Daughters of the Dominion
Daughters of the
Dominion
A Story of the Canadian Frontier
BY
BESSIE MARCHANT
AUTHOR OF “SISTERS OF SILVER CREEK,” “A HEROINE OF THE SEA,”
“HOPE’S TRYST” ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY WILLIAM RAINEY, R.I.
TORONTO
THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY
LIMITED
Canada is a great mother; there is room in her heart
not merely for her own children, but for the needy of
every nation. They may all come to her and find a home,
if only they will work to earn it.
CONTENTS
I. The Lone House at Blue Bird Ridge
II. Nell’s Dilemma
III. The Old Coat
IV. What the New Day brought
V. Summoned Home
VI. A Strange Welcome
VII. A New Vocation
VIII. Moved on
IX. A Friend in Need
X. To Fill the Breach
XI. The Recognition of Mrs. Nichols
XII. Nell Learns her Family History
XIII. On the List
XIV. Promoted
XV. The New Resident
XVI. Camp’s Gulch
XVII. One-sided Confidences
XVIII. The Dead Chinaman
XIX. To the Rescue
XX. Fairly Caught
XXI. A Patient for Mrs. Nichols
XXII. The Fate of the Prisoner
XXIII. Honouring the Heroine
XXIV. A Sister by Adoption
XXV. The Humours of Trading
XXVI. A Woman of Business
XXVII. An Early Customer
XXVIII. Doss Umpey’s Excuses
XXIX. The Arrival
XXX. An Adventure
XXXI. Dividing the Family
ILLUSTRATIONS
CHAPTER I
The Lone House at Blue Bird Ridge
“NELL, Nell, where are you? I want you to give an eye to the dog; the creature has had a dreadful mauling,” shouted Doss Umpey, in petulant tones. He had thrust his head in at the open door, and seemed quite angry to find that there was no one moving about in the houseplace.
“I’m coming, granfer,” cried a voice, somewhere out of sight. Then there was a shaking of the rickety ladder which stood in the far corner of the dark little room, and a thin girl in very shabby clothes came slowly into view.
No one would have called Nell, otherwise Eleanor Hamblyn, at this period of her life, a pretty girl. Two good points, however, she possessed: one a sweet, low voice, that excellent thing in woman; the other a pair of beautiful luminous eyes, which made those who saw them forget the defects of her face and figure.
“You never are on hand when you are wanted. What you find to do in that old loft all the time just about passes my comprehension,” growled the old man, whose temper was none of the sweetest.
“Well, I ain’t far off when I’m wanted, anyhow,” replied Nell, good-humouredly. Then she asked in an anxious tone, “What’s the matter with Pip?”
“Got mauled pretty badly; must have been having a turn with a wolf, I should say, only it’s early for wolves to be getting troublesome. So p’r’aps he’s been fighting a wild dog.”
“There ain’t no wild dogs round here,” objected Nell, with a shake of her head.
“I’m not so sure of that. Last time I was over to Button End, Job Lipton said he’d seen a buff-coloured beast hunting rabbits on the ridges, and that there’d been a talk of sheep being killed out Lewisville way,” the old man said, as he turned from the door. Nell followed him to inspect the dog, which lay helpless on the edge of the forest.
The house, a wooden one, old and weather-beaten, was perched on a high woody ridge in the great forests stretching along the American side of the Canadian frontier. A mighty Valparaiso oak grew on one side of the house, giving shade in summer and shelter in winter, but the forest had been pushed back on either side, to make room for a small orchard of wind-twisted apple-trees.
It was a lovely day in late September, but the fall of the summer could be seen in the changing hues of the maples, which flamed into crimson and gold, lighting up the sombre green of the other trees.
Pip was a big deerhound, fierce of aspect, and the creature lay at the edge of the clearing, where it had fallen, exhausted in its effort to get home after the fray, in which it had plainly come off second best. It was covered with blood and wounds, one ear being torn in a ghastly fashion.
“Oh, you poor dear thing! Good old Pip, you have been having a rough time!” exclaimed Nell, dropping on her knees beside the dog, and touching it gently here and there.
The creature wagged its tail feebly, as if it understood and appreciated her sympathy; then uttered a whining cry.
“Thirsty, are you? I’ll get you drink, and rig up a little curtain to keep the flies from bothering,” she said in the soothing tone one would use towards a child that had been injured.
“Couldn’t you help me to carry Pip indoors, granfer? I could look after it so much better there,” she said, when she had brought the water, which the creature feebly lapped.
“The dog will be cooler out here, and we can bring it in at nightfall. I’ve got some work to do down beyond now, and can’t be bothered.”
It was characteristic of Doss Umpey that he had always work to do down beyond whenever Nell wanted any assistance from him, so she made up her mind that when he was safely out of the way she would manage somehow to get poor Pip into more comfortable quarters.
Despite the work he had spoken of, the old man seemed in no hurry to go, but stood leaning at ease against the bole of a great redwood tree, talking in the dreamy fashion which always seemed to suit him much better than hard work.
He was not a really old man, being only about sixty-five, strong and hearty, but with a constitutional aversion to sustained effort of any sort.
“There’s no mistake but you are right-down handy at tending critters that are ill. A first-class nurse you’d make, Nell, if only you’d got the chance,” he said, watching her active ministrations to the dog with lazy admiration.
“Why don’t you give me the chance, then?” she retorted quickly. “I’d love to be a nurse, or to be anything that would help me to get on. Just look at me, granfer. I’m seventeen to-day, and I’m just good for nothing. I can’t even keep house properly, because I ain’t got the things to do it with.”
“I’m a poor man, or maybe I’d have done a better part by you; though, as folks are always telling me, it isn’t every lone man like me that would have been bothered with bringing up a child as didn’t really belong to him,” Doss Umpey said, puffing out his chest with an air of satisfaction. He always prided himself a great deal on this, the one charitable act of his life, but it is open to doubt whether Nell would not have been better off if she had been left to the tender mercies of some orphan asylum when her father died, than she was in the care of a grandfather who troubled himself so little about her interests.
“If only I’d crossed the border and settled in Canada when I was a young man, it would have been a deal better for me all round,” he said, leaning his head back against the redwood and gazing pensively up into the sky.
“Why didn’t you?” demanded Nell, as she gently bathed Pip’s torn ear in cool water.
“Circumstances were against me. Most things have been against me somehow,” he said, with a reflective sigh.
“Look here, granfer, couldn’t we go now?” she asked eagerly. “We couldn’t be poorer than we are here, and if we lived where there were more people, I could get work to do at helping, that would bring in money.”
“We’ll see about it, girl, in a few weeks, maybe, but it would be an undertaking, I can tell you, to go such a long way.”
“How far is it to the frontier, granfer?” asked Nell, who as ever was athirst for information.
“Oh, a good few miles. Why, you can walk for thirty miles on this trail, without coming to anything bigger than a woodcutter’s hut, and when you’ve done the thirty miles you are still a goodish distance from the border. But if anything ever happens to me, you’d best make tracks over the border as fast as you can go.”
“Why?” she asked, throwing back her head to get a better look at him, then blinking like an owl, because the sun came into her eyes.
“For ever so many reasons. Canada is a land of promise for young people. Then, English law, by which, of course, I mean Canadian law, is kinder to lone women and girls than American. But I must be stirring, or that bit o’ work down beyond won’t get done by sundown.” And the old man prepared to shuffle off at a slow, comfortable crawl, which was his usual rate of travel.
But there was a request Nell had to prefer before he went, and she rose up hurriedly to intercept his going.
“Granfer, I’m seventeen to-day; mayn’t I have the box of mother’s things that father left for you to take care of? He said I was to have them when I was seventeen.”
“So he did, only I’d forgotten all about it, and, now I come to think of it, I lost the key a good few years back, so you’ll just have to wait till I come home again, then I’ll get out my tools and prise the lid open.”
Doss Umpey quickened his pace then, as if anxious not to be recalled, and was soon out of sight, hidden from view by the trees.
Nell heaved an impatient sigh, but busied herself with the dog; then, when she had made the poor creature as comfortable as she could, she went back to her secret avocations in the loft.
This loft was her refuge, the one place where she was secure from interruption. The roof was open to the shingles, so above, below, and at the sides it was all bare brown wood, without any attempt at adornment of any kind. Window proper there was none, but a hinged shutter in the western gable let in sunshine and fresh air, and, weather permitting, this stood open night and day.
There were no small prettinesses such as may be found in many a chamber belonging to girls who are poor. But, all the same, it did not lack individuality. It was scrupulously clean and well kept, while on a packing-case, standing near the open shutter, were arranged a small pile of books, a bigger heap of newspapers, a bottle of ink, a pen, and a few stumps of pencils.
Here every day Nell did her best to carry on her education, reading everything she could get hold of, and writing extracts from her scanty library on the margins of the newspapers, because she had no writing-paper or exercise books.
She had been hard at work here when her grandfather called her down to attend to the dog, and she went back to her occupation when he had gone away, and she had left Pip as comfortable as circumstances permitted.
But now her attention wandered; the talk about Canada had excited her, while the disappointment about the box was depressing.
Presently she pushed her work aside, and went down the ladder to the lower room. The box containing the things which had belonged to her dead mother stood there. It was only a small box, but strongly made and clamped with iron. Nell had not seen inside it since her father died, but she knew what it contained. There were frocks and coats belonging to her mother, a gold watch and chain, a gold bracelet, and some brooches. The jewelry was of no great value from a monetary point of view, but it was precious beyond price to the girl, whose memory of her mother grew every day more faint and indistinct.
“Just to think that granfer should lose the key, when I wanted it so badly!” she murmured to herself, as she leaned over the box, touching it with caressing fingers.
At that moment the sound of a deep-drawn sigh caught her ear, and lifting her head she saw a strange man standing on the threshold and clinging to the door-frame.
CHAPTER II
Nell’s Dilemma
A TURN in the trail revealed steeply rising ground, which caused Dick Bronson, spent as he was, to stand still and groan.
It was two days since he had lost his horse in a swamp. The poor creature had been sucked under by the treacherous mud, and as he was unable to extricate it, he had shot the animal with his revolver to end its sufferings.
Since then he had walked and walked, following this mysterious trail which appeared to lead to nowhere, yet which was sufficiently open and well defined to make him certain that he must in time arrive at some habitation, if only he kept on long enough.
But a big forest is an awkward place for a man on foot to get lost in; and Dick Bronson was well aware that the trail might meander on for another thirty miles without passing a human habitation, only he had come to the limit of his endurance, and could go no farther.
As he leaned against the trunk of a mighty cedar, wondering if death from starvation and exhaustion were a long pain, or whether merciful stupor would soon claim him, his weary gaze swept earth and sky in mute farewell.
Then he was suddenly roused to new life and energy by perceiving a thin column of smoke rising against the clear blue of the sky, immediately on the top of the high ground, where the trees grew with wide, open spaces between.
Smoke meant fire, and fire meant people, which in turn meant food of some sort. And the man who had been fasting so long felt that it mattered little what kind of food it was, if only it could stay the gnawing pangs of hunger and give him back his strength once more.
Slowly and painfully he breasted the sharp ascent, only to find that another and longer slope lay before him. But at the top of this second hill stood a wooden house in plain view, with a hospitably open door, and smoke rising from the chimney.
He could not be said to quicken his steps, for he was too worn out for that. But the sight of the open door and the chimney smoke revived his flagging hopes and turned his thoughts from death to life again.
As he came nearer to the house he saw something which, at first sight, he took for a baby’s cradle, with a little awning over it, just at the edge of the forest. Coming nearer, he saw it was no cradle, but a huge dog lying under a tent made of muslin or mosquito netting.
The creature lifted its head feebly, and uttered a low, warning growl at the approach of the stranger; but as it did not move, and was apparently sick or wounded, Dick Bronson came on without hesitation, and, passing the little tent, walked with feeble, uncertain steps towards the open door.
He caught at the door-frame to keep himself from lurching forward into the house, and then found himself confronted by a tall, thin girl in nondescript attire, of which the only details he could remember were a scanty skirt, deplorably shabby, and a man’s holland jacket.
“Will you give me food and shelter for a day or two? I am done up with wandering, and my horse died the day before yesterday.”
Dick’s voice was shaken and unsteady from all that he had gone through, and he looked even more an object of pity than he supposed.
The girl’s eyes were mournful, but she only shook her head, answering regretfully—
“I’m very sorry for you, but this isn’t a hotel, and we don’t cater for strangers.”
“You will surely let me have some food. I can pay you; and can’t you see that I am starving?”
His voice was hoarse and urgent now, and again he had to lay fast hold of the door-frame to keep himself from falling.
“I will give you some food, though I’m afraid you won’t think it is very nice. But you can’t stop here, because granfer wouldn’t let you. Button End, where Joe Lipton lives, isn’t more than ten miles away. He’ll take you in for certain, and make you comfortable too. They often have people there,” the girl answered.
Dick laughed harshly. “A quarter of a mile I might manage by crawling; but ten miles is as much out of the question as a journey to the moon.”
The girl looked troubled, then said, in a soothing tone—
“Come in and sit down, while I get you something to eat. Perhaps if you have a good rest you may——”
But the sentence was not finished, for at that moment Dick swayed towards her, and would have gone crash on the floor at her feet had she not caught him in her strong young arms, and so broken his fall. Only staying to thrust an old coat of her grandfather’s under his head for a pillow, she darted to the fireplace, where a pot of broth was being kept warm in the embers, and, pouring some of it into a cup, came back with it, and kneeling by the stranger’s side tried to put some of it in his mouth with a spoon.
The broth was some that she had made for the sick dog, but it was strong and nourishing, and it was all she had. When a few spoonfuls had trickled down his neck, Dick came back to his senses again, and, being supported by the girl, was able to drink the rest of the broth in feeble gulps.
“Ah, you were nearly done for that time, you poor thing!” she said, in kindly tones, her lustrous eyes shining with a beautiful womanly pity.
“Yes, very nearly. If it had not been for you, I think I must have gone under,” he murmured weakly.
His senses were reeling still, but the broth was doing him good. Yet even now he failed to understand how low down in his strength he had come, until, making an effort to rise and stand on his feet, he sank helpless to the ground again.
There was anxiety mingled with the pity on the girl’s face. It was plain to her that the stranger would not be able to continue his journey for hours, probably days, and it was the thought of what Doss Umpey would say to this tax on his hospitality, that was troubling her so sorely now.
“If only you’d been at Joe Lipton’s place, now, instead of here, they could have made you ever so comfortable,” she said, with a sigh of regret, as she hovered about him in anxious wonder as to how she was to get him on to the settle, where he could lie more comfortably than on the floor.
“I am all right here, or should be if I could have some more broth,” he said, with a wistful look at the empty cup in Nell’s hand.
But she shook her head with a decided air. “To over-feed starved things is to kill them outright, so if you want to get better you must just trust yourself to me.”
“Sorry to give you so much trouble,” he murmured weakly.
“Oh, tending sick things isn’t trouble. I just love nursing, only I haven’t had any one to nurse since father died, except a dog or a horse now and then. This is such a lone house, you see, and there are no people here to want helping. I should be just perfectly happy to have you here to take care of till you are well, only granfer will hate it so, that he won’t be even common pleasant to you, I’m afraid.”
“Never mind; I must risk the unpleasantness, as I can’t get any further. It is beginning to rain, too, so it is a mercy I reached shelter when I did,” Dick said drowsily, for a pleasant feeling of languor was stealing over him.
“Rain? So it does. I must get you on the settle somehow, and then go out and bring in Pip—that is our dog, you know. He’s a big, savage creature at ordinary times, but he got fighting last night, and is so dreadfully mauled that there ain’t much life left in him. Now, put your arms round my neck, and I will pull you up.”
Wrapping her thin muscular arms about the stranger, Nell succeeded in getting him on to his feet, and, supporting him as best she could, got him across the floor, dumping him unceremoniously on to a long low settle, which stood beside the great open fireplace. Then she went out for the dog, for by this time the rain was coming down heavily.
The creature must have been a considerable weight, but she staggered into the house with it, laid it tenderly down by the side of the fire opposite to Dick, and ministered to its wants with as much affection as if it had been a child.
The man on the settle watched her in silence, marvelling at the womanly tenderness, which was in such sharp contrast to her appearance; then presently, growing more drowsy, he fell asleep.
Once or twice he was conscious of being roused, and made to swallow something, but the disturbance seemed only like a part of his dreams, and it was hours before he was fully awake again.
Sounds of rather heated argument assailed his ears now. A man’s voice, raised in fretful complaint, was saying—
“I’ve told you often enough that I wouldn’t have a lot o’ strange folk clutterin’ round, pokin’ their noses into what doesn’t belong to ’em, and when I says a thing I mostly means it, as you ought fer to know.”
“Oh, I know it well enough, and I wouldn’t have kept him here if I could have sent him on. But, granfer, he dropped like dead at my feet, and at first I thought he was gone.”
“Not much loss if he had died that I can see. I expect he will be no end of expense to us,” grumbled the man’s voice; and at this Dick considered it high time to make them aware that he was awake and listening.
“I can pay you for all I need, thank you. Although I’m afraid no money can really recompense your granddaughter for her great kindness to me.”
The room was in heavy shadow, and the wood fire gave only a dull red glow, so that Dick Bronson could not see clearly the face of the old man, who turned round with a note of snarling query in his thin voice.
“What are you, anyway? A sheriff’s officer?”
“Nothing half so important. Only just a hard-working man, taking a holiday in the forest; but my horse got stranded in a soft spot, and I had to shoot the poor beast. Then I lost my bearings, and had come almost to the end of my endurance, when I reached this house.”
There was such a ring of sincerity in the simple statement, that Doss Umpey’s suspicions about the good faith of the unknown were allayed to a certain extent, and he asked, in a grudging tone—
“Well, what do you want, anyhow?”
“I don’t quite know what you mean,” said Dick, in a bewildered manner.
“How long do you want to stop, and what do you want us to do for you?” asked the old man, impatiently.
“I want to lie here only until I am strong enough to get on to the nearest hotel. I will pay you for the accommodation, and for the food I eat. I am really very hungry now; may I have something more to eat?” Dick asked, turning his head to look at Nell, who stood by the side of the settle, her face a study of vexation and worry.
“Can you pay for it, I want to know?” Doss Umpey began, but Nell silenced him in an imperious fashion.
“It won’t make any difference, anyhow, granfer, for we ain’t going to let him starve, and if you ain’t willing for him to have supper, you won’t get any yourself.”
“Of course I’m willing he should eat. Only a poor man like me, with others depending on him, has got to be careful,” grumbled the old man, climbing down with so much haste that Dick would have laughed if he had not been so angry.
He was about to fumble for his pocket-book in order to hurl some money at his inhospitable host; but Nell, divining his intention, stopped him with an authoritative gesture, then spoke to the old man with quiet decision in her manner.
“If you are so anxious to get rid of the gentleman, granfer, you had best give Blossom a good supper to-night; then by to-morrow morning the horse could take him to Button End. They’d be able to house him comfortable at Joe Lipton’s.”
“That’s a good idea, Nell. What a pity you didn’t think of it sooner! Then I’d have saddled the beast and taken him over to-night. We should have been able to be quit of him the sooner.”
“Oh, he wouldn’t have been fit to go to-night,” she answered.
“Well, he shall go bright and early to-morrow morning, anyhow,” said the old man; then departed, slamming the door behind him.
When he had gone, Nell stirred the dull fire into a cheerful blaze, then brought a bowl of some savoury stew to the settle where Dick was lying.
“You’d best sit up and take your supper now, while you can have it in peace. Granfer is a bit trying sometimes, and he just hates strangers like poison,” Nell said, as she arranged the bowl and the iron spoon so that her guest, by turning on his elbow, could sup comfortably without rising.
“I should think he just is trying. Why, he is about the most disagreeable old man that it has ever been my ill fortune to meet. Why do you stay and put up with it? If I were in your place I should run away,” Dick said.
“Where should I run to? And who would take me in? A girl isn’t able to shift for herself and defy the world like a man. Besides, I don’t know how to do things properly. I can saw wood, do rough cooking, and such work, but nothing nicer, so no one would want me,” Nell responded wistfully.
“The stew is good, anyhow, if it is only rough cooking, and I suppose you could learn to do other things if you had the chance,” Dick went on, as he ate his supper with slow enjoyment, covertly studying Nell the while as she sat in the light of the fire.
“I can learn anything if only I get the chance. I’ve got an old dictionary upstairs, and I’ve taught myself to spell every word there is in it. I know I talk rough, but that is only because I haven’t had a chance of being with educated people and hearing how they sound their words.”
“A whole dictionary? Why, you must be a perfect prodigy of learning!” exclaimed Dick, smothering a laugh, as he looked at the thin girl in her shabby attire.
“That means something out of the ordinary course of nature,” she said quickly, evidently quoting from her much-studied dictionary. “No, I don’t think I’m out of the ordinary, only, you see, I do have such a lot of time to myself when granfer is working down beyond, that I just have to do something.”
“I see. Have you got any more books?” asked Dick, who was finding Nell decidedly interesting to talk to.
“Only a few. There is a Bible, an old geography with a great many leaves gone, Longfellow’s poetical works, and Bacon’s essays. I wanted some of father’s books, only granfer said they must be sold to pay for my board, so he let the schoolmaster have the lot for ten dollars.”
“What a shame!” There was a thrill of boyish indignation in Dick’s voice that brought a flush of pleasure to Nell’s thin cheek. Then he asked, “Are your father and mother dead?”
Nell nodded, rose abruptly from her seat, and going over to the opposite side of the fire, stooped down to do something to Pip. When she came back there was only a strained something in her tone to show that he had touched on a sore subject.
“Mother died ever so long ago, when I was only three years old. But I was eleven when father died, and I came up here to live with granfer.”
The door opened at this minute, and the old man came in, the water dripping from his garments, and his mood even more unpleasant than before.
But Dick Bronson, soothed by his supper and weak from his long fasting, fell asleep very soon, and so escaped the constant complaints of his unwilling host, who grumbled as long as he was awake, then, betaking himself to a hammock, snored loudly until the morning. Nell did not close her eyes, however, but, sitting on the floor of her loft, kept vigil from reasons best known to herself.
CHAPTER III
The Old Coat
THE next morning broke gloriously fine, and the brilliant sunshine put fresh vigour into Dick Bronson. He had spent a rather unrestful night, his slumber being often broken by hideous dreams.
He had even got off the settle and hobbled out into the sunshine, searching for some place where he might wash his face, before Nell descended the shaky ladder from her loft.
Doss Umpey was also up and out betimes, looking after his horse, which was stabled in a lean-to behind the wooden house. A sorry beast it was, with knock-knees, and a general air of being worn out, but it had energy enough to try to bite the old man when he endeavoured to put the bit in its mouth.
“Nell, Nell, come here; I want you,” the old man called, in querulous tones. And presently Nell came running round the corner of the house, in response to his call, looking jaded from her night of watching, but with an evident intention to be cheerful, and to keep the peace if she could.
“It is this old hoss again. I can’t think what has come to the creature; it shows its teeth every time I get near it,” he said, handing the bridle to Nell with an air of resignation.
“Want to bite, do you, Blossom? Oh, fie! you must not give way to tempers like these. Don’t you know that bits and bridles mean apples and bread to horses that are good?” she inquired, in coaxing tones, as she drew one hand out of her pocket, gave the horse a glimpse of something eatable in her palm, then dived it out of sight again.
Blossom became instantly docile, opened its mouth for the insertion of the bit, but without showing any desire to bite, then began nosing round Nell’s pockets, in anticipation of the coveted reward.
“You old varmint!” began Doss Umpey, with the evident intention of bestowing a kick on the obstinate old horse; but Nell stopped him with a quick gesture.
“No, you are not to kick the poor old thing. If you do, I will take the bit out of its mouth again and go away, then you will have to manage as best you can,” she said, in a decided tone. And because he knew she would be as good as her word, he desisted from hostilities, and instead proceeded to strap a ragged saddle on to the lean old horse.
Nell gave her guest the best breakfast that she could contrive, but her resources were painfully limited. However, even dandelion coffee, maize-bread, and stringy bacon are better than nothing. So, with yesterday’s starvation fresh in his memory, Dick Bronson ate what was set before him, and was thankful.
Then he pressed payment upon Nell, but she would not take it, even turning away with an air of offence when he endeavoured to persuade her that he would rather pay than be indebted to her for hospitality.
“If you are so anxious to pay for what is done for you, give granfer a little money, but only a little, please, for taking you over to Button End,” she said, with a touch of disdain.
“Of course I shall do that. But I should like to compensate you also, for all the trouble I have been,” he said eagerly.
“There is no need; I like trouble,” she answered. And then, as Doss Umpey at this moment led Blossom up to the door, Dick had to go out and mount, with the burden of his indebtedness hanging heavily upon him.
“You’ll be coming home by sundown to-day, granfer?” Nell asked, a little anxiously.
“Mos’ likely,” he answered, busying himself with the off stirrup, and not looking at her.
“You must,” she said sharply. “Pip is very bad this morning, and so stiff he can hardly wag his tail. I don’t mind being left alone when the dog is all right, but it is another matter now he can’t even growl at anything.”
“All right,” the old man replied, with a touch of impatience, and then asked the stranger if he were ready to mount.
“I can’t ride that poor old bag of bones; I shall break its back!” exclaimed Dick.
“Blossom is ever so strong. You need not be afraid,” Nell said, with a reassuring smile.
At this Dick tried to mount, but he was weak and stiff from his painful experience, and was, moreover, harassed by the active attempts of Blossom to bite him.
“Wait a minute. If you will stand on that bench by the door, I will lead Blossom up, and you can get on. The horse will think it is a sack of meal and won’t take any notice,” Nell said, briskly coming to the rescue in her usual prompt fashion.
Dick did as he was bidden, but laughing in an embarrassed fashion, for it was rather mortifying to have to be mistaken for a bag of meal.
When the mounting was accomplished, Doss Umpey led the horse away by the opposite trail to that by which Dick had arrived on the previous day.
Dick took off his hat to Nell with the utmost courtesy of which he was capable, and she waved her hand in return, colouring high with pleasure.
“No one ever treated me so nicely before,” she murmured. Then she stood watching until the man on horseback, with the shambling figure of Doss Umpey at his side, passed out of sight.
Never had a day seemed so long to Nell as that one. Her usual avocations had no power to beguile her, and when, secure in her solitude, she brought her beloved books downstairs, she found that even reading had lost a great deal of its charm.
She was actively anxious, too, about the dog, for the poor creature seemed to grow worse as the hours went on, and in the afternoon Nell began to realize that Pip had fought his last fight, and was preparing to make his exit from a world of strife.
The knowledge moved her to real grief, for the dog, though savage and surly to other people, had been her friend and companion, the only playmate she possessed. Many and many were the solitary days they had spent together, and there had been not a few nights when the fierce deerhound had been her only companion at the Lone House on Blue Bird Ridge.
If Pip were dying, then she would not leave him alone; so, bringing some sewing, she came to sit on a little stool near the fire, where the languid eyes of the poor animal could see her to the last.
The afternoon was gorgeously fine, and Nell would have taken her work into the sunshine but for the dog. As it was, she sat in the dark cheerless room by the fire, administering broth at intervals to her dumb patient, and talking to it in a low crooning tone, which seemed to soothe the poor creature.
Her sewing was of a very uninteresting character, and consisted in mending up the worst rents in an old coat of her grandfather’s, a garment so patched and worn that it would have been difficult for an outsider to tell of what it was originally made.
Nell sighed a little over her task, but kept steadily on until, mending a great rent in the lining, her fingers encountered some stiff letter paper.
Thrusting her hand into the pocket she found there was a hole at the bottom which had let quite a store of articles through, these being caught between the lining and the cloth at the bottom of the coat.
She drew them out one by one, a nail, a screw, half a pocket-comb, a small key, and a letter which had been through the post, and was directed to her grandfather in his proper name, Mr. Theodosius Humphrey, The Lone House, Blue Bird Ridge, Lewisville, and the date was just ten days old.
“Why, granfer must have got the letter the last time he went over to Button End,” she remarked, talking aloud, as is the common way of lonely people. “Yet when I asked him if there was any mail for us he said no directly. I remember, though, how cross he was that night, and how low down in his spirits he has been ever since.”
She studied the outside of the letter for some time, admired the firmness of the handwriting, but did not attempt to read the contents. Then she took up the key, and looked at it critically. It was small and bright as if from being constantly carried, and a sudden idea occurred to her.
“Why, I do believe it is the key of my box. Granfer said he had lost it somehow, and of course he would not know it had slipped right through there. I will go and see if it fits, then I can open the box myself.”
Throwing down her work, with the needle still sticking in the rent, Nell was about to move with hasty steps across the floor, but paused first to look at Pip.
The dog’s eyes were closed now, and it was breathing regularly; so, with the hope that it was sleeping, she stole softly away to try the key in the lock of her box.
It fitted easily, and turned without any trouble; then, with a palpitating heart, she lifted the lid and peered inside.
There seemed to be only a few things in it, although she had supposed it would be quite full. A feeling of apprehension seized her then, and, dragging the box across the floor nearer to the open door, she knelt down beside it, sorting out the contents.
A dark blue merino dress, made in the fashion of fifteen years before; a black silk cape, the worse for wear, trimmed with beaded gimp; a black bonnet, with dark blue ribbon strings, and a bunch of pink roses under the coal-scuttle front;—these, with an armful of nondescript underwear, were all the box contained, saving a big stone wrapped in paper that lay at the bottom, and made it seem heavy.
Just at first indignation kept Nell’s grief in check. There had been good clothing in the box, she knew, and her mother’s little stock of jewelry, with a few odd remnants from her childhood’s home, of little worth to any one else, but of priceless value to her.
Feeling dazed and bewildered by the shock, Nell sat on the floor, with the heap of clothing in her lap, staring stupidly into the empty box. Then a fragment of paper with writing on it caught her attention, and, leaning forward, she picked it up.
The piece had been torn from a letter, and only a part of the sentence remained.
