The Measure of a Man. Amelia E. Barr

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ the great plantations of trees belting the estate around; the house itself standing on the highest land within the circle.

      Such was the location and adjuncts of the ancient home of the Hattons, and John Hatton looked up at the old face of it with a conscious love and pride. The house was built of dark millstone grit in large blocks, many of them now green and mossy. The roof was of sandstone in thin slabs, and in its angles grass had taken root. In front there was a tower and tall gables, with balls and pinnacles. The principal entrance was a doorway with a Tudor arch, and a large porch resting on stone pillars. Within this porch there were seats and a table, pots of flowers, and a silver Jacobean bell. And all round the house were gables and doorways and windows, showing carvings and inscriptions wherever the ivy had not hid them.

      The door stood wide open and in the porch his mother was sitting. She had a piece of old English lace in her hand, which she was carefully darning. Suddenly she heard John's footsteps and she lifted her head and listened intently. Then with a radiant face she stood upright just as John came from behind the laurel hedge into the golden rays of the setting sun, and her face was transfigured as she called in a strong, joyful voice,

      "O John! John! I've been longing for you days and days. Come inside, my dear lad. Come in! I'll be bound you are hungry. What will you take? Have a cup of tea, now, John; it will be four hours before suppertime, you know."

      "Very well, mother. I haven't had my tea today, and I am a bit hungry."

      "Poor lad! You shall have your tea and a mouthful in a few minutes."

      "I'll go to my room, mother, and wash my face and hands. I am not fit company for a dame so sweet as you are," and he lifted his right hand courteously as he passed her.

      In less than half an hour there was tea and milk, cold meat and fruit before John, and his mother watched him eating with a beaming satisfaction. And when John looked into her happy face he wondered at his dream in Edinburgh, and said gratefully to himself,

      "All is right with mother. Thank God for that!"

      She did not talk while John was eating, but as he sat smoking in the porch afterwards, she said,

      "I want to ask you where you have been all these weeks, John, but Harry isn't here, and you won't want to tell your story twice over, will you, now?"

      "I would rather not, mother."

      "Your father wouldn't have done it, whether he liked to or not. I don't expect you are any different to father. I didn't look for you, John, till next week."

      "But you needed me and wanted me?"

      "Whatever makes you say that?"

      "I dreamed that you wanted me, and I came home to see."

      "Was it last Sunday night?"

      "Yes."

      "About eleven o'clock?"

      "I did not notice the time."

      "Well, for sure, I was in trouble Sunday. All day long I was in trouble, and I am in a lot of trouble yet. I wanted you badly, John, and I did call you, but not aloud. It was just to myself. I wished you were here."

      "Then yourself called to myself, and here I am. Whatever troubles you, mother, troubles me."

      "To be sure, I know that, John. Well, then, it is your brother Harry."

      A look of anxiety came into John's face and he asked in an anxious voice, "What is the matter with Harry? Is he well?"

      "Quite well."

      "Then what has he been doing?"

      "Nay, it's something he wants to do."

      "He wants to get married, I suppose?"

      "Nay, I haven't heard of any foolishness of that make. I'll tell you what he wants to do—he wants to rent his share in the mill to Naylor's sons."

      Then John leaped to his feet and said angrily, "Never! Never! It cannot be true, mother! I cannot believe it! Who told you?"

      "Your overseer, Jonathan Greenwood, and Harry asked Greenwood to stand by him in the matter, but Jonathan wouldn't have anything to do with such business, and he advised me to send for you. He says the lad is needing looking after—in more ways than one."

      "Where is Harry?"

      "He went to Manchester last Saturday."

      "What for, mother?"

      "I don't know for certain. He said on business. You had better talk with Jonathan. I didn't like the way he spoke of Harry. He ought to remember his young master is a bit above him."

      "That is the last thing Jonathan would remember, but he is a good-hearted, straight-standing man."

      "Very, if you can believe in his words and ways. He came here Saturday to insinuate all kinds of 'shouldn't-be's' against Harry, and then on Sunday he was dropping his 'Amens' about the chapel so generously I felt perfectly sure they were worth nothing."

      "Well, mother, you may trust me to look after all that is wrong. Let not your heart be troubled. I will talk with Jonathan in the morning."

      "Nay, I'll warrant he will be here tonight. He will have heard thou art home, and he will be sure he is wanted before anybody else."

      "If he comes tonight, tell him I cannot see him until half-past nine in the morning."

      "That is right—but what for?"

      "Because I am much troubled and a little angry. I wish to get myself in harness before I see anyone."

      "Well, you know, John, that Harry never liked the mill, but while father lived he did not dare to say so. Poor lad! He hated mill life."

      "He ought at least to remember what his grandfather and father thought of Hatton Mill. Why, mother, on his twenty-first birthday, father solemnly told him the story of the mill and how it was the seal and witness between our God and our family—yet he would bring strangers into our work! I'll have no partner in it—not the best man in England! Yet Harry would share it with the Naylors, a horse-racing, betting, irreligious crowd, who have made their money in byways all their generations. Power of God! Only to think of it! Only to think of it! Harry ought to be ashamed of himself—he ought that."

      "Now, John, my dear lad, I will not hear Harry blamed when he is not here to speak for himself—no, I will not! Wait till he is, and it will be fair enough then to say what you want to. I am Harry's mother, and I will see he gets fair play. I will that. It is my bounden duty to do so, and I'll do it."

      "You are right, mother, we must all have fair judgment, and I will see that the brother I love so dearly gets it."

      "God love thee, John."

      "And, mother, keep a brave and cheerful heart. I will do all that is possible to satisfy Harry."

      "I can leave him safely with God and his brother. And tomorrow I can now look after the apricot-preserving. Barker told me the fruit was all ready today, but I could not frame myself СКАЧАТЬ