HE WAS SURE IT WAS NORTH WIND BUT HE THOUGHT SHE MUST BE DEAD AT LASTHE WAS SURE IT WAS NORTH WIND BUT HE THOUGHT SHE MUST BE DEAD AT LAST
She sat motionless with drooping head and did not move nor speak. He was sure it was North Wind but he thought she must be dead at last. Her face was white as the snow, her eyes blue as the ice cave, and she had on a greenish robe like the color in the hollows of a glacier.
He walked toward her instantly and put out his hand to lay it on her. There was nothing there but intense cold. All grew white about him. He groped on further. The white thickened about him and he felt himself stumbling and falling. But as he fell, he rolled over the threshold. It was thus that Diamond got to the back of the north wind.
And what did he find? There was no North Wind in sight nor snow nor ice. It was a country where even the ground smelled sweetly, though Diamond thought the odour must come out of the flowers. A gentle air breathed in his face but he was not quitesure he did not miss the wind. A river as clear as crystal ran not only through the grass but over it too. It murmured a low, sweet song as it ran. There was no sun nor moon but a pure cloudless light always, and the blue arch of the sky seemed like a harp playing the soft airs of Heaven. There were many people there and all the people seemed happy and yet as if they were going to be happier some day.
Nothing ever went wrong at the back of the north wind and the only thing one ever missed was some one he loved who had not yet got there. But if one at the back of the north wind wanted to know how things were going with any one he loved, he had only to go to a certain tree, and climb up and sit down in the branches.
One day, when Diamond was sitting in this tree, he began to long very much to get home again. And no wonder! For he saw his mother crying. Now if you wished anything at the back of the north wind, you could follow your wish if you could find the way. So Diamond knew that he must now find North Wind. He could not go home without her and therefore he must find her. He went all about searching and searching. One day as he was looking and looking, he thought he caught a glimpse of the ice ridge and the misty form of North Wind seated as he had lefther. He ran as hard as he could. Yes, he was sure it was she. He pushed on through the whiteness, which began to thicken around him. It was harder and harder to go but he struggled on and at last reached her and sank wearily down at her knees. At that same moment, the country at her back vanished from Diamond's view.
North Wind was as still as Diamond had left her. But as he touched her, her face began to change like that of one waking from sleep. He clambered up upon her breast. She gave a great sigh, slowly lifted her arms, and slowly folded them about him, until she clasped him close.
"Have you been sitting here ever since I went through you, dear North Wind? It has been like a hundred years!" said Diamond.
"It has been just seven days," said North Wind smiling. "Come now, we will go."
The next moment, Diamond sat alone on the rock. North Wind had vanished. But something like a cockchafer flew past his face. Around and around him in circles it went.
"Come along, Diamond," it said in his ear. "It is time we were setting out for Sandwich."
It seemed to drop to the ground but when he looked Diamond could see nothing but a little spiderwith long legs which made its way over the ice toward the south. It grew and grew till Diamond discovered that it was not a spider but a weasel. Away glided the weasel and away went Diamond after it. The weasel grew and grew and grew till he saw it was not a weasel but a cat. Away went the cat and away went Diamond after it. When he came up with it, it was not a cat but a leopard. The leopard grew to a jaguar and the jaguar to a Bengal tiger.
Of none of them was Diamond afraid for he had been at North Wind's back and he could be afraid of her no longer whatever she did or grew to be. The tiger flew over the snow in a straight line for the south, growing less and less to Diamond's eyes till it was only a black speck upon the whiteness. Then it vanished altogether.
And now Diamond felt that he would rather not run any further and that the ice had got very rough. Besides he was near the precipices that bounded the sea. So he slowed up his pace to a walk and said to himself, "North Wind will come back for me, I know. She is just teasing me a little. Then, too, shemustget started some way to grow bigger and bigger all the time!"
"Here I am, dear boy," said North Wind's voice behind him.
Diamond turned and saw her as he liked best to see her, standing beside him a tall, beautiful woman.
"Where is the tiger?" he said. "But of course, you were the tiger. It puzzles me a little. I saw it such a long way off before me, and there you are behind me. It is odd, you know."
"None of these things is odder to me than to see you eat bread and butter," said North Wind.
"I should just like to see a slice of bread and butter!" cried Diamond. "I am afraid to say how long it is since I had anything to eat!"
"You shall have some soon. I am glad to find you want some!"
She swept him up in her arms and bounded into the air. Her tresses began to lift and rise and spread and stream and flow and flutter. And North Wind and Diamond went flying southward. The sea slid away from under them like a great web of shot silk, blue shot with gray, and green shot with purple. The stars appeared to sail away past them, like golden boats on a blue sea turned upside down. Diamond himself went fast, fast, fast—he went fast asleep in North Wind's arms.
When he woke once more, a face was bending over him. It was not North Wind's, however; it was his mother's. He put out his arms to her and she clasped him to her heart and burst out crying.
"What is the matter, mother?" cried Diamond.
"Oh, Diamond dear! You have been so ill!" she said.
"Why no, mother dear. I have only been at the back of the North Wind," returned Diamond.
"I thought you were dead," said his mother.
At that moment, the doctor came in. He drew his mother aside and told her not to talk to Diamond. He must be kept as quiet as possible. And indeed, Diamond felt very strange and weak. But he soon got better with chicken broth and other nice things.
And it was a good thing that he could get well and strong again. For since he had come to Sandwich, a sad thing had happened to his father. Mr. Coleman, his father's employer, had failed in business. It had come about in this way. Miss Coleman, who had looked so like North Wind that night on which he had seen her having her long black haircombed beside the fire, had a lover, a Mr. Evans. Now Mr. Evans was poor and felt ashamed to marry Miss Coleman until he had made more money and could live finely. This was a sort of false pride and it brought about great trouble for them all.
For Mr. Coleman took Mr. Evans into partnership to help him along. As soon as that happened, Mr. Evans began to urge Mr. Coleman to go into business ventures which were not honest but in which they could make a great deal of money. It was not so bad at first, but as they went on, it became more and more dishonest.
They could not seem to get out of it, however, and get back to carrying on their business in the right way. So North Wind had to take a hand and teach them better. It was Mr. Coleman's ship she sank that night when she carried Diamond into the cathedral to wait for her. In the one boat-load of people which North Wind drove off to a desert island, was Mr. Evans. He had gone along on the ship to manage the business. Now he found that it would have been better to have been poor and stayed at home to marry Miss Coleman than to be ship-wrecked and have to live on a desert island because he longed so to be rich.
The loss of the ship ruined Mr. Coleman. He hadto sell off his house and his horses, old Diamond among them, and go and live in a poor little house in a much less pleasant place. He had to begin again to work and learn how much better it is to be honest and contented than to try to get rich quickly. And poor Miss Coleman thought her lover was drowned and was very, very unhappy.
Nobody suffers alone. When old Diamond was sold, young Diamond's father was thrown out of work. Then he had no way to earn money to keep Diamond and his mother and the new little baby brother who had come to them. How Diamond did wish he was big enough to do something! But of course, he could think of nothing he could do. Besides he had to get well and strong first, anyway. His father sent word that he and his mother were to stay down at Sandwich until he found something to do and a place where he could make a home for them. It was a very fortunate thing that Diamond's aunt was glad to keep them with her as long as ever they were willing to stay.
One day when Diamond was getting strong enough to go out, his mother got his aunt's husband, who had a little pony cart, to carry them down to the sea-shore. A whiff of sea air, she said, would do them both good. They sat down on the edge of therough grass which bordered the sand. Away before them stretched the sparkling waters of the ocean, every wave of which flashed out its delight in the face of the great sun. On each hand, the shore rounded outward, forming a little bay. Dry sand was about their feet, and under them thin wiry grass.
After a time, his mother stretched out her hand for the basket which she had brought with her and she and Diamond had their dinner. Diamonddidenjoy it, the drive and the fresh air had made him so hungry! But he was sorry that his mother looked so sad and depressed. He knew she was thinking about his father and how they now had no home. But there was nothing for him to do. So he lay down on the sand again, feeling sleepy, and gazed sleepily out over the sand. "What is that, mother!" he said.
"Only a bit of paper," she answered looking where he pointed.
"It flutters more than a bit of paper would, I think," said Diamond.
"I'll go and see if you like," said his mother.
She rose and went and found that it was a little book partly buried in the sand. Several of its leaves were clear of the sand and these the wind kept blowing about in a very fluttering manner. She took it up and brought it to Diamond.
"What is it, mother?" he asked.
"Rhymes, I think," said she.
"I am so sleepy," he said. "Do read some of them to me."
"Well, I will," she said and began one. "But this is such nonsense," she said again. "I will try to find a better one."
She turned the leaves, searching, but three times with sudden puffs the wind blew the leaves rustling back to the same verses.
"I wonder if that is North Wind," said Diamond to himself. To his mother he said, "Do read that one. It sounded very nice. I am sure it is a good one."
His mother thought it might amuse him although she could not find any sense in it. So she read on like this:
I know a riverwhose waters run asleep,run, run ever,singing in the shallows,dumb in the hollowssleeping so deep;and all the swallowsthat dip their feathersin the hollowsor in the shallowsare the merriest swallows of all!
"Why!" whispered Diamond to himself sleepily, "that is what the river sang when I was at the back of the north wind."
And so with the daisiesthe little white daisiesthey grow and they blowand they spread out their crownand they praise the sun;and when he goes downtheir praising is doneand they fold up their crowntill over the plainhe is rising amainand they're at it again!praising and praisingsuch low songs raisingthat no one hears thembut the sun who rears them!and the sheep that bite themawake or asleepare the quietest sheepwith the merriest bleat!and the little lambsare the merriest lambs!they forget to eatfor the frolic in their feet!
"Merriest, merriest, merriest," murmured Diamond as he sank deeper and deeper in sleep. "Thatis what the song of the river is telling me. Even I can be merry and cheerful—and that will help some. And so I will—when—I—wake—up—again." And he went off sound asleep.
It was not very long after this that Diamond and his mother could go home again. His father had now found something to do and this is how it came about. He one day met a cabman who was a friend of his and this friend said to him, "Why don't you set up as a cabman yourself—and buy a cab?"
"I haven't enough money to buy a horse with—and a cab," said Diamond's father.
"Look here," answered his friend. "I just bought an old horse the other day, cheap. He is no good for the hansom I drive, for when folks take a hansom, they want to drive like the wind. But for a four-wheeler that takes families and their luggage, he's the very horse. I bought him cheap and I'll sell him cheap."
"Oh, I don't want him," said Diamond's father.
"Well, come and see him anyway," said his friend. So he went.
What was his delight on going into the stable to find that the horse was no other than his own old Diamond! Diamond, grown very thin and bony and long-legged. The horse hearing his master's voice,turned his long neck. And when his old friend went up to him and laid his hand on his side, he whinnied for joy and laid his big head on his master's breast. This settled the matter. Diamond's father put his arms around old Diamond's neck and fairly cried.
The end of it was that Diamond's father bought old Diamond again, together with a four-wheeled cab. As there were some rooms to be had over the stable, he took them, wrote to his wife to come home, and set up as a cabman.
It was late in the afternoon when Diamond and his mother and the baby reached London. His father was waiting for them with his own cab but they had not told Diamond who the horse was. For his father wanted to enjoy the pleasure of his surprise when he found it out. He got in with his mother without looking at the horse and was quite proud of riding home in his father's cab.
When he got to the stables where their rooms were he could not help being a little dismayed at first. But he thought of the song of the river at the back of the north wind and just looked about for things that were pleasant. He said to himself that it was a fine thing that all their old furniture was there. Then he began to search out the advantages of the place.
A thick, dull rain was falling and that was depressing. But the weather would change and there was a good fire burning in the room, which a neighbor had made for them. The tea things were put out and the kettle was boiling on the fire. And with a good fire and tea and bread and butter, things cannot be soverybad.
But Diamond's father and mother were rather miserable and Diamond began to feel a kind of darkness spreading over him. At the same moment, he said, "This will never do! I can't give in to this. I've been at the back of the north wind. Things go right there and they must be made to go right here!"
So he said out loud, "What nice bread and butter this is!" And when he had eaten it, he began to amuse the baby who was soon shrieking with laughter. His father and mother had to laugh too and things began to look better.
It was indeed a change for them all, not only from Sandwich but from their old place. Instead of the great river where the huge barges with their brown and yellow sails went up and down, their windows now looked out upon a dirty paved yard. There was no garden more for Diamond to run into when he pleased, with gay flowers about his feet, and lofty trees over his head.
Neither was there a wooden wall at the back ofhis bed with a hole in it for North Wind to come in at when she liked. Indeed, there was such a high wall that North Wind seldom got into the place. And the wall at the head of Diamond's new bed only divided it from the room where a cabman lived who drank too much beer and came home to quarrel with and abuse his wife. It was dreadful for Diamond to hear the scolding and the crying. But he was determined it should not make him miserable for he had been at the back of the north wind.
The wind blew loudly all night long, the first night Diamond slept in his new home, but he did not hear it. My own belief is that when Diamond slept too soundly to remember anything about it in the morning, he had been all night at the back of the north wind. Sometimes something did seem to remain in his mind like the low far-off murmur of the river singing its song. He sometimes tried to hold on to the words it sung. But ever as he cameawaker—as he would say—one line faded away and then another. At last there was nothing left but the sense that everything went right there and could—and must—be made to go right here.
That was how he awoke that first morning and he jumped up at once saying, "I've been ill a long time and given a great deal of trouble. Now let's see how I can help my mother."
When he went into her room, he found her lighting the fire and his father just getting up. So he took up the baby who was awake too and cared for him till his mother had the breakfast ready. She was looking gloomy and his father too was silent.Diamond felt that in a few minutes, he would be just as miserable. But he tried with all his might to be jolly with the baby and presently his mother just had to smile.
"Why, Diamond, child!" she said at last. "You are as good to your mother as if you were a girl—nursing the baby and toasting the bread, and sweeping up the hearth. I declare a body would think you had been among the fairies."
"I've been at the back of the north wind," said Diamond to himself happily.
And now his father was more cheerful too. "Won't you come out and see the cab, Diamond?" he asked.
"Yes, father, in just a minute after I put the baby down."
So his father went on ahead. When Diamond got out into the yard, the horse was between the shafts. Diamond went around to look at him. The sight of him made him feel very queer. He could not make it out. What horse was it that looked so familiar? When he came around in front and the old horse put out his long neck and began rubbing against him, Diamond saw it could be no other than old Diamond and he just put his arms around his neck and cried.
"Isn't it jolly, father!" he said. "Was there ever anybody so lucky as we! Dear old Diamond!" He hugged the horse again and kissed both his big, hairy cheeks. He could only manage one at a time, however—the other cheek was so far off on the other side of old Diamond's big head. And now his father took up the reins to drive off.
"Oh, father, do let me drive a bit!" cried Diamond jumping up on the box beside him. His father put the reins into his hands and began to show him how to drive. He let Diamond drive quite a little way and then the boy jumped down and ran gaily back to his mother.
Now it happened that the man who sold old Diamond back to his father, saw how delighted little Diamond was to learn to drive. And that evening, shortly before Diamond's father came home, the man asked Diamond's mother if the boy might not go a little way with him.
"He cannot go far," said his mother, "for he is not very strong yet."
"I will take him only as far as the square," said the man.
Diamond's mother said he might go as far as that. Dancing with delight, Diamond ran to get his cap and in a few minutes was jumping into the cab.The man gave him the reins and showed him how to drive safely through the gate and Diamond got along famously. Just as they were turning into the square, they had an adventure. It was getting quite dusky. A cab was coming rapidly from the other direction, and Diamond pulling aside and the other driver pulling up, they just escaped a collision. And there was his father!
"Why, Diamond, it is a bad beginning to run into your own father," he said.
"But, father, wouldn't it have been a bad ending for you to run into your own son!" answered the boy. And both men laughed heartily.
"He is a good little driver, though," said the man. "He would be fit to drive on his own hook in a week or two. But he had better go back with you now."
"Come along then, Diamond," said his father. Diamond jumped across into the other cab and they drove away home.
It was not long before Diamond was a great favorite with all the men about the stables—he was so jolly! It was not the best place in the world for him to be brought up in and at first he did hear a good many rough and bad words. But as he did not like them, he never learned to say them and they did him little harm. Before long, the men grew ratherashamed to use them. One would nudge the other to remind him that the boy was within hearing and the words choked themselves before they got any further.
One day, they gave him a curry comb and brush to try his hand on old Diamond's coat. He used them deftly and thoroughly as far as he could reach.
"You must make haste and grow," the men told him. "It won't do to clean a horse half way up and leave his back dirty, you know."
"Put me up," said Diamond. In a moment he was on the old horse's back with the comb and brush. There he combed and brushed and combed and brushed. Every now and then, old Diamond would whisk his tail and once he sent the comb flying out of the stable door to the great amusement of the men. But they brought it back to him and Diamond finished his task.
"Oh, dear!" said Diamond, when he had done. "I'm so tired!" And he laid himself down at full length on old Diamond's back. The men were much amused and from that time were always ready to teach him to drive.
So in one way and another, he did learn to drive all sorts of horses, and through the most crowded streets in London city. One day his father took him on his own cab and as they were standing waitingfor a passenger, his father left him alone for a few minutes. Hearing a noise, Diamond looked around to see what it was. There was a crossing near the cab-stand where a girl was sweeping. Some young roughs had picked a quarrel with her and were now trying to pull her broom away from her. Diamond was off his box in a moment and running to the help of the girl. The roughs began to act worse than ever. Just then Diamond's father came back and sent them flying. The girl thanked Diamond and began sweeping again as if nothing had happened.
She did not forget her friends, however. A moment after, she came running up with her broom over her shoulder, calling "Cab, there! Cab!" And when Diamond's father reached the curbstone, who should it be but Mrs. Coleman and Miss Coleman! Diamond and his father were very happy to see them again and gladly drove them home. When they wanted to pay for it, Diamond's father would not hear of it, but jumped on his box and drove away.
It was a long time since Diamond had seen North Wind or even thought much about her. Now, as his father drove along, he was thinking not about her but about the crossing sweeper. He was wondering what made him feel as if he knew her quite well when he could not remember anything of her. But a picturearose in his mind of a little girl running before the wind, and dragging her broom after her. From that, he recalled the whole adventure of the night when he had gone out with North Wind and made her put him down in a London street.
A few nights after this, Diamond woke up suddenly, believing he heard the north wind thundering along. But it was something quite different. South Wind was moaning around the chimneys, to be sure, for she was not very happy that night. But it was not her voice that had wakened Diamond. It was a loud angry voice, now growling like that of a beast, now raving like that of a madman. It was the voice of the drunken cabman whose room was just through the wall at the back of Diamond's bed.
At length, there came a cry from the woman and a scream from the baby. Diamond thought it was time somebody did something. He jumped up and went to see. The voice of the crying baby guided him to the right door and he peeped in. The drunken cabman had dropped into a chair, his wife lay sobbing on the bed, and the baby was wailing in its cradle.
Diamond's first thought was to run away from the misery of it. But he remembered at once that he had been at the back of the north wind. People who had been there must always try to destroy miserywherever they saw it. But what could he do? Well, there was the baby. He stole in and lifted it into his arms and soon had it on his knee, smiling at the light that came in from the street lamp. He began to sing to it in a low voice—the song of the river as it ran over the soft grass and among the flowers in the country at the back of the north wind. He sang on till the baby went sound asleep. He himself got sleepier and sleepier, though the cabman and his wife only got wider awake all the time. At length, Diamond found himself nodding. He got up and laid the baby gently in its cradle and stole quietly out and home again to his own bed.
"Wife," said the cabman, "did you see that angel?"
"Yes," answered his wife, "it is little Diamond who lives in the next yard."
She knew him well enough. She was the neighbor who had the fire lighted and the tea ready for them when Diamond and his mother came home from Sandwich on that rainy, gloomy night. Her husband was somehow very sorry now and ashamed of the misery he had caused—was it the song of the river which Diamond had sung that caused it? He tried hard to forget where the drink shop stood and for a good many weeks managed to keep away from it.
One day when their cab was waiting for a fare, Diamond jumped down to run a little and stretch his legs. He strolled up to the crossing where Nanny and her broom were to be found in all weathers. Just as he was going to speak to her a tall gentleman stepped upon the crossing. He was glad to find it clean and he gave the girl a penny. When she made him a courtesy, he looked at her again and said, "Where do you live, my child?"
"Paradise Row," she answered. "Next door to the Adam and Eve—down the area."
"Whom do you live with?" he asked.
"My wicked old granny," she replied.
"You should not call your granny wicked," said the gentleman.
"But she is!" said Nanny. "If you don't believe me, you can come and take a look at her."
The gentleman looked very grave at hearing her. It was not a nice way for a little girl to talk. He was turning away, when he saw the face of Diamond looking up into his own.
"Please," said Diamond, "her granny is very cruel to her sometimes—and shuts her out in the streets at night if she happens to be late."
"So, my little man. And what can you do?" asked the gentleman turning towards him.
"Drive a cab," said Diamond proudly.
"Anything else?" asked the gentleman smiling.
"Take care of the baby," said Diamond; "clean father's boots and make him a bit of toast for his tea."
"You are a useful little man," said the gentleman. "Can you read?"
"No, but father and mother can and they are going to teach me soon."
"Well, here is a penny for you, and when you learn to read, come to me and I will give you six-pence and a book with fine pictures in it."
He gave Diamond a card with his address on it. "Thank you," said Diamond and put the card into his pocket. The gentleman walked away but he saw Diamond give the penny to Nanny and say, "I have a father and mother and little brother and you have nothing but a wicked old granny. You may have my penny."
The girl put the penny in her pocket and Diamond asked, "Is she as cruel as ever?"
"Just the same. But I get more coppers, so I can buy myself some food. She is so blind that she doesn't see that I do not eat her old scraps. I hide them in my pocket."
"What do you want them for?"
"To give to cripple Jim. His leg was broken when he was young, so he isn't good for much. But I love Jim. I always keep something for him."
"Diamond! Diamond!" called his father, just then.
So Diamond ran back and told him about the gentleman and showed him the card he had given him.
"Why, it is not many doors from our stables!" cried his father looking at the address. "Take care of it, Diamond. One needs all the friends he can get in this world."
"We've got many friends," said Diamond. "Haven't we? There's mother and the baby and old Diamond—and the man next door who drinks—and his wife and baby—and Mrs. Coleman and Miss Coleman—and—and a many!"
His father just laughed and drove off.
WITHIN A MONTH HE WAS ABLE TO SPELL OUT MOST OF THE VERSES FOR HIMSELFWITHIN A MONTH HE WAS ABLE TO SPELL OUT MOST OF THE VERSES FOR HIMSELF
The question of the tall gentleman as to whether Diamond could read or not, set his father to thinking it was high time he could. As soon as old Diamond was fed and bedded, he began the task of teaching him that very night. It was not much of a task to Diamond for his father took for the lesson book the same one which North Wind had waved the leaves of on the sands at Sandwich. Within a month, he was able to spell out most of the verses for himself. But he never found in it the river song which he thought his mother had read from it. Could it have been North Wind doing the reading in his mother's voice?
It was not long before Diamond managed with many blunders to read all the rhymes in his book to his mother. Then he said, "In a week or so, I shall be able to go to the tall gentleman and tell him I can read." But before the week was out he had another reason for going to the gentleman, whose name he found out was Mr. Raymond. For three days, Nanny had not been at her crossing. Diamond was quite anxious about her, fearing she must be ill. On thefourth day not seeing her yet, he said to his father, "I want to go and look after Nanny. She can't be well."
"All right," said his father. "Only take care of yourself, Diamond."
So Diamond set off to find his way to Nanny's home. It was a long distance and he had to ask his way over and over again. But he kept on without getting discouraged and at last he came to it.
Happily for Diamond, the ugly old granny had gone out. He laid his ear to the door and thought he heard a moaning within. He tried the door and found it was not locked. It was a dreary place indeed—and very dark, for the window was below the level of the street and was covered with mud. And the smell in the room was dreadful!
He could see next to nothing at first but he heard the moaning plainly enough now. Soon he found his friend lying with closed eyes and a white suffering face on a heap of rags in a corner. He went up to her and spoke but she made him no answer. She did not even hear him. Taking out a lump of barley sugar candy he had brought for her he laid it down beside her and hurried away. He was going to find Mr. Raymond and see if he could not do something for Nanny.
It was a long walk to Mr. Raymond's door but he got there at last. Yet after all, the servant was not going to let him in, only Mr. Raymond came out into the hall just then and saw him and recognized him at once.
"Come in, my little man," he said. "I suppose you have come to claim your six-pence."
"No, sir, not that."
"What! Can't you read yet?"
"Yes," said Diamond. "I can now a little. But I've come to tell you about Nanny—the little girl at the crossing."
"Oh, yes, I remember her," said Mr. Raymond. "What is it about Nanny?"
Diamond told him all about her—how she was sick, and how dark it was where she lived and with bad smells. Now, Mr. Raymond was one of the kindest men in London and was well known at the children's hospital. He hurried there now, and some one went from there at once to find Nanny. Before night, they sent a litter for her and soon the little girl was lying in a nice clean bed, though she was too sick to know anything about it.
Diamond overheard a doctor say to Mr. Raymond, "How do you suppose the little chap knew what to do about Nanny?"
"He doesn't know that I have been at the back of the north wind," he said to himself. "If you have once been there, it just comes to you how to do a little to help."
After Nanny had been well seen to, Mr. Raymond took the boy home with him and they soon settled the matter of the six-pence between them.
"And now, what will you do with it?" the gentleman asked him.
"Take it home to my mother," answered Diamond. "She has a tea-pot with a broken spout and she keeps all her money in it. It isn't much but she saves it up to buy shoes for me. And there's the baby—he'll want shoes soon. And every six-pence is something, isn't it?"
"To be sure, my little man. And here is the book for you, full of pictures and stories."
There were poems in it too, and Diamond at once began to puzzle out one of them which ran like this:
I have only one foot, but thousands of toes;My one foot stands but never goes.I have many arms and they are mighty, all;And hundreds of fingers large and small.From the ends of my fingers my beauty grows,I breathe with my hair and I drink with my toes.In the summer, with song I shake and quiver,But in winter, I fast and groan and shiver.
When Diamond ran home with his new book in his hand, he found his father at home already. He was sitting by the fire and looking rather miserable for his head ached and he looked sick. The next day, he had to stay in bed while his wife nursed him, and Diamond took care of the baby. By the next day, he was very ill indeed. And it was not long before their money was all gone.
Diamond's mother could not help crying over it but she came into Diamond's room so that the poor sick father should not hear it. Diamond was frightened when he heard her sobbing and said, "Is father worse?"
"No, no," said his mother, "he is better. But the money is all gone and what are we to do?"
"Don't cry," said Diamond. "We'll get along some how. Let me read to you out of North Wind's book."
So he read a little story about the early bird that caught the nice fat worm.
"I wish you were like that little bird, dear," said his mother, "and could catch something to eat!"
After she was gone away, Diamond lay thinking and somehow he seemed to hear the murmur of North Wind's river blowing through his thoughts and telling him about something he could do. The next morning he got up as soon as he heard the men moving in the yard. When he went down, the stable was just opened. "I'm the early bird, I think," he said to himself, "and I hope I'll catch the worm."
HE FASTENED THE CHEEK-STRAP VERY CAREFULLYHE FASTENED THE CHEEK-STRAP VERY CAREFULLY
He would not ask any one to help him because he was afraid he would be kept from doing what he wanted. With the aid of an old chair, he got the harness on old Diamond. The dear old horse opened his mouth for the bit just as if Diamond was giving him an apple. He fastened the cheek-strap very carefully, and got all the pieces of harness on and buckled. By this time some of the men were watching him to see if he would get it all done by himself. And when he put old Diamond between the shafts, got his whip, and jumped up on the box, the men broke into a cheer.
The cheer brought his mother to the window and when she saw her little boy setting out all alone in the cab, she called "Diamond! Diamond!" But Diamond did not hear her for the rattle of the cab and so he drove away. He was very much afraid no one would hire him because he was such a little driver. But before he got to his regular stand, he was hailed by a man who wanted to catch a train andwas in too great a hurry to think about the driver. He got a good fare for that and reached the cab-stand the first one after all. As the other cabmen came, he told them about his father and said that he was going to drive the cab in his place.
"Well, you are a plucky one!" they all said. "And you shall have a fair chance with the rest."
And he did, for another gentleman came up very soon for him. When he saw the boy, he was much astonished. "Are you the driver of this cab?" he asked. "Yes, sir," answered Diamond, showing his father's badge of which he was proud.
"You are the youngest cabman I ever saw!" said the gentleman greatly amused. "But I believe I'll risk you!"
He jumped in and soon found that Diamond got him over the ground very well. The trip was one of several miles and the gentleman paid him three shillings for the drive. When Diamond got back, he stopped at a stand where he had never been before and got down to put on old Diamond's nose-bag of oats. The men there did not treat him very nicely and a group of rough boys came up and began to torment him. But who do you think came to his rescue? Why, the drunken cabman whose room wasnext to Diamond's and whose baby Diamond had once rocked and put to sleep.
"What is up here?" the cabman asked.
"Do you see this young snip?" the boys cried, "He pretends to drive a cab!"
"Yes, I do see him," said the cabman. "I see you, too. You'd better take yourselves away from here or you won't find me very agreeable!"
And they went in a hurry!
When Diamond went home that night, he carried one pound, one shilling and six-pence. His mother had grown very anxious and was almost afraid to look when she heard his cab coming at last. But there was the old horse, and there was the cab, all right! And there was Diamond on the box his face as triumphant as a full moon! One of the men took the horse to put him up and Diamond ran into the house and into the arms of his mother!
"See! See!" he cried. "Here is the worm I caught!" He poured out the six-pences and shillings into her lap. His mother burst out crying again, but with joy this time and ran to show his father. Then how pleasedhewas! And Diamond snatched up the baby and began to sing and dance, he was so happy!
The next morning, Diamond was up almost as early as before. But the men would not let him do the harnessing any more. They got the cab all ready for him and sent him in to eat all the breakfast he could and get well bundled up. His first passenger was a young woman to be taken to the docks. When he started back some roughs came along and tried to steal his fare. But a pale-faced man came up and beat them off with his stick, and told Diamond to drive away. Diamond begged him to get into the cab and ride. The man said he could not spare the money to ride—he was too poor.
"Oh, do come!" said Diamond. "I don't want the money. You helped me. Let me help you."
"Well," said the man, "if you will take me to Chiswick, I can pay for that. Drive to the Wilderness—Mr. Coleman's place. I'll show you when we get there."
Now Diamond had been thinking he had seen the gentleman before and when he said this, it flashed upon him that it was Mr. Evans who had been going to marry Miss Coleman. North Wind had sunk his and Mr. Coleman's ship because their business was not honest and was making bad men of them. She had carried Mr. Evans away to a desert island. Hehad just got back again and was poor now and humble and willing to begin to work again in an honest way.
It was plain he did not know that Mr. Coleman had been ruined too and had been forced to sell the Wilderness and move into a poor house in the city. But Diamond knew, and as he drove along he was thinking what he ought to do. The gentleman would not find Miss Coleman at the Wilderness. And if he told him where she lived now, perhaps he would not go to see her because he would be so ashamed of having brought all this trouble on her by trying so hard to be rich.
Still he must want to see her very much and she must want to see him. So Diamond made up his mind to drive straight to where Miss Coleman lived now, and then they could explain to each other. So on he went.
Now the wind was blowing furiously and when old Diamond finally got to Miss Coleman's house and held back to stop, one of the straps of the harness broke. Diamond jumped down and opened the cab door and asked the gentleman if he would not step into this house where friends of his lived and wait while he mended the strap. Then he ran and rang the bell and whispered to the maid who came to call Miss Coleman. A few minutes later, he was not at allsure he had done the right thing. For suddenly there came the sound of a great cry and then a running to and fro in the house. But after a little while, they came and called him in and Miss Coleman put her arms around him and hugged him tight!
The rest of the day, he did very well. And what a story he had to tell his father and mother that night about Mr. Evans and the Colemans. They were sure he had done right and he was so glad!
For a fortnight, Diamond went on driving his cab and helping his family. Some people began to know him and to look for him to drive them where they wanted to go. One old gentleman who lived near the stables hired him to carry him into the city every morning at a certain hour. And Diamond was as regular as clock work. After that fortnight, his father was able to go out again. Then Diamond began to think about little Nanny and went off to inquire about her.
The first day his father took up his work again, Diamond went with him as usual. In the afternoon, however, his father went home and left Diamond to drive the cab for the rest of the day. It was hard for old Diamond to do all the work but they could not afford to have another horse. They saved him as much as they could and fed him well and he did bravely.
The next morning, his father was so much stronger that Diamond thought he might go and ask Mr. Raymond to take him to see Nanny. Mr. Raymond was quite willing to go and so they walked over to the hospital which was close at hand.
When Diamond followed Mr. Raymond into the room where those children lay who had got over the worst of their illness, and were growing better, he saw a number of little iron beds. Each one of them stood with its head to the wall and in each one was a child whose face showed just how far it had left the pain behind and was getting well. Diamond looked all around but he could see no Nanny. He turned to Mr. Raymond with a question in his eyes.
"Well?" said Mr. Raymond.
"Nanny's not here," said Diamond.
"Oh, yes, she is."
"I don't see her!"
"I do, though. There she is."
He pointed to a bed right in front of where Diamond was standing.
"That's not Nanny!" cried Diamond.
"Yes, itisNanny. I have seen her a great many times since you have, and that is she."
So Diamond looked again and looked hard. "If that is Nanny," said Diamond to himself, "then she must have been at the back of the north wind. That is why she looks so different." He said nothing aloud, only stared. And as he stared, something of the face of the old Nanny began to come out in the face of the new Nanny. The old Nanny had beensomewhat rough in her speech, her face rather hard, and she had not kept herself clean—how could she! Now, in her fresh white bed, she looked sweet and gentle and refined.
"Surely North Wind has had something to do with it," thought Diamond. In her weeks of sickness, had North Wind carried Nanny to the country at her back—as she once had carried him—and changed her from a rough girl to a gentle maiden? As he gazed, the best of the old face, the good and true part of the old Nanny, dawned upon him like the moon coming out of a cloud. He saw that it was Nanny, indeed—but very worn and grown almost beautiful.
He went up to her and she smiled. He had heard her laugh, but he had never seen her smile before. "Nanny, do you know me?" asked Diamond. She only smiled again. She was not likely to forget him. To be sure, she did not know that it was he who had got her there. But he was the only boy except cripple Jim who had ever been kind to her.
Mr. Raymond walked about talking to the other children, while Diamond visited with Nanny. Then after a time, he stood in the middle of the room and told them a nice fairy story. He often did that and the children watched for his visits. After he finishedthe story, he had to go. Diamond took leave of Nanny and promised to go and see her again soon and went away with Mr. Raymond.
Now Mr. Raymond had been turning over in his mind what he could do for Diamond and for Nanny. He knew Diamond's father somewhat. But he wanted to find out better what sort of a man he was and whether he was worth doing anything for. He decided to see if he would do anything for any body else. For that would be the very best way to find out if it were worth while to do anything forhim. So as they walked away together, he said to little Diamond, "Nanny must leave the hospital soon, Diamond. They cannot keep her as long as they would like. They cannot keep her till she is quite strong. There are always so many sick children they want to take in and make better. The question is what will she do when they send her out again?"
"That is just what I can't tell," said Diamond, "though I've been thinking it over and over. Her crossing was taken long ago. I couldn't bear to see Nanny fighting for it, especially with the poor lame boy who has taken it. Besides she has no better right to it than he has. Nobody gave it to her. She just took it and now he has taken it."
"She would get sick again, anyway," said Mr.Raymond, "if she went to sweeping again right away in the wet. If somebody could only teach her something to do it would be better. Perhaps if she could be taught to be nice and clean and to speak only gentle words——"
"Mother could teach her that!" interrupted Diamond.
"And to dress babies and feed them and take care of them," Mr. Raymond went on, "she might get a place as nurse maid somewhere. People would give her money for that."
"Why, I'll ask mother!" cried Diamond. "She could learn to dress our baby, you know, with me to show her how!"
"But you will have to give her food then. And your father, not being strong, has enough to do already without that."
"Still there am I!" said Diamond. "I'll help him out with it. When he gets tired of driving, up I get. And I could drive more if Nanny was at home to help mother."
"Now I wonder," said Mr. Raymond, "if you couldn't do better with two horses. I am going away for a few months and I am willing to let your father have my horse while I am gone. He is nearly as old as your Diamond. I don't want to part with himand yet I don't want him to be idle. Nobody ought to be idle, not even a horse. Still I do not want him to be worked hard. Will you tell your father what I say and see if he wants to take charge of him?"
"Yes, I will," said Diamond. "And he will come and see you about it."
So when Diamond went home, he told his father all about it. But when his father went to see about it, he found that he must agree to work the horse only six hours a day. Then too he must take Nanny from the hospital and feed her, and teach her to be useful and keep her as long as he had Mr. Raymond's horse. Diamond's father could not help thinking that it was a pretty close bargain and so it was. Mr. Raymond wanted to find out if Diamond's father was the kind of man who was willing to help some one else without getting any advantage out of it for himself. Then it would be worth while to helphim. Diamond's father was that kind of a man. So when he heard all about Nanny, he decided to accept Mr. Raymond's offer and do the best he could.
Nanny was not fit to be moved for some time yet and Diamond went to see her as often as he could. But he went out to drive old Diamond every day now for a few hours at least. Then he had to help mind his baby brother for part of the time. So he did notgo to the hospital as often as he would have liked. When he did go, he sat by Nanny's bed and told her all that had happened to him since he had been there before. In her turn Nanny would tell him of what went on in the hospital—what visitors they had and things like that.
"Day before yesterday," said Nanny one day, "a lady came to see us. She was a very beautiful lady. She sat down beside my bed and let me stroke her hand. She had on a most beautiful ring with a rich red stone in it. When she saw me looking at it, she slipped it off her finger and put it on mine. She said I might wear her lovely ruby for a little while if it would make me happy."
"Her ruby!" cried Diamond. "How funny that is! Our new horse's name is Ruby. And we took him so that we could take you to live with us, while you are getting strong again. I do believe a ruby is for good luck!"
"It did me good right then," said Nanny. "For that night I had such a lovely dream. It began with a red sunset like my darling ruby ring. Then somehow a wind came out of it and blew me along out of the dirty streets into a yard with a lovely lawn of soft grass."
"That was North Wind, I know!" cried Diamond. "That is what she does to me."
"I do not know what you mean," said Nanny. "I do not know anything about North Wind. But all at once there was no more ruby sunset but a great golden moon hanging very low and seeming to be shining just to be good to me. It was easy, I suppose, for me to dream about the moon. I've always been used to watching her. She was the only thing worth looking at in our street, at night."
"Don't call it your street," said Diamond. "You are not going back to it. You are coming to us, you know."
"That is too good to be true!" said Nanny.
"No, no!" cried Diamond. "How could anything be too good to be true? To be true is to be the very best thing of all. It sounds like your wicked old granny to say that!"
"Do you know, Diamond," said Nanny, "I do not think my old granny is my real old granny at all. I don't think she was ever any one's granny or mother. That was why she was not good to me. Perhaps she never had any mother when she was little to be good to her. And somebody must first be good to you, don't you think, before you can learn how to be good to any body else? Isn't that so? But wherewas I in my dream? Oh yes, the big yellow moon came down closer and closer to the grass in front of me. Then somehow, it seemed to be my ruby lady. She reached out soft warm arms of golden light and took me up. I sank against her breast into very downy, golden clouds and went to sleep and left off having pain. And yet I didn't sleep but knew it all the time, and just swung softly there all night long."
"Wasn't it really North Wind?" said Diamond to himself. "Perhaps itwasNorth Wind though she doesn't know it. Maybe the moon does just the same. What if it should some day carry her to that same country—at the back ofmyNorth Wind! Who knows?"
The nurse now came and told him it was time to go. Nanny had closed her eyes as if she were tired or asleep. So Diamond arose quietly and tip-toed away.
It was a great delight to Diamond, when at length Nanny was well enough to leave the hospital and go to their house. She was not strong yet but Diamond's mother was very careful of her. She took care she should have nothing to do that she was not fit for. If Nanny had been taken straight from the street, it is pretty sure she would not have been so pleasant in a nice house nor so easy to teach. But the kindness they had shown her in the hospital while she was ill so long had changed her quite a little.
As she got better, the colour came back to her cheeks, her step grew lighter and quicker, her smile shone out more readily, and it was clear she would soon be a treasure of help. It was great fun to see Diamond teaching her how to hold the baby and wash and dress him. Nanny had never had a little brother or sister to care for and she and Diamond often had to laugh over her awkwardness. But she was soon able to do it all as well as Diamond himself.
Things, however, did not go very well with Diamond's father from the first coming of the horse, Ruby. It almost seemed as if the red beast broughtbad luck with him. The fares were fewer and the pay less. Ruby's work did indeed make the week's income at first a little more than it used to be. But then there were two more to feed. After the first month, however, he fell lame, and for the whole of the next month, Diamond's father did not dare work him at all. It cost just as much to feed him and all he did was to stand in the stable and grow fat.
And after he got well again, it was not much better. Times had then become hard and fewer and fewer people felt that they could afford to ride in cabs. The cabmen got fewer and fewer shillings to live on. Diamond's household had less and less to buy food and clothing with. Then too, Diamond's mother was poorly for a new baby was coming.
Diamond's father began to feel gloomier and gloomier and if Diamond had not made himself remember that he had been at the back of the north wind, he would have been gloomy himself. But when his father came home, Diamond would get out his book and show him how well he could read. Besides he taught Nanny how to read and as she was a very clever little girl, she picked it up very fast. Nanny was such a comfort about the house that Diamond's father just had to cheer up a little when he came home at night and the dull day's work was over.
After the new baby came, Diamond sang to her and of course he had to make up new songs to sing to her because she was a little sister baby. It would never do, he said, to sing the little brother songs to her. While he sang, his father and mother could not help listening and forgetting for the time how bad things were getting to be.
The three months Mr. Raymond had spoken of were now gone and Diamond's father was very anxious for him to come back and take Ruby off his hands, for he did not seem to work enough to pay for his keep. Then he was so lazy and fat, while poor old Diamond had got so thin he was just skin and bones! For Diamond's father was an honest man and felt that he must stick to his promise to feed Ruby while he kept him, whether old Diamond got enough to eat or not. But hedidwish Mr. Raymond would come, though when he looked at Nanny he felt that he would be sorry to lose her. For it was understood that a place as a nurse girl would be found for her when Ruby was taken away.
Mr. Raymond did not come, however, and things got worse and worse. Diamond could do little but drive old Diamond in the cab whenever he could be of help that way, and sing to the two babies at home. At last, one week was worse than anything they hadyet had. They were almost without bread before it was over.
It was Friday night, and Diamond like the rest of the household had had very little to eat that day. His mother would always pay the week's rent before she spent anything even for food. His father had been very gloomy—so gloomy that he was very cross. It had been a stormy winter and even now that spring had come, the north wind often blew. When Diamond went to his bed, which was in a tiny room in the roof, he heard it like the sea, moaning. As he fell asleep, he still heard the moaning, and presently, he heard the voice of North Wind calling him. His heart beat very fast, it was such a long time since he had heard that voice! He jumped out of bed, but did not see her. Yet she kept on calling.
"Diamond, come here! Diamond, come here!" the voice repeated again and again.
"Dear North Wind," said Diamond, "I want so much to come to you but I can't tell where to find you."
"Come here, Diamond!" was all her answer.
So he opened his door and trotted down the long stair and out into the yard. A great puff of wind at once came against him. He turned and went with it, and it blew him up to the stable door and kept on blowing.
"She wants me to go into the stable," said Diamond. "But the door is locked."
Just then, a great blast of wind brought down the key upon the stones at his feet from where it was kept hanging high above his head. He picked it up, opened the door, and went in without much noise. And what did he hear? He heard the two horses, Diamond and Ruby, talking to each other. They talked in a strange language, yet somehow he could understand it.
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself," old Diamond was saying, "sleek and fat asyouare, and so lazy you get along no faster than a big dray-horse that is pulling tons!"
"Oh, I like to be fat and lazy!" said Ruby.
"And you like to hear master abused on account of you, too, I dare say," replied old Diamond angrily. "Why don't you get up a little speed, while you are drawing a fare, at least! The abuse master gets for your sake is quite shameful! No wonder he doesn't get many fares when he has you!"
"Well, if I worked as hard as I could, I'd be a bag of bones like you!"
"I'm proud to work!" said old Diamond. "I wouldn't be as fat as you, not for all you're worth. You are a disgrace! Look at the horse next you.Heis somethinglikea horse—all skin and bones. He knows he has got his master's wife and children to support and he workslikea horse!"
"I might get lamed again, if I didn't go slowly and carefully," said Ruby.
"Lame again!" snorted old Diamond. "It's my belief you lamed yourself on purpose so you could stay in the stable and stuff yourself and grow fat! You selfish beast!"
"I might get angry at you," said Ruby, "if I didn't know a little better than you do how things are coming out. What do you think my master would say if he were to come back—and he may come any day now—and find me all worn down to a rack of bones and lamed into the bargain? Do you think anything would make him believe that your master had used me right and as he promised he would? And isn't it better he should live a little hard himself and prove himself to be an honest man who does what he says he'll do? You don't know everything, old Diamond. You would not probably believe me if I told you that enduring bad things is often just a way for bringing good things about. But you'll see!"
Old Diamond just snorted sleepily in reply and gave all his attention to doubling up his knees and getting down upon the floor to go to sleep. Theracket he made gave young Diamond a start. With a shiver, he seemed to come awake and see the stable door standing open. He trotted out of it, back up the long stairs, and tumbled into bed. But Ruby's words kept sounding in his head.
"Is it like what's in my book?" he said to himself sleepily,—"that about a blessing in disguise, when things look bad but are working out all right—like things at the back of the north wind?" He got sleepier, however, as he tried to think and was fast asleep before he knew it. The next morning, he sang to the baby more cheerily than ever and here is part of the song he sung: