The door slammed furiously,--Arbroath had suddenly lost his dignity and temper together. Peke"s raillery proved too much for him, and amid the loud guffaws of "Feathery" Joltram, Bill Bush and the rest, he beat a hasty retreat, and they heard his heavy footsteps go hurriedly across the pa.s.sage of the "Trusty Man," and pa.s.s out into the road beyond.
Roars of laughter accompanied his departure, and Peke looked round with a smile of triumph.
"It"s just like a witch-spell!" he declared. "There"s nowt to do but whisper, "Parson"s fav"rite!"--an" Parson hisself melts away like a mist o" the mornin" or a weasel runnin" into its "ole! Hor--er, hor--er, hor--er!"
And again the laughter pealed out long and loud, "Feathery" Joltram bending himself double with merriment, and slapping the sides of his huge legs in ecstasy. Miss Tranter hearing the continuous uproar, looked in warningly, but there was a glimmering smile on her face.
"We"se goin", Miss Tranter!" announced Bill Bush, his wizened face all one broad grin. "We aint the sort to keep you up, never fear! Your worst customer"s just cleared out!"
"So I see!" replied Miss Tranter calmly,--then, nodding towards Helmsley, she said--"Your room"s ready."
Helmsley took the hint. He rose from his chair, and held out his hand to Peke.
"Good-night!" he said. "You"ve been very kind to me, and I shan"t forget it!"
The herb-gatherer looked for a moment at the thin, refined white hand extended to him before grasping it in his own h.o.r.n.y palm. Then--
"Good-night, old chap!" he responded heartily. "Ef I don"t see ye i" the mornin" I"ll leave ye a bottle o" yerb wine to take along wi" ye trampin", for the more ye drinks o"t the soberer ye"ll be an" the better ye"ll like it. But ye should give up the idee o" footin" it to Cornwall; ye"ll never git there without a liftin"."
"I"ll have a good try, anyway," rejoined Helmsley. "Good-night!"
He turned towards Tom o" the Gleam.
"Good-night!"
"Good-night!" And Tom"s dark eyes glowed upon him with a sombre intentness. "You know the old proverb which says, "It"s a long lane which has never a turning"?"
Helmsley nodded with a faint smile.
"Your turning"s near at hand," said Tom. "Take my word for it!"
"Will it be a pleasant turning?" asked Helmsley, still smiling.
"Pleasant? Ay, and peaceful!" And Tom"s mellow voice sank into a softer tone. "Peaceful as the strong love of a pure woman, and as sweet with contentment as is the summer when the harvest is full! Good-night!"
Helmsley looked at him thoughtfully; there was something poetic and fascinating about the man.
"I should like to meet you again," he said impulsively.
"Would you?" Tom o" the Gleam smiled. "So you will, as sure as G.o.d"s in heaven! But how or when, who can tell!" His handsome face clouded suddenly,--some dark shadow of pain or perplexity contracted his brows,--then he seemed to throw the feeling, whatever it was, aside, and his features cleared. "You are bound to meet me," he continued. "I am as much a part of this country as the woods and hills,--the Quantocks and Brendons know me as well as Exmoor and the Valley of Rocks. But you are safe from me and mine! Not one of our tribe will harm you,--you can pursue your way in peace--and if any one of us can give you help at any time, we will."
"You speak of a community?"
"I speak of a Republic!" answered Tom proudly. "There are thousands of men and women in these islands whom no king governs and no law controls,--free as the air and independent as the birds! They ask nothing at any man"s hands--they take and they keep!"
"Like the millionaires!" suggested Bill Bush, with a grin.
"Right you are, Bill!--like the millionaires! None take more than they do, and none keep their takings closer!"
"And very miserable they must surely be sometimes, on both their takings and their keepings," said Helmsley.
"No doubt of it! There"d be no justice in the mind of G.o.d if millionaires weren"t miserable," declared Tom o" the Gleam. "They"ve more money than they ought to have,--it"s only fair they should have less happiness. Compensation"s a natural law that there"s no getting away from,--that"s why a gypsy"s merrier than a king!"
Helmsley smiled a.s.sent, and with another friendly good-night all round, left the room. Miss Tranter awaited him, candle in hand, and preceding him up a short flight of ancient and crooked oaken stairs, showed him a small attic room with one narrow bed in it, scrupulously neat and clean.
"You"ll be all right here," she said. "There"s no lock to your door, but you"re out of the truck of house work, and no one will come nigh you."
"Thank you, madam,"--and Helmsley bent his head gently, almost humbly,--"You are very good to me. I am most grateful!"
"Nonsense!" said Miss Tranter, affecting snappishness. "You pay for a bed, and here it is. The lodgers here generally share one room between them, but you are an old man and need rest. It"s better you should get your sleep without any chance of disturbance. Good-night!"
"Good-night!"
She set down the candle by his bedside with a "Mind you put it out!"
final warning, and descended the stairs to see the rest of her customers cleared off the premises, with the exception of Bill Bush, Matt Peke, and Tom o" the Gleam, who were her frequent night lodgers. She found Tom o" the Gleam standing up and delivering a kind of extemporary oration, while his rough cap, under the pilotage of Bill Bush, was being pa.s.sed round the table in the fashion of a collecting plate.
"The smallest contribution thankfully received!" he laughed, as he looked and saw her. "Miss Tranter, we"re doing a mission! We"re Salvationists! Now"s your chance! Give us a sixpence!"
"What for?" And setting her arms akimbo, the hostess of the "Trusty Man"
surveyed all her lingering guests with a severe face. "What games are you up to now? It"s time to clear!"
"So it is, and all the good little boys are going to bed," said Tom.
"Don"t be cross, Mammy! We want to close our subscription list--that"s all! We"ve raised a few pennies for the old grandfather upstairs. He"ll never get to Cornwall, poor chap! He"s as white as paper. Office work doesn"t fit a man of his age for tramping the road. We"ve collected two shillings for him among us,--you give sixpence, and there"s half-a-crown all told. G.o.d bless the total!"
He seized his cap as it was handed back to him, and shook it, to show that it was lined with jingling halfpence, and his eyes sparkled like those of a child enjoying a bit of mischief.
"Come, Miss Tranter! Help the Gospel mission!"
Her features relaxed into a smile, and feeling in her ap.r.o.n pocket, she produced the requested coin.
"There you are!" she said.--"And now you"ve got it, how are you going to give him the money?"
"Never you mind!" and Tom swept all the coins together, and screwed them up in a piece of newspaper. "We"ll surprise the old man as the angels surprise the children!"
Miss Tranter said nothing more, but withdrawing to the pa.s.sage, stood and watched her customers go out of the door of the "Trusty Man," one by one. Each great hulking fellow doffed his cap to her and bade her a respectful "Good-night" as he pa.s.sed, "Feathery" Joltram pausing a moment to utter an "aside" in her ear.
""A fixed oop owd Arbroath for zartin zure!"--and here, with a sly wink, he gave a forcible nudge to her arm,--"An owd larrupin" fox "e be!--an"
Matt Peke giv" "im the finish wi"s fav"rite! Ha--ha--ha! "A can"t abide a wurrd o" that long-legged wench! Ha--ha--ha! An" look y"ere, Miss Tranter! I"d "a given a shillin" in Tom"s "at when it went round, but I"m thinkin" as zummat in the face o" the owd gaffer up in bed ain"t zet on beggin", an" m"appen a charity"d "urt "is feelin"s like the poor-"ouse do. But if "e"s wantin" to "arn a mossel o" victual, I"ll find "im a lightsome job on the farm if he"ll reckon to walk oop to me afore noon to-morrer. Tell "im" that from farmer Joltram, an" good-night t"ye!"
He strode out, and before eleven had struck, the old-fashioned iron bar clamped down across the portal, and the inn was closed. Then Miss Tranter turned into the bar, and before shutting it up paused, and surveyed her three lodgers critically.
"So you pretend to be all miserably poor, and yet you actually collect what you call a "fund" for the old tramp upstairs who"s a perfect stranger to you!" she said--"Rascals that you are!"
Bill Bush looked sheepish.
"Only halfpence, Miss," he explained. "Poor we be as church mice, an" ye knows that, doesn"t ye? But we aint gone broken yet, an" Tom "e started the idee o" doin" a good turn for th" old gaffer, for say what ye like "e do look a bit feeble for trampin" it."
Miss Tranter sniffed the atmosphere of the bar with a very good a.s.sumption of lofty indifference.