Читать книгу A Novel Without a Name - William Aubrey Burnage - Страница 10

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'How quick holidays fly!' exclaimed Harry Fenton, springing out of bed on the morning that he was to return to school; 'I wish lesson times would be as nimble.'

Here a rap at the door disturbed his reflections.

'Time to get up Master Harry, or you'll miss the first train!'

'All right, Nicholas, I'm up; and I'll reverse it in a few minutes by coming down for a change!' cried Harry, with a clumsy attempt at a pun.

Although it was much earlier than the family usually rose, and barely daylight, Harry found his parents and sisters all up, when he entered the breakfast room.

'I wish it was always holiday time!' said little Beatrice with a sigh. 'Harry has to go away almost as soon as he comes home.'

'But that would never do, Beatrice, unless you wanted him to grow up like a ploughman,' said her father, smiling.

'I don't care how he grows up, so long as he stops here!' said the little girl, beginning to sob.

'Come, my pet, I must not let you have breakfast out of the nursery again, if you are so silly,' said Mr. Fenton. 'Harry will soon come back again; so leave off crying, and you shall have a ride by-and-bye, when it gets warmer.'

The promised ride soon dried her eyes, and the little girl entered with animation into the discussion among her sisters, as to when the next vacation would be.

'You must work hard, my boy, for the next year, and then I shall get you a private tutor to prepare you for college,' Mr. Fenton said, turning to Harry.

'I can't say I'm the best in the school, father, but there's not many work harder than I do,' returned Harry proudly. 'I may neglect my studies a little sometimes, but I always make it up afterwards.'

'You must have a wonderfully quick memory to be able to make up for lost time so easily, Harry; but take my advice and do not trust to it, my boy. It was the slow and even-going tortoise, not the swift but irregular fox, who won the race. You have progressed very fairly since last Christmas, but I think you could have done better if you had been less intermittent in your application. Dr. Shelwood writes that you have very good powers, but that your energy and application are not sustained.

'Well, father, I'll promise to turn over a new leaf, and do my level best always,' replied Harry, who felt there was a good deal of truth in the latter part of his master's report. 'I will only play cricket twice a week for the future, and then I'll have more time for construing my exercises more carefully.'

'Be sure to keep any resolution you make, Harry, however hard you may find it.'

'The groom is ready, sir!' said one of the servants, entering the room.

'Ah, there is no time to spare, Harry, or you will miss the train; get on with your breakfast. Are your things all ready?'

'I got his portmanteau ready, papa,' said Fanny, 'I was afraid he would leave everything till the last moment; boys are so careless!'

'You are a dear, good, thoughtful girl, Fan!' said Harry; 'If I am a bit careless sometimes, you are careful enough for both of us.'

Breakfast was soon over, and a general and hurried leave-taking followed, during which Fanny gave Harry a letter for her friend, Polly Seymour. A parting kiss from all, and soon the boy's back was turned to home, and his face towards school.

'The master was sorry he couldn't ride to the station with you, sir, but he hasn't got over that sprained ankle of his yet,' said the groom, after they had ridden in silence for a mile or two.

'No, he can't ride well yet, Henfry; it was a nasty fall,' said Harry, looking up from his horse's mane. 'By-the-bye, when does the next train start?'

'The next train? Half-past ten, I think, or twenty minutes to eleven.'

'Half-past ten? Very well, Henfry, I shall wait for that. Will you ride on to the station, and take care of my luggage till I come. I have somewhere else to go to first.'

'But the master intended you to go by the early train, sir; he will be angry if you don't go now,' expostulated the groom, in alarm at the symptom of disobedience in Harry's proposition.

'Now look here, Henfry! and listen to reason. I'm not expected at Dr. Shelwood's till this evening, and I want to go and see a friend before I start. My father will not know if you hold your tongue, so why shouldn't I go I'd like to know!' argued Harry. 'Anyway, I'm going. I'll meet you at the station at ten minutes past ten,' and without waiting to hear further opposition, he turned his horse's head in the direction of Fenwick Park, and set off at a gallop.

'Well, he's a mad-brained youngster if ever there was one,' said the groom admiringly; 'But I was a youngster myself once; so I can't blame him. I shall get into a pretty row I expect for being late, but I can't help it. A good twister has saved me before, so I'll try one again if necessary. I can let one of the horses get away, and swear it took four hours to catch it again; that'll do I think,' and preparing for consequences, the groom rode on to the station.

The blinds were down at Fenwick Park, when Harry reached it; and everything bore the visible sign of the grief that had fallen upon the household.

'You are only just in time to bid them good-bye, Master Harry?' said the porter in reply to the boy's inquiries for Mr. Wilton and Mabel.

'Good-bye? I don't understand you!' exclaimed Harry, in surprise and alarm.

'They are going on a visit to Cornwall, and start directly,' replied the man; 'Mrs. Wilton's death has cut the squire up terribly.'

Mabel, dressed for travelling, here entered the hall. 'O, I'm so glad you are come to say good-bye, Harry!' she exclaimed eagerly. 'Papa has bought an estate away in Cornwall, and we start for it in an hour.'

'Then I have to bid you a long farewell, I am afraid, Mabel! I am going back to school, and came over to say good-bye. I shall feel very lonely now that you are going so far away.'

'You must come and see us in your next holidays, Harry. Are you in a hurry for half an hour?'

Harry forgot the groom at the station, and said that he was in no hurry.

'Then come into the garden. O, Harry, isn't it terrible!'

Harry knew that it was her mother's death that Mabel spoke of as terrible, and he tried in his blunt, boyish way, to console her. He led her into the garden, and they sat upon a bench under the arms of a bare elm, and in the warm sunshine. The shrubs and bushes were covered with snow, and a broad carpet of the same spotless covering hid the garden-beds, leaving only the swept paths clear.

'O, Harry, I feel sometimes as if my heart must break, it is so terrible. How dreadful to be washed overboard and feel the great, cold waves roll over you, till you smother and drown!' and Mabel hid her face in her hands, and sobbed in all the bitterness of her recent grief. 'I try to think of other things, Harry, but I can't. The dreadful scene is always in my mind, I wish you were going with us for company; I shall be so lonely now poor mamma is dead!'

'I cannot go, dear Mabel; I wish I could. I too shall feel terribly cheerless and lonely, now that you are leaving the old place; but we must always look forward, as Dr. Shelwood says; and we will find our deepest sorrows smaller than they at first appear.' Harry said, with a vain attempt on his own part to profit by the philosophical view he was trying to persuade her to take of things.

'I had a letter from cousin Janet this morning, and she is in great trouble too. She says uncle Grey met with a severe accident, and is in a very dangerous state,' said Mabel after a pause, during which Harry had been racking his brain for something to say, that could cheer her up a little.

'Yes,' he replied, sadly, 'troubles never come singly. How does your papa bear his loss?'

'He seems so changed, Harry. You would hardly know him. His hair has got quite grey already.'

'Perhaps the change to Cornwall may do him good. You must write to me as soon as you get there, Mabel; for I shall be awfully anxious.'

'And you must write regularly to me too; not every month or two, as you used to, but every week. Now mind you don't forget.'

Harry promised to be very regular in his correspondence, but stipulated that Mabel should set him the example by being the same herself.

'You know, Harry, I've no one but you and papa to think of now; and papa is always so busy, he has very little time for speaking to me except of an evening. It does seem hard, Harry, that I have to lose everybody I love. I wish there was a good school near our new home, that you could go to. I wouldn't be so lonely then!'

'I wish I could go with you,' replied Harry sorrowfully; 'We could both of us be so happy then. I could see you after lessons every day then; and we could ride out together, as we used in the good old times.'

'Ah, well, never mind Harry; you won't always be at school, you know,' said Mabel hopefully. 'School days will soon pass away, and then we will not be parted again so long!'

Harry forgot all about the train and the waiting groom, and would have sat in the garden talking with his little friend till long after the groom's patience had been worn out, had not Mr. Wilton appeared upon the scene. He looked surprised at finding Harry with Mabel.

'What, my boy, come to say good-bye!' he asked kindly.

'Yes, sir. I am off to school again, and came over to bid Mabel good-bye; but I did not know until now, that she is leaving Essex too.'

'Yes, we are going to Oakville in Cornwall. But the train will not wait for us, if it will for you, Harry; so we must be off. Come, shake hands with your friend, Mabel, and make haste. It may be so long before you again meet that you may forget each other before then.'

'Forget Mabel, sir? No fear of that. I shall never forget her, as long as I live!' said Harry, with energy.

'And I am sure I will never forget Harry, papa, wherever I go, or however long it may be before I see him again.' Mabel added with girlish candour.

'Hem! Well, good-bye Harry, and don't forget your lessons in thinking of this silly girl; for it is not likely you will see her again for many a year. Good-bye!' and shaking hands with him, Mr. Wilton left Harry no alternative but to take his leave of Mabel and ride back to the station.

'I wish they were going on the same line that I am; and her father shouldn't shake me off so easily. Ah, well, I must ride hard; or I shall lose the train,' and giving rein to his horse, the boy did his best to make up for lost time. He narrowly escaped riding over a poor old woman who was tramping along a lane that he took for a short cut across country; and in jumping over a gate which was locked, his horse just touched the top, and fell; but beyond a few scratches both horse and rider scrambled to their feet unhurt. Harry reached the station as the train shot in, and, the groom having got the ticket, he was able to slip into a carriage just as the doors were being locked.

'I shall get into a pretty row with the master when I get back, sir,' said the groom, handing Harry a little carpet bag through the window. 'I shall have to tell a heap of lies to get out of it.'

'Tell the truth, Dick, and throw the blame on me. Say, I would go; and my father will know it would take more than a groom to stop me,' replied Harry, and Henfry not knowing whether the answer was meant as a compliment or not, and being rather of opinion that it was not, turned on his heel, and walked sulkily away.

Exeter House was reached in due time, and Harry feeling very low-spirited, went up to the 'second class' bed-room directly after dinner, and threw himself upon his bed, to think about Mabel, and her father's strange hint that he would not be likely to see her again.

'Where is Master Fenton?' Dr. Shelwood asked at tea time. 'I have not seen him since three o'clock.'

'He was asleep about an hour ago sir, when I was up in our bedroom,' replied Dick Colridge, taking his eyes for a moment from a large fruit pie in the centre of the table.

'Asleep! O, well let him alone, Edward. I expect the lad is tired after his journey. I will send him up a cup of tea and some toast, when he wakes,' said Mrs. Shelwood with a kindness that few boarding-school matrons are guilty of.

'I say, Bob, I'll go to sleep to-morrow afternoon; see if I don't; and then I'll get the toast in bed!' whispered Dick to his next-hand neighbour.