"It will afford me pleasure, Ishmael! I hope you can take my word for that?"
"Oh, Mr. Middleton! Indeed you--how can I ever prove myself grateful enough?"
"By simply getting on as fast as you can, boy! as I told you before. And let me tell you now, that there is good reason why you should now make the best possible use of your time; it may be short."
"Sir?" questioned Ishmael in perplexity and vague alarm.
"I should rather have said it must be short! I will explain. You know Mr. Herman Brudenell?"
"Mr--Herman--Brudenell," repeated the unconscious son, slowly and thoughtfully; then, as a flash of intelligence lighted up his face, he exclaimed: "Oh, yes, sir, I know who you mean; the young gentleman who owns Brudenell Hall, and who is now traveling in Europe."
"Yes! but he is not such a very young gentleman now; he must be between thirty-five and forty years of age. Well, my boy, you know, of course, that he is my landlord. When I rented this place, I took it by the year, and at a very low price, as the especial condition that I should leave it at six months" warning. Ishmael, I have received that warning this morning. I must vacate the premises on the first of next February."
Ishmael looked confounded. "Must vacate these premises the first of next February," he echoed, in a very dreary voice.
"Yes, my lad; but don"t look so utterly sorrowful; we shall not go out of the world, or even out of the State; perhaps not out of the county, Ishmael; and our next residence will be a permanent one; I shall purchase, and not rent, next time; and I shall not lose sight of your interests; besides the parting is six months off yet; so look up, my boy. Bless me, if I had known it was going to depress you in this way, I should have delayed the communication as long as possible; in fact, my only motive for making it now, is to give a good reason why you should make the most of your time while we remain here."
"Oh, sir, I will; believe me, I will; but I am so sorry you are ever going to leave us," said the boy, with emotion.
"Thank you, Ishmael; I shall not forget you; and in the meantime, Mr.
Brudenell, who is coming back to the Hall, and is a gentleman of great means and beneficence, cannot fail to be interested in you; indeed, I myself will mention you to him. And now come in, my boy, and take luncheon with us. We breakfasted very early this morning in order to get the teachers off in time for the Baltimore boat; and so we require an early luncheon," said Mr. Middleton, as he walked his young friend off to the house.
Mrs. Middleton and all her children and Claudia were already seated around the table in the pleasant morning room, where all the windows were open, admitting the free summer breezes, the perfume of flowers, and the songs of birds.
The young people started up and rushed towards Ishmael; for their sympathies were with him; and all began speaking at once.
"Oh, Ishmael! why did you disappoint me of dancing with the best scholar in the school?" asked Claudia.
"What did you run away for?" demanded James.
"I wouldn"t have gone for him," said John.
"Oh, Ishmael, it was such a pleasant party," said little f.a.n.n.y.
"Alf was a bad boy," said Baby Sue.
"It was very impolite in you to run away and leave me when I was your partner in the first quadrille! I do not see why you should have disappointed me for anything that fellow could have said or done!"
exclaimed Claudia.
As all were speaking at once it was quite impossible to answer either, so Ishmael looked in embarra.s.sment from one to the other.
Bee had not spoken; she was spreading b.u.t.ter on thin slices of bread for her baby sisters; but now, seeing Ishmael"s perplexity, she whispered to her mother:
"Call them off, mamma dear; they mean well; but it must hurt his feelings to be reminded of last night."
Mrs. Middleton thought so too; so she arose and went forward and offered Ishmael her hand, saying:
"Good-morning, my boy; I am glad to see you; draw up your chair to the table. Children, take your places. Mr. Middleton, we have been waiting for you."
"I know you have, my dear, but cold lunch don"t grow colder by standing; if it does, so much the better this warm weather."
"I have been taking a walk with my young friend here," said the gentleman, as he took his seat.
Ishmael followed his example, but not before he had quietly shaken hands with Beatrice.
At luncheon Mr. Middleton spoke of his plan, that Ishmael should come every day during the holidays to pursue his studies as usual in the schoolroom.
"You know he cannot read to any advantage in the little room where Hannah is always at work," explained Mr. Middleton.
"Oh, no! certainly not," agreed his wife.
The family were all pleased that Ishmael was still to come.
"But, my boy, I think you had better not set in again until Monday. A few days of mental rest is absolutely necessary after the hard reading of the last few months. So I enjoin you not to open a cla.s.sbook before next Monday."
As Mrs. Middleton emphatically seconded this move, our boy gave his promise to refrain, and after luncheon was over he went and got his books, took a respectful leave of his friends and returned home.
"Aunty," he said, as he entered the hut, where he found Hannah down on her knees scrubbing the floor, "what do you think? Mr. Middleton and his family are going away from the Hall. They have had warning to quit at the end of six months."
"Ah," said Hannah indifferently, going on with her work.
"Yes; they leave on the first of February, and the owner of the place, young Mr. Herman Brudenell, you know, is coming on to live there for good!"
"Ah!" cried Hannah, no longer indifferently, but excitedly, as she left off scrubbing, and fixed her keen black eyes upon the boy.
"Yes, indeed! and Mr. Middleton--oh, he is so kind--says he will mention me to Mr Herman Brudenell."
"Oh! will he?" exclaimed Hannah, between her teeth.
"Yes; and--Mr. Herman Brudenell is a very kind gentleman, is he not?"
"Very," muttered Hannah.
"You were very well acquainted with him, were you not?"
"Yes."
"You answer so shortly, Aunt Hannah. Didn"t you like young Mr. Herman Brudenell?"
"I--don"t know whether I did or not; but, Ishmael, I can"t scrub and talk at the same time. Go out and chop me some wood; and then go and dig some potatoes, and beets, and cut a cabbage--a white-head mind! and then go to the spring and bring a bucket of water; and make haste; but don"t talk to me any more, if you can help it."
Ishmael went out immediately to obey, and as the sound of his ax was heard Hannah muttered to herself:
"Herman Brudenell coming back to the Hall to live!" And she fell into deep thought.
Ishmael was intelligent enough to divine that his Aunt Hannah did not wish to talk of Mr. Herman Brudenell.
"Some old grudge, connected with their relations as landlord and tenant, I suppose," said Ishmael to himself. And as he chopped away at the wood he resolved to avoid in her presence the objectionable name.