Читать книгу Judith of the Red Hand - J. Monk Foster - Страница 10

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Three or four weeks had slipped away; it was now the middle of June, and once more work at the Hill End Colliery was going on very much as usual. But from the old stone house on the eastern slope of the valley its former master was missing, and the old day-eye mine and village knew Seth Blackwood no more; for both mine-owner and mine-manager were then sleeping their last sleep in the pretty and peaceful God's acre lying around Saxilham Church.

For nearly a month Gabriel Blackwood had been hard at work almost night and day. After the plucky and arduous rescue of the miners and lads, the young fellow had found heaps of other work lying ready to his hands. He was chief official about the place now; Miss Nancy Haliburton had urged him to take charge of everything—do everything necessary to be done—and with the ardour of a young man, the grip, and clear-headedness of a strong and capable leader, Gabriel had grappled with his task.

In a few days a powerful pumping engine was erected and at work, draining the inundated workings; in a week the bodies of the unfortunate owner and manager were recovered in a side gallery—a cul-de-sac—where they had evidently fled for shelter from the raging flood; and after the inquest upon and the burial of the two men, the village had settled down to its ordinary work-a-day existence.

By the time the mine was freed from the deluging water, and coal was being wrought again, Gabriel Blackwood had become the best-liked and most talked-about man in Saxilham. To his hardihood, daring and cleverness, every one of the rescued miners was inclined to attribute his own salvation; and the splendid and ungrudging way in which Gabriel stuck to his arduous duties afterwards won from all the men the warmest words of approval.

For the space of three weeks the young underlooker seemed scarcely ever to be away from the hillside colliery. While the great pump was being erected; when thousands of gallons of water were being dragged out of the tunnel hourly and poured down the green slope to flow into the lazy Saxe; when the still forms of the elder Blackwood and his employer were found and carried reverently forth; and, later, when the wreck and ruin wrought by the flood were being made good again, the clear-headed, iron-framed Gabriel was ever at his post, working, sweating, suggesting, ordering the work of all.

During the past few weeks Gabriel and Miss Nancy Haliburton had been thrown much together. Some portion of every day had seen him at Saxehurst. So far nothing had been definitely settled as to young Blackwood's future position. But Miss Haliburton had given him a free hand in everything. Her brother's death, intestate, had left the comely soft-hearted old maid mistress of everything; and in an informal way she had constituted Gabriel her general agent, manager, confidential adviser, and private secretary too.

One Sunday morning found our young miner at Saxehurst, and Miss Nancy with him, in the room where the two Haliburtons and the two Blackwoods had all met together, that Sunday afternoon, when Silas had talked of a partnership. Occasionally Gabriel's thoughts had returned to that arrangement which death had prevented from being carried out; and sometimes, also, his mind had reverted to the pregnant hint his father had dropped in his ears regarding the spinster's ardent fancy for himself.

"I hope, Gabriel," Miss Nancy began presently, "that my wish to see you—on business, of course—didn't drag you away from any important business?"

"Not at all, Miss Haliburton," he answered cheerily. "Thank goodness everything is square again at last, and work at the colliery is going on smoothly. But was there something special you desired to see me about this morning?" and he looked the trim, simple, comely-faced little woman in the eyes fairly, noting, with some astonishment that somehow she seemed much younger and fresher than he had always thought her.

"Yes, there is something special, Gabriel." She had always used his Christian name and it did not appear singular now. "There is nothing settled between us yet, and I want everything to be settled to your satisfaction. What you have done for me since that dreadful accident I shall never forget, but I feel I must reward you, too."

"I have only done my duty, Miss Haliburton," he answered simply, but with a swelling breast.

"Your duty, Gabriel; ay, and how much more? Was it part of your duty to give those brave men, who cut through the coal that night to save the others, a pound each out of your own pocket? There! I have heard about it; and it only made me respect and admire you more than ever—it only added another obligation to the many I owe you, Gabriel."

"I am pleased if you are satisfied, Miss Haliburton."

"I am more than satisfied. No! I am not satisfied. I wish to do something for you—what can I do? Now would you like to have your father's place?"

"I should love and feel honoured to serve you in any position, Miss Haliburton."

"Then you shall!" she cried warmly; and he felt himself reddening under her warm looks and soft words. "You shall be manager, agent, everything; and you shall fix your own wages."

"I can hardly do that," he murmured.

"What did poor Silas pay you and your father?"

"Father had two pounds a week; I had thirty shillings."

"Then you shall have two hundred and fifty a year, and sole control of everything. I have consulted my solicitor, and he named that sum as a reasonable remuneration for the man who had charge of my colliery. I ask you to take it, Gabriel."

"It seems too much—much more than I ever hoped to receive, Miss Haliburton; but I will take it, as it seems your wish."

"It is my wish," she cried. "And I want you to promise me that you will stay with me always, Gabriel."

"Stay with you always!" he echoed.

"As my manager and adviser, I mean," she explained. "I am only a woman, with no knowledge of business; and what can I do with the thousands of pounds in the bank, the cottages in the village there, and the colliery also, unless I have someone at my elbow always ready to advise me?"

"I shall always be happy to serve you," he cried.

"And then there is another matter I wish to speak about, Gabriel. You recollect the partnership which my poor father mentioned that Sunday?"

"Of course; but they are both dead now—God help them! And that must fall through, Miss Haliburton—I suppose?"

"Why should it fall through, Gabriel Blackwood?" and again her soft, warm eyes held his own for a moment. "It was my brother's wish—it was mine as well—that the Blackwoods should join the Haliburtons in the Hill End Colliery. They are gone, but why shouldn't we be partners?"

"I have only a few hundreds—you have thousands! The thing doesn't seem possible," the young man faltered.

"But if I say it is possible, Gabriel?" and her voice fell to a low, warm, amorous whisper.

"If you say it is possible it must be so, Miss Haliburton," and his strong tones grew uncertain, while he felt that he dared not look her way.

"I say so, then, Gabriel. You shall be my partner. That is to be your reward. I would offer you more—colliery, houses, money, everything—but I dare not do it."

"Nancy."

Gabriel had sprung to his feet with that word on his lips, and if his eyes were not burning with love they were aflame with desire and worldly ambition. In a flash he had realised all that the woman had left unsaid. She loved him; hungered to give him all she had to give; and for a moment her riches made her seem passing fair. For an instant only he hung in the balance. Then he cried,

"Nancy! Nancy! Will you be my wife?"

Next instant she was sobbing in his arms, and even while he soothed her with warm words and cold kisses, he was thinking of Judith Trafford.