"I can"t tell. I must think things over. Do you say you have the confession in your pocket?"
"Yes; in my breast pocket. Here is the envelope sticking out above my coat."
"Give it to me," said Jim, stretching out his big hand.
"Not I. That"s my affair. I can make use of this. Why, I could hold a thing of this sort over the head of your fair bride, and blackmail her, if necessary."
"No, no, Sampson; you are not a ruffian, of that sort."
George Sampson suddenly changed his manner.
"As far as you are concerned, Jim, I am no ruffian," he said. "To tell the plain truth, I have always liked yer, and I"ll act by you as straight as a die in this matter. If you never do anything else, you"ve saved me from being the husband of that gel, and I"ll be thankful to you for it to my dying day. But for the Lord"s sake, don"t you put yourself into the noose now. You can"t be so mad, surely."
"Leave me for to-night, Sampson," said Jim in a voice of entreaty. "I can"t say anything, I must think. Leave me for to-night."
The detective got up slowly, whistled in a significant manner, and left the room.
"Now, if Jim Hardy is quixotic enough to marry Louisa Clay after what I have said, I"ll never speak to a good man again as long as I live," he muttered.
But Jim Hardy had not made up his mind how to act at all; he was simply stunned. When he found himself alone he sank down on a chair close to his little center table, put his elbows on the table, and buried his head in his big hands. The whole bewildering truth was too much for him. He was honest and straight himself, and could not understand duplicity. Louisa"s conduct was incomprehensible to him. What should he do now? Should he be true to one so false? This question began dimly to struggle to obtain an answer in his mind. He had scarcely begun to face it, when a knock at the door, and the shrill voice of his landlady calling out, "I have got a letter for you, Mr. Hardy, you are in favor with the post to-night," reached him.
He walked across the room, opened the door, and took the letter from the landlady"s hand. She gave him a quick, curious glance; she saw shrewdly enough that something was worrying him.
"Why do he go and marry a girl like that Clay creature?" she muttered to herself as she whisked downstairs. "I wouldn"t have her if she had double the money they say he"s to get with her."
Jim meanwhile stared hard at the writing on his letter. It was in Louisa Clay"s straggling, badly formed hand. He hastily tore open the envelope, and read the brief contents. They ran as follows:
"DEAR JIM,--I dare say you have heard something about me, and I don"t go for to deny that that something is true. I was mad when I did it, but, mad or sane, it is best now that all should be over between you and me. I couldn"t bear to marry you, and you knowing the truth. Then you never loved me--any fool could see that. So I am off out of London, and you needn"t expect to see me any more.
"Yours no longer, "LOUISA CLAY."
Jim"s first impulse when he had read this extraordinary and unexpected letter was to dance a hornpipe from one end of the room to the other; his next was to cry hip, hip, hurrah in a stentorian voice. His last impulse he acted upon. He caught up his hat and went out as fast as ever he could. With rapid strides he hurried through the crowded streets, reached the Bank, and presently found himself on the top of an omnibus which was to convey him to Bayswater. He was following his impulse with a beating heart, eyes that blazed with light, and lips that trembled with emotion. He had been a prisoner tied fast in chains of his own forging. All of a sudden he was free. Impulse should have its way. His heart should dictate to him in very earnest at last.
With Louisa"s letter and his uncle"s letter in his pocket, he presently reached the great house where Mrs. Faulkner lived. He had often pa.s.sed that house since Alison had gone to it, walking hungrily past it at dead of night, thinking of the girl whom he loved but might never win; now he might win his true love after all--he meant to try. His triumphant steps were heard hurrying down the pavement. He pulled the servants" bell and asked boldly for Alison.
"Who shall I say?" asked the kitchen-maid who admitted him.
"Say Jim Hardy, and that my message is urgent," was the reply.
The girl, who was impressed by Jim"s goodly height and breadth, invited him into the housekeeper"s parlor, where Alison joined him in a few minutes. Her face was like death when she came in; her hand shook so that she could scarcely hold it out for Jim to clasp. He was master, however, on this occasion--the averted eyes, the white face, the shaking hand were only all the more reasons why he should clasp the maiden he loved to his heart. He strode across the room and shut the door.
"Can we be alone for a few minutes?" he said.
"I suppose so, Jim, if--if it is necessary," said Alison.
"It is necessary. I have something to say."
Alison did not reply. She was trembling more than ever.
"I have got to say this," said Jim: "I am off with Louisa Clay. We"re not going to be married. I don"t want her, I never wanted her, and now it seems that she don"t want me. And, Alison, you are cleared of that matter of the five-pound note."
"Cleared?" said Alison, springing forward, and her eyes lighting up.
"Yes, darlin", cleared," said Jim boldly. "I always knew you were as innocent as the dawn, and now all the world will know it. Sampson, good fellow, ferreted out the truth, and it seems--it seems that Louisa is the thief. Sampson can give you all particulars himself to-morrow; but I have come here now to talk on a matter of much more importance.
I have always loved you, Alison, from the first day I set eyes on you.
From that first moment I gave you all my heart; my life was yours, my happiness yours, and all the love I am capable of. In an evil hour a shadow came atween us; I was mad at losing you, and I asked Louisa to wed me; but though I"d "a" been true to her--for a promise is a promise--I"d have been the most miserable man what ever lived, for my heart would have been yours. I"d have committed a sin, an awful sin, but, thank G.o.d, I am saved from that now. Louisa herself has set me free. There"s her letter; you can read it if you want to."
Jim pulled it out of his pocket, and thrust it before Alison"s dazzled eyes.
"No, no!" she said, pushing it from her; "your word is enough. I don"t want to see the letter."
She hid her face in her shaking hands.
"I was always true to you," continued Jim, "in heart at least; and now I want to know if there is any reason why you and me should not be wed after all. I have got money enough, and I can wed you and give you a nice home as soon as ever the banns are read, and there"ll be a corner for Grannie too, by our fireside. Come, Alison, is there any reason, any impediment? as they say in the marriage service. There aint really any other feller, is there, Ally? That was a sort of way to cheat me, Ally; wasn"t it, darlin"?"
"Oh, Jim, yes, yes," cried Alison. "I always loved you with all my heart. I loved you more than ever the day I gave you up, but I was proud, and I misunderstood, and--and--oh, I can say no more; but I love you, Jim, I love you. Oh, my heart is like to burst, but it is all happiness now, for I love you so well--so true--so very, very dearly."
"Then that"s all right," he answered solemnly. He took her into his arms there and then and held her fast to his beating heart. They kissed each other many times.
Alison and Jim were married, and Grannie went to live with them. She was indispensable to the brightness of their home, and even more indispensable to the success of their little shop; for Grannie had a natural turn for business, and if her eyes were the kindest in all the world, they were also the sharpest to detect the least thing not perfectly straight in those with whom she had to deal. So the shop, started on thoroughly business principles, flourished well. And the young pair were happy, and the other children by and by made a good start in the world, and Grannie"s face beamed more and more lovingly as the years went on, but never to her dying day did she reveal the secret of her visit to the workhouse.
"It was the one piece of bad luck in all my happy life," she was wont to murmur to herself, then she would smile and perk up her little figure. "Lord knows, I needn"t ha" been frighted," she would add; "comin" o" the breed of the Phippses and Simpsons, I might ha" known it wouldn"t last--the luck o" the family bein" wot it is."
THE END
THE FLOWERS" WORK
"See, mother! I"ve finished my bouquet. Isn"t it beautiful? More so, I think, than those made by the florist which he asked two dollars for, and this has cost me but seventy-five cents."
"Yes, yes, it is very pretty. But, dear me, child, I cannot help thinking how illy we can spare so much for such a very useless thing.
Almost as much as you can make in a day it has cost."
"Don"t say _useless_, mother. It will express to Edward our appreciation of his exertions and their result, and our regards. How he has struggled to obtain a profession! I only wish I could cover the platform with bouquets, baskets and wreaths tonight, when he receives his diploma."
"Well, well; if it will do any good, I shall not mind the expense.
But, child, he will know it is from you, and men don"t care for such things coming from home folks. Now, if it was from any other young lady, I expect he"d be mightily pleased."
"Oh, mother, I don"t think so. Edward will think as much of it, coming from his sister-in-law, as from any other girl. And it will please Kate, too. If _we_ do not think enough of him to send him bouquets, who else could? Rest easy, mother, dear; I feel quite sure my bouquet will do much good," answered Annie, putting her bouquet in a gla.s.s of water.
She left the room to make her simple toilet for the evening.
Mrs. Grey had been widowed when her two little girls were in their infancy. It had been a hard struggle for the mother to raise her children. Constant toil, privation and anxiety had worn heavily on her naturally delicate const.i.tution, until she had become a confirmed invalid. But there was no longer a necessity for her toiling. Katy, the elder daughter, was married; and Annie, a loving, devoted girl, could now return the mother"s long and loving care. By her needle she obtained a support for herself and mother.