Tommy Part 20

That was the bitterness in Tom's cup of joy. He was proud of what he had done--what fellow situated as he was would not be? His heart thrilled with exultation as he remembered what the Colonel had said and written about him. He remembered with joy, too, what his comrades had said when he left for home, and the cheers they gave him.

Oh, if he hadn't been such a fool!

He thought of what his home-coming might have been if he had remained true to Alice; he fancied the look in her eyes as she greeted him; of the feelings which would fill his heart as he sat by her side in the church which she attended. But that was impossible now; he had made his choice, and she had made hers. Thus his home-coming would be robbed of half its joy. If he saw Alice at all she would be in the company of Harry Briarfield, and Briarfield, he knew, had always looked down upon him. "But there," he said to himself, "I'll bear it like a man. I have done my bit, and that's something, anyhow."

He had sent a telegram to his mother the day before, telling her of the time he expected to arrive in Brunford, and presently when the train drew into the station he looked out of the window eagerly expectant, and with fast-beating heart.

Yes, there his father and mother were, waiting for him. But what was the meaning of the crowd?

No sooner did he set foot on the platform than a great cheer arose.

"There he is! There's Tom Pollard!"

"Gi't tongue, lads! Gi't tongue! Hip! hip! hip! hoorah!"

Tom, heedless of the cheering and shouting, went straight to his mother. For a second this lady looked at him, and seemed to be on the point of greeting him with a caustic remark; then her mother's heart melted.

"Ay, Tom, I'm fair glad to see thee," she sobbed.

"And I am glad to see you, mother. Ay, father, it is good to see you, it is."

"And I am fair proud on you, Tom," and Ezekiel Pollard's voice was hoa.r.s.e as he shook his son's hand.

"But, Tom," cried Mrs. Pollard, wiping her eyes, "thy clothes be dirty; I shall have a rare job to get th' muck out of 'em."

This was followed by a general laugh by those who had come to greet Tom and bid him welcome.

"Ay, and thou look'st as though thou hasn't weshed for a week. I thought as aa' sodjers kept theirsens clean."

"I'll wash right enough when I get home, mother," laughed Tom.

"Holloa, Tom. I am glad to see you," and Polly Powell made her way through the crowd.

"Thank you," replied Tom quietly; "have you brought one of your young men with you, Polly?"

"I have not got any young men," was Polly's reply. Whereupon there was a general laugh of incredulity.

Polly, heedless of the crowd, and although angered at the remarks that were made, still held her ground.

"You are coming down to the Thorn and Thistle, aren't you, Tom?" she said; "mother and father are expecting you."

"No, thank you, Polly," said Tom. "I am going home with my mother and father. Besides, I don't want to play gooseberry."

At this there was general cheering. It was evident that Polly Powell was ready to give up her latest lover in order that the glory of Tom's l.u.s.tre might shine upon her; but her power over him had gone.

"Nay, thou'lt come down to the Rose and Crown wi' us, won't 'a'?" cried another.

"No, I am not going to the Rose and Crown," replied Tom.

"Nay, you doan't mean to say you've turned teetotaler?"

"Ay, that I have," replied the lad, "you see I'm following the example of the King." Whereupon Polly went away abashed.

All the way Tom's progress down Liverpool Road was a great procession of people. On every hand he was greeted and cheered. Other soldiers who had gone out from Brunford had returned; some had been wounded, and many had done brave deeds, but Tom's action had laid hold of the imagination of the people. To discover a German spy in Waterman, whom many in the town knew; to bring him to justice; to risk his life in order to render his country a service; to face almost certain death that he might obtain the plans which had been intended to help the enemy, made him a hero.

Perhaps there are few parts of the world where the people are more hearty and more generous than the dwellers in those busy manufacturing towns in the North, and Tom was their own townsboy. He had been reared amongst them, had gone out from them, and so they gave him a great welcome.

No words can tell the joy which Mrs. Pollard felt when she found that Tom was going straight home with her. As she said, she had got the best dinner in Brunford for him, but she was afraid that Tom would yield to all the inducements which would be held out to him.

"Never mind," she said to the neighbour whom she had asked to get everything in readiness by the time she returned, "we'll have everything as though we were sure he wur coming 'ome. n.o.body shall say as 'ow I didn't prepare a good dinner for my boy when he returned from the War."

Thus when Tom had refused the invitation to go to the Rose and Crown, and declared his intention of going straight home, her joy knew no bounds.

"Dost 'a' really mean, Tom, as thou'rt coming straight home with thee feyther and me?"

"Ay, I do," replied Tom, "there's no place but home for me to-day."

"Ay, then I mun kiss thee agean," she sobbed, throwing her arms around his neck.

Throughout the whole of the afternoon and evening Ezekiel Pollard's house was besieged with visitors. Reporters came from the newspapers in order to hear any details which had been missed concerning Tom's exploits. Relations whom Tom had not seen for years came to bid him welcome, while the neighbours thronged the doors.

"Ay, it's good to be home again," said Tom, standing on the doorstep and watching the last visitor depart that night, "I never thought that it would be like this."

"Art 'a' tired, lad?" asked his father.

"Just a bit," said Tom. "I couldn't sleep last night, I was thinking all the time about coming home, and now----"

"Ay, lad, I'm proud of thee," said his father for the hundredth time.

"Thou art a fool, lad," said his mother, "but thou'rt noan such a fool as I feared. Thou'st done vary weel too, vary weel."

"Father," said Tom when they had entered the house and closed the door, "do you ever pray now?"

"I hadna prayed for years," said Ezekiel Pollard, "till thou went to the Front, but every night sin' I have asked G.o.d to take care o' thee.

I have asked nowt for myself," he added almost proudly. "I didn't deserve it; but I've asked G.o.d to take care o' thee."

"So have I," said his mother. "I never towd anybody about it; I wur a bit ashamed, I reckon, but I have prayed twenty times a day."

"Then," said Tom, "let us kneel down and thank G.o.d for His goodness."

And the three knelt down together.

CHAPTER XI

It was nearly midday when Tom awoke. The church bells had ceased ringing for nearly an hour, indeed at nearly all the churches the congregations were being dismissed. The Town Hall clock chimed a quarter to twelve, but all else seemed strangely silent. Tom rose in his bed, and rubbed his eyes.