"Are you really Posy?" she asked.
"I used to be Posy," answered Kitty, in a mournful voice.
"Didn"t I tell you G.o.d would let your mother find you?" said Meg; "it"s all come true, every bit of it."
"But G.o.d hasn"t let baby live," muttered Kitty.
"I never asked Him for that," she said falteringly; "I didn"t know as baby was near going to die, and maybe it"s a better thing for her to go to mother and G.o.d. Angel Court ain"t a nice place to live in, and she might have growed up bad. But if people do grow up bad," added Meg, in a very tender tone, "G.o.d can make "em good again if they"d only ask Him."
As little Meg spoke, and during the silence which followed, strange memories began to stir in the poor girl"s heart, recalled there by some mysterious and Divine power. Words and scenes, forgotten since childhood, came back with wonderful freshness and force. She thought of a poor, guilty, outcast woman, reviled and despised by all save One, who had compa.s.sion even for her, forgave all her sins, stilled the clamour of her accusers, and said, "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." She remembered the time when the records of His infinite love had been repeated by her innocent young lips and pondered in her maiden heart. Like some echo from the distant past she seemed to hear the words, "By Thine agony and b.l.o.o.d.y sweat; by Thy cross and pa.s.sion; by Thy precious death and burial, good Lord deliver us. O Lamb of G.o.d, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us."
"Oh! Meg! Meg!" cried Kitty, almost crawling to the corner where she lay, and falling down beside her on the floor, with her poor pale face still hidden from sight, "ask G.o.d for me to be made good again."
Little Meg stretched out her unbruised arm, and laid her hand upon Kitty"s bended head.
"You must ask Him for yourself," she said, after thinking for a minute or two: "I don"t know as it "ud do for me to ask G.o.d, if you didn"t as well."
"What shall I say, Meg?" asked Kitty.
"If I was you," said Meg, "and had grow"d up wicked, and run away from mother, I"d say, "Pray G.o.d, make me a good girl again, and let me be a comfort to mother till she dies; for Jesus Christ"s sake. Amen.""
There was a dead silence in the back attic, except for the near noise and distant din which came from the court below, and the great labyrinth of streets around. Little Meg"s eyes shone lovingly and pityingly upon Kitty, who looked up for an instant, and caught their light. Then she dropped her head down upon the mattress, and gave way to a storm of tears and sobs.
"O G.o.d," she cried, "do have mercy upon me, and make me good again, if it"s possible. Help me to be a good girl to mother. G.o.d forgive me for Jesus Christ"s sake!"
She sobbed out this prayer over and over again, until her voice fell into a low whisper which even Meg could not hear; and so she lay upon the floor beside the mattress until her mother came back. Mrs Blossom"s face was pale, but radiant with gladness, and Posy looked at it for the first time fully. Then she gave a great cry of mingled joy and sorrow, and running to her threw her arms round her neck, and laid her face upon her shoulder.
"G.o.d"ll hear me and have mercy upon me," she cried. "I"m going to be your Posy again, mother!"
CHAPTER XIII
Little Meg"s Father
The baby was buried the next morning, after Meg had looked upon it for the last time lying very peacefully and smilingly in its little coffin, and had shed some tears that were full of sorrow yet had no bitterness upon its dead face. Mrs Blossom took Robin to follow it to the grave, leaving Kitty in charge of little Meg. The front attic door was locked, and the key was under Meg"s pillow, not to be used again until she was well enough to turn it herself in the lock. The bag containing the small key of the box, with the unopened letter which had come for her mother, hung always round her neck, and her hand often clasped it tightly as she slept.
Meg was lying very still, with her face turned from the light, following in her thoughts the little coffin that was being carried in turns by Mrs Blossom and another woman whom she knew, through the noisy streets, when Kitty heard the tread of a man"s foot coming up the ladder. It could be no one else but Dr Christie, she thought; but why then did he stop at the front attic door, and rattle the latch in trying to open it? Kitty looked out and saw a seafaring man, in worn and shabby sailor"s clothing, as if he had just come off a long voyage.
His face was brown and weather-beaten; and his eyes, black and bright, were set deep in his head, and looked as if they were used to take long, keen surveys over the glittering sea. He turned sharply round as Kitty opened her door.
"Young woman," he said, "do you know aught of my wife, Peggy Fleming, and her children, who used to live here? Peggy wrote me word she"d moved into the front attic."
"It"s father," called little Meg from her mattress on the floor; "I"m here, father! Robin and me"s left; but mother"s dead, and baby. Oh!
father, father! You"ve come home at last!"
Meg"s father brushed past Kitty into the room where Meg sat up in bed, her face quivering, and her poor bruised arms stretched out to welcome him. He sat down on the mattress and took her in his own strong arms, while for a minute or two Meg lay still in them, almost like one dead.
"Oh!" she said at last, with a sigh as if her heart had well-nigh broken, "I"ve took care of Robin and the money, and they"re safe. Only baby"s dead. But don"t you mind much, father; it wasn"t a nice place for baby to grow up in."
"Tell me all about it," said Robert Fleming, looking at Kitty, but still holding his little daughter in his arms; and Kitty told him all she knew of her lonely life and troubles up in the solitary attic, which no one had been allowed to enter; and from time to time Meg"s father groaned aloud, and kissed Meg"s pale and wrinkled forehead fondly. But he asked how it was she never let any of the neighbours, Kitty herself, for instance, stay with her, and help her sometimes.
"I promised mother," whispered Meg in his ear, "never to let n.o.body come in, for fear they"d find out the box under the bed, and get into it somehow. We was afraid for the money, you know, but it"s all safe for your mate, father; and here"s the key, and a letter as came for mother after she was dead."
"But this letter"s from me to Peggy," said her father, turning it over and over; "leastways it was wrote by the chaplain at the hospital, to tell her what she must do. The money in the box was mine, Meg, no mate"s; and I sent her word to take some of it for herself and the children."
"Mother thought it belonged to a mate of yours," said Meg, "and we was the more afeared of it being stole."
"It"s my fault," replied Robert Fleming. "I told that to mother for fear she"d waste it if she knew it were mine. But if I"d only known----"
He could not finish his sentence, but stroked Meg"s hair with his large hand, and she felt some hot tears fall from his eyes upon her forehead.
"Don"t cry, father," she said, lifting her small feeble hand to his face. "G.o.d took care of us, and baby too, though she"s dead. There"s nothink now that He hasn"t done. He"s done everythink I asked Him."
"Did you ask Him to make me a good father?" said Fleming.
"Why, you"re always good to us, father," answered Meg, in a tone of loving surprise. "You never beat us much when you get drunk. But Robin and me always say, "Pray G.o.d, bless father." I don"t quite know what bless means, but it"s something good."
"Ah!" said Fleming, with a deep sigh, "He has blessed me. When I was ill He showed me what a poor sinner I was, and how Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, "of whom I am chief." Sure I can say that if anybody can. But it says in the Bible, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." Yes, little Meg, He died to save me. I felt it. I believed it. I came to see that I"d n.o.body to fly to but Jesus if I wanted to be aught else but a poor, wicked, lost rascal, as got drunk, and was no better than a brute. And so I turned it over and over in my mind, lying abed; and now, please G.o.d, I"m a bit more like being a Christian than I was. I reckon that"s what bless means, little Meg."
As he spoke the door opened, and Mrs Blossom came in with Robin. It was twelve months since Robin had seen his father, and now he was shy, and hung back a little behind Mrs Blossom; but Meg called to him in a joyful voice.
"Come here, little Robbie," she said; "it"s father, as we"ve watched for so long.--He"s a little bit afeared at first, father, but you"ll love him ever so when he knows you."
It was not long before Robin knew his father sufficiently to accept of a seat on his knee, when Meg was put back into bed at Mrs Blossom"s entreaties. Fleming nursed his boy in silence for some time, while now and then a tear glistened in his deep eyes as he thought over the history of little Meg"s sorrows.
"I"m thinking," said Mrs Blossom cheerfully, "as this isn"t the sort o"
place for a widow man and his children to stop in. I"m just frightened to death o" going up and down the court. I suppose you"re not thinking o" settling here, Mr Fleming?"
"No, no," said Fleming, shaking his head: "a decent man couldn"t stop here, let alone a Christian."
"Well, then, come home to us till you can turn yourself round,"
continued Mrs Blossom heartily; "me and Mr George have talked it over, and he says, "When little Meg"s father do come, let "em all come here: Posy, and the little "uns, and all. You"ll have Posy and the little "uns in your room, and I"ll have him in mine. We"ll give him some sort o" a shakedown, and sailors don"t use to lie soft." So if you"ve no objections to raise, it"s settled; and if you have, please to raise "em at once."
Robert Fleming had no objections to raise, but he accepted the cordial invitation thankfully, for he was in haste to get out of the miserable life of Angel Court. He brought the hidden box into the back attic, and opened it before little Meg, taking out of it the packet of forty pounds, and a number of p.a.w.n-tickets, which he looked at very sorrowfully. After securing these he locked up the attic again, and carrying Meg in his arms, he led the way down the stairs, and through the court, followed closely by Mrs Blossom, Posy, and Robin. The sound of brawling and quarrelling was loud as usual, and the children crawling about the pavement were dirty and squalid as ever; they gathered about Meg and her father, forming themselves into a dirty and ragged procession to accompany them down to the street. Little Meg looked up to the high window of the attic, where she had watched so often and so long for her father"s coming; and then she looked round, with eyes full of pity, upon the wretched group about her; and closing her eyelids, her lips moving a little, but without any words which even her father could hear, she said in her heart, "Pray G.o.d, bless everybody, and make them good."
CHAPTER XIV
Little Meg"s Farewell
About a month after Robert Fleming"s return Dr Christie paid a visit to Mrs Blossom"s little house. He had been there before, but this was a special visit; and it was evident some important plan had to be decided upon. Dr Christie came to hear what Mrs Blossom had to say about it.
"Well, sir," said Mrs Blossom, "a woman of my years, as always lived in one village all her life till I came to London, it do seem a great move to go across the sea. But as you all think as it "ud be a good thing for Posy, and as Mr Fleming do wish little Meg and Robin to go along with us, which are like my own children, and as he"s to be in the same ship, I"m not the woman to say No. I"m a good hand at washing and ironing, and sewing, and keeping a little shop, or anything else as turns up; and there"s ten years" good work in me yet; by which time little Meg"ll be a stout, grown-up young woman; to say nothing of Posy, who"s old enough to get her own living now. I can"t say as I like the sea, quite the contrairy; but I can put up with it; and Mr Fleming"ll be there to see as the ship goes all right, and doesn"t lose hisself.
So I"ll be ready by the time the ship"s ready."