The Story of Antony Grace Part 35

"We must know more of one another, Grace," he said; "I am glad we have been together to-day. What do you do on Sundays?"

I explained that when Mr Revitts was off duty we went for a walk.

"And pray who is Mr Revitts?" he said.

I explained that he was a policeman, and had been very kind to me since I had lodged with him in town.

"I am quite alone in London, you see, Mr Hallett," I said in an old-fashioned way at which I now can smile.

He nodded, and seemed thoughtful for a few minutes.

"Mine is not a very cheerful home, Grace," he said at length; "but if you will come and spend a Sunday--say Sunday week--with us, I shall be glad to see you. Will you come?"

"I should be so glad," I cried, and then I stopped short.

"What is it?" he said.

"Mr Revitts will be off duty that day, sir; and he would be so disappointed if I were not at home. He has been so very kind to me."

Mr Hallett looked amused.

"Do you mind, sir?" I said.

"No, Grace. You are quite right," he quietly said. "Always be faithful to your friends. You shall come next Sunday instead," he added, as we turned into a beautiful little glade that looked bright and golden with the setting sun. "Never throw a trusted friend over for the sake of one you believe to be--"

He stopped short, for we had come suddenly upon two ladies, one of whom was Miss Carr.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

IN THE FOREST.

Miss Carr started slightly on seeing my companion, and it seemed to me that she coloured for the moment, but she recovered her composure on the instant, responded to Mr Hallett's salute with a quiet bend of the head, and turned at once to me, talking in a sweet grave way, as if there were no one else present, though Mr Hallett stood close by me, hat in hand.

"Antony," she said, laying; her hand upon my shoulder, "I am very glad to see you again. Mr Ruddle tells me that you are striving very hard, and that you have already made a step upwards. Mind, though I do not see you, I always hear how you progress, and, now that you have begun so well, I have no fear for your future. Are you happy and comfortable where you are?"

"Oh yes, ma'am," I said, flushing red with pride and pleasure, as I gazed in her face; "and--and I have made such good friends."

"Indeed!" she said quickly. "I hope you are careful."

"Oh yes, ma'am; Mr Revitts is very good to me, and Mr Hallett, here."

Miss Carr turned her face to him for the moment, and once more there was a slight flush upon her cheeks; then she seemed very pale.

"I am glad to hear it," she said, in a firm, distinct tone; "and I hope your friend Mr Hallett will remember your unprotected position, and advise you for your good."

Mr Hallett was about to speak, but she had turned from him, and now laid her other hand upon my shoulder.

"Good-bye, Antony," she said; "you know where I live; come to me if ever you should require help. And mind this, I shall expect you to fight hard and rise. It is no disgrace to be a common workman,"--she glanced hastily, and as if in apology, towards Mr Hallett, as she spoke--"My dead father was but a workman, but he rose to a higher position in life, and I think those who fight the battle well and are self-made, are quite as worthy of honour and respect as those who are born to wealth.

Good-bye."

I could not speak, but I stood there gazing in her bright animated face, and listened to the sweet grave voice, whose every word seemed to fix itself in my mind. I was only recalled from my dreamy state by those words "good-bye," and the sight of the soft white hand that she held out.

It was from no sentimental feeling of politeness that I acted as I did, for I felt moved to my very soul, and the same feelings came over me that had animated me in the past days in my pleasant old home. I loved Miss Carr--loved her with the same sweet wholesome love that, a boy feels towards a tender mother, and my eyes felt suffused, and things looked dim, as with quite a natural effort I took the hand extended to me, kissed it, and held it for a moment against my cheek. Then it seemed to glide from my hold, there was a faint rustle of silken garments over the heath and gra.s.s, and Mr Hallett and I were alone.

I turned to speak to him, to find that he was still standing, hat in hand, gazing down the path by which the sisters had gone; then it seemed to me that he drew a long breath as he stood looking at me apparently, but evidently recalling that which was past.

"Oh, Mr Hallett!" I cried enthusiastically, and with all the impulsiveness of a boy; "isn't she beautiful?"

"As beautiful as true, Grace," he said softly, and his manner seemed reverent and strange.

"She was so kind to me--spoke so kindly for me when I first came to the office," I cried.

"Yes, my boy," he said in the same low, soft voice; "you are very fortunate--you have found a true friend."

"And I will try," I cried. "She shall find that I have remembered what she told me."

"Come and sit down here, my boy," he said, throwing himself upon a patch of heath and fern. "Let's forget the smell of oil and steam and printing-ink for a time. Come and tell me all about your meeting with Miss Carr."

I was eager to tell him, and I had a willing listener, and as I sat there at his feet I told him of the interview at the office, and all about how Mr Lister seemed so attentive to Miss Carr: what he had said, and how he seemed to love her. In my ignorance I dwelt at length upon even Mr Ruddle's words of congratulation, talking rapidly and well in my enthusiasm--blind and ignorant that I was--for I could not read then why the lines in Stephen Hallett's face grew deeper and more marked, nor yet why his eyelids should droop down, and then his head, till it rested upon one hand, while the other plucked slowly at the strands of gra.s.s and sc.r.a.ps of heath.

Once or twice I thought he was asleep, but if I stopped he spoke to me softly, asking some questions till I had done, when he startled me again with inquiries about myself and my old life, gradually winning from me all I had to tell.

The sun had set, and the soft evening shadows were descending as we still sat there drinking in the moist fresh air of the forest, till, as if rousing himself from a dream, Mr Hallett rose hastily, and I too sprang to my feet.

"Come, Grace," he said, with an effort to be cheerful, "we must get back to the inn, or we shall be left behind. One minute, though; let us walk along here."

I looked at him wonderingly as he strode hastily to where we had met the ladies, and I saw that he had removed his hat as he stood gazing slowly around.

It might have been from the heat, but I do not think so now; and he was just turning away, when I saw him stoop hastily and s.n.a.t.c.h from among the ferns a grey kid glove.

"Why, that must be Miss Carr's," I said eagerly.

"Yes," he replied softly; "it is Miss Carr's."

He stood holding it pressed in his hand; and his brow was knit, and he stood gazing straight before him, struggling with himself before saying, as he doubled the glove:

"You must take it back, my boy. You will see her again; perhaps I never shall."

I looked at him curiously as I took the glove, for he seemed so strange, but the next moment his dreamy manner was cast aside, as he clapped me on the shoulder.

"Come, Grace," he said; "no, I will not call you Grace," he added, laughing; "it sounds as if you were a girl, and you are rather too girlish, my boy; I will call you Antony in future."

"Yes, do, please, Mr Hallett," I said; though I flushed a little at being called girlish.

"Come along, then. Our pleasant day has nearly come to an end."