Ralph Clavering Part 2

"No fear of that, I'm up to you," cried Ralph, growing angry. "Be off with you."

"I've always heard that one good turn deserves another, and believed it too, gipsy though I am, but I am not likely to get it this time," said the man, eyeing Ralph with a glance of contempt.

Just then Lilly, hearing her cousin speaking loudly, came to the hall door. No sooner did she see the man than she exclaimed, "Why, that is the kind gipsy who carried you to Dame Harvey's cottage, and would take no reward. What is it you want, poor man? Tell us, that we may do what we can."

The gipsy repeated his previous story.

"We will go there immediately, and carry some food and other things for your family," she said. "But you are hungry yourselves, Ralph, tell Mrs Gammage that she must let them have some dinner, and that she must put up some food and blankets, and some other things for you to carry."

Ralph demurred. Lilly grew impatient. "If we do not find matters as they are described, we can but bring the things back," she observed.

This satisfied her cousin, who had thus suddenly become so scrupulous.

It is wonderful how careful people are not to make a mistake in doing an act of charity.

"Blessings on thee, young mistress! You remember me, then, sweet lady?"

said the gipsy.

"I do, indeed," answered Lilly; "but I did not hear your name."

"Arnold I am called in this country, sweet lady," answered the gipsy.

"My people are not wont to ask favours, but we are starving; and though you call us outcasts and heathens, we can be grateful."

Ralph had gone to ask Mrs Gammage, very much to that lady's astonishment, to give the gipsies some food. Still greater was her surprise when he insisted on having some provisions put up to carry to their encampment. "Cousin Lilly will have it so," he answered, when she expostulated with him on the subject.

This settled the matter; and the gipsies, being invited into the servants' hall, had a more abundant meal placed before them than they had seen for many a day.

Ralph felt a pleasure which he had never before experienced, as he got into the pony-carriage with the stores the housekeeper had provided.

Lilly rode by his side, and away they went. They got to the encampment before Arnold and his son could reach it. It was in the centre of a thick copse, which sheltered the tents from the wind. They had need of such shelter, for the tents were formed of old canvas thickened by mats of rushes, but so low, that they scarcely allowed the inmates to sit upright. They took the gipsies completely by surprise, and Lilly saw at a glance that Arnold had in no way exaggerated their miserable condition. Great was the astonishment, therefore, of the poor people at having a plentiful supply of provisions presented to them. Lilly, who soon saw that those who were most ill were far beyond her skill, promised to send Dr Morison to them.

Lilly and Ralph were still at the encampment when Arnold and his son arrived. Their expressions of grat.i.tude, if not profuse, were evidently sincere. So reduced were the whole party to starvation, that it seemed likely, had aid not arrived, they must all soon have died. There were two or three girls and boys sitting on the ground, covered up with old mats, their elf-locks almost concealing their features, of which little more than their black sparkling eyes were visible, while some smaller children were crouching down under the rags which their mother had heaped over her. There was an iron pot hanging from a triangle over the fire; but it contained but a few turnips and other vegetables, not a particle of meat. Even the pony which drew the family cart looked half-starved, as if sharing the general distress.

"It is a pleasure to help those poor people," observed Ralph to his cousin, as they returned homeward. "I did not suppose so much wretchedness existed in England."

"There is far more than we have seen to-day," said Lilly. "When hard times come, there are thousands and thousands thrown out of work, who then from one day to another do not know how they are to find food to put into their mouths on the next."

"I should think that they might lay by when they are getting full wages," remarked Ralph.

A carriage pa.s.sing prevented Lilly from hearing the remark. The groom, who was driving, replied to it. "A hard job, Mr Ralph, for a poor man with a large family of hungry boys and girls able to eat, but to earn nothing, to lay by out of eight or nine shillings a week. Many a hard-working, strong man, gets no more. Why, Mr Ralph, you spend more on your clothes, gloves, and washing, and such like things."

"Yes; but I am different, Thomas, you know. I couldn't do without good clothes and other things," answered Ralph.

Thomas, fancying that he would be supported by Miss Lilly, ventured to say more than he would otherwise have done, and so he replied, "Don't see the difference, Mr Ralph. A rich man can't wear many more clothes at a time, or eat much more, than a poor one; and a poor one wants food and clothing as much as his betters. If he can't get them by honest means he sickens and dies, or takes to stealing. I don't know how the rich would act if they were to have the temptations the poor are exposed to!"

Ralph was not inclined to say anything more on the subject to Thomas; he felt angry at his speaking so plainly. Thomas had never before done so, undoubtedly because he was sensible how useless it would have been.

Not long after this they reached Dr Morison's house. Lilly told her tale, and the doctor promised to set off immediately to the gipsy encampment.

Never had Ralph appeared to greater advantage than he did on that day at dinner. He laughed and talked, and made himself generally agreeable.

His father and mother were surprised, and hailed the change as a sign of returning health. The doctor called in the evening. He had visited the gipsy encampment, and stated his belief, that if aid had not been sent to them, two or more of their number would have died before many days were over. "They owe their lives under Providence to you, Miss Vernon, I a.s.sure you," said the doctor.

"Not more to me than to my cousin," answered Lilly, promptly. "He got the eatables from Mrs Gammage, and carried them to the encampment. I should have been afraid of going alone."

The doctor did not repeat a version of the story which he had heard from Arnold, but he replied, "I am truly glad to hear that Mr Ralph busies himself about the welfare of his fellow-creatures."

Mr and Mrs Clavering looked surprised; the words struck strangely on their ears. They were so different to what they were accustomed to hear. Mrs Clavering had been inclined to complain of her son and niece having visited the gipsies for fear they might catch a fever from them or get robbed, and now she heard them praised by Dr Morison, for whose opinion she had great respect; so she said nothing. Every day after this Lilly and Ralph paid a visit to the encampment, taking not only food but some blankets, with some of which Mrs Gammage had supplied them. Others had actually been bought by Ralph, at his cousin's instigation, with his own money. There could be no doubt from the way they expressed themselves, that the gipsies really were grateful for the kindness shown them, so different from the treatment they had been accustomed to receive from the world. Their hand was supposed to be against every man, and every man's hand was undoubtedly against them.

At length the whole family had so completely recovered, that Arnold told them that he should leave the neighbourhood. "The gentlefolks don't like our ways, and we should be sorry, after what you have done for us, if we came foul of any of your people," said the gipsy.

"So should we, indeed," answered Lilly. "And I hope you will not do anything elsewhere to get yourselves into trouble."

"No fear, sweet lady," said Arnold, with the courtesy so often found among his people. "The thought that you would be offended would prevent us."

CHAPTER FIVE.

The days flew by; the spring returned; Ralph completely recovered his strength, and renewed his daily visits to his tutor; while Lilly, unaided, pursued her own studies with unwavering steadiness, and employed herself in calling, with her aunt, on some of the surrounding families of their own rank, in riding, sketching, in visiting the poor in the neighbourhood, and in doing good to all around as far as she had the power. Doctor Morison called her his bright intelligence, and said that he considered her a ministering angel, sent into their district to awaken these people from the Boetian lethargy into which they had sunk.

Lilly, however, did not hear these compliments. Had she, her reply would have been that she was only doing what she knew to be right.

Ralph occasionally joined his cousin in her occupations. Sometimes he rode with her, and sat by her side while she sketched; and he even condescended to carry her basket when she visited the cottages of their poor neighbours. He was rising, though he was not aware of it, in their estimation, and many expressed a belief that he would turn out well after all. To be sure, he would occasionally cast that hope to the ground by some outbreak of temper and violence of language. Lilly was often almost in despair, but she remembered her motto, "We must try before we can do," and so she determined to try on.

It must not be supposed that she had distinctly said to herself, "I will set to work to give my cousin good principles, or to reform my cousin."

The nearest approach was to think, "I wish that anything I could say or do would make Ralph give up some of his bad habits, and to act as I am sure he ought."

Still, had she clearly seen all the difficulties of the task which she had in reality, although unknowingly, undertaken, she would not have shrunk from it. "It would be so delightful to have Cousin Ralph what he ought to be," she said, over and over again, to herself.

She undoubtedly was setting properly about the work by gently leading him into the right way. He had too undisciplined a mind to be reasoned with, and had been too much indulged to be driven.

Ralph had since his recovery taken a great fancy for rowing. A broad stream pa.s.sed at no great distance from the Hall, which ultimately fell into a rapid river. Ralph had persuaded his father to have a small boat built for him, which he could manage by himself. He had hitherto had but little practice; he had, however, learned to pull sufficiently well to send on the boat ahead a short distance without catching a crab, and this made him fancy himself already a proficient.

Lilly very naturally believed his a.s.sertions that he could row perfectly well; and the boat having been repainted and put in order, she gladly accompanied him on one of the first warm days in spring down to the stream. John Hobby, a cottager near, had charge of the boat and kept the oars. He was out when Ralph called for them, and so his wife told their son to take them down to the boat.

"But you surely are not going alone, Mr Ralph, without my good man or our lad?" said the dame. "It's a main dangerous stream, and needs a strong arm and a practised hand to guide a boat along it."

"That's all you know about it, mistress!" answered Ralph, in his usual self-satisfied, contemptuous tone. "I've rowed often enough on the stream to know that I've no reason to be afraid."

"Well, maybe, Mr Ralph; but you won't go far, I do hope," persisted the dame.

"Just as far as I please; and I'll thank you not to interfere with your advice, mistress," answered Ralph, walking off to follow Lilly, who had unfortunately not heard the warning voice.

Lilly had got to some distance before Dame Hobby saw her, or she would undoubtedly have entreated her not to venture on the water. Ralph, with unusual politeness, handed his cousin into the boat.

"John, John!" cried the dame, "here lad, take the oars down to the boat for Master Ralph Clavering, and just give him a hint, that if he goes without you, he may chance to drown himself and the pretty young lady with him." Then she added, in a lower tone, to herself, "A nice young gentleman to order people about as he does. He'll learn some day who's who."

A fine handsome young lad, who had been working in the garden at the back of the house, appeared at her call. He appeared to be about the same age as Ralph Clavering, but was taller and stouter. There was a look, too, of health and conscious strength about him, and withal, a pleasant, good-natured smile on his well-formed countenance, which showed that he was on good terms with himself and the world in general.

He took the oars from an outhouse, and followed Ralph and Lilly to the boat.

Young John Hobby was about to follow, when Ralph told him to keep back, and seizing the oars, exclaimed, "Now, Lilly, I will show you what I can do; and we'll make a voyage unsurpa.s.sed since the days of Columbus!"