Nobody's Boy

by Hector Malot

  CHAPTER XII

  THE MASTER'S CONSENT

  It was all to end,--this beautiful trip that I had made on the barge. Nonice bed, no nice pastry, no evenings listening to Mrs. Milligan. Ah! noMrs. Milligan or Arthur!

  One day I decided to ask Mrs. Milligan how long it would take me to getback to Toulouse. I wanted to be waiting at the prison door when mymaster came out. When Arthur heard me speak of going back, he began tocry.

  "I don't want him to go! I don't want Remi to go," he sobbed.

  I told him that I belonged to Vitalis, and that he had paid a sum ofmoney for me, and that I must return to him the moment he wanted me. Ihad spoken of my foster parents, but had never said that they were notreally my father and mother. I felt ashamed to admit that I was afoundling,--a child picked up in the streets! I knew how the childrenfrom the Foundlings' Hospital had been scorned. It seemed to me that itwas the most abject thing in the world to be a foundling. I did not wantMrs. Milligan and Arthur to know. Would they not have turned from me indisdain!

  "Mamma, we must keep Remi," continued Arthur.

  "I should be very pleased to keep Remi with us," replied Mrs. Milligan;"we are so fond of him. But there are two things; first, Remi would haveto want to stay...."

  "Oh, he does! he does!" cried Arthur, "don't you, Remi? You don't wantto go back to Toulouse?"

  "The second is," continued Mrs. Milligan, "will his master give him up?"

  "Remi comes first; he comes first," Arthur insisted.

  Vitalis had been a good master, and I was very grateful for all he hadtaught me, but there was no comparison between my life with him and thatwhich I should have with Arthur, and at the same time, there was also nocomparison between the respect I had for Vitalis and the affection whichI felt for Mrs. Milligan and her invalid boy. I felt that it was wrongfor me to prefer these strangers to my master, but it was so. I lovedMrs. Milligan and Arthur.

  "If Remi stays with us it will not be all pleasure," went on Mrs.Milligan; "he would have to do lessons the same as you; he would have tostudy a great deal; it would not be the free life that he would have ingoing tramping along the roads."

  "Ah, you know what I would like,..." I began.

  "There, there, you see, Mamma!" interrupted Arthur.

  "All that we have to do now," continued Mrs. Milligan, "is to get hismaster's consent. I will write and ask him if he will come here, for wecannot return to Toulouse. I will send him his fare, and explain to himthe reason why we cannot take the train. I'll invite him here, and I dohope he will accept.

  "If he agrees to my proposition," added Mrs. Milligan, "I will then makearrangements with your parents, Remi, for of course they must beconsulted."

  Consult my parents! They will tell her what I have been trying to keepsecret. That I am a foundling! Then neither Arthur nor Mrs. Milliganwould want me!

  A boy who did not know his own father or mother had been a companion toArthur! I stared at Mrs. Milligan in affright. I did not know what tosay. She looked at me in surprise. I did not dare reply to her questionwhen she asked me what was the matter. Probably thinking that I wasupset at the thought of my master coming, she did not insist.

  Arthur looked at me curiously all the evening. I was glad when bedtimecame, and I could close myself in my cabin. That was my first bad nighton board the _Swan_. What could I do? What say?

  Perhaps Vitalis would not give me up, then they would never know thetruth. My shame and fear of them finding out the truth was so great thatI began to hope that Vitalis would insist upon me staying with him.

  Three days later Mrs. Milligan received a reply to the letter she hadsent Vitalis. He said that he would be pleased to come and see her, andthat he would arrive the following Saturday, by the two o'clock train. Iasked permission to go to the station with the dogs and Pretty-Heart tomeet him.

  In the morning the dogs were restless as though they knew that somethingwas going to happen. Pretty-Heart was indifferent. I was terriblyexcited. My fate was to be decided. If I had possessed the courage Iwould have implored Vitalis not to tell Mrs. Milligan that I was afoundling, but I felt that I could not utter the word, even to him.

  I stood on a corner of the railway station, holding my dogs on a leash,with Pretty-Heart under my coat, and I waited. I saw little of whatpassed around me. It was the dogs who warned me that the train hadarrived. They scented their master. Suddenly there was a tug at theleash. As I was not on my guard, they broke loose. With a bark theybounded forward. I saw them spring upon Vitalis. More sure, althoughless supple than the other two, Capi had jumped straight into hismaster's arms, while Zerbino and Dulcie jumped at his feet.

  When Vitalis saw me, he put Capi down quickly, and threw his arms aroundme. For the first time he kissed me.

  "God bless you, my boy," he said again, and again.

  My master had never been hard with me, but neither had he ever beenaffectionate, and I was not used to these effusions. I was touched, andthe tears came to my eyes, for I was in the mood when the heart iseasily stirred. I looked at him. His stay in prison had aged himgreatly. His back was bent, his face paler, and his lips bloodless.

  "You find me changed, don't you, Remi?" he said; "I was none too happyin prison, but I'll be better now I'm out."

  Then, changing the subject, he added:

  "Tell me about this lady who wrote to me; how did you get to know her?"

  I told him how I had met Mrs. Milligan and Arthur in their barge, the_Swan_, on the canal, and of what we had seen, and what we had done. Irambled along hardly knowing what I said. Now that I saw Vitalis, I feltthat it would be impossible to tell him that I wanted to leave him andstay with Mrs. Milligan.

  We reached the hotel where Mrs. Milligan was staying, before my storywas ended. Vitalis had not mentioned what she had proposed to him in herletter, so I said nothing of her plan.

  "Is this lady expecting me?" he asked, as we entered the hotel.

  "Yes, I'll take you up to her apartment," I said.

  "There's no occasion for that," he replied; "I'll go up alone; you waithere for me with Pretty-Heart and the dogs."

  I had always obeyed him, but in this case I felt that it was only fairfor me to go up with him to Mrs. Milligan's apartment. But with a signhe stopped the words on my lips, and I was forced to stay below with thedogs.

  Why didn't he want me to be present when he spoke to Mrs. Milligan? Iasked myself this question again and again. I was still pondering overit when he returned.

  "Go and say good-by to the lady," he said, briefly. "I'll wait for youhere. We shall go in ten minutes."

  I was thunderstruck.

  "Well," he said, "didn't you understand me? You stand there like astupid! Hurry up!"

  He had never spoken so roughly to me. Mechanically I got up to obey, notseeming to understand. "What did you say to her?" I asked, after I hadgone a few steps.

  "I said that I needed you and that you needed me, and consequently I wasnot going to give up my rights to you. Go; I give you ten minutes to saygood-by."

  I was so possessed by the fact that I was a foundling, that I thoughtthat if I had to leave immediately it was because my master had toldthem about my birth.

  Upon entering Mrs. Milligan's apartment I found Arthur in tears and hismother bending over him.

  "You won't go, Remi! Oh, Remi, tell me you won't go," he sobbed.

  I could not speak. Mrs. Milligan replied for me, telling Arthur that Ihad to do as I was told.

  "Signor Vitalis would not consent to let us have you," said Mrs.Milligan in a voice so sad.

  "He's a wicked man!" cried Arthur.

  "No, he is not a wicked man," continued Mrs. Milligan; "he loves you ...and he needs you. He speaks like a man far above his position. He toldme,--let me see, these were his words:

  "'I love that child, and he loves me. The apprenticeship in the lifethat I give him is good for him, better, far better, than he would havewith you. You would give him an education, that is true; you would formhis mind, b
ut not his character. It is the hardships of life that alonecan do that. He cannot be your son; he will be mine. That is better thanto be a plaything for your sick child, however sweet he may be. I alsowill teach the boy.'"

  "But he isn't Remi's father," cried Arthur.

  "That is true, but he is his master, and Remi belongs to him. For thetime being, Remi must obey him. His parents rented him to SignorVitalis, but I will write to them and see what I can do."

  "Oh, no, no, don't do that," I cried.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Oh, no, please don't."

  "But that is the only thing to do, my child."

  "Oh, please, please don't."

  If Mrs. Milligan had not spoken of my parents, I should have taken muchmore than the ten minutes to say good-by that my master had given me.

  "They live in Chavanon, do they not?" asked Mrs. Milligan.

  Without replying, I went up to Arthur and, putting my arms round him,clung to him for a moment then, freeing myself from his weak clasp, Iturned and held out my hand to Mrs. Milligan.

  "Poor child," she murmured, kissing me on the forehead.

  I hurried to the door.

  "Arthur, I will love you always," I said, choking back my sobs, "and Inever, never will forget you, Mrs. Milligan."

  "Remi! Remi!" cried Arthur.

  I closed the door. One moment later I was with Vitalis.

  "Off we go," he said.

  And that was how I parted from my first boy friend.