by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XVI.
JOHN HOLL, DUST CONTRACTOR.
IT was a pathetic meeting between Captain Bayley and his newly-foundgrandson. The latter had been astounded at the wonderful news that Mrs.Holl had brought home. His first thought was that of indignation, thathis mother should have been a penniless wanderer in the streets ofLondon, while her father was rolling in wealth; but Mrs. Holl'sdescription of the old officer's agitation and pleasure, and the longefforts which he had made to find his daughter, convinced him that theremust at least have been some fault on both sides.
"My poor boy," Captain Bayley said, as he entered the room, "if you knewhow long and earnestly I have sought for you, and how many years I havegrieved and repented my harshness to your mother, you would not find itin your heart to think hardly of me. We were both to blame, my boy, andwe were both punished, heavily punished; but you shall have all thestory some day. I know that it must be a bitter thought for you that shedied homeless, save for the shelter which this good woman afforded her;but I hope that you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive anold man who has been terribly punished, and that you will let me do mybest to atone by making your life as happy as I can."
Harry took the hand which the old officer held out to him.
"For myself, I have nothing to forgive, sir. My life has been a happyone, thanks to the kindness and love of my father and mother here; as tomy real mother, of course, I do not remember her, nor is it for me tojudge between her and you. At any rate I can well believe that you musthave suffered greatly. I have been thinking it over, and it seems to methat the mere fact that your wishes have at last been carried out, andthat you have so strangely found your daughter's son, would seem as ifany wrongs you did her are considered by God as atoned for. I am sorrythat I am a cripple; I have been sorry before sometimes, but never sosorry as now, for it must be a great disappointment to you."
"I am so pleased at finding you as you are, my boy," Captain Bayleysaid, "for I had feared that if you were alive it must be as a vagrant,or perhaps even a criminal, that your bodily misfortune is as nothing inmy eyes. This is my ward, Miss Hardy; she is something like agranddaughter to me, and is prepared to be a sister to you."
"I have heard of her from Evan, sir," Harry said, with a bright look atthe girl. "He has told me how every one in the house loves her, and howfond my kind friend----" But here he stopped abruptly. The tale ofFrank's sudden departure was a subject of frequent discussion at theHolls', as well as in the servants' hall in Eaton Square; and althoughHarry's indignation on behalf of his friend had been extreme, he pausednow before uttering the name, for at this first meeting with hisrelation he felt that no unpleasant topic should be introduced.
There was a moment's silence as he paused, but Alice advanced fearlesslyand gave the boy her hand.
"Thank you, Harry, for what you say, and we shall be all the betterfriends because you love, as I do, my dear good cousin, Frank."
"Well, Harry," Captain Bayley said hastily, "when will you come home tome? I don't want to press you to leave your kind friends here toosuddenly, but I am longing to have you home. I have the carriage at theend of the street if you will come now."
"No, grandfather, not to-day; I will come to-morrow. Father took hisdinner away with him, and he will not be back till this evening, and Iam not going to let him come and find me gone."
"Quite right, my boy, quite right," Captain Bayley said. "Thento-morrow, at eleven o'clock, I will come round in the carriage andfetch you. Mrs. Holl, remember that Harry Bayley owes you a deep debt ofgratitude, which he will do his best some day to repay as far as it isin his power. Good-bye, Harry, for the present. I am glad your mothergave you my name; it seems to show she thought kindly of me at the last.Perhaps she found, poor girl, that I had not been altogether wrong in myopposition to her unhappy fancy."
The following day Harry was installed in Eaton Square. Captain Bayleywas delighted to find how easily and naturally he fell into the newposition, how well he expressed himself, and how wide was his range ofknowledge.
"He is a gentleman, every inch," he exclaimed delightedly to Alice. "Ifyou knew how I have thought of him you would understand how happy itmakes me to see him what he is."
Captain Bayley lost no time in obtaining the best possible surgicaladvice for his grandson; their opinion was not as favourable as he hadhoped. Had he been properly treated at the time of his accident hemight, they said, have made a complete recovery; but now it was toolate. However, they thought that by means of surgical appliances, and acourse of medicinal baths, he might recover the use of his legs to someextent, and be able to walk with crutches. This was something, and theCaptain determined at once to carry their advice into effect.
Between Alice Hardy and the lad a strong friendship speedily sprang up.The girl's bright talk, which was so different from anything he hadhitherto experienced was very delightful to the lad; but the strong bondbetween them was their mutual feeling about Frank. From her Harrylearned the charge under which Frank laboured, and his indignantrepudiation of the possibility of such a thing delighted Alice's heart;hitherto she had been alone in her belief, and it was delightful to herto talk with one who was of her own way of thinking. She infected Harrywith her own dislike and suspicions of Fred Barkley, and amused the ladgreatly by telling him how, when she had heard of the discovery of hisexistence, she had, when Mrs. Holl left, gone straight up to her roomand indulged in a wild dance of delight at the destruction of Fred'shope of being Captain Bayley's sole heir.
"It was glorious," she said. "I knew Fred hated Frank, though Frank,silly old boy, was always taking his part with me, and scolding mebecause I didn't like his cousin; and I am quite, quite sure that he hashad something to do with getting Frank into this dreadful scrape, and itwas glorious to think that just when he thought that he had got thefield clear, and uncle Harry all to himself, you should suddenly appearand put his nose out of joint. That's a very unladylike expression,Harry, and I know I oughtn't to use it, but there's nothing else does sowell. It's Fred's holidays now, and he is away; I expect uncle willwrite and tell him all about it. I wish he wouldn't, for I would giveanything to see his face when he walks in and sees you sitting here andhears who you are."
"Oh! but I hope," Harry said, "that grandfather won't make anydifference to any one because of me. What would be the use of much moneyto me. Of course I should like to have a little house, with a man towheel me about; but what could I want beyond that?"
"Oh! nonsense, Harry. In the first place you are going to get better;and even if you were not, you could enjoy life in lots of ways. Ofcourse you would have nice carriages and horses; you might keep ayacht--Frank was always saying that he would like to have a yacht,--andI don't see why you shouldn't go into Parliament. I am sure you areclever enough, and I have heard uncle say that three-fourths of themembers are fools. He says something naughty before fools, but you knowhe swears dreadfully; he does not mean it, not in the least; I supposehe learned it in India. I tell him it is very wrong sometimes, but hesays he is too old to get rid of bad habits. I wish he wouldn't do it;and the worst of it is, Harry," she said plaintively, "that instead ofbeing very much shocked, as I ought to be, very often I can hardly helplaughing, he does put in that dreadful word so funnily."
"No, I should not care about being in Parliament," the boy said. "If Iwere ever so rich I think I might like a yacht; still, a yacht, if itwere only a small one, would cost a great deal of money, and I do hopethat grandfather won't disappoint any one for my sake."
Captain Bayley had, however, a few days after the discovery of hisgrandson, and after having satisfied himself how lovable the lad was,and how worthy in all respects to be his heir, written to Fred Barkley,telling him that his grandson had been found, and that he was all thathe could wish to find him.
"Naturally, Fred," he wrote, "this will make a considerable differencein your prospects. At the same time, as you have been led to believethat you would come into a considerable property at my death,
and as youhave done nothing to forfeit my confidence and affection, having provedyourself in all ways a steady and industrious and honourable youngfellow, I do not consider it right that you should be altogetherdisinherited by a discovery which has occasioned me such vast pleasure.I have therefore instructed my solicitor to prepare a new will. By thishe will settle my property in Warwickshire, and my town house, upon mygrandson; but my other house property, and a portion of my money instocks and shares, which has been accumulating for many years, will beleft to you, the value of the legacy being, I calculate, about one-halfof that of the property left to my grandson. Thus you will be in nearlythe same position you would have occupied had not your cousin Frankforfeited, by his disgraceful conduct, his place in my affections."
Whatever may have been the feelings of Fred Barkley when he receivedthis communication, he wrote a graceful letter of congratulation to hisuncle, expressing his pleasure at the discovery of his long-lostgrandson, and with many thanks for his kind intention on his own behalf.His anger and disappointment were so great that he did not return totown until the day before he was going up to Cambridge--having leftWestminster at the end of the preceding term--for he did not feelhimself equal, before that time, to continue to play his part, and toexpress personally the sentiments which he had written. What renderedhis disappointment even more bitter was the thought that, indirectly, itwas Frank who had dealt him the blow, for Captain Bayley had mentionedin his letter that it was through the boy whom his cousin hadrecommended as an assistant to the footman that the discovery had beenmade.
The visit that he paid at Eaton Square was a short one. To his reliefAlice was not present, for he was certain that she would have watchedhim with malicious pleasure. But there had been a passage of armsbetween her and her guardian of a more serious nature than any which hadoccurred since she had been under his care, owing to her havingexpressed herself with her usual frankness respecting Fred's visit.
Her guardian had resented this warmly, and had rated her so severely asto what he called her wicked prejudice against Fred, that she hadretired to her room in tears. This defeat of his favourite had notpredisposed Harry to any more favourable opinion of his unknown cousin;but Fred, relieved from the presence of Alice, acted his part so well,and infused so genuine a ring into the tone of his congratulations, thathe did much to dissipate the prejudice with which Harry was prepared toregard him. Alice was quick to observe the impression which Fred hadmade, and quarrelled hotly with Harry concerning it.
"I am disappointed in you altogether, Harry. I have looked upon you asbeing a real friend of Frank, and now you desert him directly his enemysays a few soft words to you. I despise such friendship, and I don'twant to have anything more to say to you."
In vain Harry protested. The girl flung herself out of the room in deepanger, and thenceforth, for a long time, Harry was made to feel thatalthough she wished to be civil to him as her guardian's grandson, yetthat the bond of union between them was entirely broken. Harry himselfhad lost no time in speaking to his grandfather on behalf of Frank.
"My dear Harry," the old man said, "my faith in his innocence was asstrong as yours, and, crushing as the proofs seemed to be, I would neverhave doubted him had he defended himself. But he did not; he never sentme a line to ask me to suspend my judgment or to declare his innocence;he ran away like a thief at night, and, although Fred generously triedto soften the fact to me, there is no doubt he admitted his guilt tohim. Still, after the lesson I had in your mother's case, I wouldforgive him did I know where he was.
"I do not say, Harry, that I would restore him to his place in myaffection and confidence, that of course would be impossible; but Iwould willingly send him a cheque for a handsome amount, say for fivethousand pounds, to establish him in business, or set him up in a farmin one of the colonies."
"That is no use, grandfather," Harry said, "if he is innocent--as I mostfirmly believe him to be, in spite of everything against him, and shallbelieve him to be to my dying day, unless he himself tells me that hewas guilty--he will not accept either your forgiveness or your money.What I wish is that he could be found. I wish that I could see him, orthat you could see him, face to face, and that we could hear from hisown lips what he has to say. He might, at least, account for his foolishrunning away instead of facing it out.
"We do not know how desperate he might have been at being unable toclear himself from the charge brought against him. Remember, he couldnot have known how hotly you were working on his behalf, and may havebelieved himself altogether deserted. He may account for not havingwritten to you. And we must remember, grandfather--mind I do not shareall Alice's prejudice, and have no inclination in any way to doubt thehonesty of my cousin Fred--but at the same time, in bare justice toFrank, we must not forget that Fred was really a rival of his in youraffections, and that he would possibly benefit greatly by Frank'sdisgrace, and, we must also remember that the only evidence againstFrank, with the exception of the circumstantial proof, comes from him.
"It was he who furnished Frank with funds to enable him to run away, andwe cannot tell whether or not he did not even urge him to fly. You mustremember, grandfather, that Alice asserts Fred always hated Frank. Iknow she is prejudiced, and that you never noticed the feeling, nor didFrank; but children's perceptions are very quick. And even allowingthat she liked Frank much the best, Fred was always, as she admits, verykind and attentive to her--more so, in some ways, than Frank, and therewas no reason, therefore, for her taking up such a prejudice had she notbeen convinced that it was true.
"Now, grandfather, I will tell you what has occurred to me. I know itwill appear a hideously unjust suspicion to you, but I will tell youonce for all, and we will not recur to the subject again; God knows Imay be wronging him cruelly, but the wrong would be no greater than thatwhich has been done to Frank if he is really innocent.
"Ever since you told me the whole story, I have lain awake at nightthinking it over. It may be that what Alice has said may have turned mythoughts that way, but I can see only two explanations of the affair.
"Frank is really guilty, or he is altogether innocent. If he isinnocent, who was guilty? Some one took the note, some one sent it toFrank, and this some one must be a person who knew that Frank was inneed of it; whoever did so can only have done it with one of twomotives, either to get Frank out of trouble, or to bring disgrace uponhim. Only four boys knew of the affair, and they all declare that theytold no one else. If they spoke truly it was one of these four sent himthe note--always supposing that he did not take it himself. Of the otherthree I know nothing; but I will take the case of Fred and view it as ifhe was a stranger to both of us.
"He was a rival of Frank's. Alice declares he hated him. At any rate hewould benefit greatly by Frank's disgrace. What did he do when Frankasked him to help him? He refused to do so, on the ground that he had nomoney; but two days later he was able to raise double the sum Frankthen wanted in order to assist him to fly. Dreadful as the suppositionis, it seems to me that the only positive alternative to supposing Frankto be guilty is to believe that his cousin took this note and sent it tohim in order to bring him into disgrace, and that he afterwards urgedand assisted him to fly in order to stamp his guilt more firmly uponhim."
While Harry had been speaking Captain Bayley had paced up and down theroom.
"Impossible, Harry," he exclaimed, "impossible. For, bad as was the caseof Frank taking the note on the pressure of the moment to get himselfout of the silly scrape into which he had got, this charge which youbring against Fred would be a hundred times, ay, a thousand times worse.It would be a piece of hideous treachery, a piece of villainy of which Ican scarce believe a human being capable."
"I do not bring the charge, grandfather," Harry said quietly, "I onlystate the alternative. That one of your nephews took this note seems tome to be clear; the crime would be infinitely greater, infinitely moreunpardonable in the one case than the other, but the incentive, too, wasenormously greater. In the one case the only object for t
he theft wouldbe to avoid the consequence of a foolish, but, after all, not a seriousfreak; in the other to obtain a large fortune, and to ruin the chancesof a dangerous rival.
"Remember, at that time Fred did not know how you had determined todispose of your property. Frank was living with you, and was apparentlyyour favourite, therefore he may have deemed that it was all or nothing.There, grandfather, I have done. I need not say that I know little ofthe real disposition of your two nephews. Frank behaved to me with thegreatest kindness when I was a poor cripple without the slightest claimupon him. Fred has behaved kindly and courteously, although I have comebetween him and you. I can only say that I believe that one of these twomust be guilty; which it is, God alone knows."
"I wish you had said nothing about it," Captain Bayley groaned, "it isdreadful; I don't know what to do or what to think."
"There is nothing to be done," Harry said, "except, grandfather, to findFrank. Let us find him and see him face to face; let us hear his storyfrom beginning to end, and I think then we shall arrive at a justconclusion. I have no doubt he has gone abroad, and I should advise thatyou should advertise in all the Colonial and American papers begging himto return to have an interview with you, and offering a handsome rewardto any one who will give you information of his whereabouts. If we findwhere he is, and he will not come to us, we will go to him."
"That's what I will do, Harry. I will not lose a moment's time, but willset about it at once; if I spend ten thousand pounds in advertising Iwill find him. As to Fred, I cannot meet him again until I get to thebottom of the affair, so we will stay away from England till I get somenews of Frank."
Before starting abroad, Captain Bayley carried out his plan forrewarding John and Sarah Holl for the kindness they had shown to Harry.After consultation with his grandson, he had concluded that the bestplan of doing so would be to help them in their own mode of life. Heaccordingly called upon the dust-contractor for whom John Holl worked, aman who owned twenty carts. An agreement was soon come to with him, bywhich Captain Bayley agreed to purchase his business at his own price,with the whole of the plant, carts, and horses. A fortnight after thisJohn's master said to him one day--
"John, I have sold my business, you are going to have a new master."
"I am sorry for that," John said, "for we have got on very well togetherfor the last fifteen years. Besides," he added thoughtfully, "it may bea bad job for me; I am not as young as I used to be, and he may bringnew hands with him."
"I will speak to him about you, John," his master said; "he is a goodsort, and I dare say I can manage it. The thing is going to be donewell. Three or four new carts are going to be put on instead of some ofthe old ones, and there are ten first-rate horses coming in place ofsome of those that are getting past work. The stables are all being doneup, and the thing is going to be done tip-top. Curiously enough his nameis the same as yours, John Holl."
"Is it now?" John said. "Well, that will be a rum go, to see my own nameon the carts, 'John Holl, Dust Contractor.' It don't sound bad, neither.So you will speak to him, gaffer?"
"Ay, I will speak to him," his employer answered.
Three days later John received a message from his master to the effectthat the new gaffer would take possession next day, and that he was tocall at the office at eleven o'clock. He added that his new employersaid that he wished Mrs. Holl to go round with her husband.
John and Sarah were greatly mystified with the latter part of thismessage, until the solution occurred to them that probably their lateemployer had mentioned that Mrs. Holl went out charring and cleaning,and that he might intend to engage her to keep the office tidy.
Accordingly, at eleven o'clock on the following day, John and Sarahpresented themselves at the office at Chelsea. As they entered the yardthey were greatly amused at seeing all the carts ranged along, in theglory of new paint, with "John Holl, Dust Contractor," in large letterson their sides. A boy was in the office, who told them that they were togo to the house. The yard was situated near the river, and the housewhich adjoined it was a large old-fashioned building, standing in apretty, walled garden. They went to the back door, and knocked. It wasopened by a bright-looking servant-girl.
"Is Mr. Holl in?" Sarah asked.
"You are to be shown in," the girl said, and ushered them into a large,old-fashioned parlour, comfortably furnished.
John and Sarah gave a cry of surprise, for, sitting by the fire, in hiswheeled box, just as in the olden time, was Harry.
Scarce a day had passed since he had left them without his coming in fora half-hour for a chat with them, but his appearance here struck themwith astonishment.
"What on arth be you a-doing here, Harry?" Mrs. Holl asked. "Do you knowour new gaffer?"
"Yes, mother, I know him. Captain Bayley has had some business with him,and asked me to come down here to see him. You are to sit down until hecomes."
"But that will never do, Harry. Why, what would he think of us if hecomes in and finds us sitting down in his parlour just as if the placebelonged to us?"
"It's all right, mother, I will make it right with him; he's a goodfellow, is the new gaffer--a first-rate fellow."
"Is he, now?" John asked, interested, as he and Sarah, seeing nothingelse to do, sat down. "And his name is John Holl, just the same asmine?"
"Just the same, John, and he's not unlike you either. Now, when I tellyou what a kind action he did once, you will see the sort of fellow heis. Once, a good many years ago, when he wasn't as well off as he isnow, when he was just a hard-working man, earning his weekly pay, a poorwoman with a child fell down dying at his door. Well, you know, otherpeople would have sent for a policeman and had her taken off to theworkhouse, but he and his wife took her into their house and tended hertill she died."
"That was a right-down good thing," John said, quite oblivious of thefact that he too had done such an action.
Sarah did not speak, but gave a little gasping cry, and threw her apron,which she wore indoors and out, over her head, a sure sign with her thatshe was going to indulge in what she called "a good cry." John looked ather in astonishment.
"And more than that, John," Harry went on, "they took in the child, andbrought it up as one of their own; and though afterwards they had alarge family, they never made him feel that he was a burden to them,though he grew up a cripple, and was able to do nothing to repay themfor all their goodness. Well, at last the boy's friends were found. Theyhad lots of money, and the time came at last when they bought a businessfor John Holl; and when he came, there the cripple boy was, sitting atthe fire, to welcome them, and say, 'Welcome, father! and welcome,mother!'" and Harry held out his hands to them both.
Even now John Holl did not understand. He was naturally dull ofcomprehension, and the loud sobbing of his wife so bewildered andconfounded him, that it divided his attention with Harry's narrative.
"Yes, Harry," he said, "it's all very nice. But what's come to you,Sarah? What are you making all this fuss about? We shall be having thenew master coming in and finding you sobbing and rocking yourself like amad woman. Cheer up, old woman. What is it?"
"Don't you see, John," Sarah sobbed out, "don't you see Harry has beentelling you your own story? Don't you see that it is you he has beentalking about, and that you are 'John Holl, Dust Contractor'?"
"Me?" John said, in utter bewilderment.
"Yes, father," Harry said, taking his hand, "you are the John Holl. Thishouse, and the business, and the carts and horses, are yours; CaptainBayley has bought them all for you. He would not come here himself, as Iwished him, but he asked me to tell you and mother how glad he was to beable to repay, in a small way, he said your great kindness to me, andhow he hoped that you would prosper here, and be as happy as you deserveto be. You will be better off than your last gaffer, for he had to payrent for this house and yard, but, as grandfather has bought thefreehold of them all for you, you will have no rent to pay; andtherefore I hope, even in bad times, you will be able to get alongcomfortably. There, fa
ther, there, mother, dry your eyes, and looksharp, for I can hear voices in the garden. Evan went to your houseafter you had gone to bring all the children round here in a cab.
"You will find everything in the house, mother, and you must get a grandtea as soon as possible. I have got a servant for you--for, you know,you must have a servant now."
The next minute the children came bounding in, wild with delight, and ahappier party never assembled than those who sat round the table of"John Holl, Dust Contractor," on the evening of his first takingpossession of his new property.