was -leaning against the wall, his lips pressed tightly together, and the -great veins showing blue and hard on his forehead. - -“What is it, Thorndyke?” said Aleck, springing towards him. - -Thorndyke covered his face with his fingers, and his whole frame -quivered as Aleck had never seen it before, but as the doctor saw it -once under the overhanging of the old rock. - -“O Aleck, I cannot bear it! Didn’t you see? I can bear anything else. I -can let a strong man look down at me, but that wondering, pitying look -of a little child! That is the one thing I cannot bear! Oh, why must I -always be a soldier? I am _so_ tired, and I had almost forgotten I was -one to-day!” - -Aleck drew him quickly into the shelter of the desk, and got his arm -round his neck. - -“There, there, rest a little if you are so tired! you are the bravest -little soldier in all the world, and the lightest weapons are the -hardest to stand against sometimes. Is that the reason you always get -out of the way when a child comes in? I noticed it, but I never knew. -Why didn’t you tell me? Don’t, old fellow! don’t mind. I’ve got lots -I want to say to you this morning, and I thought it should be such a -happy day. If you only knew, if you only would believe how wonderful -you are to every one! The doctor and Nelly would think they had -nothing in the world to be proud of, if it weren’t for you; and you -know what Uncle Ralph thought and everybody else is finding out. And -as for fighting, you get victories every day where the strongest of us -would go down.” - -But Aleck had to wait awhile for his talk. The next customer that came -in saw the queer little form going about just as usual, but Aleck knew -it was no time for him, and waited till evening when he got Thorndyke -by himself in his own room, the fire crackling and the room shining as -if there had never been such a thing as a shadow in the world. - -“Now, old fellow,” he began, after he had been going on merrily for a -while, “I’ve got a little business proposal to make. I want you to buy -me out.” - -The great eyes opened in amazement. - -“Buy you out, Aleck! What do you mean?” - -“I mean exactly what I say,” and then Aleck told him all the sacrifice -it had been to him to go into the store to begin with, how he had done -it for Nellie’s sake and his uncle’s, and how he had gone steadily -through the whole college course out of hours, as well as it was -possible to do by himself. - -“I had an idea, you see, of slipping off and leaving the coast to you, -you were doing so splendidly and Uncle Ralph was so proud of you; but -that night he talked to me about the partnership, I saw it would not do -then. But now, why not? I know he thought I should always stay, but if -he sees how things go among us at all, he sees what it would be to me -to get away, and I know what he would say. We’ll never take the name -down, old fellow, it shall be Halliday still, and I’ll hang about more -or less till you have one more birthday, and when you are twenty-one, -up goes ‘Halliday & Thorndyke,’ and I leave you to your own devices -altogether.” - -“But Aleck, where are you going? What do you want to do?” - -“What do I want to do? I want to get my profession: what I have always -wanted, and what my father wanted for me. He thought I should be a -lawyer, I know, but I should never make one in the world; there is only -one profession for me, and I am going to the headquarters you and I -think most of. I’m going to study with Dr. Thorndyke. Why shouldn’t a -man be a doctor if he wants to?” - -“All but me!” The doctor had meant to make one of him, Thorndyke knew -that very well. However that was neither here nor there. Aleck was -going to leave him; that was all to be thought of now. - -“But Aleck!” he cried, and then stopped himself. Aleck had sacrificed -everything all these years, because his uncle wanted him; he should -never know what the store and life would seem, when he hadn’t him at -his side any longer! - -“Only you know--why, Aleck, I can’t buy you out! you know very well -what I have wouldn’t buy a corner of the store.” - -“Well, put that in, if you’re not afraid to risk it, and you shall have -the whole profits of the business from to-day onward; and if you manage -the old concern as well as I know you can, you will own the whole of it -before many years. Uncle Ralph would like it, I know, and I don’t see -why we sha’n’t be jolly all around.” - -“But Aleck!” said Thorndyke again, “I can’t do it! It would be just -taking what belongs to you and putting it in my pocket. I never will do -it in the world.” - -“Well now, wait a minute,” said Aleck. “I haven’t finished my remarks -about it. In the first place, there’s more than I know what to do with, -without it, and in the second place, I owe it to you if there wasn’t, -for you have made life in the store a different thing to me a thousand -times over. Do you think I could ever have kept up heart if I hadn’t -thought so much of your being there every day, or could ever have been -patient through it all if I hadn’t seen such a little fighter at my -side? So that’s settled so far, and now in the third place, I can’t -desert the ship, unless you will take the whole command, and if you -do you ought to have the whole profits. And in the fourth place,” and -Aleck put his arm around his future partner’s neck again in a most -unbusinesslike way, “in the fourth place, it’s all in the family, -whatever you do and have, you dear, little old soldier? Don’t you know -nobody could be closer to us all? Flesh and blood couldn’t bring it any -nearer, and if we’re so proud of you now, what will it be by-and-by?” - -Nobody could resist Aleck. It was all settled with the doctor and -Thorndyke and everybody else, just as he would like it, and before they -really knew what he was about, and Thorndyke very soon found himself -really steering the ship, and Aleck only “hanging about more or less,” -as he had said. A good deal “less,” Thorndyke thought, but it was -better than losing him altogether, and he was determined he should -never know how he missed him. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV. - - -Tom sauntered into Halliday’s now and then, as he always had, but -Thorndyke saw something, he couldn’t tell what, that worried him more -and more; at all events Tom looked more hopeless and forlorn every time. - -“What a man you’re making, Thorndyke!” he said one day; “it was in you, -I suppose, and it wasn’t in me; that’s the difference. But you don’t -know what a chance you’ve had. Did Aleck ever badger you or crowd you -in all the time you were together?” - -“_Aleck!_ Why, you know him, Tom!” - -“Yes, I suppose so; only I can’t imagine anybody’s leaving you in peace -and quiet all the time. Well, I might have made something, perhaps, -if I’d been here, though not much, probably. I always was a stupid, -blundering fellow, and never should have been of much account, anyhow. -I’m none at all now, though, and I’d give up and let everything go to -the bottom, if there was nobody that thought he could hold on to me if -I didn’t. They’ll find out their mistake some day; but I suppose I -ought to hold on till they do.” - -“You wouldn’t like any one else to say that,” said Thorndyke, greatly -troubled. - -“Well, it’s not very amusing, but I do hear it every day of my life, -and so I suppose it must be the truth, even if there _are_ some people -kind enough not to tell me so.” - -A customer came before Thorndyke had time to answer, and Tom left the -store with a slow, listless step. Work was waiting for him, however, -and lively enough to stir him up and make him forget whether he could -do it well or not, and when this happened, he was sure to do it well. -If he had known how often the other partners thought so, it would have -changed everything; but he came almost altogether in Hal’s way, and by -the time he had done with him, he couldn’t believe that any kind word -he had from the others was more than out of charity, and he never had -a summons into the counting-room without expecting to be told what a -stupid fellow he was, and wondering that it did not come. - -But this time “stupid” certainly wasn’t the word. Tom was getting more -and more on his mettle as buyers came thicker and faster, and he “was -making things fly,” as Aleck would have called it, in a way that Hal -almost looked on with envy. Business hours were just coming to a close -when his run was over, and he stood near the door having a word with -his last customer, and with a record of sales that made him feel as if -he _was_ somebody, for a few minutes at least. - -“Oh, by the way,” said the customer, “I want a drygoods-box. What is -that one worth, and can I have it?” - -“Yes,” said Tom, “you can have it; about fifty cents will cover it, I -suppose.” - -He handed him the amount, and Tom put it in his vest-pocket, and went -on laughing and chatting a few moments, feeling his extra spirits a -luxury he was tempted to extend over as much ground as possible, and in -fact they lasted him fairly home, and even the ghost of them came back -with him to business hours in the morning. - -But the sound of Hal’s voice calling for the hoosier general dispelled -all that was left in a minute; there was nothing that tormented Tom -like that nickname, and it seemed as if it never would be done with. -Even if it was dropped once in a while, until he began to flatter -himself it had really gone under, up it came again, always at a moment -when he felt least like bearing it, and he was sure to see some of -the younger clerks daring to grin; and what could he say if they did? -Hadn’t he made a blunder that almost any of them would have been -disgraced for; and if the junior partner chose to remind him of it, he -supposed they had a _right_ to grin. - -He got through with what Hal wanted, but it seemed to him Hal gave -him a peculiar look now and then. There was no mistake about it, and -it came oftener and oftener as the day went on. What did it mean? It -followed him home after hours, and worried him every time he knew where -he was through the night. What had he done now, and how many people -would hear of it as soon as he did? He should hear of it soon, he was -sure, for the same look was there when he came in the next morning. - -“Sent in your accounts, since Thursday’s sales, general?” asked Hal. - -“Why, yes, of course,” said Tom. - -“Oh, very good,” and the look was more significant than ever. - -Poor Tom was miserable again. Should he ever get through life, and be -done with it? Unluckily he had to get through to-day first, and it -dragged miserably enough, but the next promised no better. There was -the look again, and the same question: “Sent in your accounts, general?” - -What did it mean? He couldn’t get Hal to say that it meant anything, -but the same look and the same question came every day, until it seemed -to Tom he should go distracted, and he was divided between thankfulness -and agony when he heard Mr. Vickery, the next partner, ask suddenly, - -“What do you mean, Fenimore? I’ve heard you ask Haggarty that same -thing every day for a week; doesn’t he send in his accounts as a matter -of course?” - -“I don’t know that he doesn’t,” said Hal, “but I’ve noticed a little -deficiency, and I’ve been waiting to see it made up.” - -“Deficiency!” exclaimed Tom; “what do you mean?” - -“Perhaps you thought the item too trifling for a place in the books,” -said Hal, with the old intolerable taunt in his tone; “there _are_ -people who don’t like to trouble themselves about trifles.” - -“Not business people,” said Mr. Vickery, “and Haggarty knows that well -enough; if there is anything wrong, it had better be set right as soon -as possible,” and he looked searchingly in Tom’s face. - -Tom’s desperation gave him boldness for once, as he stepped in front of -Hal. - -“Tell me what you mean!” he exclaimed. “Wait a moment, Mr. Vickery, if -you please, and hear what he means.” - -“Oh, nothing of any consequence, only that I saw you make a sale the -other day and put the money in your pocket, and I’ve seen no return of -it in your accounts.” - -Mr. Vickery’s look was piercing now; Tom stood bewildered for a -moment, and then thrust his finger into his vest-pocket with a sharp -exclamation such as no one in the store had ever heard him use before. - -“I sold a drygoods-box the other day,” he said, “and upon my word and -honor I have never thought of it from that moment to this! You know -how we had been worked that day, Fenimore, and I had two hours to come -after that though it was past time to close then. There is the money, -and there it might have been till next year, if you had not reminded -me of it, but I think it is the first time my memory has defrauded the -house of even such a sum as fifty cents.” - -“Possibly,” said Hal, with the sneer still on his face; “but it may be -well to look out for it in the future;” and he turned to his books -without another word. - -“Let it pass, Haggarty,” said the other partner gravely; “it was a -trifle to be sure, but the world is built on trifles, and that is one -of the first things to be remembered in business.” - -Tom turned away with tight-shut lips and a white face. How many had -overheard the conversation? There were plenty within reach of it, at -any rate, and he might be called a thief all through the store before -night! And even if he escaped that, he did not believe Mr. Vickery -would ever feel sure of him again. Hal _knew_ better, but he had come -very little in the second partner’s way. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI. - - -All the rest of that day, Tom went about his work like a wooden thing; -he answered questions and handled things that came in his way, but his -thoughts were running heavily back and forth over the long dreary years -since Mr. Willoughby picked him up in his chaise, and always coming -round to the same miserable point at last. How brave and patient he -had meant to be, how faithful he had tried to be, through it all, for -the sake of those at home, and how he had meant to deserve all the -promotion he should ever get, and let the firm feel he had repaid them -well for all they did for him. And who had ever taken the slightest -notice whether he did or not, who had ever been the wiser for it all? -And now that it was almost over, now that he thought such recompense as -money could give was just before him, to be shunned and sneered at for -a thief! - -Who had even noticed? He remembered suddenly what Aleck had said to -him, that dark terrible time, about _One_ who _always_ did, and was -always ready to help. - -“Yes,” he said, “I know it. I lived on that all the next year, and I -never felt so much like a man in my life; but since I came here, that, -and everything else that had any life in it, seems to have been driven -out of me. If I _could_ have hung on to it, it might have helped me -through everything. It’s my own fault that I didn’t, I suppose, but -after a fellow gets to feeling so horridly as I have from one year’s -end to another, he lets go of everything sometimes. If I could only -have gone somewhere else! There’s Thorndyke now, he never’ll know what -a chance he had there, with Aleck always next to him! But there’s an -end to everything, and I’ll--” - -But up came once more the thought of “the rest at home.” If he left the -store, and went out into the world, how many more years might it be -before he could be worth anything to them! And where could he go, and -what could he do, if he went out from Fenimore’s with such whisperings -as were likely to follow him! And yet, it seemed to him another day -there would be worse than a thousand deaths. _That_ day was done, at -last, at all events, and Tom, as he passed out into the dark, saw no -one, and scarcely knew where he was. But a familiar voice sounded in -his ears. - -“I say, Haggarty, what a hurry you’re in!” - -He turned and saw Davis, his old schoolfellow at the professor’s. He -had not seen him from that time, until a few days before. He only knew -that he went abroad directly after graduating, and had returned within -a fortnight, “for a visit.” - -“Why, man alive,” he said, as a gaslight fell on Tom’s face, “what’s -the matter with you? How white you are! Are you sick?” - -“I wish I were,” said Tom, “and sick enough to have an end come to it -all,” and then shocked at having said so much to Davis, he stopped -suddenly. - -“Hallo!” said Davis, “what’s the matter? Is luck bad to-day?” - -“I don’t know,” said Tom, “some people never have any, you know. How -are you?” - -“Look here,” said Davis, drawing Tom’s arm through his, “come along and -let’s understand about this. We’re old friends you know. There’s no use -in being down about the way the game goes; take heart and throw again, -that’s all.” - -They walked away, and Davis began to talk of old times and of the -changes that had come. “And to think of you being left head of the -family and going to business! I was expecting you over there every -year for a while, till I found out how things were. Tell me how you -like it;” and he went on with one question after another, until before -Tom could believe it himself, he had drawn from him a pretty good idea -of how matters stood. - -“I wouldn’t stay there,” said Davis; “I’d clear out and be found -missing some bright morning.” - -“Perhaps you would,” said Tom, “with nobody looking to you to be -anything to them, and more money than you know what to do with.” - -“Oh, is that the difficulty? I didn’t know that was the case; but it -isn’t the worst thing in the world to be got over. I can tell you a -way to ease matters off and get a start on your own feet before a -very long time;” and drawing Tom’s arm closer, he dropped into a low, -confidential tone. - -“But I can’t!” exclaimed Tom, starting back in horror, as Davis came to -his point at last. - -“Hold on,” said Davis, and went on talking rapidly in the same low -whisper without giving Tom a chance for another word. - -“Look here!” said Tom, stopping in his walk, and turning on Davis like -some desperate creature driven to bay at last; “what do you take me -for? Do you mean to insult me?” - -“Pooh!” said Davis, in the most imperturbable tone, regaining his hold -on Tom’s arm and drawing him into step again; “don’t fly out with a -fellow for trying to befriend you. There are slow ways of getting on in -the world, and quicker ones for those who can’t afford to wait, that’s -all; and I thought you were in a hurry. If you agree, I’ll introduce -you to as gentlemanly a set of fellows as you know, and I’ll warrant -you a welcome, for the truth is we want one more, of just your measure -too, to make our set complete. Don’t make up your mind in a hurry; it’s -early yet. Meet me here again at nine o’clock.” - -“But I tell you I wont,” began Tom. “I don’t want to hear any such--” - -“Pooh!” interrupted Davis again; “what’s the use of toiling a dozen -years under somebody’s thumb when you might make enough to stand on -your own feet in as many months? The world owes us a living, anyhow, -and I don’t see why handling a bit of paper skilfully isn’t quite as -much the gentlemanly thing as measuring away with a yardstick half a -lifetime. Just come up like a man, and I’ll be responsible for the -rest.” - -It was seven o’clock, and for an hour and a half Tom pushed drearily up -and down the streets through a drizzling mist, but the fog lay thicker -and darker in his own brain. What should he say; what should he do? He -must do something, for he would rather die than have another year like -the last. Rather die? Of course he would; but people don’t always die -for the wishing, and who would there be to take his father’s place if -he should? - -These thoughts crowded and whirled, and then came Aleck’s words, those -words spoken so long ago, but never forgotten, “Some One that always -notices.” - -“I can’t help it,” he cried; “I believe I’m desperate. I’ve tried to -do my best all these years, and what’s the use? as Davis says. Oh, if -I only had one friend that really cared for me that I could go to and -tell everything! I _should_ have, I suppose, if I was worth it, and Hal -would have respected me if I’d been worth it; but he never did, and of -course nobody else did, only they were kind enough to keep it out of -sight.” - -If Tom could only have seen Thorndyke at that moment, and known what he -was thinking of as he sat at his desk, with papers pushed away and his -eyes fixed somewhere a good way beyond, with a pained and troubled look! - -“Hoosier general!” he was saying to himself; “I wonder what that -means? Something that Tom winced under, that was plain enough. I don’t -see how Fenimore finds it in his heart to worry him so, and I’m sure -there’s more of it going on than Tom knows how to get along with. I -wish I could do something to help him out of it. I wish I could get him -over here; it would be such a comfort now that Aleck is out of the way -so much! But he’s doing so well there, and he’s worked his way almost -to the top of the ladder, I could never ask him. I heard Fenimore -praising him to the rest of the firm the other day, and I don’t wonder.” - -But Tom didn’t hear; he plodded up and down without knowing that he was -tired, and that he had eaten not a mouthful since morning, and that -the drizzling mist had penetrated and chilled him through. He was only -thinking of the store and of the hour of going back, and that if he did -not soon find some way of escape by which he could still hold on to his -duty at home, he was afraid he should let go of it! Oh, why was he left -so? Why could not his father have lived? The city bell struck eight, -and the echo of Davis’ voice seemed to repeat his words. - -“Come up like a man!” - -“Like a man!” echoed Tom again. “Like a counterfeiter and forger! What -did he want me to bring him Fenimore & Co.’s signature for? He thinks -there’s nothing decent in me, like the rest of the world, I suppose. -But no one ever thought I could quite make a thief yet!” - -He started with a sudden stab of recollection. - -“Yes, they have, too! Hal called me a thief, and tried his best to show -me off for one! What difference does it make if I go with Davis? And -who cares, whatever I do?” - -Nine o’clock struck at last, and as he reached the lamppost Davis had -marked as a rendezvous, a figure stepped from behind it. - -“Oh, here you are! That’s the right kind of a fellow!” whispered Davis, -slipping a hand into Tom’s arm. “Now come along and I’ll introduce you -to some of my friends.” - -“Stop!” said Tom, squaring himself, “I’ll tell you in the outset, I -want nothing to do with any black work you may have going on; but if -you can take me somewhere where it’s warm and bright, let’s go. I can’t -walk here all night, and I can’t go home and talk to people, to save my -life.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII. - - -The Cumbermede was ploughing her way merrily under a favoring breeze; -her home run was half made, and everything had prospered as if -Captain Carter were making his first voyage under a propitious star. -His dream was realized at last, and he stood commander on his own -quarter-deck. And commander he was indeed; every one on board found -that out very speedily, for Carter had aimed at perfection from the -day he shipped as a raw hand, and the eight years of holding fast to -his motto hadn’t made him less devoted to it. Perfect order, perfect -discipline, perfect action, nothing less was accepted; but somehow, -instead of the thankless working, like wooden things, that most of them -had always found a sailor’s life to mean, every one sprang to his duty -with a will, and the ropes were pulled to a merry tune, instead of the -unearthly guttural groan that served just as well to keep the time on -many a ship. - -Almost all were new hands this voyage. Penfield had disappeared long -ago, and only the first mate and one of the crew had ever seen the -vessel before. But that one stood by like one of her own timbers, -“long-limbed Jake.” His name had been on the ship’s papers ever since -the voyage when Carter had transferred him to his own watch, and -restless as sailors are, always believing the last vessel they sail in -the worst that ever ploughed the sea, no departing ship’s company could -ever tempt him away with them. He reappeared as regularly as repairs -were made and cargo entered, and his only restless times were before -Carter came aboard; as soon as his voice was heard, all right, and Jake -was himself again, and the best man in the ship’s crew, all officers -agreed. - -It was rather hard times for Jake, this voyage. It seemed to him life -would never be anything again, now that Carter no longer had the watch. -But the something, Jake couldn’t have told what, that reached his -heart, and kindled a spark of life there, with that first “Belay there, -my hearty!” had kept its hold ever since, and did not need many words -to help it. The “Take care of yourself, Jake, and there’s a berth for -you next voyage if you want it,” as Carter went ashore, and the “On -hand again, my man?--that’s all right,” as he came aboard for another -voyage, set Jake about his business with a new glow, and the spark grew -brighter, and the bit of life warmer, as every trip went on. He had -been restless, this time, dreading lest he shouldn’t get his greeting -now that Carter came as captain. But there it was, just the same, and -with the same hearty tone and friendly look, and with that and his -pride in seeing him take command, Jake had enough to live on, though -the distance was doubled between them, and orders could never come -direct from him again; he should hear his voice at any rate, and could -watch for his coming on deck. What it had all been to Jake, Carter -could never know, for he couldn’t know all the deadly blackness that -had filled his heart that night of Penfield’s watch; and he couldn’t -see all the thoughts and memories that crowded the murderous hatred -out, as Jake lay in his bunk that night, sobbing like a baby. - -They had come back so many times since, that it seemed as if the very -bunk would know them. - -“It may be true after all,” they began that night, “it may be true -after all, what she always taught me, that I’ve got a soul of my own, -and the One that made it cares what becomes of it. If He cares for me, -mayhap it would be a pity not to care for myself. I might even think of -what the old woman at home is always saying, and wonder if it could -be true. I can remember the day when it did seem as if I was something -more than a dog, and it’s not so many years aback, either; but I’ve -been told I wasn’t, till I began to think other folks were right. It’s -a hard feeling, though, and goes against a man, if he is a man. And he -wouldn’t have looked at me like that if he hadn’t thought I was one!” - -It was the same thing over and over many a night, only stronger and -clearer as time went on, until Jake’s thoughts ventured a little -farther still. - -“And if it should be true, that there’s a man in me after all, mayhap -there’s something in more of what she had to say. She said the One that -made me was looking for something from me; but if he is, he sees plain -enough I’ve made a poor cruise of it so far. I’m a good many points -out of my course, there’s no mistake about that; the only question is -how I’m to get back again. She used to say he’d help me; that he died -to bring my reckoning right, and he was ready to head me towards port -again. Maybe it’s true. I wouldn’t have believed it once, but they say -he’s better than the best of us, and if he’s got more the heart of a -man in him than the mate has, he must be ready to lend a hand. Maybe -he could bring me to my bearings again, if he’d take the wheel; and -I’d set my sails square to the wind, if he would, for it comes rough -on a man when he really believes he might make port, and knows he’s -drifting on the rocks. And as for anything he wants of me, if there’s -more pleasure in bearing a hand or shifting a course for him than there -is for the mate, I should draw my pay in advance a hundred times over.” - -Out from that dark, comfortless bunk, out from that heart so lately -full of bitterness and revenge, went the first upreachings of faith and -loyalty towards Him who was waiting and watching for them--the first -faint “ay, ay, sir,” to orders that were to save him from going down a -wreck. Jake did not know they were the first yielding to whispers he -would never listen to before; but the Whisperer knew and cherished them -as only He knows how to do. And many a night, as the voyages went on, -He drew nearer and said more; and as Jake listened, the lonely heart -reached out more strongly towards the Voice, and fell nearer and nearer -into its course, the homeward track of a soul that God has called. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII. - - -The Cumbermede had passed the line of gentle winds, and had struck a -point where strong ones and even storms might be looked for. Still the -sailors took no notice of the clouds; they believed too strongly in -luck, and the new captain had been running in a “streak” of it ever -since he hoisted anchor for the outward trip; he would get in all safe, -no fear of that. But the captain had less faith in his star, and more -in watchfulness, and was more frequently on deck as every day went by. - -“I don’t like those clouds there to starboard, Morton,” he said to his -first officer one afternoon; “they look a little ugly to me.” - -The mate took a sharp look towards them. - -“I don’t believe there’s much in them,” he said, “and they’re to -leeward of us, too, or have been, rather; the wind’s getting round a -trifle, I see.” - -“That’s just it,” said the captain; “and if it gets round a little -farther we may find out what’s in them before night. Keep a good -lookout, and I’ll be on deck again in half an hour.” - -Before the half hour had passed the wind had shifted decidedly, and was -blowing very brisk from where the clouds lay. - -“Reef the topsails,” said the captain the moment he came up. - -“Ay, ay, sir,” said the mate, and passed the order to the men. But the -winds worked faster than the men could, and before the order was fairly -executed it was time to issue another, and still another followed. All -hands were called, and in another half hour the vessel was driving, -close-reefed, before a constantly increasing gale. “A half a gale,” as -the sailors called it at first, then “a gale of wind,” and by the time -the darkness gathered, “a living gale of wind.” - -The captain’s voice could be heard clear and sharp above the tempest -for some time, but at last it was almost impossible for either his or -the mate’s to be distinguished, though there was little to do by that -time but to let the vessel drive. - -“I don’t know what’s coming of this, Morton,” said the captain during a -moment’s lull; “but, however we come out, we’ve done all we can.” - -“I’m afraid we have, sir; but I can’t think this will last much longer. -It seems to be holding off a little just now; and it would be hard to -see anything go wrong so near home, and after such a run as we have -had.” - -But the momentary lull seemed only to have redoubled the strength of -the tempest; the beating and the roar increased until it seemed as if -every sail, close-reefed as it was, would be carried away. At last, -through all the commotion, a sharp, tearing crash and a heavy fall -announced that the foretopmast had yielded to the strain. - -“Clear away there!” shouted the captain, and the men sprang forward -with their axes. It was almost impossible to do anything, with the -vessel pitching as if she would go under with every wave, but the work -must be done, and the captain’s voice was heard now above everything. - -But something else was not heard: a broken spar, just above the -captain’s head, was swaying back and forth, crackling and snapping for -one instant before it should come down. Only Jake’s eye, raised for one -instant, caught sight of it. To shout or to gesture through the roar -and darkness would have been vain; only a momentary flash of lightning -had shown the danger to Jake. In one instant, almost like the lightning -itself, he was at the captain’s side. - -“Stand from under!” he shouted, and pointed upward. The captain sprang -aside, Jake turned to do the same, but a pitch of the vessel destroyed -his balance. The one second taken to recover it, was the one second too -late. With a crash near enough now to be heard over all, the spar was -down, and Jake--? Where was he? Overboard? For one moment it seemed -so, but another flash showed him lying senseless against the windlass. -If he could but have known that it was the captain himself who sprang -toward him, lifted him up, and drew him to a place of safety? - -In another half hour, as if the storm with this last cruel blow had -wreaked its vengeance, it had passed away, a fine steady breeze was all -that remained of its force, and the clouds were breaking in rifts along -the sky. And with just such a momentary uncertain light as the moon -was sending through them, Jake’s consciousness was returning; enough, -though to show him that the captain was standing by his bunk and -holding water to his lips. That moment repaid Jake for all the bygone -years that had made his life a wretchedness. - -“On hand again, my man? That’s all right! I was afraid you had shipped -for another voyage, and all for my sake too!” - -If Jake could only have told him what was in his heart! He would have -given worlds to do it, but he could not speak. - -“You saved my life, my hearty, and I shall remember that I owe it to -you,” said the captain again. - -Jake made a tremendous effort. He _would_ speak! “No, captain,” he -said, “I owed it to you before! Ever since the night you took me into -your watch. I did not know I _had_ a soul, before that, or that anybody -cared for it if I had, but when I found _you_ did, I believed Another -might. I’ve lived for you ever since, and have tried to live a little -for Him, if He’d accept it, and I’d have died for you any day. If I do -now, it’s all right, and more than I ever thought He’d grant me. It’s -only shipping for another voyage, as you say, and if he takes me safe -to port, you’ll follow.” - -When the morning sun rose over a calm blue sea, Jake’s voyage was -ended, and the Divine hand he had reached out to grasp, in the -loneliness of his comfortless bunk, that night so long ago, had steered -him safely home! - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX. - - -At the moment Carter was listening to the few words Jake could summon -strength to utter, Thorndyke sat in a little office Aleck had enclosed -for him at one side of the store, where he could slip away for a little -rest now and then without really leaving his new responsibilities, and -once more Tom and his fortunes came uppermost in his thoughts. - -“I wonder what has become of Haggarty,” he was saying to himself. “I -can’t remember when he has been in here. And he didn’t look right, the -last time he came. There was a while he seemed quite himself again, -but he went down lower than ever before long. I wish I could find out -what is going wrong with him. It can’t be anything at the store, for -Hal’s making a trip abroad for the firm, and wont be back for another -month, and I know the senior partners think well of Tom. Indeed, I -suppose he’ll go in himself before long, and yet something is certainly -dragging on him. He looks worried and keeps out of the way. I’ve a -great mind to go up to the house and see if I can get hold of him.” - -Thorndyke got up from his easy chair, a very different affair from the -piece of workmanship old Enoch had been so proud of years ago, and went -out into the darkness. - -“So tired to-day,” was the entry he had made that morning in his pocket -journal, the only visible friend that ever heard a word about the pain, -or how the battle went; only the great Captain himself heard the rest. -“So tired to-day! Should give out utterly if I could leave the store.” -But he wanted to find Tom! It was a long walk from the store, but that -did not signify; he could rest when he reached there. - -No, Tom was not at home and no one could tell him where he might be -found. So he turned and retraced his steps--it is a great thing to be -used to being tired! It was after midnight when Tom passed Halliday’s -and took the same way Thorndyke had gone so wearily over a few hours -ago. - -“Good night, Haggarty,” Davis’ voice was saying, “don’t be so down, -man! What can you expect after letting you share our good times so -long, but that we should want a little work out of you some day? All -play and no work makes Jack a poor boy, and you’ll just have to let -us have that signature. If we make a handsome thing out of it, you go -halves, and you certainly couldn’t ask anything more. Perhaps you don’t -realize that you’re a little mixed up with us already, one of us, to -all intents and purposes, and we could make that plain enough if we -chose. We have a claim upon you, mind that.” - -Tom plunged on into the darkness hardly knowing or caring which way he -took; not a star was to be seen, not a footstep stirred the stillness -after Davis’ tread had died away. - -Suddenly that echo of Aleck’s words came again, ringing in his ears, -“Some One who always sees; who never thinks it beneath him to notice.” - -Tom pressed his hands to his forehead. No, no, he could not think of -that! He dared not think of it now! If he had only held on to it once! -If he could only think, now, that he had one friend who cared for him! - - - - -CHAPTER XXX. - - -The clouds that had made the night so dark were all gone the next -morning, and the sun shone brightly as Aleck called at the doctor’s -to get Thorndyke over to the store early; he wanted to look over some -papers preparatory to the new business arrangement, and he knew evening -was no time for Thorndyke to undertake extra work. - -Old Joan’s face glowed with pride and delight at what was going on, but -she tried her best to conceal it. - -“It’s no favorin’ the wee bairn,” she said, “to fling a’ the doors -wide, and tak him into the very heart o’ the establishment. Ilka -customer that casts a shadow inside kens he has been the heart and soul -o’ it a’ for years, an’ it’s only acknowledging the truth before the -world, to put his name where a’ can read it. And I’m persuaded it is -ower muckle to bring upon a pair o’ shoulders like his the whole burden -o’ sic a house, wi’ the lives and health o’ half the city, and a’ the -wisest o’ the doctors dependin’ on him to fill their needs, and Mr. -Aleck steppin’ aside, and offerin’ nae muir help, whatever the pinch -may be!” - -“Well, well, Joan, his head will make up for his shoulders, you know -that very well, and he must have all the help he needs, let Aleck go -when he will. Perhaps he’ll be picking up a junior partner for himself -after he comes to be owner of the whole thing, and that wont take so -many years either, eh, little man?” and the doctor gave Thorndyke a -look that wasn’t at all ashamed to show how he felt about the matter, -at least. - -Business hours were early at the Fenimores’, too, and Tom was at his -post as usual, other people would have said, but for himself, he could -hardly have been sure whether he was there or not; he seemed to be -walking in a maze, some terrible dream of perplexity and desperate -resolve, and it grew darker and heavier as the hours wore on. - -“Mixed up” with Davis and his associates? One of them to all intents -and purposes? Did Davis dare say that? And if Davis could pretend to a -claim on him he would push it to the utmost, Tom knew. - -Then why shouldn’t he let them have the signature if they wanted it, -and if that was the only way out of trouble on every side? A whole life -in that store was worse than a hundred deaths, and if Davis should -give him shares in a “handsome thing,” as he called it, he might go to -the ends of the earth, and have money to send back to those that needed -it. And after all, could a real thief feel much more miserable and low -than Hal had always kept him since they first came together? - -He passed heavily by the counting-room as the hours drew to a close, -and started as he heard the senior Fenimore’s voice calling “Haggarty!” - -Was the truth discovered? Was there any way in which Davis would dare -play him false and betray him as “mixed up” with his own companions? - -“Why, what is the matter with you?” asked Mr. Fenimore, as Tom’s white -face answered the summons. “Are you sick to-day?” - -“No, I am not sick,” said Tom. “I was up rather late last night, it is -true.” - -“Well, take care of yourself to-night, then; you don’t look right; but -just step in here a moment, if you please. I want to be out for perhaps -a quarter of an hour, if you can remain here. Perhaps you can finish -looking over these letters, and make some minutes of them.” - -Tom sat down and leaned his head upon his hands. What was the matter -with it? It throbbed and whirled strangely. - -“Yes, I can do it,” he said drearily, as if trying to rouse himself. -“I should despise myself for ever; but I have always had somebody to -despise me. I wonder if it would be a very different thing.” - -He glanced at a scrap of paper fallen near him, on which “Fenimore & -Co.” had been trying a new pen half a dozen times. He looked at it -again, and then started wildly to his feet. - -“Yes, it would be a different thing! They cannot make me do it, Hal -Fenimore and the whole set of them together! I haven’t the stuff to -make a man of in me, of course, or Hal would never have twitted and -crowded me all my life as he has; but I’ve always been able to declare -to myself he lied when he said I did not do my best, and I always will! -But oh, why do I have to fight like a man, and a brave one too, if I -never was given the soul of one to begin with?” - -He seized the letters and began to look them over. Black, white, or -gray were they? He could not tell. He only saw one question written all -over them. Would Davis dare, would he be able to get him into trouble? -He had meant that ugly phrase “mixed up” as a threat, Tom knew very -well; could he manage to bring it to the ears of Fenimore & Co.? It -would be an end to the partnership, drawing pretty near now, if he -should. And what then? - -A sudden thought flashed into his mind. If any mercy, even in a dark -disguise, should set him free from Fenimore’s, there was Carter! He -had heard Aleck talk of what Carter was to the meanest man he had on -board. He would go before the mast with him, if he could but find him. -Thorndyke always knew when he came in. He would ask Thorndyke. - -“I wont keep you any longer, Haggarty,” said Mr. Fenimore’s voice -behind him; “and indeed I would advise you to call hours ended and take -care of yourself. You’re not well to-day, I am sure.” - -Tom turned and left the store. He would go to Halliday’s. The sooner he -got a promise from Thorndyke to let him know when Carter came in, the -better. - -Halliday’s was a place where every one seemed to like an excuse to drop -in; there was always some one there enjoying the light and warmth and -comfortable feeling he could hardly have explained to himself. - -The early twilight had fallen, and the outside air was bitterly cold as -Tom opened the door, and the feeling of comfort reached even his heavy -heart for an instant, as he stepped inside. - -Thorndyke was busy with a solitary customer, and two heavy-coated -policemen stood with their backs to Tom, taking a moment’s respite from -the cold outside, and “warming up” for the next hour’s duty. - -“Anything lively in your beat to-day?” asked one of them listlessly, as -he stretched his hands toward the glowing fire. - -“Well, not a great deal,” replied the other. “We came down on a nest of -pretty dark-feathered birds, up in ---- street, but we’ve had an eye on -them for some time.” - -“Do they belong here?” asked the first. - -“No, not more than one of them at least, but there’s a young shoot of -one of the best houses in the city that I’ve had my suspicions they -were trying to make friends with, of late. Can’t quite vouch for it, -though, and wouldn’t if I could, for I don’t think they’ve got any harm -out of him yet, and doubt if they ever would.” - -The policemen left the fire, and passed out by an opposite door, the -customer followed, and Thorndyke looked up at Tom. One look was -enough. Tom’s face had told Thorndyke the secret, and Tom knew he had -read it. - -“For heaven’s sake, Tom,” said Thorndyke, “don’t stand there looking -like that! There will be some one in in another moment. Here, come into -my office, there’s some one coming this instant. See if this glass of -water will make you look like a live man again, and wait there till I -come.” - -The customer wanted a prescription that took time; hours the minutes -seemed to Tom, and then Thorndyke came. Tom looked up at him with a -white, hopeless face. - -“_You_ will despise me now,” he said slowly. “Of course you never -thought much of me; you couldn’t, kind as you were, though I _did_ mean -to do as well as I could. But you _were_ kind, and I had rather all the -world knew I had disgraced myself, than that you should have found it -out.” - -“Tom,” said Thorndyke, in a low pitying tone that thrilled him through, -“tell me what is the matter here! Are you in trouble about money?” - -“No,” said Tom, “or at least, not much; it is worse than that! Those -fellows seemed to be friends, they wanted me with them, and I wanted -friends so much! They never let me see any harm, and it always seemed -so light-hearted and gay when they were; but I knew there _was_ harm, -and I ought to have loathed it all, as I really did in my soul all the -time! They wanted me to forge Fenimore & Co.’s name for them; that was -all their friendliness was aimed at from the beginning, I suppose. -They did not get it, thank Heaven, but they came too near it, nearer -than I ever dreamed they could. And now, if they’ve got into trouble -themselves, and my name is going to be whispered along with theirs, who -is ever going to know how far I went with them? Who’s going to believe -that they kept me half-blinded till the last moment, and that then I -had determined to refuse what they wanted, though I couldn’t see a -bright spot before me for half my life in any other track!” - -“Oh why didn’t you come to me?” cried Thorndyke bitterly, and then, -with a sudden check upon himself--“but, Tom, you never would have -turned to friends like these if you hadn’t been in trouble to begin -with. Something has gone wrong with you longer than that, for I have -seen it.” - -Tom looked in his face with a troubled cry. - -“Hal Fenimore drove me desperate!” he said. “Of course he wouldn’t have -dared if I had had the man in me the rest of you had. I suppose I -hadn’t. I don’t know, but I _had_ to stand up like one, and try to fill -my father’s place, and he never could say I didn’t before; but now he -will know this, and all the rest of the world will hear it from him.” - -“How will he know this?” said Thorndyke, a sharp look of pain passing -over his face. “Do you think I would tell him or any other one on the -face of the earth?” - -“You wont?” and Tom looked wonderingly but still drearily at him. - -“Get into that easy chair,” said Thorndyke. “Don’t stand leaning -against the wall as if a blow had struck you.” - -Tom stepped mechanically towards the chair, and sat down in it. -Thorndyke stood before him a moment, and then came closer and put his -arms round his shoulders with a yearning tenderness that sent another -thrill through Tom’s heart. - -“Tom,” he said, “Come into my store to-morrow! I want you, and have -wanted you a long time, but I couldn’t say so before. I’ve seen how -things were going with you and Hal, and have longed to put something -between you, if I only could. Of course I couldn’t, so long as you -were with him, but it is time for you to leave there now. Come to me, -and you shall find out whether you are a man! I tell you, Tom, there -isn’t one in a thousand who would have stuck to the ship, and fought -as you have, all these years; and not one in all the thousands I know -who could help me as you can. I need you, and the Fenimores have enough -without you. It will be hard for you to begin all over again, but if -you learn as fast as you did at the professor’s, you shall have your -share in the business at the end of the year. And I’ll see that you -have all you need to keep things easy at home, from the day you come. -Only Tom, why, oh why, couldn’t you have trusted me long ago?” - -Changes seem very rapid to passers who only give a glance now and then, -as they hurry by, and the customers at Halliday’s remarked that “the -young people seemed to be rushing things a little,” as they saw Aleck -less and less in the store and Tom behind the counter; then Aleck sent -sometimes in Dr. Thorndyke’s place to a patient, and at last the name -of “Dr. Halliday” making its appearance just below the bell handle over -which “Dr. Thorndyke” had been read so long, and the sign of Halliday -& Thorndyke, which they still considered new, coming down to make room -for “Halliday, Thorndyke & Co.” - -“Rushing things!” repeated Tom to Thorndyke one day with a laugh. -“Why it seems to me as if my life at Fenimore’s was somewhere away -back in the dark ages! There’s been more peace and comfort, in these -later days, more steady standing up with the feeling that I was a man, -in every one of them, than I’d had in my whole life together before. -But even peace and comfort don’t tell the whole of it. There’s more -blessedness than that, by a long shot, in feeling that I have got a -close hold on a fellow like you and another like Aleck. There’s no use -saying much about it, though. Words don’t seem to do the business.” - -No, they do not. And Thorndyke only gave Tom a look in reply; but -that said “God bless you, old fellow, as you’ve blessed us a thousand -times;” and then Thorndyke himself said, “There goes Aleck again with -that fine turnout of his. He’s getting more practice than he knows how -to turn his hand to, already!” - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARRY FENIMORE'S PRINCIPLES *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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