"Better than that, he has a good heart," said Mrs. Wrigley. Most fortunate Mrs. Wrigley--to have encountered Philip in that hour, which she deemed the blackest in her life.
He hastened through the familiar bustle of the busy thoroughfare with heightened expectancy, it is true, but devoid of the least fear that his meteor had been discovered. His mother would take good care of it. Why, the mere chance remark of the woman he had befriended showed that her gentle spirit watched over him wherever he went. Here was a stranger, a sad toiler among the millions, who went out of her way to praise the goodness of one she had never seen. He laughed joyously. Mrs. Wrigley should have further cause to bless his mother"s memory.
He pa.s.sed O"Brien"s shop. He saw the old man seated behind the counter.
Should he go in? No. Better keep wholly to himself at present. Yet he hesitated. Which was the more judicious course--to remain hidden, unknown, or to drop quietly into the groove where he was recognized?
With rare perspicacity for one so young, he reflected that only five days had elapsed since he last saw the old pensioner. The period bulked largely in Philip"s life; in O"Brien"s it would be as naught.
Yielding to the second thought, he entered the shop.
"Glory be to G.o.d, Phil, but it"s miself is glad to see ye," cried his old friend. "Where have ye bin to, at all at all? Have yez heard what the murtherin" War Office is afther doin" to me? I haven"t had a sowl to sphake to about the throuble they"ve put on me in me owld age."
This was not strictly accurate. O"Brien had pestered the whole neighborhood with the story of his withheld pension and the preposterous claim made on him by some red-tape enthusiast in Pall Mall. But his plaint effectually stopped all further reference to Philip"s disappearance. As to the "bit o" shtone," that was "naythur alum nor lime," he hadn"t a word to say.
Philip borrowed a spade, a small sweeping brush and a strong sack without evoking the slightest comment from the pensioner, who discoursed incessantly on the iniquity of the "Govermint," and whose farewell remark dealt with the attempt to rob him of "a hundred gowlden sov"rins."
Decidedly the boy was in luck"s way. He had secured some necessary implements without attracting any attention. Watching a favorable opportunity, he slipped unseen into the gloom of Johnson"s Mews. He tried the door of No. 3. It was locked. He inserted the key and entered.
The darkness within was that of utter blindness, but he dumped his impedimenta on the floor and locked the door behind him.
Then he groped his doubtful path to the mantelpiece where he had left a candle and a box of matches. His boots crunched, as he went, on what he knew to be mostly diamonds, and he stumbled over the mattress in front of the fireplace. Yes, the candle was there. Soon he had a light. The tiny gleam lifted the black curtain, and he surveyed his domain. A single glance showed him that all things remained exactly as he left them on Sat.u.r.day morning. The packet of letters rested on the broken chair, the old sack was stuffed into the window, and the rope--that never-to-be-forgotten rope--dangled from the hook to which he had fastened it.
The sight brought a lump into his throat. He sank to his knees, pressed down, he felt, by some superior power.
"Mother!" he said, humbly, "forgive me, and ask G.o.d to forgive me, for what I would have done were you not watching over me."
In the spiritual exaltation of the moment he almost expected to find that sweet face peering at him benignantly from out the dim background.
But he could not see her, and he rose, revivified by this spoken communion with her. He had no shadow of doubt as to her presence. G.o.d to him was the universe, and his mother the unquestionable means of communication with the Providence that governed his life. He would die rather than abandon that belief. Were it dispelled from his mind he was quite certain that his wealth would vanish with it. It was no haphazard accident which had sent the diamond-laden meteor headlong from the sky.
He was despairing, dying; his mother appealed for him; and, behold! the very elements that control the world obeyed a mighty behest.
He began to work methodically. In the first place, he lit a fire, for the evening was chilly. Then he shook his mattress and swept the floor, gathering into a heap all the tiny particles with which it was littered.
These he collected in a piece of newspaper, and folded them into a parcel, which again he inclosed in a stouter sheet of brown paper, finally tying the whole with a yard of string he carried in his pocket.
There were hundreds of tiny diamonds in that insignificant package, and not a few the size of small peas. As a matter of fact, he discovered subsequently that the net result of his sweeping brought him in over a thousand pounds.
Having examined every nook and crevice of the apartment by the aid of the candle, he satisfied himself that naught remained which would indicate to the most curious eye any event out of the common having occurred in that humble dwelling.
It was typical of Philip"s implicit faith that he did not unlock the back door until his interior task was ended. He knew that his meteor was untouched.
There was no wind without. The candle, feeble as its rays were, illuminated the small yard sufficiently to reveal its debris of white stones and darker lumps of metal. Beginning at the doorway, he swept vigorously but with minutest care, until he had formed four good-sized piles on the flagstones.
He could not afford to differentiate between the debris of the damaged pavement and the fragments of the meteor. It was easy to distinguish the larger pieces of broken gla.s.s from the window inside the house--in the yard he had neither the time nor the light to select the bits of shattered stone. All must go together, to be sorted with leisured care subsequently.
He scrutinized the external window sills, the door posts, the c.h.i.n.ks of the small coal-house door at the further end of the yard, even the rough surfaces of the walls, and removed every speck of loose material. More newspaper was requisitioned, but, after utilizing the twine on his parcel of clothing, he ran short of string.
He coolly went up the stairs, unfastened the rope with which he had intended to hang himself and loosened its stiff strands. Soon he had an abundance of strong cord, and four bulky packages were added to the first small one.
They were heavy, too, weighing several pounds each. In placing them side by side close to the wall beneath the front window, he suddenly realized an unforeseen difficulty.
If these shreds of matter--the mere husk, as it were, of the meteor--were so ponderous, what would be the weight of the meteor itself? How could he hope to lift it from the hole in which it lay--how convey it from Johnson"s Mews to a new and safer habitation? He might as well endeavor to move an unwilling elephant.
The thought chilled him. For the first time since his parting interview with Mr. Abingdon, Philip experienced a dread of failure. With something of panic in his blood, he s.n.a.t.c.hed the candle and ran hastily into the yard. He knelt and held the light low in the excavation. Then he cried aloud:
"What! Am I so ready to lose faith in mother?"
For the huge metallic ma.s.s--so big that it would not enter the bore of the largest cannon known to modern gunnery--was split asunder in all directions. Its fissures gaped widely as if to mock at him. The rain and steam had done their work well. It was even possible that he would not need the spade, but would be able to pick out each separate chunk with his hand.
Instantly he put the thought into execution, and succeeded in lifting several pieces to the yard level. He noted that they were gorged with the dull white pebbles, some being the size of pigeon"s eggs. He could not help comparing them in his mind"s eye with the collection now lodged in Isaacstein"s safe. If those were worth fifty thousand pounds, these must be of fabulous value.
Any other person in the wide world might have been excused if he pinched himself, or winked furiously, or took out the gold-filled tobacco pouch for careful inspection, to a.s.sure himself that he was not dreaming. Not so, Philip. The only dominant feeling in his brain was one of annoyance that he should have doubted, for one single instant, that means would be given him to secure absolute and undisputed control of his treasure.
But there remained the problem of weight. His original idea was to wrap the actual body of the meteor in the stout sack he obtained from O"Brien, and then inclose all his valuables in a tin trunk which he would purchase next morning. Any ordinary trunk would certainly be s.p.a.cious enough, but its phenomenal weight would unquestionably evoke more comment than he desired, and it would need two strong men to lift it.
This portion of his plan needed to be entirely remodeled, and he was now more than ever thankful that the Jew"s fifty pounds, save one expended, reposed in his pocket. With money, all things, or nearly all things, were possible.
Owing to the cramped s.p.a.ce in which the meteor lay it was no small task to bring it to the surface in sections. But he persevered. By strenuous endeavor he acc.u.mulated an astonishing pile of iron ore studded with diamonds, looking not unlike almonds in a brown cake, and the guttering candle held low down failed to reveal anything else in the hole. There was a good deal of debris at the bottom, and the depth was now over four feet. To reach to its full extent he was compelled to jam his head and shoulders into the excavation and feel blindly with one hand, so he rightly concluded that a final examination might be left until daylight.
By this time he was hot and covered with dirt. He stripped, washed himself in front of the fire, and changed into his new clothes.
He did not possess a looking-gla.s.s, but he felt sure that he presented a remarkably different appearance when attired in a neat serge suit, a clean shirt and reputable boots. His first impulse was to thrust his discarded garments into the fire, but sentiment prevailed, and he folded them into a parcel.
Then he extinguished his candle and went out. To his exceeding surprise he discovered that it was nearly nine o"clock--time had indeed flown.
The shops in the Mile End Road open early and close late. He entered a restaurant where he was unknown, pa.s.sing, as a matter of policy, the coffee stall of his kindly helper of those former days now so remote in his crowded memories. After eating a hearty meal, for which he was thoroughly prepared, he tendered a sovereign in payment.
The proprietor barely glanced at him. Philip was now well dressed, according to local ideas, and his strong, erect figure, his resolute face, added two or three years to his age when contrasted with the puny standard of fifteen as set by the poverty-stricken East End.
He had forgotten to buy a necktie and a new pair of stockings. These omissions he now rectified, and he also purchased a warm, dark-gray traveling rug, several yards of drugget, a ball of twine and a pair of scissors. A couple of stout but worn leather portmanteaux caught his eye.
"Those are cheap," said the salesman, quickly, "only fifteen shillings each."
"I"m not sure I can afford so much," said Philip, hesitatingly, for the rug alone cost one pound six shillings.
"They"re a rare bargain--real leather--they were never made under three pounds each."
"Oh, very well. I will take them."
He produced three pounds, got his change, and walked away with his goods without causing any wonderment. The shopman was only too glad to have such a customer at that late hour.
Philip now knew that he was fairly safe, but he decided that a billy-c.o.c.k hat gave him a more mature appearance than a cap. This alteration being effected, he hurried off to Johnson"s Mews and re-entered his domicile without incident worthy of note.
Very quickly, with the help of drugget, scissors and twine, the two small portmanteaux were packed with pieces of the meteor, and the paper-covered parcels already prepared. When each bag weighed about forty pounds he stuffed the remaining s.p.a.ce with rolled-up newspapers, closed and locked them. He estimated that three larger leather bags--these being less noisy than tin--would hold the remainder of the meteor.
As the next morning would find him occupation enough, he decided to do as much as possible that night. Three times he sallied forth and returned with a good-sized valise. He paid prices varying from two pounds ten shillings to three pounds fifteen shillings, and always bought secondhand goods.
He had locked and strapped the fourth of his goodly array of traveling bags when he fancied he heard a footstep in the mews. Such an occurrence would have troubled him not a jot a week ago. To-night it was extremely disconcerting.
Notwithstanding the weight of the packed portmanteaux, especially the larger one, he lifted each bodily in his arms and ran with it into the tiny scullery. On the front window there was no blind, only a small, much-worn curtain covering the lower panes, and he did not want any stray loafer to gaze in at him and discover a large quant.i.ty of luggage in such a disreputable hovel.
When the fourth bag was disposed of in the dark recess of the scullery he paused for an instant to listen. There was not a sound. Through the window he could dimly discern the roof of the deserted stables opposite.