by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHANGES.
Beyond the body of the crowd, outside the ring kept by the police, stoodNelly Hardy, watching, without a vestige of colour in her face, for thenews from below. She had given a gasping sigh of relief as the names,passed from mouth to mouth by the crowd, met her ear, and had leaned forsupport against the wall behind her. So great was her faith in Jack'sresources and in Jack's destiny that she had all along hoped, and theassertion that those who had first gone down to rescue the pitmen musthave fallen victims to the second explosion had fallen dead upon herears.
The school had been closed from the date of the accident, and had it notbeen so, she felt that she could not have performed her duties. Hourafter hour she had sat in her cottage alone--for her mother had died ayear before--except when Mrs. Dodgson, who had long suspected hersecret, came to sit awhile with her, or Harry brought the latest news.During this time she had not shed a tear, and, save for her white faceand hard unnatural voice, none could have told how she suffered. Harryhad brought her the news of the smoke being seen from the shaft of theLogan pit before he carried it to Mrs. Haden, and she had at once thrownon her bonnet and jacket and joined them as they started from thevillage. When she reached the pit she had not attempted to approach, buthad taken her place at a distance. Several of her pupils, with whom shewas a great favourite, had come up to speak to her, but her hoarse, "Notnow, dear; please go away," had sufficed to send them off. But deeplyagitated as she was, she was hopeful; and deep as was her joy at thenews of Jack's safety she was hardly surprised. Dropping her veil tohide the tears of joy which streamed down her cheeks, she turned to gohome; but she was more shaken than she had thought, and she had to graspat the wall for support.
So she waited until the last of the miners arrived at the surface, andheard the speech of the government inspector. Then when she heard Jack'selevation announced, the news shook her even more than that of hissafety had done, and she fainted. When she recovered the crowd was gone,and Harry only stood beside her. He had felt that she would rather standand watch alone, and had avoided going near her, but when Jack wasdriven off he had hastened to her side. He knew how she would object toher emotion becoming known, and had contented himself with lifting herveil, untying her bonnet strings, putting her in a sitting attitudeagainst the wall, and waiting patiently till she came round.
"Are you better now?" he inquired anxiously when she opened her eyes.
"Yes, I am well now," she said, glancing hastily round to see if othersbeside himself had noticed her situation; "I am quite well."
"Don't try to get up; sit still a few minutes longer," he said. "Don'ttry to talk."
"He has got his rise at last," she said smiling faintly and looking up;"he has gone right away from us at a bound."
"I am glad," Harry said simply. "He has earned it. He is a grand, aglorious fellow, is Jack. Of course I shall never be to him now what Ihave been, but I know that he will be as true a friend as ever, though Imay not see so much of him."
"You are more unselfish than I, Harry; but as he was to rise, it wasbetter that it should be at a bound far above me. Now I am better; letme go home."
Jack Simpson's fainting fit had been but of short duration. His sturdyorganization soon recovered from the shock which the fresh air and Mr.Hardinge's announcement had made upon a frame exhausted by privation,fatigue, and excitement. None the less was he astonished and indignantwith himself at what he considered a girlish weakness. His thoughtswere, however, speedily diverted from himself by a pitman telling himthat Jane Haden was in a second faint close by. Mr. Brook's carriagehad been sent for in readiness, immediately the possibility of his beingfound alive had appeared; and that gentleman insisted upon Mrs. Hadenbeing lifted into it, and upon Jack taking his seat beside her tosupport her. He then followed, and, amidst the cheers of the crowd,started for Stokebridge.
Mrs. Haden recovered before reaching the village; and leaving her andJack at their home, with an intimation that the carriage would come atan early hour next morning to fetch the latter up to the hall, Mr. Brookdrove off alone.
That afternoon was a proud day for Bill Haden and his wife, but a tryingone for Jack.
Every one in the place who had the slightest knowledge of him called toshake his hand and congratulate him on his promotion, his friends ofboyhood first among them. Harry was one of the earliest comers, andtears fell down the cheeks of both as they clasped hands in silent joyat their reunion. Not a word was spoken or needed.
"Go round to Nelly," Jack said in an undertone as other visitorsarrived; "tell her I will come in and see her at seven o'clock. Comeagain yourself before that, let us three meet together again."
So quickly did the callers press in that the little room could not holdthem; and Jack had to go to the front door, there to shake hands and saya word to all who wanted to see him. It was quite a levee, and it wasonly the fact that the gloom of a terrible calamity hung overStokebridge that prevented the demonstration being noisy as well asenthusiastic.
By six o'clock all his friends had seen him, and Jack sat down with BillHaden and his wife. Then Jane Haden's feelings relieved themselves by acopious flood of tears; and Bill himself, though he reproached her forcrying on such an occasion, did so in a husky voice.
"Thou art going to leave us, Jack," Jane Haden said; "and though weshall miss thee sorely, thou mustn't go to think that Bill or me besorry at the good fortune that be come upon you. Thou hast been a son,and a good son to us, and ha' never given so much as a day's trouble. Iknow'd as how you'd leave us sooner or later. There was sure to be atime when all the larning thou hast worked so hard to get would bringthee to fortune, but I didn't think 'twould come so soon."
Bill Haden removed from his lips the pipe--which, in his endeavour tomake up for loss of time, he had smoked without ceasing from the momentof his rescue--and grunted an acquiescence with his wife's speech.
"My dear mother and dad," Jack said, "there must be no talk of partingbetween us. As yet, of course, it is too soon to form plans for thefuture; but be assured that there will be no parting. You took me when Iwas a helpless baby; but for you I should have been a workhouse child,and might now be coming out of my apprenticeship to a tinker or atailor. I owe all I have, all I am, to you; and whatever fortune befallme you will still be dad and mother. For a short time I must go to thehall, as Mr. Brook has invited me; and we shall have much to arrange andtalk over. Afterwards I suppose I shall have to go to the manager'shouse, but, of course, arrangements will have to be made as to Mr.Fletcher's widow and children; and when I go there, of course you willcome too."
"Thee'st a good un, lad," Bill Haden said, for Mrs. Haden's tearsprevented her speech; "but I doubt what thou say'st can be; but weneedn't talk that over now. But t' old 'ooman and I be none the lessglad o' thy words, Jack; though the bit and sup that thou had'st heretill you went into th' pit and began to pay your way ain't worth thespeaking o'. Thou beats me a'together, Jack. When un see's a good pup unlooks to his breed, and un finds it pure; but where thou get'st thypoints from beats me a'together. Thy mother were a schoolmaster'sdaughter, but she had not the name o' being fond o' larning, and wasa'ways weak and ailing; thy dad, my mate Jack Simpson, was as true amate as ever man had; but he were in no ways uncommon. The old 'oomanand I ha' reared ye; but, arter all, pups don't follow theirfoster-mother, for the best bull pup ain't noways injured by having ahalf-bred un, or for the matter o' that one wi' no breed at all, as afoster-mother; besides the old 'ooman and me has no points at all, 'cepton my part, such as are bad uns; so it beats me fairly. It downrightshakes un's faith in breeding."
Here Harry's tap was heard at the door, and Jack, leaving Bill Haden toponder over his egregious failure in proving true to blood, joined hisfriend outside.
Scarce a word was spoken between the two young men as they walked acrossto Nelly Hardy's little cottage by the schoolhouse. The candles werealready lighted, and Nelly rose as they entered.
"My dear Nelly."
"My dear Jack," she said, throwing her arms round his neck as a sistermight have done, and kissing him, for the first time in her life; andcrying, "My dear Jack, thank God you are restored alive to us."
"Thank God indeed," Jack said reverently; "it has been almost a miracle,Nelly, and I am indeed thankful. We prayed nearly as hard as we worked,and God was with us; otherwise assuredly we had never passed throughsuch danger uninjured. I thought many a time of you and Harry, and whatyou would be doing and thinking.
"I never gave up hope, did I, Harry?" she said; "I thought that somehowsuch a useful life as yours would be spared."
"Many other useful lives have been lost, Nelly," Jack said sadly; "butit was not my time."
"And now," Nelly said changing her tone, "there are other things to talkof. Will you please take a chair, sir," and she dropped a curtsy."Didn't I tell you, Jack," she said, laughing at the astonishment inJack's face, "that when you congratulated me on getting my post here andcalled me Miss Hardy, that the time would come when I should say, Sir toyou. It has come, Jack, sooner than we expected, but I knew it wouldcome."
Then changing her tone again, as they sat looking at the fire, she wenton, "You know we are glad, Jack, Harry and I, more glad than we can say,that needs no telling between us, does it?"
"None," Jack said. "We are one, we three, and no need to say we are gladat each other's success."
"We have had happy days," Nelly said, "but they will never be quite thesame again. We shall always be friends, Jack, always--true and dearfriends, but we cannot be all in all to each other. I know, dear Jack,"she said as she saw he was about to speak vehemently, "that you will beas much our friend in one way as ever, but you cannot be our companion.It is impossible, Jack. We have trod the same path together, but yourpath leaves ours here. We shall be within sound of each other's voices,we shall never lose sight of each other, but we are no longer together."
"I have not thought it over yet," Jack said quietly. "It is all too newand too strange to me to see yet how things will work; but it is true,Nelly, and it is the one drawback to my good fortune, that there must besome little change between us. But in the friendship which began whenyou stood by me at the old shaft and helped me to save Harry, therewill be no change. I have risen as I always had determined to rise; Ihave worked for this from the day when Mr. Pastor, my artist friend,told me it was possible I might reach it, but I never dreamed it wouldcome so soon; and I have always hoped and thought that I should keep youboth with me. How things will turn out we do not know, but, dearfriends," and he held out a hand to each, "believe me, that I shallalways be as I am now, and that I shall care little for my good fortuneunless I can retain you both as my dearest friends."