Poor May flushed to the roots of her hair; then she turned deadly pale, and would have fallen had not the gallant Captain caught her in his arms. But by a powerful effort of will she recovered herself in time to avoid a scene.
"The sight of you reminded me so strongly of our dear Shank!" she stammered, when Charlie, hastening forward, grasped both her hands and shook them warmly. "Besides--some of us thought you were dead."
"No wonder you thought of Shank," returned Charlie, "for he and I used to be so constantly together. But don"t be cast down, May. We"ll get Shank out of his troubles yet."
"Yes, and you know he has Ritson with him," said Mrs Brooke; "and he, although not quite as steady as we could wish, will be sure to care for such an old friend in his sickness. But you"d better go, Charlie, and see Mrs Leather. They will be sure to want you and Captain Stride.
May will remain here with me. Sit down beside me, dear, I want to have a chat with you."
"Perhaps, ma"am, if I make so bold," interposed the Captain, "Mr Crossley may want to have Miss May also at the council of war."
"Mr Crossley! is _he_ with my mother?" asked the girl eagerly.
"Yes, Miss May, he is."
"Then I _must_ be there. Excuse me, dear Mrs Brooke."
And without more ado May ran out of the house. She was followed soon after by Charlie and the Captain, and Mrs Brooke was left alone, expressing her thankfulness and joy of heart in a few silent tears over her knitting.
There was a wonderful similarity in many respects between Mrs Brooke and her friend Mrs Leather. They both knitted--continuously and persistently. This was a convenient if not a powerful bond, for it enabled them to sit for hours together--busy, yet free to talk. They were both invalids--a sympathetic bond of considerable strength. They held the same religious views--an indispensable bond where two people have to be much together, and are in earnest. They were both poor--a natural bond which draws people of a certain kind very close together, physically as well as spiritually--and both, up to this time at least, had long-absent and semi-lost sons. Even in the matter of daughters they might be said, in a sense, to be almost equal, for May, loving each, was a daughter to both. Lastly, in this matter of similarity, the two ladies were good--good as gold, according to Captain Stride, and he ought to have been an authority, for he frequently visited them and knew all their affairs. Fortunately for both ladies, Mrs Brooke was by far the stronger-minded--hence they never quarrelled!
In Mrs Leather"s parlour a solemn conclave was seated round the parlour table. They were very earnest, for the case under consideration was urgent, as well as very pitiful. Poor Mrs Leather"s face was wet with tears, and the pretty brown eyes of May were not dry. They had had a long talk over the letter from Ritson, which was brief and to the point but meagre as to details.
"I rather like the letter, considering who wrote it," observed Mr Crossley, laying it down after a fourth perusal. "You see he makes no whining or discontented reference to the hardness of their luck, which young scapegraces are so fond of doing; nor does he make effusive professions of regret or repentance, which hypocrites are so p.r.o.ne to do. I think it bears the stamp of being genuine on the face of it. At least it appears to be straightforward."
"I"m so glad you think so, Mr Crossley," said Mrs Leather; "for Mr Ritson is such a pleasant young man--and so good-looking, too!"
The old gentleman and the Captain both burst into a laugh at this.
"I"m afraid," said the former, "that good looks are no guarantee for good behaviour. However, I have made up my mind to send him a small sum of money--not to Shank, Mrs Leather, so you need not begin to thank me.
I shall send it to Ritson."
"Well, thank you all the same," interposed the lady, taking up her knitting and resuming operations below the table, gazing placidly all the while at her friends like some consummate conjuror, "for Ralph will be sure to look after Shank."
"The only thing that puzzles me is, how are we to get it sent to such an out-o"-the-way place--Traitor"s Trap! It"s a bad name, and the stupid fellow makes no mention of any known town near to it, though he gives the post-office. If I only knew its exact whereabouts I might get some one to take the money to him, for I have agents in many parts of America."
After prolonged discussion of the subject, Mr Crossley returned to town to make inquiries, and the Captain went to take his favourite walk by the sea-sh.o.r.e, where he was wont, when paying a visit to Sealford, to drive the Leathers" little dog half-mad with delight by throwing stones into the sea for Scraggy to go in for--which he always did, though he never fetched them out.
In the course of that day Charlie Brooke left his mother to take a stroll, and naturally turned in the direction of the sea. When half-way through the lane with the high banks on either side he encountered May.
"What a pleasant pretty girl she has become!" was his thought as she drew near.
"n.o.bler and handsomer than ever!" was hers as he approached.
The thoughts of both sent a flush to the face of each, but the colour scarcely showed through the bronzed skin of the man.
"Why, what a woman you have grown, May!" said Charlie, grasping her hand, and attempting to resume the old familiar terms--with, however, imperfect success.
"Isn"t that natural?" asked May, with a glance and a little laugh.
That glance and that little laugh, insignificant in themselves, tore a veil from the eyes of Charlie Brooke. He had always been fond of May Leather, after a fashion. _Now_ it suddenly rushed upon him that he was fond of her after another fashion! He was a quick thinker and just reasoner. A poor man without a profession and no prospects has no right to try to gain the affections of a girl. He became grave instantly.
"May," he said, "will you turn back to the sh.o.r.e with me for a little?
I want to have a talk about Shank. I want you to tell me all you know about him. Don"t conceal anything. I feel as if I had a right to claim your confidence, for, as you know well, he and I have been like brothers since we were little boys."
May had turned at once, and the tears filled her eyes as she told the sad story. It was long, and the poor girl was graphic in detail. We can give but the outline here.
Shank had gone off with Ritson not long after the sailing of the _Walrus_. On reaching America, and hearing of the failure of the company that worked the gold mine, and of old Ritson"s death, they knew not which way to turn. It was a tremendous blow, and seemed to have rendered them reckless, for they soon took to gambling. At first they remained in New York, and letters came home pretty regularly, in which Shank always expressed hopes of getting more respectable work. He did not conceal their mode of gaining a livelihood, but defended it on the ground that "a man must live!"
For a time the letters were cheerful. The young men were "lucky." Then came a change of luck, and a consequent change in the letters, which came less frequently. At last there arrived one from Shank, both the style and penmanship of which told that he had not forsaken the great curse of his life--strong drink. It told of disaster, and of going off to the "Rockies" with a party of "discoverers," though what they were to discover was not mentioned.
"From that date till now," said May in conclusion, "we have heard nothing about them till this letter came from Mr Ritson, telling of dear Shank being so ill, and asking for money."
"I wish any one were with Shank rather than that man," said Charlie sternly; "I have no confidence in him whatever, and I knew him well as a boy."
"Nevertheless, I think we may trust him. Indeed I feel sure he won"t desert his wounded comrade," returned May, with a blush.
The youth did not observe the blush. His thoughts were otherwise engaged, and his eyes were at the moment fixed on a far-off part of the sh.o.r.e, where Captain Stride could be seen urging on the joyful Scraggy to his fruitless labours.
"I wish I could feel as confident of him as you do, May. However, misfortune as well as experience may have made him a wiser, perhaps a better, man. But what troubles me most is the uncertainty of the money that Mr Crossley is going to send ever reaching its destination."
"Oh! if we only knew some one in New York who would take it to them,"
said May, looking piteously at the horizon, as if she were apostrophising some one on the other side of the Atlantic.
"Why, you talk as if New York and Traitor"s Trap were within a few miles of each other," said Charlie, smiling gently. "They are hundreds of miles apart."
"Well, I suppose they are. But I feel so anxious about Shank when I think of the dear boy lying ill, perhaps dying, in a lonely place far far away from us all, and no one but Mr Ritson to care for him! If I were only a man I would go to him myself."
She broke down at this point, and put her handkerchief to her face.
"Don"t cry, May," began the youth in sore perplexity, for he knew not how to comfort the poor girl in the circ.u.mstances, but fortunately Captain Stride caught sight of them at the moment, and gave them a stentorian hail.
"Hi! halloo! back your to-o-o-ps"ls. I"ll overhaul ye in a jiffy."
How long a nautical jiffy may be we know not, but, in a remarkably brief s.p.a.ce of time, considering the shortness and thickness of his sea-legs, the Captain was alongside, blowing, as he said, "like a grampus."
That night Charlie Brooke sat with his mother in her parlour. They were alone--their friends having considerately left them to themselves on this their first night.
They had been talking earnestly about past and present, for the son had much to learn about old friends and comrades, and the mother had much to tell.
"And now, mother," said Charlie, at the end of a brief pause, "what about the future?"
"Surely, my boy, it is time enough to talk about that to-morrow, or next day. You are not obliged to think of the future before you have spent even one night in your old room."
"Not absolutely obliged, mother. Nevertheless, I should like to speak about it. Poor Shank is heavy on my mind, and when I heard all about him to-day from May, I--. She"s wonderfully improved, that girl, mother. Grown quite pretty?"
"Indeed she is--and as good as she"s pretty," returned Mrs Brooke, with a furtive glance at her son.
"She broke down when talking about Shank to-day, and I declare she looked quite beautiful! Evidently Shank"s condition weighs heavily on her mind."