The mention of the word _daughter_ set the poor creature meditating on her great loss. She sighed deeply, and turned her poor old eyes on me with a yearning, inquiring look. I was accustomed to the look by this time, and having no good news to give her, had latterly got into a way of taking no notice of it. That night, however, my heart felt so sore for her that I could not refrain from speaking.
"Ah! dear granny," said I, laying my hand gently on her wrist, "would that I had any news to give you, but I have none--at least not at present. But you must not despair. I have failed up to this time, it is true, although my inquiries have been frequent, and carefully conducted; but you know, such a search takes a long time, and--and London is a large place."
The unfinished m.u.f.fin dropped from the old woman"s hand, and she turned with a deep sigh to the window, where the blank prospect was a not inapt reflection of her own blank despair.
"Never more!" she said, "never more!"
"Hope thou in G.o.d, for thou shalt yet praise Him, who is the health of thy countenance, and thy G.o.d," was all that I could say in reply. Then I turned to the boy, who sat with his eyes cast down as if in deep thought, and engaged him in conversation on other subjects, by way of diverting the old woman"s mind from the painful theme.
When I rose to go, Slidder said he would call Mrs Jones to mount guard, and give me a convoy home.
No sooner were we in the street than he seized my hand, and, in a voice of unusual earnestness, said--
"I"ve got on "er tracks!"
"Whose tracks? What do you mean?"
"On Edie"s, to be sure--Edie Willis."
Talking eagerly and fast, as we walked along, little Slidder told me how he had first been put on the scent by his old friend and fellow-waif, the Slogger. That juvenile burglar, chancing to meet with Slidder, entertained him with a relation of some of his adventures. Among others, he mentioned having, many months before, been out one afternoon with a certain Mr Bra.s.sey, rambling about the streets with an eye to any chance business that might turn up, when they observed a young and very pretty girl looking in at various shop windows. She was obviously a lady, but her dress showed that she was very poor. Her manner and colour seemed to imply that she was fresh from the country. The two thieves at once resolved to fleece her. Bra.s.sey advised the Slogger "to come the soft dodge over her," and entice her, if possible, into a neighbouring court. The Slogger, agreeing, immediately ran and placed himself on a doorstep which the girl was about to pa.s.s. Then he covered his face with his hands, and began to groan dismally, while Mr Bra.s.sey, with native politeness, retired from the scene. The girl, having an unsuspicious nature, and a tender heart, believed the tale of woe which the boy unfolded, and went with him to see "his poor mother," who had just fallen down in a fit, and was dying at that moment for want of physic and some one to attend to her. She suggested, indeed, that the Slogger should run to the nearest chemist, but the Slogger said it would be of no use, and might be too late. Would she just run round an" see her? The girl acted on the spur of the moment. In her exuberant sympathy she hurried down an alley, round a corner, under an archway, and walked straight into the lion"s den!
There Mr Bra.s.sey, the lion, promptly introduced himself, and requested the loan of her purse and watch! The poor girl at once understood her position, and turned to fly, but a powerful hand on her arm prevented her. Then she tried to shriek, but a powerful hand on her mouth prevented that also. Then she fainted. Not wishing to be found in an awkward position, Mr Bra.s.sey and the Slogger searched her pockets hastily, and, finding nothing therein, retired precipitately from the scene, taking her little dog with them. As they did so the young girl recovered, sprang wildly up, and rushing back through the court and alley, dashed into the main thoroughfare. The two thieves saw her attempt to cross, saw a cab-horse knock her down, saw a crowd rush to the spot and then saw no more, owing to pressing engagements requiring their immediate presence elsewhere.
"There--that"s wot the Slogger told me," said little Slidder, with flushed cheeks and excited looks, "an" I made him give me an exact description o" the gal, which was a facsimilar o" the pictur" painted o"
Miss Edie Willis by her own grandmother--as like as two black cats."
"This is interesting, _very_ interesting, my boy," said I, stopping and looking at the pavement; "but I fear that it leaves us no clew with which to prosecute the search."
"Of course it don"t," rejoined Robin, with one of his knowing looks; "but do you think I"d go an aggrawate myself about the thing if I "adn"t more to say than that?"
"Well, what more have you to say?"
"Just this, that ever since my talk wi" the Slogger I"ve bin making wery partikler inquiries at all the chemists and hospitals round about where he said the accident happened, an" I"ve diskivered one hospital where I "appens to know the porter, an" I got him to inwestigate, an" he found there was a case of a young gal run over on the wery day this happened.
She got feverish, he says, an" didn"t know what she was sayin" for months, an" n.o.body come to inquire arter her, an when she began to git well she sent to Vitechapel to inquire for "er grandmother, but "er grandmother was gone, n.o.body knowed where. Then the young gal got wuss, then she got better, and then she left, sayin" she"d go back to "er old "ome in York, for she was sure the old lady must have returned there.
So _that"s_ the reason w"y I"m goin" to recruit my "ealth in the north, d"ye see? But before I go wouldn"t it be better that you should make some inwestigations at the hospital?"
I heartily agreed to this, and went without delay to the hospital, where, however, no new light was thrown on the subject. On the contrary, I found, what Slidder had neglected to ascertain, that the name of the girl in question was _not_ Edie Willis, but Eva Bright, a circ.u.mstance which troubled me much, and inclined me to believe that we had got on a false scent; but when I reflected on the other circ.u.mstances of the case I still felt hopeful. The day of Edie"s disappearance tallied exactly with the date of the robbing of the girl by Bra.s.sey and the Slogger. Her personal appearance, too, as described by the Slogger, corresponded exactly with the description given of her granddaughter by Mrs Willis; and, above all, the sending of a messenger from the hospital by the girl to inquire for her "grandmother, Mrs Willis," were proofs too strong to be set aside by the mystery of the name.
In these circ.u.mstances I also resolved to take a holiday, and join Robin Slidder in his trip to York.
CHAPTER TEN.
A DISAPPOINTMENT, AN ACCIDENT, AND A PERPLEXING RETURN.
But the trip to York produced no fruit! Some of the tradespeople did, indeed, remember old Mrs Willis and her granddaughter, but had neither seen nor heard of them since they left. They knew very little about them personally, and nothing whatever of their previous history, as they had stayed only a short time in the town, and had been remarkably shy and uncommunicative--the result, it was thought, of their having "come down" in life.
Much disappointed, Slidder and I returned to London.
"It is fortunate that we did not tell granny the object of our trip, so that she will be spared the disappointment that we have met with," said I, as the train neared the metropolis.
My companion made no reply; he had evidently taken the matter much to heart.
We were pa.s.sing rapidly through the gradually thickening groups of streets and houses which besprinkle the circ.u.mference of the great city, and sat gazing contemplatively on back yards, chimney cans, unfinished suburban residences, pieces of waste ground, back windows, internal domestic arrangements, etcetera, as they flew past in rapid succession.
"Robin," said I, breaking silence again, and using the name which had by that time grown familiar, "have you made up your mind yet about taking service with Dr McTougall? Now that we have got Mrs Jones engaged and paid to look after granny, she will be able to get on pretty well without you, and you shall have time to run over and see her frequently."
"H"m! I don"t quite see my way," returned the boy, with a solemn look.
"You see, sir, if it was a page-in-b.u.t.tons I was to be, to attend on _my_ young lady the guv"ness, I might take it into consideration; but to go into b.u.t.tons an" blue merely to open a door an" do the purlite to wisitors, an" mix up things with bad smells by way of a change--why, d"ee see, the prospec" ain"t temptin". Besides, I hate blue. The b.u.t.tons is all well enough, but blue reminds me so of the bobbies that I don"t think I could surwive it long--indeed I don"t!"
"Robin," said I reproachfully, "I"m grieved at your indifference to friendship."
""Ow so, sir?"
"Have you not mentioned merely your objections and the disadvantages, without once weighing against them the advantages?"
"Vich is--?"
"Which are," said I, "being under the same roof with _me_ and with Punch, to say nothing of your young lady!"
"Ah, to be sure! Vell, but I did think of all that, only, don"t you see, I"ll come to be under the same roof with you all in course o" time w"en you"ve got spliced an" set up for--"
"Slidder," said I sternly, and losing patience under the boy"s presumption, "you must never again dare to speak of such a thing. You know very well that it is quite out of the question, and--and--you"ll get into a careless way of referring to such a possibility among servants or--"
"No; honour bright!" exclaimed Slidder, with, for the first time, a somewhat abashed look in his face; "I wouldn"t for the wealth of the Injies say a word to n.o.body wotsomever. It"s only atween ourselves that I wentur"s to--"
"Well, well; enough," said I; "don"t in future venture to do it even between ourselves, if you care to retain my friendship. Now. Robin," I added, as the train slowed, "of course you"ll not let a hint of our reason for going north pa.s.s your lips to poor granny or any one; and give her the old message, that I"ll be along to see her soon."
It was pleasant to return to such a hearty reception as I met with from the doctor"s family. Although my absence had been but for a few days, the children came crowding and clinging round me, declaring that it seemed like weeks since I left them. The doctor himself was, as usual, exuberant, and his wife extremely kind. Miss Blythe, I found, had not yet returned, and was not expected for some time.
But the reception accorded me by the doctor and his family was as nothing to the wild welcome lavished upon me by Dumps. That loving creature came more nearly to the bursting-point than I had ever seen him before. His spirit was obviously much too large for his body. He was romping with the McTougall baby when I entered. The instant he heard my voice in the hall he uttered a squeal--almost a yell--of delight, and came down the two flights of stairs in a wriggling heap, his legs taking comparatively little part in the movement. His paws, when first applied to the wax-cloth of the nursery floor, slipped as if on ice, without communicating motion. On the stairs, his ears, tail, head, hair, heart, and tongue conspired to convulse him. Only when he had fairly reached me did the hind-legs do their duty, as he bounced and wriggled high into air. Powers of description are futile; vision alone is of any avail in such a case. Are dogs mortal? Is such overflowing wealth of affection extinguished at death? Pshaw! thought I, the man who thinks so shows that he is utterly void of the merest rudiments of common sense!
I did not mention the object of my visit to York to the doctor or his wife. Indeed, that natural shyness and reticence which I have found it impossible to shake off--except when writing to you, good reader--would in any case have prevented my communicating much of my private affairs to them, but particularly in a case like this, which seemed to be a.s.suming the aspect of a wildly romantic hunt after a lost young girl, more like the plot of a sensational novel than an occurrence in every-day life.
It may be remarked here that the doctor had indeed understood from Mrs Willis that she had somehow lost a granddaughter; but being rather fussy in his desires and efforts to comfort people in distress, he had failed to rouse the sympathy which would have drawn out details from the old woman. I therefore merely gave him to understand that the business which had called me to the north of England had been unsuccessful, and then changed the subject.
Meanwhile Dumps returned to the nursery to resume the game of romps which I had interrupted.
After a general "scrimmage," in which the five chips of the elder McTougall had joined, without regard to any concerted plan, Dolly suddenly shouted ""Top!"
"What are we to stop for?" demanded Harry, whose powers of self-restraint were not strong.
"Want a "est!" said Dolly, sitting down on a stool with a resolute plump.
"Rest quick, then, and let"s go on again," said Harry, throwing himself into a small chair, while Job and Jenny sprawled on an ottoman in the window.
Seeing that her troops appeared to be exhausted, and that a period of repose had set in, the tall nurse thought this a fitting opportunity to retire for a short recreative talk with the servants in the kitchen.