That Little Beggar Part 17

There he was, after causing all the confusion and alarm of which I have told you, walking down the drive as calmly as possible; as if to disappear mysteriously from home for about two hours, without leaving any idea as to his whereabouts, was the most ordinary and everyday habit a little boy could indulge in.

He was not alone, but was in company with a tall and gorgeous individual, whom I concluded was the sergeant, and the innocent cause of the little beggar's last and most startling escapade.

He walked hand in hand with him in the most confiding fashion, chattering to him apparently in his usual fashion--without the least reserve, whilst Jacky frisked along by their side.

As my eyes fell upon this little group I uttered a loud exclamation of surprise, which induced Granny to look up inquiringly.

"Why, there he is! Chris!" I exclaimed, "coming down the drive!" and accompanied by Briggs I hurried to meet him, Granny following more leisurely.

"Here I am! Here I am!" cried the little vagabond, gaily bounding forward to meet me. "I've 'listed, and I'm a soldier now like Uncle G.o.dfrey."

"A soldier!" burst out Briggs contemptuously. "As naughty a child as can be found in Christendom. That's what I should say!"

"Yes, Chris," I said, in the gravest voice I could a.s.sume, "you have been a very naughty little boy indeed."

At these strictures on his conduct Chris pouted and kicked the gravel with some violence, whilst his companion relaxed into a broad smile, which he put up his hand to hide.

"I found this here young gentleman, marm, on his way to Marston," he said, touching his cap. "I came across him quite by a chance, as you may say, it happening that I was taking a walk in this direction. 'I've come to find you,' he says, ''cause I want to 'list and be a soldier like my Uncle G.o.dfrey,' says he. 'But I won't shoot you,' says he, ''cause I know how to hold my gun, and I don't want to be put in chokee,' he says. Guessing as how there was something amiss I finds out where he lives, and so here he is."

"Is he quite well and safe, quite well and safe?" Granny asked nervously at this point, arriving just in time to hear the conclusion of the sergeant's explanation. "Oh, Chris, my darling, what have you been doing?"

"I'm a soldier now, my Granny," he stated proudly, with a defiant look at Briggs and myself. "He said I was, didn't you?" he asked, turning to the sergeant, who smiled again. "He's going to lend me his soldier clothes till you buy me some. He said he would."

"He'd have been here before if I could have got a lift, marm," explained the sergeant, "but it chanced nothing pa.s.sed by us. It's been a long walk for the young gentleman, I'm afraid."

But Granny did not at once reply; she was looking at the little beggar with all the love of her heart overflowing her eyes, and as if she never again could bear to let him out of her sight. Indeed, for the moment she was so absorbed that I think she hardly realized what the sergeant said.

There was a slight pause, and then she said with much fervent grat.i.tude and an old-fashioned courtesy of manner:

"I am more indebted to you than I can express for your kind care of my little grandson. It is, indeed, a great relief to my mind to see him back safely."

"Why, my Granny!" cried Chris, with a little skip and a laugh, "I _always_ was safe. There was nothing the matter with me!"

"Hush! my child," Granny then continued, though with an effort, as if the reaction from the anxiety she had been suffering was becoming too much for her control: "Will you not go round to the kitchen and rest?

And will you kindly tell Parker, my butler, that I have sent you, and to see that you have some refreshment after your long walk."

"Thank you, marm," said the sergeant, touching his cap once more as he left, followed by a regretful glance from Chris.

"I should like to go with him," he remarked.

"My darling," began Granny reproachfully--then stopped short and tried to smile at me.

"I'm very silly," she said, as the tears filled her eyes; "but, my dear, I have been feeling so anxious, so anxious, you understand...."

She could say no more, but going to a wicker-chair near, she sat down, and covered her eyes with her hand.

I said nothing, for I knew that her tears were a relief to her overwrought feelings. So for a time there was silence, which was at length broken by the little beggar, who, looking at her with pity mingled with curiosity, remarked in a hushed voice:

"I b'lieve my Granny is crying!"

"And who do you think has made her cry?" suddenly asked a severe voice, and turning round somewhat apprehensively, the little beggar saw Uncle G.o.dfrey--who, unperceived and unheard, had crossed the lawn--confronting him in righteous indignation.

"I say, who do you think has made her cry?" he reiterated, as Granny threw him an imploring glance as if to beg mercy for the offender. "I have just heard something of your last piece of disobedience from your friend the sergeant," he continued sternly. "Fortunately for me I met him not two minutes ago, and so was saved a useless drive into Marston on your account. Now I should like to hear some explanation of your conduct."

He looked so very tall and inflexible as he towered above the little beggar, and the little beggar looked so very small and abject as he stood before him, that my heart was stirred with pity for the diminutive transgressor in spite of his misdeeds.

"Well, answer," Uncle G.o.dfrey said peremptorily. "What is the meaning of your behaviour, sir?"

"I w--w--went to be a s--s--soldier," stammered Chris, winking his eyes to keep back his tears, and grasping hold of Granny's hand as if for protection.

"What did I tell you this morning?"

"I forget," answered the little beggar tremblingly.

"Then think," his uncle said; whilst Granny said pleadingly:

"Don't be too severe, my son. He's only a little child."

"Quite old enough to know better," he replied unrelentingly; and, as Chris did not at once answer, "Didn't I tell you," he went on, "that you were not old enough to be a soldier? Do you remember now?"

"Y--yes," answered Chris, with a strangled sob.

"But I suppose you thought that you knew better than I, and didn't tell me of your plan because you knew that you would not be allowed to carry it out. Was it not so?" he asked. Then as Chris nodded he went on: "I hope now that you see the consequences of your behaviour," he continued; "everyone's time wasted, an endless amount of unnecessary anxiety and trouble, and your Grandmother nearly ill. If ever anyone deserved a good punishment it is you."

At this point the little beggar, unable to keep back his tears any longer, buried his head in his Granny's lap and sobbed bitterly, and as if his heart would break; whilst for my part I went away. He had been very naughty, but I did not like to see him crying so bitterly. It made me sad.

It was about an hour later,--just lunch-time,--and I was walking up and down the gravelled terrace at the back of the house, when a little hand was slipped into mine, while a little voice remarked in an awe-struck tone:

"What do you think? Uncle G.o.dfrey put me in the corner for half an hour--a whole half-hour!"

Chris spoke with much solemnity. Granny's punishments were of such a mild description, that this of Uncle G.o.dfrey's, by comparison, appeared very heavy, and impressed upon him the grievousness of his offence.

"And he says I'm not to have no pudding for dinner," he continued with some pathos; "no pudding at all. Do you know what kind of pudding it is?"

"No, I don't," I answered smiling.

"'Cause Granny said I might have a roly-poly pudding soon," he said, "and I do hope it's not to-day. If it is bread-and-b.u.t.ter pudding I don't mind, as I don't like bread-and-b.u.t.ter pudding."

"I can't tell you what pudding it is," I repeated.

"Uncle G.o.dfrey said I was a very naughty boy," he went on.

"So you were," I said, but mildly, and not with the decision the case demanded.

"I didn't want to frighten you, or my Granny, or anyone," he said humbly, with the effects of his uncle's scolding and punishment still fresh in his memory. "But I did want to be a soldier and fight; and Uncle G.o.dfrey says I'm not one, and I never was one, and that the soldier was only laughing at me when he said I was. And I can't be a soldier for a long while--a very, very, very long while."