"What have I done," cried Joe, "what have I done to meet with this reward?"
"You have taught me," said Dolly, raising her pretty face to his, "to know myself, and your worth; to be something better than I was; to be more deserving of your true and manly nature. In years to come, dear Joe, you shall find that you have done so; for I will be, not only now, when we are young and full of hope, but when we have grown old and weary, your patient, gentle, never-tiring wife. I will never know a wish or care beyond our home and you, and I will always study how to please you with my best affection and my most devoted love. I will: indeed I will!"
Joe could only repeat his former eloquence--but it was very much to the purpose.
"They know of this, at home," said Dolly. "For your sake, I would leave even them; but they know it, and are glad of it, and are as proud of you as I am, and as full of grat.i.tude.--You"ll not come and see me as a poor friend who knew me when I was a girl, will you, dear Joe?"
Well, well! It don"t matter what Joe said in answer, but he said a great deal; and Dolly said a great deal too: and he folded Dolly in his one arm pretty tight, considering that it was but one; and Dolly made no resistance: and if ever two people were happy in this world--which is not an utterly miserable one, with all its faults-- we may, with some appearance of certainty, conclude that they were.
To say that during these proceedings Mr Willet the elder underwent the greatest emotions of astonishment of which our common nature is susceptible--to say that he was in a perfect paralysis of surprise, and that he wandered into the most stupendous and theretofore unattainable heights of complicated amazement--would be to shadow forth his state of mind in the feeblest and lamest terms. If a roc, an eagle, a griffin, a flying elephant, a winged sea-horse, had suddenly appeared, and, taking him on its back, carried him bodily into the heart of the "Salwanners," it would have been to him as an everyday occurrence, in comparison with what he now beheld. To be sitting quietly by, seeing and hearing these things; to be completely overlooked, unnoticed, and disregarded, while his son and a young lady were talking to each other in the most impa.s.sioned manner, kissing each other, and making themselves in all respects perfectly at home; was a position so tremendous, so inexplicable, so utterly beyond the widest range of his capacity of comprehension, that he fell into a lethargy of wonder, and could no more rouse himself than an enchanted sleeper in the first year of his fairy lease, a century long.
"Father," said Joe, presenting Dolly. "You know who this is?"
Mr Willet looked first at her, then at his son, then back again at Dolly, and then made an ineffectual effort to extract a whiff from his pipe, which had gone out long ago.
"Say a word, father, if it"s only "how d"ye do,"" urged Joe.
"Certainly, Joseph," answered Mr Willet. "Oh yes! Why not?"
"To be sure," said Joe. "Why not?"
"Ah!" replied his father. "Why not?" and with this remark, which he uttered in a low voice as though he were discussing some grave question with himself, he used the little finger--if any of his fingers can be said to have come under that denomination--of his right hand as a tobacco-stopper, and was silent again.
And so he sat for half an hour at least, although Dolly, in the most endearing of manners, hoped, a dozen times, that he was not angry with her. So he sat for half an hour, quite motionless, and looking all the while like nothing so much as a great Dutch Pin or Skittle. At the expiration of that period, he suddenly, and without the least notice, burst (to the great consternation of the young people) into a very loud and very short laugh; and repeating, "Certainly, Joseph. Oh yes! Why not?" went out for a walk.
Chapter 79.
Old John did not walk near the Golden Key, for between the Golden Key and the Black Lion there lay a wilderness of streets--as everybody knows who is acquainted with the relative bearings of Clerkenwell and Whitechapel--and he was by no means famous for pedestrian exercises. But the Golden Key lies in our way, though it was out of his; so to the Golden Key this chapter goes.
The Golden Key itself, fair emblem of the locksmith"s trade, had been pulled down by the rioters, and roughly trampled under foot. But, now, it was hoisted up again in all the glory of a new coat of paint, and shewed more bravely even than in days of yore. Indeed the whole house-front was spruce and trim, and so freshened up throughout, that if there yet remained at large any of the rioters who had been concerned in the attack upon it, the sight of the old, goodly, prosperous dwelling, so revived, must have been to them as gall and wormwood.
The shutters of the shop were closed, however, and the window- blinds above were all pulled down, and in place of its usual cheerful appearance, the house had a look of sadness and an air of mourning; which the neighbours, who in old days had often seen poor Barnaby go in and out, were at no loss to understand. The door stood partly open; but the locksmith"s hammer was unheard; the cat sat moping on the ashy forge; all was deserted, dark, and silent.
On the threshold of this door, Mr Haredale and Edward Chester met. The younger man gave place; and both pa.s.sing in with a familiar air, which seemed to denote that they were tarrying there, or were well-accustomed to go to and fro unquestioned, shut it behind them.
Entering the old back-parlour, and ascending the flight of stairs, abrupt and steep, and quaintly fashioned as of old, they turned into the best room; the pride of Mrs Varden"s heart, and erst the scene of Miggs"s household labours.
"Varden brought the mother here last evening, he told me?" said Mr Haredale.
"She is above-stairs now--in the room over here," Edward rejoined. "Her grief, they say, is past all telling. I needn"t add--for that you know beforehand, sir--that the care, humanity, and sympathy of these good people have no bounds."
"I am sure of that. Heaven repay them for it, and for much more! Varden is out?"
"He returned with your messenger, who arrived almost at the moment of his coming home himself. He was out the whole night--but that of course you know. He was with you the greater part of it?"
"He was. Without him, I should have lacked my right hand. He is an older man than I; but nothing can conquer him."
"The cheeriest, stoutest-hearted fellow in the world."
"He has a right to be. He has a right to he. A better creature never lived. He reaps what he has sown--no more."
"It is not all men," said Edward, after a moment"s hesitation, "who have the happiness to do that."
"More than you imagine," returned Mr Haredale. "We note the harvest more than the seed-time. You do so in me."
In truth his pale and haggard face, and gloomy bearing, had so far influenced the remark, that Edward was, for the moment, at a loss to answer him.
"Tut, tut," said Mr Haredale, "twas not very difficult to read a thought so natural. But you are mistaken nevertheless. I have had my share of sorrows--more than the common lot, perhaps, but I have borne them ill. I have broken where I should have bent; and have mused and brooded, when my spirit should have mixed with all G.o.d"s great creation. The men who learn endurance, are they who call the whole world, brother. I have turned FROM the world, and I pay the penalty."
Edward would have interposed, but he went on without giving him time.
"It is too late to evade it now. I sometimes think, that if I had to live my life once more, I might amend this fault--not so much, I discover when I search my mind, for the love of what is right, as for my own sake. But even when I make these better resolutions, I instinctively recoil from the idea of suffering again what I have undergone; and in this circ.u.mstance I find the unwelcome a.s.surance that I should still be the same man, though I could cancel the past, and begin anew, with its experience to guide me."
"Nay, you make too sure of that," said Edward.
"You think so," Mr Haredale answered, "and I am glad you do. I know myself better, and therefore distrust myself more. Let us leave this subject for another--not so far removed from it as it might, at first sight, seem to be. Sir, you still love my niece, and she is still attached to you."
"I have that a.s.surance from her own lips," said Edward, "and you know--I am sure you know--that I would not exchange it for any blessing life could yield me."
"You are frank, honourable, and disinterested," said Mr Haredale; "you have forced the conviction that you are so, even on my once- jaundiced mind, and I believe you. Wait here till I come back."
He left the room as he spoke; but soon returned with his niece. "On that first and only time," he said, looking from the one to the other, "when we three stood together under her father"s roof, I told you to quit it, and charged you never to return."
"It is the only circ.u.mstance arising out of our love," observed Edward, "that I have forgotten."
"You own a name," said Mr Haredale, "I had deep reason to remember. I was moved and goaded by recollections of personal wrong and injury, I know, but, even now I cannot charge myself with having, then, or ever, lost sight of a heartfelt desire for her true happiness; or with having acted--however much I was mistaken--with any other impulse than the one pure, single, earnest wish to be to her, as far as in my inferior nature lay, the father she had lost."
"Dear uncle," cried Emma, "I have known no parent but you. I have loved the memory of others, but I have loved you all my life. Never was father kinder to his child than you have been to me, without the interval of one harsh hour, since I can first remember."
"You speak too fondly," he answered, "and yet I cannot wish you were less partial; for I have a pleasure in hearing those words, and shall have in calling them to mind when we are far asunder, which nothing else could give me. Bear with me for a moment longer, Edward, for she and I have been together many years; and although I believe that in resigning her to you I put the seal upon her future happiness, I find it needs an effort."
He pressed her tenderly to his bosom, and after a minute"s pause, resumed: "I have done you wrong, sir, and I ask your forgiveness--in no common phrase, or show of sorrow; but with earnestness and sincerity. In the same spirit, I acknowledge to you both that the time has been when I connived at treachery and falsehood--which if I did not perpetrate myself, I still permitted--to rend you two asunder."
"You judge yourself too harshly," said Edward. "Let these things rest."
"They rise in judgment against me when I look back, and not now for the first time," he answered. "I cannot part from you without your full forgiveness; for busy life and I have little left in common now, and I have regrets enough to carry into solitude, without addition to the stock."
"You bear a blessing from us both," said Emma. "Never mingle thoughts of me--of me who owe you so much love and duty--with anything but undying affection and grat.i.tude for the past, and bright hopes for the future."
"The future," returned her uncle, with a melancholy smile, "is a bright word for you, and its image should be wreathed with cheerful hopes. Mine is of another kind, but it will be one of peace, and free, I trust, from care or pa.s.sion. When you quit England I shall leave it too. There are cloisters abroad; and now that the two great objects of my life are set at rest, I know no better home. You droop at that, forgetting that I am growing old, and that my course is nearly run. Well, we will speak of it again-- not once or twice, but many times; and you shall give me cheerful counsel, Emma."
"And you will take it?" asked his niece.
"I"ll listen to it," he answered, with a kiss, "and it will have its weight, be certain. What have I left to say? You have, of late, been much together. It is better and more fitting that the circ.u.mstances attendant on the past, which wrought your separation, and sowed between you suspicion and distrust, should not be entered on by me."
"Much, much better," whispered Emma.
"I avow my share in them," said Mr Haredale, "though I held it, at the time, in detestation. Let no man turn aside, ever so slightly, from the broad path of honour, on the plausible pretence that he is justified by the goodness of his end. All good ends can he worked out by good means. Those that cannot, are bad; and may be counted so at once, and left alone."
He looked from her to Edward, and said in a gentler tone: "In goods and fortune you are now nearly equal. I have been her faithful steward, and to that remnant of a richer property which my brother left her, I desire to add, in token of my love, a poor pittance, scarcely worth the mention, for which I have no longer any need. I am glad you go abroad. Let our ill-fated house remain the ruin it is. When you return, after a few thriving years, you will command a better, and a more fortunate one. We are friends?"
Edward took his extended hand, and grasped it heartily.
"You are neither slow nor cold in your response," said Mr Haredale, doing the like by him, "and when I look upon you now, and know you, I feel that I would choose you for her husband. Her father had a generous nature, and you would have pleased him well. I give her to you in his name, and with his blessing. If the world and I part in this act, we part on happier terms than we have lived for many a day."
He placed her in his arms, and would have left the room, but that he was stopped in his pa.s.sage to the door by a great noise at a distance, which made them start and pause.
It was a loud shouting, mingled with boisterous acclamations, that rent the very air. It drew nearer and nearer every moment, and approached so rapidly, that, even while they listened, it burst into a deafening confusion of sounds at the street corner.
"This must be stopped--quieted," said Mr Haredale, hastily. "We should have foreseen this, and provided against it. I will go out to them at once."
But, before he could reach the door, and before Edward could catch up his hat and follow him, they were again arrested by a loud shriek from above-stairs: and the locksmith"s wife, bursting in, and fairly running into Mr Haredale"s arms, cried out: "She knows it all, dear sir!--she knows it all! We broke it out to her by degrees, and she is quite prepared." Having made this communication, and furthermore thanked Heaven with great fervour and heartiness, the good lady, according to the custom of matrons, on all occasions of excitement, fainted away directly.
They ran to the window, drew up the sash, and looked into the crowded street. Among a dense mob of persons, of whom not one was for an instant still, the locksmith"s ruddy face and burly form could be descried, beating about as though he was struggling with a rough sea. Now, he was carried back a score of yards, now onward nearly to the door, now back again, now forced against the opposite houses, now against those adjoining his own: now carried up a flight of steps, and greeted by the outstretched hands of half a hundred men, while the whole tumultuous concourse stretched their throats, and cheered with all their might. Though he was really in a fair way to be torn to pieces in the general enthusiasm, the locksmith, nothing discomposed, echoed their shouts till he was as hoa.r.s.e as they, and in a glow of joy and right good-humour, waved his hat until the daylight shone between its brim and crown.
But in all the bandyings from hand to hand, and strivings to and fro, and sweepings here and there, which--saving that he looked more jolly and more radiant after every struggle--troubled his peace of mind no more than if he had been a straw upon the water"s surface, he never once released his firm grasp of an arm, drawn tight through his. He sometimes turned to clap this friend upon the back, or whisper in his ear a word of staunch encouragement, or cheer him with a smile; but his great care was to shield him from the pressure, and force a pa.s.sage for him to the Golden Key. Pa.s.sive and timid, scared, pale, and wondering, and gazing at the throng as if he were newly risen from the dead, and felt himself a ghost among the living, Barnaby--not Barnaby in the spirit, but in flesh and blood, with pulses, sinews, nerves, and beating heart, and strong affections--clung to his stout old friend, and followed where he led.
And thus, in course of time, they reached the door, held ready for their entrance by no unwilling hands. Then slipping in, and shutting out the crowd by main force, Gabriel stood between Mr Haredale and Edward Chester, and Barnaby, rushing up the stairs, fell upon his knees beside his mother"s bed.
"Such is the blessed end, sir," cried the panting locksmith, to Mr Haredale, "of the best day"s work we ever did. The rogues! it"s been hard fighting to get away from "em. I almost thought, once or twice, they"d have been too much for us with their kindness!"
They had striven, all the previous day, to rescue Barnaby from his impending fate. Failing in their attempts, in the first quarter to which they addressed themselves, they renewed them in another. Failing there, likewise, they began afresh at midnight; and made their way, not only to the judge and jury who had tried him, but to men of influence at court, to the young Prince of Wales, and even to the ante-chamber of the King himself. Successful, at last, in awakening an interest in his favour, and an inclination to inquire more dispa.s.sionately into his case, they had had an interview with the minister, in his bed, so late as eight o"clock that morning. The result of a searching inquiry (in which they, who had known the poor fellow from his childhood, did other good service, besides bringing it about) was, that between eleven and twelve o"clock, a free pardon to Barnaby Rudge was made out and signed, and entrusted to a horse-soldier for instant conveyance to the place of execution. This courier reached the spot just as the cart appeared in sight; and Barnaby being carried back to jail, Mr Haredale, a.s.sured that all was safe, had gone straight from Bloomsbury Square to the Golden Key, leaving to Gabriel the grateful task of bringing him home in triumph.
"I needn"t say," observed the locksmith, when he had shaken hands with all the males in the house, and hugged all the females, five- and-forty times, at least, "that, except among ourselves, I didn"t want to make a triumph of it. But, directly we got into the street we were known, and this hubbub began. Of the two," he added, as he wiped his crimson face, "and after experience of both, I think I"d rather be taken out of my house by a crowd of enemies, than escorted home by a mob of friends!"
It was plain enough, however, that this was mere talk on Gabriel"s part, and that the whole proceeding afforded him the keenest delight; for the people continuing to make a great noise without, and to cheer as if their voices were in the freshest order, and good for a fortnight, he sent upstairs for Grip (who had come home at his master"s back, and had acknowledged the favours of the mult.i.tude by drawing blood from every finger that came within his reach), and with the bird upon his arm presented himself at the first-floor window, and waved his hat again until it dangled by a shred, between his finger and thumb. This demonstration having been received with appropriate shouts, and silence being in some degree restored, he thanked them for their sympathy; and taking the liberty to inform them that there was a sick person in the house, proposed that they should give three cheers for King George, three more for Old England, and three more for nothing particular, as a closing ceremony. The crowd a.s.senting, subst.i.tuted Gabriel Varden for the nothing particular; and giving him one over, for good measure, dispersed in high good-humour.
What congratulations were exchanged among the inmates at the Golden Key, when they were left alone; what an overflowing of joy and happiness there was among them; how incapable it was of expression in Barnaby"s own person; and how he went wildly from one to another, until he became so far tranquillised, as to stretch himself on the ground beside his mother"s couch and fall into a deep sleep; are matters that need not be told. And it is well they happened to be of this cla.s.s, for they would be very hard to tell, were their narration ever so indispensable.
Before leaving this bright picture, it may be well to glance at a dark and very different one which was presented to only a few eyes, that same night.
The scene was a churchyard; the time, midnight; the persons, Edward Chester, a clergyman, a grave-digger, and the four bearers of a homely coffin. They stood about a grave which had been newly dug, and one of the bearers held up a dim lantern,--the only light there--which shed its feeble ray upon the book of prayer. He placed it for a moment on the coffin, when he and his companions were about to lower it down. There was no inscription on the lid.
The mould fell solemnly upon the last house of this nameless man; and the rattling dust left a dismal echo even in the accustomed ears of those who had borne it to its resting-place. The grave was filled in to the top, and trodden down. They all left the spot together.
"You never saw him, living?" asked the clergyman, of Edward.
"Often, years ago; not knowing him for my brother."
"Never since?"
"Never. Yesterday, he steadily refused to see me. It was urged upon him, many times, at my desire."
"Still he refused? That was hardened and unnatural."
"Do you think so?"
"I infer that you do not?"
"You are right. We hear the world wonder, every day, at monsters of ingrat.i.tude. Did it never occur to you that it often looks for monsters of affection, as though they were things of course?"
They had reached the gate by this time, and bidding each other good night, departed on their separate ways.
Chapter 80.
That afternoon, when he had slept off his fatigue; had shaved, and washed, and dressed, and freshened himself from top to toe; when he had dined, comforted himself with a pipe, an extra Toby, a nap in the great arm-chair, and a quiet chat with Mrs Varden on everything that had happened, was happening, or about to happen, within the sphere of their domestic concern; the locksmith sat himself down at the tea-table in the little back-parlour: the rosiest, cosiest, merriest, heartiest, best-contented old buck, in Great Britain or out of it.
There he sat, with his beaming eye on Mrs V., and his shining face suffused with gladness, and his capacious waistcoat smiling in every wrinkle, and his jovial humour peeping from under the table in the very plumpness of his legs; a sight to turn the vinegar of misanthropy into purest milk of human kindness. There he sat, watching his wife as she decorated the room with flowers for the greater honour of Dolly and Joseph Willet, who had gone out walking, and for whom the tea-kettle had been singing gaily on the hob full twenty minutes, chirping as never kettle chirped before; for whom the best service of real undoubted china, patterned with divers round-faced mandarins holding up broad umbrellas, was now displayed in all its glory; to tempt whose appet.i.tes a clear, transparent, juicy ham, garnished with cool green lettuce-leaves and fragrant cuc.u.mber, reposed upon a shady table, covered with a snow-white cloth; for whose delight, preserves and jams, crisp cakes and other pastry, short to eat, with cunning twists, and cottage loaves, and rolls of bread both white and brown, were all set forth in rich profusion; in whose youth Mrs V. herself had grown quite young, and stood there in a gown of red and white: symmetrical in figure, buxom in bodice, ruddy in cheek and lip, faultless in ankle, laughing in face and mood, in all respects delicious to behold--there sat the locksmith among all and every these delights, the sun that shone upon them all: the centre of the system: the source of light, heat, life, and frank enjoyment in the bright household world.
And when had Dolly ever been the Dolly of that afternoon? To see how she came in, arm-in-arm with Joe; and how she made an effort not to blush or seem at all confused; and how she made believe she didn"t care to sit on his side of the table; and how she coaxed the locksmith in a whisper not to joke; and how her colour came and went in a little restless flutter of happiness, which made her do everything wrong, and yet so charmingly wrong that it was better than right!--why, the locksmith could have looked on at this (as he mentioned to Mrs Varden when they retired for the night) for four- and-twenty hours at a stretch, and never wished it done.
The recollections, too, with which they made merry over that long protracted tea! The glee with which the locksmith asked Joe if he remembered that stormy night at the Maypole when he first asked after Dolly--the laugh they all had, about that night when she was going out to the party in the sedan-chair--the unmerciful manner in which they rallied Mrs Varden about putting those flowers outside that very window--the difficulty Mrs Varden found in joining the laugh against herself, at first, and the extraordinary perception she had of the joke when she overcame it--the confidential statements of Joe concerning the precise day and hour when he was first conscious of being fond of Dolly, and Dolly"s blushing admissions, half volunteered and half extorted, as to the time from which she dated the discovery that she "didn"t mind" Joe--here was an exhaustless fund of mirth and conversation.
Then, there was a great deal to be said regarding Mrs Varden"s doubts, and motherly alarms, and shrewd suspicions; and it appeared that from Mrs Varden"s penetration and extreme sagacity nothing had ever been hidden. She had known it all along. She had seen it from the first. She had always predicted it. She had been aware of it before the princ.i.p.als. She had said within herself (for she remembered the exact words) "that young Willet is certainly looking after our Dolly, and I must look after HIM." Accordingly, she had looked after him, and had observed many little circ.u.mstances (all of which she named) so exceedingly minute that n.o.body else could make anything out of them even now; and had, it seemed from first to last, displayed the most unbounded tact and most consummate generalship.
Of course the night when Joe WOULD ride homeward by the side of the chaise, and when Mrs Varden WOULD insist upon his going back again, was not forgotten--nor the night when Dolly fainted on his name being mentioned--nor the times upon times when Mrs Varden, ever watchful and prudent, had found her pining in her own chamber. In short, nothing was forgotten; and everything by some means or other brought them back to the conclusion, that that was the happiest hour in all their lives; consequently, that everything must have occurred for the best, and nothing could be suggested which would have made it better.
While they were in the full glow of such discourse as this, there came a startling knock at the door, opening from the street into the workshop, which had been kept closed all day that the house might be more quiet. Joe, as in duty bound, would hear of n.o.body but himself going to open it; and accordingly left the room for that purpose.
It would have been odd enough, certainly, if Joe had forgotten the way to this door; and even if he had, as it was a pretty large one and stood straight before him, he could not easily have missed it. But Dolly, perhaps because she was in the flutter of spirits before mentioned, or perhaps because she thought he would not be able to open it with his one arm--she could have had no other reason-- hurried out after him; and they stopped so long in the pa.s.sage--no doubt owing to Joe"s entreaties that she would not expose herself to the draught of July air which must infallibly come rushing in on this same door being opened--that the knock was repeated, in a yet more startling manner than before.
"Is anybody going to open that door?" cried the locksmith. "Or shall I come?"
Upon that, Dolly went running back into the parlour, all dimples and blushes; and Joe opened it with a mighty noise, and other superfluous demonstrations of being in a violent hurry.
"Well," said the locksmith, when he reappeared: "what is it? eh Joe? what are you laughing at?"
"Nothing, sir. It"s coming in."
"Who"s coming in? what"s coming in?" Mrs Varden, as much at a loss as her husband, could only shake her head in answer to his inquiring look: so, the locksmith wheeled his chair round to command a better view of the room-door, and stared at it with his eyes wide open, and a mingled expression of curiosity and wonder shining in his jolly face.
Instead of some person or persons straightway appearing, divers remarkable sounds were heard, first in the workshop and afterwards in the little dark pa.s.sage between it and the parlour, as though some unwieldy chest or heavy piece of furniture were being brought in, by an amount of human strength inadequate to the task. At length after much struggling and humping, and bruising of the wall on both sides, the door was forced open as by a battering-ram; and the locksmith, steadily regarding what appeared beyond, smote his thigh, elevated his eyebrows, opened his mouth, and cried in a loud voice expressive of the utmost consternation: "Damme, if it an"t Miggs come back!"