"Gang doon again, freen"," shouted Laidlaw, when his heel came in contact with the helmet. "We"re a" safe here."
He paused just a moment to draw the shawl completely over Susy"s head and arms, and to pull her dress well round her feet. Then, burying his face in the same shawl and shutting his eyes, he descended steadily but swiftly. For a moment or two the rounds of the ladder felt like heated iron bars, and there was a slight frizzling of his brown curly locks at the back. Then a fresh draught of air and a tremendous stream of water that nigh washed him off the ladder.
Next moment they were safe on the ground, in the midst of the wildly-cheering crowd, through which burst Mrs Rampy in a flood of joyful tears, and seized old Liz in her arms. Mrs Blathers followed close at her heels.
"My!" she exclaimed in sudden amazement, staring at old Liz"s, "it"s gone!"
"So it is," cried Mrs Rampy, for once agreeing.
And so it was! The last fang belonging to chimney-pot Liz had perished in that great conflagration!
Many were the offers that old Liz received of house accommodation that night, from the lowest of washerwomen to the highest of tradesmen, but Sam Blake, in her behalf, declined them all, and proceeded to the main street to hail a cab.
"She ain"t "urt, is she? You"re not takin" "er to a hospital?" cried one of the crowd. "You"ll come back agin to stay with us, Liz--won"t you?"
"No, we won"t," cried a boy"s voice. "We"ve come into our fortins, an"
are a-goin" to live in the vest end for ever an" ever."
"Who"s that blue spider?" asked a boy; "w"y--no--surely it ain"t--yes--I do b"lieve it"s Tommy Splint!"
"Don"t believe Tommy, friends," said old Liz, as she was about to get into the cab. "I"ll soon be back again to see you. Trust me!"
This was received with a tremendous cheer, as they all got inside except Laidlaw, who mounted the box.
"Stop!" said the latter, as the coachman was about to drive off. He pointed to the burning house, where the raging fire had reached the roof-tree. The crowd seemed awed into silence as they gazed.
One swirl more of the flaming tongues and the Garret was consumed-- another swirl, and the Garden was licked from the scene as effectually as though it had never been.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
THE LAST.
How that wonderful man Detective Dean managed it all is best known to himself and those myrmidons of the law who aided and abetted him in his investigations, but certain it is that he prepared as pretty a little thunderbolt for John Lockhart, Esquire, as any man could wish to see.
He not only ferreted out all the details of the matter involving the Washab and Roria railway and chimney-pot Liz, but he obtained proof, through a clerk in the solicitor"s office, and a stain in a sheet of paper, and a half-finished signature, that the will by which Mr Lockhart intended to despoil Colonel Brentwood was a curiously-contrived forgery. As men in search of the true and beautiful frequently stumble by accident on truths for which they did not search, and beauties of which they had formed no conception, so our detective unearthed a considerable number of smaller crimes of which the lawyer had been guilty--to the satisfaction of all concerned and the establishment of Mrs Brentwood"s character as a prophetess, so that "didn"t I tell you so, Jack?" became a familiar arrangement of household words in the ears of the poor Colonel for some time afterwards.
But the man of law did not await the discharge of the thunderbolt. As Mr Dean expressed it, he was too "cute for that. By some occult means, known only to legal men, he discovered what was in the air, took time by the forelock, and retired into privacy--perhaps to the back settlements of Peru--with all the available cash that he could righteously, or otherwise, sc.r.a.pe together. By so doing, however, he delivered Colonel Brentwood from all hindrance to the enjoyment of his rightful property, and opened the eyes of chimney-pot Liz to the true value of shares in the Washab and Roria railway.
A few days after the culminating of these events--for things came rapidly to a head--Mrs Rampy of Cherub Court issued invitations for a small tea-party. This was the more surprising that Mrs Rampy was extremely poor, and had hitherto been economical to an extent which deprived her of a sufficiency of food even for herself. But the neighbours soon came to know that a line of telegraph had been recently set up between Cherub Court and the West End, through which flowed continuously a series of communications that were more or less astounding and agreeable to the inhabitants. The posts of this telegraph were invisible, the wires pa.s.sed high overhead, very high, and the particular kind of electricity used was--sympathy.
It must be explained here that it was the northern side of the court which had been burned, so that Mrs Rampy, inhabiting the south side, still occupied her suite of apartments--a parlour and a coal-hole. The parlour, having once been a ware-room, was unusually large and well adapted for a tea-party. The coal-hole, having been a mere recess, was well adapted for puzzling the curious as to what had been the object of its architect in contriving it.
The party was not large, but it was select. It included a washerwoman with very red arms; a care-taker who had obviously failed to take care of herself; a couple of chimney-sweeps with partially washed faces; a charwoman with her friend the female greengrocer, who had been burned out of the opposite side of the court; two or three coster-mongers, a burglar, several thieves, a footman in resplendent livery, a few noted drunkards, and chimney-pot Liz with her teapot--not the original teapot of course--that had perished in the flames--but one indistinguishably like it, which had been presented to her by Colonel Brentwood. She had insisted on carrying it with her to Cherub Court on that occasion, on the ground that they would hardly recognise her without it, especially now that the fang was gone.
The resplendent footman had been the first guest to arrive, along with Liz, and was welcomed by the hostess and Mrs Blathers--who aided and abetted her friend on that occasion--with effusive demonstrations of goodwill and surprise. Thereafter the footman, who seemed to be eccentric, sat in a corner with his face buried in his hands, and did not move while the other guests were a.s.sembling. When the room was full and the tea poured out, Mrs Rampy looked at Liz with a sly awkward air which was quite foreign to her nature.
"Ah, Mrs Rampy," said Liz, "don"t be ashamed."
"Lord, bless us--an" our wittles," said Mrs Rampy, suddenly shutting her eyes as she opened her mouth, to the intense surprise of her guests.
"Now then," she added, in a tone of great relief, "go a-"ead w"en you"ve got the chance. There"s more w"ere that come from. "And about the cake, Mrs Blathers, like a good creetur. An" it ain"t much o" this blow-hout you owes to me. I on"y supplied the sugar, "cause that was in the "ouse anyways."
"It is a good deed, Mrs Rampy," said old Liz, with a smile, "if you"ve supplied all the sweetness to the feast."
"That"s a lie!" cried the hostess sharply. "It was _you_ that supplied it. If it "adn"t bin for you, Liz, I"d never "ave--"
Mrs Rampy broke down at this point and threw her ap.r.o.n over her head to conceal her feelings. At the same moment the eccentric footman raised his head, and something like a pistol-shot was heard as the burglar brought his palm down on his thigh, exclaiming--
"I know"d it! Trumps--or his ghost!"
""E"s too fat for a ghost," remarked a humorous thief.
"No, mate, I _ain"t_ Trumps," said the resplendent man, rising before the admiring gaze of the party. "My name is Rodgers, footman to Colonel Brentwood of Weston "All. I"m a noo man, houtside an" in; an" I"ve come ere a-purpuse to surprise you, not only wi" the change in my costoom, but wi" the noos that my master"s comin" down "ere to see arter you a bit, an" try if "e can"t "elp us hout of our difficulties; an" e"s agoin" to keep a missionary, hout of "is own pocket, to wisit in this district an" they"re both comin" "ere this wery night to take tea with us. An" "e"s bringin" a lord with "im--a live lord--"
"Wot better is a live lord than any other man?" growled a thief with radical proclivities.
"Right you are, Jim Scroodger," said Trumps, turning sharply on the speaker; "a live lord is no better than any other man unless "e _is_ better! Indeed, considerin" "is circ.u.mstances, "e"s a good deal wuss if "e"s no better; but a live lord is better than a dead thief, w"ich you"ll be soon, Jim, if you don"t mend yer ways."
"Hear! hear!" and a laugh from the company.
"Moreover," continued Trumps, "the lord that"s a-comin" _is_ better than most other men. He"s a trump--"
"Not a brother o" yourn--eh?" murmured the burglar. "W"y, Trumps, I thought you was a detective!"
"Not in _plain_ clo"es, surely," remarked the humorous thief.
""Ave another cup o" tea, man, and shut up," cried Mrs Blathers, growing restive.
"Well, ladies and gen"lemen all," resumed Trumps, with a benignant smile, "_you_ know this lord that"s a-comin". Some o" you made "im a present of a barrow an" a ha.s.s once--"
"_I_ know "im! Bless "is "eart," cried a coster-monger through a mouthful of cake.
At that moment the expected guests arrived.
But reader, we must not dwell upon what followed. There is no need. It is matter of history.
While the inhabitants of the slums were thus enjoying a social evening together, David Laidlaw was busy with one of his numerous epistles to that repository of all confidences--his mother.
"The deed is done, mither," he wrote, "an" the waux doll is mine, for better or waur, till death us do pairt. Of course I dinna mean that we"re mairried yet. Na, na! That event must be celebrated on the Braes o" Yarrow, wi" _your_ help an" blessin". But we"re engaged, an" that"s happiness enough the now. If I was to describe my state o" mind in ae word, I wud say--thankfu". But losh, woman, that gies ye but a faint notion o" the whirligigs that hae been gaun on i" my heed an" hairt since I came to Bawbylon. Truly, it"s a wonderfu" place--wi" its palaces and dens; its rich an" its puir; its miles upon miles o" hooses an" shops; its thoosands on thoosands o" respectable folk, an" its hundred o" thoosands o" thieves an" pickpockets an" burglars--to say naething o" its prisons an" lawyers an" waux dolls!
"But I"m haverin". Ye"ll be gled t" hear that Colonel Brentwood--him that befreended me--is a" richt. His lawyer turned oot to be a leear an" a swindler. The will that was to turn the Colonel oot o" a" his possessions is a forgery. His bonny bairn Rosa, is, like mysel", gaun"
to be mairried; an" as the Colonel has nae mair bairns, he"s gaun" to devote himsel"--so his wife says--to `considerin" the poor." Frae my personal observation o" Lunnon, he"ll hae mair than enough to consider, honest man!
"In my last letter I gied ye a full acc.o.o.nt o" the fire, but I didna tell "e that it was amang the chimley-pots and bleezes that I was moved to what they ca" `pop the question" to my Susy. It was a daft-like thing to do, I confess, especially for a sedate kin" o" man like me; but, woman, a man"s no jist himsel" at sik a time! After a", it was a graund climax to my somewhat queer sort o" coortin". The only thing I"m feart o" in Bawbylon is that the wee crater Tammy Splint should come to ken aboot it, for I wad niver hear the end o"t if he did. Ye see, though he was there a" the time, he didna ken what I was about.
Speakin" o" that, the bairn has been made a flunkey by the Colonel--a teeger they ca" him. What"s mair surprisin" yet is, that he has ta"en the puir thief Trumps--alias Rodgers--into his hoosehold likewise, and made _him_ a flunkey. Mrs Brentwood--Dory, as he ca"s her--didna quite like the notion at first; but the Colonel"s got a wonderfu" wheedlin"
wey wi" him, an" whan he said, `If you an" I have been redeemed an"
reinstated, why should not Rodgers?" Dory, like a wise woman, gied in.
The argement, ye ken, was unanswerable. Onywie, he"s in plush now, an white stockin"s.