Quicksilver Part 6

Do you hear, Coleby? And be a very good boy to his benefactor, and--"

"Yes, yes, yes, Mr Hippetts," said the doctor, cutting him short. "I'm sure he will. Now, my man, are you ready?"

"Yes, sir," cried the boy eagerly; "but--"

"Well?" said the doctor kindly.

"I should like to say good-bye to some of the chaps, and I've got something to give 'em."

"Indeed! what?"

"Well, sir; I want to give d.i.c.k Dean my mouse, and Tommy Robson my nicker, and share all my b.u.t.tons among the chaps in my dormitory; and then I've six pieces of string and a pair of bones, and a sucker."

"Go and share them, and say good-bye to them all," said the doctor, drawing a breath full of satisfaction; and the boy darted away full of excitement.

"May I say a word to the boys, Mr Sibery?" said the doctor, smiling.

"Certainly, sir."

"Will you call for silence?"

The master called, and the doctor asked the lads to give their old schoolfellow a cheer as he was going away.

They responded with a shout that made the windows rattle.

"And now," said the doctor, "I'm going to ask Mr Hippetts to give you all a holiday, and I am leaving threepence a piece to be distributed among you, so that you may have a bit of fun."

Mr Hippetts smiled as he took the money, and the boys cheered again, in the midst of which shouts the doctor moved off with his charge, but only for his _protege_ to break away from him, and run to offer his hand to Mr Sibery, who coughed slightly, and shook hands limply, as if he were conferring a great favour.

The boy then held out his hand to the master, and he also shook hands in a dignified way.

"Shall I send the boy on, sir?" said Mr Hippetts.

"Thanks, no, Hippetts; I'll take him with me."

"Would you like a fly, sir?"

"No, Hippetts; I'm not ashamed for people to see what I do. Come along, my lad."

"Please, sir; mayn't I say good-bye to Mother Curdley?"

"Mother Curdley? Who is she!"

"Nurse, sir."

"The woman who had charge of him when he was a tiny fellow."

"Ah! to be sure. Yes, certainly," said the doctor. "He may, of course?"

"Oh! certainly, sir. Run on, boy, and we'll follow."

"No larks," said the boy sharply, as he looked at the doctor.

"No; I shall not run away, my man."

The boy darted down a long whitewashed pa.s.sage, and the doctor said:--

"I understand you to say that he has no friends whatever!"

"None, sir, as far as we know. Quite a foundling."

"That will do," said the doctor; and while the boy was bidding good-bye to the old woman who had tended the sick tramp, the master led the way to the nursery, where about a dozen children were crawling about and hanging close to a large fire-guard. Others were being nursed on the check ap.r.o.ns of some women, while one particularly sour creature was rocking a monstrous cradle, made like a port-wine basket, with six compartments, in every one of which was an unfortunate babe.

"Which he's a very good affectionate boy, sir," said a woman, coming up with the doctor's choice clinging to her ap.r.o.n; "and good-bye, and good luck, and there, G.o.d bless you, my dear!" she said, as she kissed the boy in a true motherly way, he clinging to her as the only being he had felt that he could love.

That burst of genuine affection won Mother Curdley five shillings, which she pocketed with one hand, as she wiped her eyes with the other, and then had a furtive pinch of snuff, which made several babies sneeze as if they had bad colds.

"Very eccentric man," said Mr Hippetts.

"Very," a.s.sented Mr Sibery.

"But he'll bring the young ruffian back."

The doctor did not hear, for he was walking defiantly down the main street, waving his gold-headed cane, while the boy clung to his hand, and walked with bent head, crying silently, but fighting hard to keep it back.

The doctor saw it, and pressed the boy's hand kindly.

"Yes," he said to himself; "I'll show old Danby now. The very boy I wanted. Ah," he added aloud; "here we are."

CHAPTER FIVE.

A "REG'LAR" BAD ONE.

Maria, the doctor's maid, opened the door, and as she admitted her master and his charge, her countenance was suggestive of round O's.

Her face was round, and her eyes opened into two round spots, while her mouth became a perfectly circular orifice, as the doctor himself took off the boy's cap, and marched him into the drawing-room, where Helen Grayson was seated.

On his way to the house, and with his young heart swelling at having to part from the only being who had been at all kind to him--for the recollection of the rough tramp had become extremely faint--the boy had had hard work to keep back his tears, but no sooner had he pa.s.sed the doctor's door than the novelty of all he saw changed the current of his thoughts, and he was full of eagerness and excitement.

The first inkling of this was shown as his eyes lit upon Maria's round face, and it tickled him so that he began to smile.

"Such impidence!" exclaimed Maria. "And a workus boy. My! what's master going to do with him?"

She hurried to the housekeeper's room, where Mrs Millett, who had kept the doctor's house, and attended to the cooking as well, ever since Mrs Grayson's death, was now seated making herself a new cap.

"A workhouse boy, Maria?" she said, letting her work fall upon her knees, and looking over the top of her spectacles.