"Can you remember," he said, "nothing about the lad"s appearance that impressed you--now that you know the claim set up for hi--that impressed you with a sense of his relationship to you?"
"Nothing, sir, nothing whatever. The boy is a bright, frank, manly fellow; I have taken much interest in him from the first. His sorrow at the time of my husband"s death touched me very deeply. I have been several times since then to look after his comfort and happiness. I saw and talked with him yesterday, as I have already told you. But he is not my son, sir, he is not my son."
"Pardon me, madam! but you must remember that time works wonders in a child"s appearance; from three to eleven is a long stretch."
"I appreciate that fact, but I recall no resemblance whatever. My baby had light, curling hair, large eyes, full round cheeks and chin, a glow of health and happiness in his face. This lad is different, very different. There could not have been so great a change. Oh, no, sir!
your client is mistaken; the boy is not my son; I am sure he is not."
Sharpman was rejoiced. Everything was working now exactly according to his plan. He thought it safe to push his scheme more rapidly.
"But my client," he said, "appears to be perfectly sincere in his belief. He will doubtless desire me to inst.i.tute legal proceedings to recover for the boy his portion of Robert Burnham"s estate."
"If you can recover it," she said, calmly, "I shall transfer it to the child most cheerfully. I take it, however, that you must first establish his ident.i.ty as an heir?"
"Certainly."
"And do you think this can be done against my positive testimony?"
"Perhaps not; that remains to be seen. But I do not desire to contemplate such a contingency. My object, my sole object, is to obtain a harmonious settlement of this matter outside of the courts.
That is why I am here in person. I had hoped that I might induce you to acknowledge the boy as your son, to agree to set off his interest in his father"s estate, and to reimburse my client, to some extent, for his care and services. This is my only wish in the matter, I a.s.sure you."
"Why, as to that," she replied, "I am willing to recognize services performed for any one; and if this old man has rescued and cared for the boy, even though he is not my son--I have enough; if the man is in want, I will help him, I will give him money. But wait! did you say he had been cruel to the child? Then I withdraw my offer. I have no pity for the harsh task-masters of young children. Something to eat, to drink, to wear,--I will give him that,--nothing more."
"I am to understand, then, that you positively decline to acknowledge this boy as your son?" asked the lawyer, rising.
"With the evidence that I now have," she said, "I do. I should be glad to a.s.sist him; I have it in mind to do so; he is a brave, good boy, and I love him. But I can do nothing more, sir,--nothing more."
"I regret exceedingly, madam, the failure of my visit," said Sharpman, bowing himself toward the door. "I trust, I sincerely trust, that whatever I may find it in my heart and conscience to do in behalf of this boy, through the medium of the courts, will meet with no bitterness of feeling on your part."
"Certainly not," she replied, standing in matronly dignity. "You could do me no greater favor than to prove to me that this boy is Ralph Burnham. If I could believe that he is really my son, I would take him to my heart with inexpressible joy. Without that belief I should be false to my daughter"s interest to compel her to share with a stranger not only her father"s estate but also her mother"s affection."
"Madam, I have the most profound respect for your conscience and your judgment. I trust that no meeting between us will be less pleasant than this one has been. I wish you good-morning!"
"Good-morning, sir!"
Sharpman bowed himself gracefully out, and walked briskly down the street, with a smile on his face. The execution of his scheme had met, thus far, with a success which he had hardly antic.i.p.ated.
Every one about Burnham Breaker knew Bachelor Billy. No one ever knew any ill of him. He was simple and unlearned, but his heart was very large, and he was honest and manly to the marrow of his bones. He had no ties of family or of kin, but every one who knew him was his friend; every child who saw him smiled up instinctively into his face; he was a brother to all men. Gray spots were coming in his hair, his shoulders were bowed with toil, and his limbs were bent with disease, but the kind look never vanished from his rugged face, and the kind word never faltered on his lips. He went to his task at Burnham Breaker in the early morning, he toiled all day, and came home at night, happy and contented with his lot.
His work was at the head of the shaft, at the very topmost part of the towering breaker. When a mine car came up, loaded with coal, it was his duty to push it to the dump, some forty feet away, to tip it till the load ran out, and then to push it back to the waiting carriage.
Michael Maloney had been Billy"s a.s.sistant here, in other years; but, one day, Michael stepped back, inadvertently, into the open mouth of the shaft, and, three minutes later, his mangled remains were gathered up at the foot. Billy knew that Michael"s widow was poor, with a family of small children to care for, so he came and hired from her a part of her cottage to live in, and took his meals with her, and paid her generously. To this house he had taken Ralph. It was not an elegant home, to be sure, but it was a home where no harsh word was spoken from year"s end to year"s end; and to Ralph, fresh from his dreadful life with Simon Craft, this was much, oh! very much, indeed.
The boy was very fond of "Uncle Billy," as he called him, and the days and nights he spent with him were not unhappy ones. But since the day when Mrs. Burnham turned his face to hers, and kissed him on his lips, there had been a longing in his heart for something more; a longing which, at first, he could not quite define, but which grew and crystallized, at last, into a strong desire to merit and possess the fond affection, and to live in the sweet presence, of a kind and loving mother. He had always wanted a mother, ever since he could remember. The thought of one had always brought a picture of perfect happiness to his mind. But never, until now, had that want reached so great proportions. It had come to be the leading motive and ambition of his life. He yearned for mother-love and home affection, with an intensity as pa.s.sionate, a desire as deep, as ever stirred within the heart of man. He had not revealed his longing to Bachelor Billy. He feared that he might think he was discontented and unhappy, and he would not have hurt his Uncle Billy"s feelings for the world. So the summer days went by, and he kept his thought in this matter, as much as possible, to himself.
It had come to be the middle of September. There had been a three days rain, which had so freshened the parched gra.s.s and checked the fading of the leaves, that one might readily have thought the summer had returned to bring new foliage and flowers, and to deck the earth for still another season with its covering of green.
But it had cleared off cold.
"It"d be nice to have a fire to-night, Uncle Billy," said Ralph, as the two were walking home together in the twilight, from their day"s work at the breaker.
"Wull, lad," was the reply, "ye ha" the wood choppit for it, ye can mak" un oop."
So, after supper, Ralph built a wood fire in the little rude grate, and Billy lighted his clay pipe, and they both drew their chairs up before the comfortable blaze, and watched it while they talked.
It was the first fire of the season, and they enjoyed it. It seemed to bring not only warmth but cheer.
"Ain"t this nice, Uncle Billy?" said Ralph, after quite a long silence. "Seems kind o" home-like an" happy, don"t it?"
"Ye"re richt, lad! Gin a mon has a guid fire to sit to, an" a guid pipe o" "bacca to pull awa" on, what more wull ye? eh, Ralph!"
"A comfortable room like this to stay in, Uncle Billy," replied the boy, looking around on the four bare walls, the uncarpeted floor, and the rude furniture of the room, all bright and glowing now in the light of the cheerful fire.
"Oh! the room"s guid enook, guid enook," responded the man, without removing the pipe from his mouth.
"An" a nice bed, like ours, to sleep in."
"True for ye lad; tired bones rest well in a saft bed."
"An" plenty to eat, too, Uncle Billy; that"s a good thing to have."
"Richt again, Ralph! richt again!" exclaimed Billy, enthusiastically, pushing the burning tobacco down in the bowl of his pipe. "An" the Widow Maloney, she do gi" us "mazin" proper food, now, don"t she? D"ye min" that opple pie we had for sooper, lad?"
"Yes, that was good," said Ralph, gazing absently into the fire.
"They"s only one thing more we need, Uncle Billy, an" that"s somebody to love us. Not but what you an" me cares a good deal for each other,"
added Ralph, apprehensively, as the man puffed vigorously away at his pipe, "but that ain"t it. I mean somebody, some woman, you know, "at"d kiss us an" comfort us an" be nice to us that way."
Billy turned and gazed contemplatively at Ralph. "Been readin" some more o" them love-stories?" he asked, smiling behind a cloud of smoke.
"No, I ain"t, an" I don"t mean that kind. I mean your mother or your sister or your wife--it"d be jes" like as though you had a wife, you know, Uncle Billy."
Again, the man puffed savagely at his pipe before replying.
"Wull," he said at last, "na doot it"d be comfortin" to have a guid weef to care for ye; but they"re an awfu" trooble, Ralph, women is,--an awfu" trooble."
"But you don"t know, Uncle Billy; you ain"t had no "xperience."
"No more am I like to have. I"m a gittin" too auld now. I could na get me a weef an" I wanted one. Hoot, lad! think o" your Uncle Billy wi" a weef to look after; it"s no" sensiba, no" sensiba," and the man took his pipe from his mouth and indulged in a hearty burst of laughter at the mental vision of himself in matrimonial chains.
"But then," persisted Ralph, "you"d have such a nice home, you know; an" somebody to look glad an" smile an" say nice things to you w"en you come home from work o" nights. Uncle Billy, I"d give a good deal if I had it, jes" to have a home like other boys has, an" mothers an"
fathers an" sisters an" all that."
"Wull, lad, I"ve done the bes" I could for ye, I"ve--"
"Oh, Uncle Billy!" interrupted the boy, rising and laying his hand on the man"s shoulder affectionately, "you know I don"t mean that; I don"t mean but what you"ve been awful good to me; jes" as good as any one ever could be; but it"s sumpthin" dif"rent from that "at I mean. I"m thinkin" about a home with pirty things in it, books, an"
pictures, an" cushions, the way women fix "em you know, an"--an" a mother; I want a mother very much; I think it"d be the mos" beautiful thing in the world to have a mother. You"ve had one, ain"t you, Uncle Billy?"
The man"s face had taken on a pleased expression when Ralph began with his expostulation, but, as the boy continued, the look changed into one of sadness.