"Noa,--a" know yo doan"t understan; a"ve got to tell tha--"at"s t"
worst part on "t. An I"m soa bad at tellin. Do yo mind when yor feyther deed, Davy?" he said suddenly, looking up.
David nodded,--a red flush of presentiment spread itself over his face--his whole being hung on Reuben"s words.
"He sent for me afore he deed," continued Reuben, slowly; "an he towd me aw about his affairs. Six hunderd pund he"d got saved--_six-hunderd-pund!_ Aye, it wor a lot for a yoong mon like him, and after sich a peck o" troobles! And he towd me Mr.
Gurney ud pay us th" interest for yor bringin-up--th" two on yo; an whan yo got big, Davy, I wor to tak keawnsel wi Mr. Gurney, an, if yo chose for t" land, yo were to ha yor money for a farm, when yo wor big eneuf, an if yo turned agen th" land, yo wor to be "prenticed to soom trade, an ha yor money when yo wanted it,--Mr.
Gurney bein willin. An I promised him I"d deal honest wi his childer, an--"
Reuben paused painfully. He was wrestling with his conscience, and groping for words about his wife. The brother and sister sat open-mouthed, pale with excitement, afraid of losing a single syllable.
"An takkin it awthegither," he said, bringing each word out with an effort, "I doan"t think, by t" Lord"s mercy, as I"ve gone soa mich astray, though I ha been mich troobled this four year wi thowts o"
Sandy--my brither Sandy--an wi not knowin wheer yo wor gone, Davy.
Bit yo seem coom to an honest trade--an Louie theer ha larnt a trade too,--an addle"t a bit money,--an she"s a fine-grown la.s.s--"
He turned a slow, searching look upon her, as though he were pleading a cause before some unseen judge.
"An theer"s yor money, Davy. It"s aw th" same, a"m thinkin, whether yo get it fro me or fro Mr. Gurney. An here--"
He rose, and unb.u.t.toning his inner coat, fumbled in the pocket of it till he found a letter.
"An here is a letter for Mr. Gurney. If yo gie me a pen, Davy, I"ll write in to "t yor reet address, an put it in t" post as I goo to t" station. I took noatice of a box as I coom along. An then--"
He stood still a moment pondering, one outspread hand on the letter.
"An then theer"s nowt moor as a can remember,--an your aunt ull be wearyin; an it"s but reet she should know now, at wonst, abeawt t"
money a"ve saved this four year, an t" letter to Mr. Gurney. Yo understan--when yor letter came this mornin--t"mon browt it up to Louie abeawt eight o"clock--she towd me fust out i" th" yard--an I said to her, "Doan"t you tell yor aunt nowt abeawt it, an we"st meet at t" station." An I made soom excuse to Hannah abeawt gooin ower t" Scout after soom beeasts--an--an--Louie an me coom thegither."
He pa.s.sed his other hand painfully across his brow. The travail of expression, the moral struggle of the last twenty-four hours, seemed to have aged him before them.
David sat looking at him in a stupefied silence. A light was breaking in upon him, transfiguring, combining, interpreting a hundred scattered remembrances of his boyhood. But Louie, the instant her uncle stopped, broke into a siring of questions, shrill and breathless, her face quite white, her eyes glittering. Reuben seemed hardly to hear her, and in the middle of them David said sharply,
"Stop that, Louie, and let me talk to Uncle Reuben!"
He drew the letter from under Reuben"s fingers, and went on, steadily looking up into his uncle"s face:
"You"ll let me read it, uncle, and I"ll get you a pen directly to put in the address. But first will you tell us about father? You never did--you nor Aunt Hannah. And about mother, too?"
He said the last words with difficulty, having all his life been p.r.i.c.ked by a certain instinct about his mother, which had, however, almost nothing definite to work upon. Reuben thought a minute, then sat down again patiently.
"Aye, a"ll tell tha. Theer"s n.o.bory else can. An tha ought to know, though it"ll mebbe be a shock to tha."
And, with his head resting against his stick, he began to tell the story of his brother and his brother"s marriage as he remembered it.
First came the account of Sandy"s early struggles, as Sandy himself had described them on that visit which he had paid to the farm in the first days of his prosperity; then a picture of his ultimate success in business, as it had appeared to the dull elder brother dazzled by the younger"s "cliverness."
"Aye, he might ha been a great mon; he might ha coom to varra high things, might Sandy," said Reuben solemnly, his voice suddenly rising, "bit for th" hizzy that ruined him!"
Both his hearers made an involuntary movement. But Reuben had now lost all count of them. He was intent on one thing, and capable only of one thing. They had asked him for his story, and he was telling it, with an immense effort of mind, recovering the past as best he could, and feeling some of it over again intensely.
So when he came to the marriage, he told the story like one thinking it out to himself, with an appalling plainness of phrase.
It was, of course, impossible for him to _explain_ Sandy"s aberration--there were no resources in him equal to the task.
Louise Suveret became in his account what she had always remained in his imagination since Sandy"s employers told him what was known of her story--a mere witch and devil, sent for his brother"s perdition. All his resentment against his brother"s fate had pa.s.sed into his hatred of this creature whom he had never seen. Nay, he even held up the picture of her hideous death before her children with a kind of sinister triumph. So let the unG.o.dly and the harlot perish!
David stood opposite to the speaker all the while, motionless, save for an uneasy movement here and there when Reuben"s words grew more scripturally frank than usual. Louie"s face was much more positive than David"s in what it said. Reuben and Reuben"s vehemence annoyed and angered her. She frowned at him from under her black brows. It was evident that he, rather than his story, excited her.
"An we buried him aw reet an proper," said Reuben at last, wiping his brow, damp with this unwonted labour of brain and tongue. "Mr.
Gurney he would ha it aw done handsome; and we put him in a corner o" Kensal Green, just as close as might be to whar they"d put her after th" crowner had sat on her. Yor feyther had left word, an Mr.
Gurney would ha nowt different. But it went agen me--aye, it _did_--to leave him wi _her_ after aw!"
And falling suddenly silent, Reuben sat wrapped in a sombre mist of memory.
Then Louie broke out, rolling and unrolling the ribbons of her hat in hot fingers.
"I don"t believe half on"t--I don"t see how you could know--nor Mr.
Gurney either."
Reuben looked round bewildered. Louie got up noisily, went to the window and threw it open, as though oppressed by the narrowness of the room.
"No, I don"t," she repeated, defiantly--"I don"t believe the half on"t. But I"ll find out some day."
She leaned her elbows on the sill, and, looking out into the squalid bit of yard, threw a bit of grit that lay on the window at a cat that sat sleepily blinking on the flags outside.
Reuben rose heavily.
"Gie me pen and ink, Davy, an let me go."
The young man brought it him without a word. Reuben put in the address.
"Ha yo read it, Davy?"
David started. In his absorption he had forgotten to read it.
"I wor forced to write it i" the top sheepfold," Reuben began to explain apologetically, then stopped suddenly. Several times he had been on the point of bringing Hannah into the conversation, and had always refrained. He refrained now. David read it. It was written in Reuben"s most laborious business style, and merely requested that Mr. Gurney would now communicate with Sandy"s son direct on the subject of his father"s money. He had left Needham Farm, and was old enough to take counsel himself with Mr. Gurney in future as to what should be done with it.
Reuben looked over David"s shoulder as he read.
"An Louie?" he said uncertainly, at the end, jerking his thumb towards her.
"I"m stayin here," said Louie peremptorily, still looking out of window.
Reuben said nothing. Perhaps a shade of relief lightened his old face.
When the letter was handed back to him, he sealed it and put it into his pocket, b.u.t.toning up his coat for departure.
"Yo wor talkin abeawt dinner, Davy--or summat," said the old man, courteously." Thankee kindly. I want for nowt. I mun get home--I mun get home."
Louie, standing absorbed in her own excited thoughts, could hardly be disturbed to say good-bye to him. David, still in a dream, led him through the shop, where Reuben peered about him with a certain momentary curiosity.
But at the door he said good-bye in a great hurry and ran down the steps, evidently impatient to be rid of his nephew.