And I remember Connie coming down the path looking like an angel; but Connie was the only bright thing for me to think about that dreadful day. But oh, please--please, Mrs. Anderson! poor Mrs. Cricket! Father hasn"t come back, you know--he is coming, of course, but he hasn"t come yet--and no one has paid Mrs. Cricket!"
"No one has paid her, dear?"
"n.o.body at all. Mammy Warren said to her that father would pay her, but I know now it must have been all a lie."
"I am very much afraid it was," said Mrs. Anderson. "That Mammy Warren was a dreadful woman. Well, Ronald, I must try and get Mrs. Cricket"s address, and we"ll send her some money; and some day perhaps--there"s no saying when--you may be able to go back to her. Would you like to see her again?"
"Very, very much," said the child, "if Mammy Warren doesn"t come to fetch me."
"Very well: I will endeavor to get her address. Perhaps Connie could tell me."
"Oh! perhaps she could," said Ronald; "for _I_ couldn"t. I haven"t a notion where she lived, except that it was far in the country, and the cottage was _teeny_--just two rooms, you know--and there was a pretty wood outside, and the horse-chestnuts lying on the ground."
"But now, Ronald, I want you to go farther back. Tell me of things that happened when--when your mother was alive."
"I--I"ll try," said the boy.
"Go on, dear--tell me all you can."
"It"s very difficult," said Ronald. "I remember little bits, and then I forget little bits."
"I don"t want you to worry yourself, dear; but can you recall anybody ever calling to see your mother--anybody who might be a relation of yours?"
"There was the old gentleman, of course," said Ronald.
"Who, dear?"
"He was very old, and he wore gla.s.ses, and his hair was white. He most times made mother cry, so I--I used to be sorry when he came."
"Can you recall his name?"
"Mother used to call him Uncle Stephen; but he was not her relation--he was father"s. I think he always scolded mother; she used to look dreadfully bad after he was gone. I don"t want to see _him_ again."
"But he may have had a kind heart."
"Oh, I don"t know," said Ronald. "I don"t want to see him again."
"Do you think, by chance, that his name was Harvey?"
"I don"t know. I think he in a sort of way belonged to father."
"Then," said Mrs. Anderson, "I guess that his name was Harvey. Now, I won"t question you any more, Ronald. You may sit up and play with your bricks."
Ronald played happily enough, and Mrs. Anderson, after thinking for a few minutes, wrote out an advertis.e.m.e.nt. The advertis.e.m.e.nt ran as follows:
"If a gentleman who was called Uncle Stephen by a little boy, son of the late Major Harvey, who was supposed to have been killed in action at Ladysmith on ----, would wish to know anything of the same boy, he can get full particulars from Mrs. Anderson, 12 Carlyle Terrace, Westminster."
This advertis.e.m.e.nt was put into the _Times_, the _Standard_, the _Telegraph_, and in fact, into all the daily newspapers. It appeared once, and Mrs. Anderson sat--as she expressed it--with her heart in her mouth for a whole day. But nothing happened: n.o.body came to inquire; there was no letter on the subject of the little son of brave Major Harvey. On the second day of the advertis.e.m.e.nt Mrs. Anderson felt a great relief in her heart.
"After I have advertised for a whole week," she said to herself, "I shall, I think, have done my duty, and perhaps I shall be allowed to keep the dear child."
She had looked, and felt, very sad on the first day of the advertis.e.m.e.nt, but on the second day she was more cheerful, and suggested to Ronald that Connie should come and have tea with him.
Ronald was delighted, and clapped his hands in glee. Mrs. Anderson wrote a little note to Connie, slightly blaming her for not coming to see her, but begging her to call that afternoon and have tea with Ronald. Connie was greatly delighted when she got the letter.
"May I go, Giles? Do yer mind?" she asked.
"In course not," answered Giles. "Why should I mind? Yer"ll dress yerself in yer wery best, Connie, and I"ll like well to look at yer afore yer goes out, an" w"en yer comes back."
So Connie put on her dark-blue costume once more, and brushed out her mane of golden hair and let it hang down her back; for she knew that Ronald would scarcely recognize her deprived of this ornament. Then, having left his tea all ready for Giles, she ran quickly in the direction of Mrs. Anderson"s house.
She arrived there at four o"clock in the afternoon, to see a little face pressed up close to the pane of gla.s.s, and eager eyes watching for her.
When she appeared on the steps little hands began to clap, and there was an eager rush of footsteps and then Ronald himself opened the door.
"Oh Connie, Connie!" he said, "come in--do, do come in!"
"How be yer, Ronald?" asked Connie.
"I"m as well as well can be, and I"m happy, too. Mrs. Anderson is just a beautiful old lady, and so very good to me! But come and tell me all about yourself. You and I are to have tea all alone in this room. We will have fun. Why, Connie dear, how lovely you look!"
Connie told Ronald that he also looked lovely, and the two children sat down side by side, while Ronald related the little bit of his story which had transpired since Connie saw him last.
"I was very ill," he said, "for a bit, and silly, and--and cowardly. But a wonderful man came to see me, and he talked--oh, so beautifully!--and then I got better; and Mrs. Anderson has been more than good to me--no one was ever so good to me before except father. She tells me, Connie, that I must not keep looking out for father; for if he can come he will, and if he can"t I"ve just got to wait with patience. The street preacher, too, talked about patience. It"s a little bit hard to be very patient, isn"t it, Connie?"
"Yus," said Connie.
"Oh! and, Connie, some day perhaps you and I may go and stay with Mrs.
Cricket in the country, and Mrs. Anderson is going to send her money for the chickens and fresh eggs and things. But I can"t remember where the country is--can you, Connie?"
"We got out at a plice called Eastborough, an" the cottage wor a ivy cottage down a lane."
"Ivy Cottage--of course!" said Ronald. "How stupid of me to have forgotten! Now it"s all right, and dear Mrs. Cricket will get her money."
When Ronald had told all his story Connie told all hers. In especial she told about Giles, and about poor Sue, who had vanished just as suddenly and completely as she (Connie) and Ronald himself on a certain day had disappeared from their friends.
"It"s very, very queer," said Ronald. "Connie," he added, "I want to see that little boy. Can"t you take me back to him now--can"t you?"
"Yus," said Connie, "I could; but would it be right?"
"We"ll ask Mrs. Anderson," said Ronald, "I"m certain sure she won"t mind. You know the way there; you won"t let yourself be kidnapped any more, will you, Connie?"
"No," said Connie.
Then tea was brought in, and the children enjoyed it. But Ronald could think of nothing but Giles and his earnest desire to see him. Once again he begged and implored of Connie to take him, just to sit for a few minutes by the little cripple"s side, and Connie again said that Mrs.
Anderson ought to know.
It was just at that moment that a cab drew up at the door, and out of the cab there stepped a white-headed old man, who came ponderously up the steps, leaning on a gold-headed stick. He rang the bell with a loud peal. Ronald began to listen.
"Who can it be?" he said. He ran to the window, and looking out, saw the cab waiting; but he missed the sight of the old gentleman, whom doubtless he would have recognized; and the neat little parlor-maid went to open the door, and then the labored steps were heard in the hall, and the drawing-room door was opened and shut, and there was silence.