It Is Never Too Late to Mend — Chapter L, part 1
CHAPTER L.
THOMAS ROBINSON rose from his sleepless bed an altered man; altered above all in this that his self-confidence was clean gone.
“How little I knew myself,” said he, “and how well his reverence knew me!
I am the weakest fool on earth--he saw that and told me what to do.
He provided help for me--and I, like an ungrateful idiot, never once thought of obeying him; but from this hour I see myself as I am and as he used to call me--a clever fool.
I can't walk straight without some honest man to hold by.
Well, I'll have one, though I give up everything else in the world for it.
” Then he went to his little box and took out the letter to George Fielding.
He looked at it and reproached himself for forgetting it so long.
“A letter from the poor fellow's sweetheart, too.
I ought to have sent it by the post if I did not take it.
But I will take it.
I'll ask Mr. Miles's leave the moment he comes home, and start that very day.
” Then he sat down and read the tract again, and as he read it was filled with shame and contrition.
By one of those freaks of mind which it is so hard to account for, every good feeling rushed upon him with far greater power than when he was in ---- Prison, and, strange to say, he now loved his reverence more and took his words deeper to heart than he had done when they were together.
His flesh crept with horror at the thought that he had been a criminal again, at least in intention, and that but for Heaven's mercy he would have been taken and punished with frightful severity, and above all would have wounded his reverence to the heart in return for more than mortal kindness, goodness and love.
And, to do Robinson justice, this last thought made his heart sicken and his flesh creep more than all the rest.
He was like a man who had fallen asleep on the brink of an unseen precipice--awoke--and looked down.
The penitent man said his prayers this morning and vowed on his knees humility and a new life.
Henceforth he would know himself; he would not attempt to guide himself; he would just obey his reverence.
And to begin, whenever a temptation came in sight he would pray against it then and there and fly from it, and the moment his master returned he would leave the town and get away to honest George Fielding with his passport--Susan's letter.
With these prayers and these resolutions a calm complacency stole over him; he put his reverence's tract and George's letter in his bosom and came down into the kitchen.
The first person he met was the housemaid, Jenny.
“Oh, here is my lord!
” cried she.
“Where were you last night?
” Robinson stammered out, “Nowhere in particular.
Why?
” “Oh, because the master was asking for you, and you weren't to be found high or low.
” “What, is he come home?
” “Came home last night.
” “I'll go and take him his hot water.
” “Why, he is not in the house, stupid.
He dressed the moment he came home and went out to a party.
He swore properly at your not being in the way to help him dress.
” “What did he say?
” asked Robinson, a little uneasy.
The girl's eyes twinkled.
“He said, 'How ever am I to lace myself now that scamp is not in the way?'
” “Come, none of your chaff, Jenny.
” “Why you know you do lace him, and pretty tight, too.
” “I do nothing of the kind.
” “Oh, of course you won't tell on one another.
Tell me our head scamp does not wear stays!
A man would not be as broadshouldered as that and have a waist like a wasp and his back like a board without a little lacing, and a good deal, too.
” “Well, have it your own way, Jenny.
Won't you give me a morsel of breakfast?
” “Well, Tom, I can give you some just for form's sake; but bless you, you won't able to eat it.
” “Why not?
” “Gents that are out all night bring a headache home in the morning in place of an appetite.
” “But I was not out all night.
I was at home soon after twelve.
” “Really?
” “Really!
” “Tom?
” “Well, Jane!
” “Those that ain't clever enough to hide secrets should trust them to those that are.
” “I don't know what you mean, my lass.
” “Oh, nothing; only I sat up till halfpast one in the kitchen, and I listened till three in my room.
“You took a deal of trouble on my account.
” “Oh, it was more curiosity than regard,” was the keen reply.
“So I should say.
” The girl colored and seemed nettled by this answer.
She set demurely about the work of small vengeance.
“Now,” said she with great cordiality, “you tell me what you were doing all night and why you broke into the house like a--a--hem!
instead of coming into it like a man, and then you'll save me the trouble of finding it out whether you like or not.
” These words chilled Robinson.
What!
had a spy been watching him--perhaps for days--and above all a female spy--a thing with a velvet paw, a noiseless step, an inscrutable countenance, and a microscopic eye.
He hung his head over his cup in silence.
Jenny's eye was scanning him.
He felt that without seeing it.
He was uneasy under it, but his self-reproach was greater than his uneasiness.
At this juncture the street door was opened with a latch-key.
“Here comes the head scamp,' said Jenny, with her eye on Robinson.
The next moment a bell was rung sharply.
Robinson rose.
“Finish your breakfast,” said Jenny, “I'll answer the bell,” and out she went.
She returned in about ten minutes with a dressing-gown over her arm and a pair of curling-irons in her hand.
“There,” said she, “you are to go in the parlor, and get up the young buck; curl his nob and whiskers.
I wish it was me, I'd curl his ear the first thing I'd curl.
” “What, Jane, did you take the trouble to bring them down for me?
” “They look like it,” replied the other tartly, as if she repented the good office.
Robinson went in to his master.
He expected a rebuke for being out of the way; but no!
he found the young gentleman in excellent humor and high spirits.
“Help me off with this coat, Tom.
” “Yes, sir.
” “Oh!
not so rough, confound you.
Ah!
Ugh!
” “Coat's a little too tight, sir.
” “No it isn't--it fits me like a glove but I am stiff and sore.
There, now, get me a shirt.
” Robinson came back with the shirt, and aired it close to the fire; and this being a favorable position for saying what he felt awkward about, he began: “Mr. Miles, sir.
” “Hallo!
” “I am going to ask you a favor.
” “Out with it!
” “You have been a kind master to me.
” “I should think I have, too.
By Jove, you won't find such another in a hurry.
” “No, sir, I am sure I should not, but there is an opening for me of a different sort altogether.
I have a friend, a squatter, near Bathurst, and I am to join him if you will be so kind as to let me go.
” “What an infernal nuisance!
” cried the young gentleman, who was like most boys, good-natured and selfish.
“The moment I get a servant I like he wants to go to the devil.
” “Only to Bathurst, sir,” said Robinson deprecatingly, to put him in a good humor.
“And what am I to do for another?
” At this moment in came Jenny with all the paraphernalia of breakfast.
“Here, Jenny,” cried he, “here's Robinson wants to leave us.
Stupid ass!
” Jenny stood transfixed with the tray in her hand.
“Since when?
” asked she of her master, but looking at Robinson.
“This moment.
The faithful creature greeted my return with that proposal.
” “Well, sir, a servant isn't a slave and suppose he has a reason?
” “Oh!
they have always got a reason, such as it is.
Wants to go and squat at Bathurst.
Well, Tom, you are a fool for leaving us, but of course we shan't pay you the compliment of keeping you against your will, shall we?
” looking at Jane.
“What have I to do with it?
” replied she, opening her gray eyes.
“What is it to me whether he goes or stays?
” “Come, I like that.
Why you are the housemaid and he is the footman, and those two we know are always”--and the young gentleman eked out his meaning by whistling a tune.
“Mr. Miles,” said Jenny, very gravely, like an elder rebuking a younger, “you must excuse me, sir, but I advise you not to make so free with your servants.
Servants are encroaching, and they will be sure to take liberties with you in turn; and,” turning suddenly red and angry, “if you talk like that to me I shall leave the room.
” “Well, if you must!
you must!
but bring the tea-kettle back with you.
That is a duck!
” Jenny could not help laughing, and went for the tea-kettle.
On her return Robinson made signals to her over the master's head, which he had begun to frizz.
At first she looked puzzled, but following the direction of his eye she saw that her master's right hand was terribly cut and swollen.
“Oh!
” cried the girl.
“Oh, dear!
Oh, dear!
” “Eh?
” cried Mr. Miles, “what is the row?
” “Look at your poor hand, sir!
” “Oh, ay!
isn't it hideous.
Met with an accident.
Soon get well.
” “No, it won't, not of itself; but I have got a capital lotion for bruises, and I shall bathe it for you.
” Jenny brought in a large basin of warm water and began to foment it first, touching it so tenderly.
“And his hand that was as white as a lady's,” said Jenny pitifully, “po-o-r bo-y!
” This kind expression had no sooner escaped her than she colored and bent her head down over her work, hoping it might escape notice.
“Young woman,” said Mr. Miles with paternal gravity, “servants are advised not to make too free with their masters; or the beggars will forget their place and take liberties with you.
He!
He!
He!
” Jenny put his hand quietly down into the water and got up and ran across the room for the door.
Her course was arrested by a howl from the jocose youth.
“Murder!
Take him off, Jenny; kick him; the beggar is curling and laughing at the same time.
Confound you, can't you lay the irons down when I say a good thing.
Ha!
Ha!
Ha!
” This strange trio chuckled a space.
Miles the loudest.
“Tom, pour out my tea; and you, Jenny, if you will come to the scratch again, ha!
ha!
--I'll tell you how I came by this.
” This promise brought the inquisitive Jenny to the basin directly.
“You know Hazeltine?
” “Yes, sir, a tall gentleman that comes here now and then.
That is the one you are to run a race with on the public course,” put in Jenny, looking up with a scandalized air.
“That is the boy; but how the deuce did you know?
” “Gentlemen to run with all the dirty boys looking on like horses,” remonstrated the grammatical one, “it is a disgrace.
” “So it is--for the one that is beat.
Well, I was to meet Hazeltine to supper out of town.
By-the-by, you don't know Tom Yates?
” “Oh,” said Jenny, “I have heard of him, too.
” “I doubt that; there are a good many of his name.
” “The rake, I mean; lives a mile or two out of Sydney.
“So do half a dozen more of them.
” “This one is about the biggest gambler and sharper unhung.
” “All right!
that is my friend!
Well, he gave us a thundering supper--lots of lush.
” “What is lush?
” “Tea and coffee and barley-water, my dear.
Oh!
can't you put the thundering irons down when I say a good thing?
Well, I mustn't be witty any more, the penalty is too severe.
” I need hardly say it was not Mr. Miles's jokes that agitated Robinson now; on the contrary, in the midst of his curiosity and rising agitation these jokes seemed ghastly impossibilities.
“Well, at ten o'clock we went upstairs to a snug little room, and all four sat down to a nice little green table.
” “To gamble?
” “No!
to whist; but now comes the fun.
We had been playing about four hours, and the room was hot, and Yates was gone for a fresh pack, and old Hazeltine was gone into the drawing-room to cool himself.
Presently he comes back and he says in a whisper, “Come here, old fellows.
” We went with him to the drawing-room, and at first sight we saw nothing, but presently flash came a light right in our eyes; it seemed to come from something glittering in the field.
And these flashes kept coming and going.
At last we got the governor, and he puzzled over it a little while.
'I know what it is,' cried he, 'it is my cucumber glass.'
” Jenny looked up.
“Glass might glitter,” said she, “but I don't see how it could flash.
” “No more did we, and we laughed in the governor's face; for all that we were wrong.
'There is somebody under that wall with a dark lantern,' said Tom Yates, 'and every now and then the glass catches the glare and reflects it this way.'
'Solomon!'
cried the rest of us.
The fact is, Jenny, when Tom Yates gets half drunk he develops sagacity more than human.
(Robinson gave a little groan.
) Aha,” cried Miles, “the beggar has burned his finger.
I'm glad of it.
Why should I be the only sufferer by his thundering irons?
'Here is a lark,' said I, 'we'll nab this dark lantern--won't we, Hazy?'
'Rather,' said Hazy.
'Wait till I get my pistols, and I'll give you a cutlass, George,' says Tom Yates.
I forget who George was; but he said he was of noble blood, and I think myself he was some relation to the King-of-trumps, the whole family came about him so--mind my hair now.
'Oh, bother your artillery,' said I. 'Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just.'
When I'm a little cut you may know it by my quoting Shakespeare.
When I'm sober I don't remember a word of him--and don't want to.
” “No, the _Sporting Magazine_, that is your Bible, sir,” suggested Jenny.
“Yes, and let me read it without your commentary--mind my hair now.
Where was I?
Oh.
Hazeltine and I opened the door softly and whipped out, but the beggar was too sharp for us.
No doubt he heard the door.
Anyway, before we could get through the shrubbery he was off, and we heard him clattering down the road ever so far off.
However we followed quietly on the grass by the road-side at a fair traveling pace, and by and by what do you think?
Our man had pulled up in the middle of the road and stood stock still.
'That is a green trick,' thought I. However, before we could get up to him he saw us or heard us, and off down the road no end of a pace.
'Tally ho!'
cried I. Out came Hazy from the other hedge, and away we went--'Pug' ahead, 'Growler' and 'Gay-lad' scarce twenty yards from his brush, and the devil take the hindmost.
Well, of course, we made sure of catching him in about a hundred yards--two such runners as Hazy and me--” “And did not you?
” “I'll tell you.
At first we certainly gained on him a few yards, but after that I could not near him.
But Hazy put on a tremendous spurt, and left me behind for all I could do.
'Here is a go,' thought I, 'and I have backed myself for a hundred pounds in a half-mile race against this beggar.'
Well, I was behind, but Hazy and the fox seemed to me to be joined together running, when all of a sudden--pouff!
Hazy's wind and his pluck blew out together.
He tailed off.
Wasn't I pleased!
'Good-by, Hazy,' says I, as I shot by him and took up the running.
Well, I tried all I knew; but this confounded fellow ran me within half a mile of Sydney (N. B.
, within two miles of it).
My throat and all my inside was like an oven, and I was thinking of tailing off, too, when I heard the beggar puff and blow, so then I knew I must come up with him before long.
” “And did you, sir?
” asked Jenny in great excitement.
“Yes,” said the other, “I passed him even.
” “But did you catch him?
” “Well!
why--yes--I caught him--as the Chinese caught the Tartar.
This was one of your downy coves that are up to every move.
When he found he hadn't legs to run from me he slips back to meet me.
Down he goes under my leg--I go blundering over him twenty miles an hour.
He lifts me clear over his head and I come flying down from the clouds heel over tip.
I'd give twenty pounds to know how it was done, and fifty to see it done--to a friend, All I know is that I should have knocked my own brains out if it had not been for my hat and my hand--they bore the brunt between them, as you see.
” “And what became of the poor man?
” asked Jane.
“Well, when the poor man had flung me over his head he ran on faster than ever, and by the time I had shaken my knowledge-box and found out north from south, I heard the poor man's nailed shoes clattering down the road.
To start again a hundred yards behind a poor man who could run like that would have been making a toil of a trouble, so I trotted back to meet Hazy.
“Well, I am glad he got off clear--ain't you, Tom?
” “Yes--no. A scoundrel that hashed the master like this--why, Jane, you must be mad!
” “Spare your virtuous indignation,” said the other coolly.
“Remember I had been hunting him like a wild beast till his heart was nearly broke, and, when I was down, he could easily have revenged himself by giving me a kick with his heavy shoes on the head or the loins that would have spoiled my running for a month of Sundays.
What do you say to that?
” Robinson colored.
“I say you are very good to make excuses for an unfortunate man--for a rascal--that is to say, a burglar; a--” “And how do you know he was all that?
” asked Jenny very sharply.
“Why did he run if he was not guilty?
” inquired Robinson cunningly.
“Guilty--what of?
” asked Jenny.
“That is more than I can tell you,” replied Robinson.
“I dare say,” said Jenny, “it was some peaceable man that took fright at seeing two wild young gentlemen come out like mad bulls after him.
” “When I have told you my story you will be better able to judge.
” “What, isn't the story ended?
” “Ended?
The cream of it is coming.
” “Oh, sir,” cried Jenny, “please don't go on till I come back.
I am going for the cold lotion now; I have fomented it enough.
” “Well, look sharp, then--here is the other all in a twitter with excitement.
” “Me, sir?
No--yes.
I am naturally interested.
” “Well, you haven't been long.
I don't think I want any lotion, the hot water has done it a good deal of good.
” “This will do it more.
” “But do you know it is rather a bore to have only one hand to cut bread and butter with?
” “I'll cut it, sir,” said Robinson, laying down his irons for a moment.
“How long shall you be, Jenny?
” asked Mr. Miles.
“I shall have done by when your story is done,” replied she coolly.
Mr. Miles laughed.
“Well, Jenny,” said he, “I hadn't walked far before I met Hazeltine.
'Have you got him?'
says he.
'Do I look like it?'
said I rather crustily.
Fancy a fool asking me whether I had got him!
So I told him all about it, and we walked back together.
