"I don"t want any tea," I said.
"Yes, you do, lad. Fried ham and eggs."
"Come," I said to myself, "I"ll let them see that I can behave like a man. Perhaps I shall have to go home by the last train to-night or the first in the morning. Poor old Piter," I thought, "I should like to have taken you!"
So I went down quite coolly and walked into the parlour, where my uncles were waiting for me before seating themselves at the table.
That touched me; it was so full of consideration and respect for the boy they were going to send away.
Plump, comfortable Mrs Stephenson was just ready to take off the bright tin dish-cover, and as she did so there was a perfect pile of fried ham and eggs, looking brown and white and pink and orange, and emitting a most appetising odour.
"Is Mr Jacob a bit sadly, gentlemen?" said Mrs Stephenson, looking at me with interest.
"Oh no," I said quickly; and a bit touched too by Mrs Stephenson"s respectful way and the _Mr_ "Only tired. I shall be all right when I"ve had my tea."
"That"s bonnie," she cried nodding. "I"d better b.u.t.ter a couple more cakes, hadn"t I, gentlemen?"
"That you had," said Uncle Bob. "Let"s eat well, or we shall never be able to fight it out with your fellow-townsmen."
"Ah, deary me, gentlemen," she cried; "it"s sore work, that it is! I"m sure if they only knew what I do they"d behave better to you. Them trades is doing more harm than good."
She bustled out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed Uncle d.i.c.k turned to me.
"Shake hands, Cob, my boy," he said.
I held mine out frankly, for I had had my say, and I was determined to show them that I could act like a man.
"Now with me," said Uncle Jack in his hard stern way.
"And with me," said Uncle Bob.
I shook hands all round; but in spite of every effort my lip would quiver, and I had to bite it hard to keep down the emotion I felt.
"Shall I speak?" said Uncle Jack.
Uncle d.i.c.k nodded.
"Why not wait till after tea?" said Uncle Bob.
"No, I shall tell him now," said Uncle Jack grimly. "I"m hungry, and we may as well spoil his tea and get his share, for he will not be able to eat after what I"ve said. Cob, my lad, we"ve been talking this over again very seriously."
"All right, uncle!" I said quietly. "I"m quite ready to go. I"ve packed up, but I"d rather go to-morrow morning. I want to go and shake hands with Pannell and bid Piter "good-bye.""
"You have packed up?" he said rather sternly.
"Yes, uncle."
"Did you do that in a fit of pa.s.sion or sulks?"
"No," I said sharply; "but because I wanted to show you to the very last that I had not forgotten what you taught me about self-denial and all that."
"G.o.d bless you, my lad!" he cried, hurting me horribly as he shook hands exceedingly hard. "I"m glad to hear you say that, for we"ve been saying that if we want to win in this fight we can"t afford to part with one quarter of the Company. Cob, my lad, we want you to stay."
"Uncle!" I cried.
"Yes, my lad, you are older in some things than your years, and though I"d do anything rather than run risks for you, I do feel that with right on our side, please G.o.d, we shall win yet, and that it would be cowardly for us even to let you turn tail."
I don"t know what I should have said and done then, as Uncle Jack exclaimed:
"Have I said right, d.i.c.k, Bob?"
"Yes, quite," said Uncle d.i.c.k warmly; "and for my part--"
"Hush! Sit down," cried Uncle Bob, hastily setting the example so as to end the scene. "Yes, two eggs, please. Quick, here"s Mrs Stephenson coming with the cakes."
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
STEVENS HAS A WORD WITH ME.
Next morning I went down to the works, feeling as if I had grown in one night a year older, and after giving Piter the bones I always took him down, and receiving the ram-like b.u.t.t he always favoured me with to show his grat.i.tude, I was going round the place, when I heard a familiar clinking and saw a glow out of the little smithy that had for some time been cold.
I ran in, and there, looking rather pale and with a bit or two of sticking-plaster about his temples, was Pannell hammering away as if he were trying to make up for lost time.
"Why, Pannell, old man," I cried, running in with outstretched hand, "back again at work! I am glad to see you."
He looked up at me with a scowl, and wiped his brow with the arm that was terminated by a fist and hammer--a way, I have observed, much affected by smiths.
His was not a pleasant face, and it was made more repulsive by the scars and sticking-plaster. As our eyes met it almost seemed as if he were going to strike me with his hammer; but he threw it down, gave his great hand a rub back and front upon his ap.r.o.n, probably to make it a little blacker, and then gripped mine as badly as Uncle Jack had on the previous night. In fact, you see, I suffered for people liking me.
"Are you glad, mun?" he said at last hoa.r.s.ely; "are you glad? Well that"s cheering anyhow, and thank ye."
He nodded and went on with his work again while I went to mine about the books, but with a suspicious feeling of impending trouble on my mind, as I pa.s.sed two of the men who saw me come out of the smithy, and who must have seen me shaking hands with Pannell.
I don"t know why they should have minded, for I should have done the same with either of them had we been on as friendly terms.
As I entered my little office my eyes lit on the common fishing-rod I had used, and that set me thinking about the conversation I had heard as I stood on the ledge.
I recalled what had been said overnight in a long discussion with my uncles, and the advice they had given.
"Don"t show suspicion," Uncle d.i.c.k had said, "but meet every man with a frank fearless look in the eye, as if you asked no favour of him, were not afraid of him, and as if you wanted to meet him in a straightforward way."
I thought a good deal about it all, and how my uncles said they meant to be just and kind and stern at the same time; and it certainly did seem as if this was the most likely way to win the men"s respect.
"For now that we have concluded to keep you with us, Cob, I must warn that we mean business, and that we have made up our minds that we shall win."
That morning went off quietly enough, and though we all kept a quiet searching look-out, there was nothing to excite suspicion. Then evening came, and the watching, in which again that night I had no share, but it was an understood thing that I was to be at the works at the same time as the men next day.