"Marcus, what can you mean, when we know no one here? Is it one of your old hospital friends? And why may I not go in and see him?"
"So you shall, but I must explain matters first. I have a poor fellow in there whom I picked up off a door-step. At first I thought he was drunk, and I meant to call a policeman, but I very soon found out my mistake. The poor wretch had fainted from cold and exhaustion, he was simply starving."
"Oh, how dreadful!" exclaimed Olivia, much shocked at this. "Have you given him some food? But why is he not here instead of in the sitting-room? Martha has a capital fire."
"Yes, she has been making him some tea, and luckily there was some cold bacon. He has had nothing but a penny roll and some coffee since yesterday morning. Another night of exposure and want would have killed him. I took him into the parlour because the couch was handy, but directly he spoke I saw he was a gentleman--at least an educated man, but his clothes are threadbare. He has parted with his waistcoat for food. Now you know why I brought you in here, to save you a shock."
"But, Marcus, what are we to do with him?"
"Ah, that is what puzzles me. I have fed and warmed him, and could give him money for a night"s lodging, but he is not fit to move. When he tried to sit up just now, he nearly fell back from exhaustion. I should say from the look of him that he has been ill, perhaps in some hospital, and has not got up his strength. And he is quite young too--not more than five-and-twenty, I should say."
"May I go and look at him first, and then we will think what is to be done."
"Yes, dear, that will be best. But, Livy, I really cannot wait just now. All this has hindered me so that I have not been to the Traverses". I shall not be long--not more than half an hour."
Olivia looked rather troubled at this, but it was no use making a fuss.
Marcus must do his work, but her vision of a cosy evening was sadly marred. Instead of listening to _Esmond_ she had to interview a strange man.
Directly Marcus had gone she went into the sitting-room; the couch had been drawn near the fire and Marcus"s easy chair was pushed back, and there in the warmth and firelight, with an old plaid thrown over him, the forlorn wanderer lay sleeping as placidly as a child.
Olivia trod on tiptoe as she crossed the room and stood beside the couch, and studied him attentively.
Marcus was right; of course he was a gentleman; in spite of his emaciated appearance and poor, threadbare garments, this was evident; the features were well-cut and refined; the wasted hands bore no signs of manual labour, and the filbert nails were carefully attended.
Some poor prodigal fallen to low estate lay before her, and yet he looked so boyish and innocent in his sleep, that Olivia"s heart grew very pitiful over him.
Turn him out in the winter"s cold, and on Christmas night, too; when all the merciful angels were moving betwixt heaven and earth. When the bond of brotherhood that linked human beings together was drawn closer, and the rich man"s gift and the widow"s mite were paid into the same treasury of love, it was impossible!
How soundly he was sleeping, poor fellow, lulled by the very fulness of comfort, his sick hunger appeased, and his bones no longer aching with cold. A fair moustache covered his mouth, but Olivia, who prided herself on reading character, soon decided that the chin and lower part of the face showed signs of weakness, but as the thought pa.s.sed through her mind a pair of deep blue eyes opened full on her face, and gazed at her in bewilderment.
"Where am I?" he said, feebly; "oh, I remember, I fainted on a doorstep, and some good Samaritan carried me in;" then in the same weak voice, "Forgive me, madam, but I am afraid to rise."
"Lie still--please lie still until my husband comes back," returned Olivia, a little nervously. How ill he looked--the eyes looked preternaturally large in the wasted face. "It is sad to see anyone in such distress," she continued, gently, "and on Christmas night, too."
"Yes, I am down on my luck," returned the stranger; but even in his feebleness he spoke a little recklessly; "I was always "Murad the Unlucky;" it would have been all over with me in a few hours if the doctor had not found me. I was just at the end of my tether,"--but here a hard cough seemed to tear him to pieces.
"Lie still and try to sleep again," returned Olivia, hurriedly; then she went out of the room and summoned Martha.
When Marcus returned and went in search of her, he found her airing some sheets at the kitchen fire.
"Marcus," she said, "Martha has been lighting a fire in that little empty room, where the iron bedstead is; there are the mattress and the two blankets Aunt Madge lent me when I was ill; I am going to make up a bed there for to-night."
"You think we ought to keep him, then," returned her husband, looking at her questioningly. "To be sure, I hardly know how we are to turn him out; but if he falls ill on our hands, eh, Livy?"
"If he be very ill, you would have to take him to a hospital," she returned, quickly. "We have not got the cruise of oil, remember, and, as Aunt Madge says, we must be just before we are generous--but he has such a terrible cough, Marcus."
"Oh, that is from cold and exhaustion, and, as I told you before, he has evidently recovered from some severe illness, probably pleurisy or pneumonia. Well, Livy, I think you are about right; we must do our best for the poor beggar; now and then one must help "lame dogs over stiles,"" and Marcus, whose b.u.mp of benevolence was largely developed, and who believed in practical religion, was sincerely grateful that his wife had fallen in with his views.
"I think you were sent to him to help him," returned Olivia, softly.
""Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren."
Oh, Marcus, you know how that finishes," and Marcus smiled back at her as he left the room.
CHAPTER X.
A GENTLEMANLY TRAMP.
""Tis not enough to help the feeble up, But to support him after."--_Timon of Athens_.
When Olivia had finished her preparations she summoned Marcus upstairs, and with an air of housewifely pride showed him all the arrangements she had made.
In his bachelor days Dr. Luttrell had been in the habit of picking up all sorts of miscellaneous articles at sales, that he thought might be useful some day, and though Olivia had often laughed at his purchases and called them old lumber, they had often proved serviceable.
The strip of faded carpet and shabby little shut up washstand intended for the surgery, and a couple of chairs, had been put into the empty room, and though it looked bare enough to Marcus"s eyes, and in spite of the bright little fire terribly chilly, it would doubtless be a haven of refuge to their miserable guest.
"He says it is just heaven," observed Marcus, when he came downstairs to his wife; "the night before last, poor beggar, he was in the casual ward, and last night he had a few hours in some refuge. "Fancy the casual ward for a gentleman"s son," he said to me so bitterly, "and there was actually a barrister there too, and we fraternised." It is just as I thought, Livy, he was discharged from the hospital about three weeks ago, and has been roughing it ever since."
"Did you ask him his name, Marcus?"
"Yes, and he hesitated; I don"t believe Robert Barton is his real name; the way he gave it looked a bit shady; he is a good-looking fellow, and I can"t think he is vicious, but he is one of those weak fellows who get led away. If we are to help him, he must tell us more about himself."
Olivia found her hands full the next day; when Marcus went up to see Barton, he found him flushed and feverish, and complained of aching in his limbs.
"It is only a bad chill," he said, when Olivia looked grave at this report; "but unless we take care of him well for a day or two, it will be pneumonia or congestion of the lungs. I shall be pretty busy for the next two or three hours, and am afraid I must leave him to you and Martha. Don"t let him talk, and keep the fire up, that room is still like an ice-house. Are you sure you don"t mind the bother, Livy?"
And though Olivia was too truthful to answer in the negative, she promised to do her best for Marcus"s _protege_.
Robert Barton looked more to advantage lying in bed in Dr. Luttrell"s old red striped blazer than he had done in his threadbare shabby clothes the previous night; indeed, Olivia quite started when she saw him; he was certainly what Marcus called him, a good-looking fellow, the dark blue eyes were beautiful and full of expression; he flushed as Olivia asked him kindly how he felt.
"I feel pretty bad," he returned, "and the doctor says I must lie here.
I used not to think much of the story of the Good Samaritan, but I believe in it now. Oh, if you knew what it was to feel clean linen about me again."
"My husband says you are not to talk," replied Olivia, gently, "so I must carry out his orders; there is some medicine you are to take, and by-and-by I shall bring you some hot broth; if only your cough were easier you would be able to sleep, but perhaps the drops will do you good."
"Thanks awfully; if you will put them down by me, I will take them, but please, please do not trouble about me, I am not worth it. I never was worth anything;" he sighed and there were tears in his eyes; but Olivia took no notice, she put things straight and then went about her business. On her next visit she found him sleeping; but as she put down the cup of hot broth beside him he half woke.
"Mother," he said, in a hoa.r.s.e voice, "I never did it, I swear to you on my honour; I was never as bad as that; ask Olive, she believes in me, she knows I could not be such a low cad."
"Mr. Barton, I have brought you your broth; will you please take it before it gets cold?" and Olivia"s clear voice roused Robert Barton effectually.
"I was dreaming," he said, looking at her rather confusedly. "I thought I was at Medhurst, in the old library; oh, what a fool I am!"
and there was almost a despairing look in his eyes.
"You are weak, or you would not dream so, and yet it must be natural to dream about your own people. I am so glad you have someone belonging to you; last night we were afraid that you were quite friendless," then she stopped as she remembered Marcus"s injunctions.
"No, I am not friendless," he returned, raising himself with difficulty, and coughing as he spoke. "Even the prodigal son had relatives, you know--a father and an elder brother; but he was better off than I, for he knew where to find them"--but here such a terrible fit of coughing came on, that Olivia forbade him to say another word.