Miss Lilly and Ferdy spent a quiet hour or two together after Christine and her mother had set off. Then, as it was really a half-holiday, and Miss Lilly usually went home immediately after luncheon on half-holidays, she said good-bye to Ferdy, after seeing him comfortably settled and Flowers within hail, and started on her own way home.
She was anxious to have a talk with her grandfather and ask his advice as to the best way of helping the little boy and his mother, and keeping off the dangers to both which she saw in the future.
It was a lovely day—quite a summer day now—for it was some way on in June, and this year the weather had been remarkably beautiful—never before quite so beautiful since she had come to live in the neighbourhood, thought the young girlto herself, and she sighed a little as she pictured in her own mind what happy days she and her two little pupils might have had in the woods and fields round about Evercombe.
"Poor Ferdy," she thought, "I wonder if he really ever will get well again. That is, in a way, the hardest part of it all—the not knowing. It makes it so difficult to judge how to treat him in so many little ways."
She was not very far from her own home by this time, and looking up along the sunny road, she saw coming towards her a familiar figure.
"I do believe it is Jesse Piggot," she said to herself. "How curious, just when I'd been thinking about him the last day or two!"
Jesse stopped as he came up to her, and it seemed to Miss Lilly that his face grew a little red, though bashfulness was certainly not one of Jesse's weak points.
"Why, Jesse!" she exclaimed, "so you've got back again. How did you get on while you were away?"
Jesse's answer to this question was rather indistinct. He murmured something that sounded like"All right, thank you, miss," but added almost immediately in a brighter tone, "How is Master Ferdy, please?"
"Pretty well," Miss Lilly replied; "that is to say, he doesn't suffer now, and we do all we can to cheer him up."
Jesse's face grew concerned and half puzzled.
"Ain't he all right again by this time?" he asked. "I thought he'd have been running about same as before, and a-riding on his new pony."
Miss Lilly shook her head rather sadly.
"Oh no," she said, "there's no chance of anything like that for a long time"—"if ever," she added to herself. "The kind of accident that happened to Master Ferdy," she went on, "is almost the worst of any to cure—worse than a broken leg, or a broken head even."
Jesse said nothing for a moment or two, but something in his manner showed the young lady that his silence did not come from indifference. He had something in his hand, a stick of some kind, and as Miss Lilly's eyes fell on it, she saw that he had been whittling it with a rough pocket-knife.
"What is that, Jesse?" she said. "Are you making something?"
The boy's face grew distinctly redder now.
"I've done 'em before from one of the old squeakers up at the farm."
"'Tis nothing, miss," he said, looking very ashamed, "only a bit o' nonsense as I thought'd make Master Ferdy laugh. I've done 'em before from one of the old squeakers up at the farm."
And he half-reluctantly allowed Miss Lilly to take out of his hand a small stick, the top of which he had chipped into a rough, but unmistakable likeness to a pig's head.
Miss Lilly almost started. It seemed such a curious coincidence that just as she was going to consult her grandfather about some new interest and occupation for Ferdy, and just, too, as the idea of her little pupil's being of use to this poor waif and stray of a boy had been put into her mind by Ferdy himself, Jesse should turn up again, and in the new character of a possible art! For though not an artist of any kind herself, she had quick perceptions and a good eye, and in the queer, grotesque carving that the boy held in his hand she felt almost sure that she detectedsigns of something—well, oftalent, however uncultivated, to say the least.
Jesse did not understand her start of surprise and the moment's silence that followed it. He thought she was shocked, and he grew still redder as he hastily tried to hide the poor piggy in his hand.
"I didn't think as any one 'ud see it till I met Master Ferdy hisself some time; he's partial to pigs, is Master Ferdy, though no one can say as they're pretty. But I thought it'd make him laugh."
"My dear boy," exclaimed the young girl eagerly, "don't hide away the stick. You don't understand. I am very pleased with your pig—very pleased indeed. Have you done other things like it? I should like to—" but then she stopped for a moment. She must not say anything to put it into Jesse's scatter-brained head that he was a genius, and might make his fortune by wood-carving. Of all things, as she knew by what she had heard of him, it was important that he should learn to stick to his work and work hard. So she went on quietly, "I am sure Master Ferdy will like thepig very much, and he will think it very kind of you to have thought of pleasing him. Let me look at it again," and she took it out of Jesse's rather unwilling hands.
"It is not quite finished yet, I see," she said, "but I think it is going to be a very nice, comical pig."
And, indeed, the grotesque expression of the ears and snout—of the whole, indeed—was excellent. You could scarcely help smiling when you looked at it.
Jesse's red face grew brighter.
"Oh no, miss," he said, "it bain't finished. I'm going to black the eyes a bit—just a touch, you know, with a pencil. And there's a lot more to do to the jowl. I'm going to have a good look at old Jerry—that's the oldest porker at the farm—when he's havin' his supper to-night; you can see his side face beautiful then," and Jesse's eyes twinkled with fun.
"Oh, then you are back at the farm—at Mr. Meare's?" said Miss Lilly. "I am glad of that."
"I'm not to say reg'lar there," said Jesse, "only half on—for odd jobs so to say. I've been a messageto the smithy at Bollins just now," and certainly, to judge by the leisurely way in which he had been sauntering along when Ferdy's governess first caught sight of him, his "odd jobs" did not seem to be of a very pressing description.
"That's a pity," said the lady.
"Farmer says as he'll take me on reg'lar after a bit," added Jesse.
"And where are you living, then?" inquired Miss Lilly.
"They let me sleep in the barn," said Jesse. "And Sundays I goes to my folk at Draymoor, though I'd just as lief stop away. Cousin Tom and I don't hit it off, and it's worser when he's sober. Lord, miss, he did hide me when he was away on that navvy job!" and Jesse gave a queer sort of grin.
Miss Lilly shuddered.
"And what do you do in the evenings?" she asked.
Jesse looked uncomfortable.
"Loaf about a bit," he said vaguely.
"That isn't a very good way of spending time," she said.
Jesse screwed up his lips as if he were going to whistle, but a sudden remembrance of the respect due to the young lady stopped him.
"What's I to do else, miss?" he said.
"Well, you've something to do to-night, any way," she replied. "If you can finish the pig's head, I am sure Master Ferdy will be delighted to have it. I won't tell him about it," as she detected a slight look of disappointment on Jesse's face, "oh no, it must be a surprise. But if you call at the Watch House the first time you are passing after it is ready, I will see if I can get leave for you to see him yourself for a few minutes. The afternoon would be the best time, I think."
The boy's face beamed.
"Thank you, miss; thank you kindly," he said. "I'll see if I can't get it done to-night."
And then the two parted with a friendly farewell on each side.
Miss Lilly had a good deal to think of as she finished her walk home. She felt quite excited at the discovery she had made, and eager to tell her grandfather about it. And she was all the more pleased to see him standing at the gatewatching for her as she came within sight, for Dr. Lilly had something to tell her on his part, too.
"You are late, my dear," he said, "late, that is to say, for a Wednesday."
"Yes, gran," she replied, "I had to stay an hour or so with poor Ferdy, as Mrs. Ross and Christine were going out early."
"Then there is nothing wrong with him," said the old doctor. "I get quite nervous about the poor little chap myself. But that was not why I was coming to meet you, Eva; it was to tell you of an invitation I have from my old friend, Mr. Linham, to spend two or three weeks with him travelling in Cornwall. I should much like to go, I don't deny, except for leaving you alone, and I must decide at once, as he wants to know."
"Of courseyou must go, dear gran," replied the girl. "I don't mind being alone in the least. I daresay Mrs. Ross would be glad to have me more with them, especially if—oh grandfather, I have a lot to talk to you about!"
And then she told him all she had been thinking about Ferdy, and the curious coincidence ofmeeting Jesse Piggot, and the discovery of his unsuspected talent for wood-carving.
Dr. Lilly listened with great interest. He was pleased with Eva's good sense in not praising the old porker's head too much, and he quite agreed with her that it would be well worth while to encourage little Ferdy's wish to try his own skill in the same direction.
"I believe I know the very man to give him a little help to start with," he said. "He is a young fellow who carves for Ball and Guild at Whittingham. I attended him once in a bad illness. Now he is getting on well, though he is not a genius. But he would be able to help with the technical part of the work—the right wood to use, the proper tools, and so on. If Mr. Ross approves, I will write to this man—Brock is his name—and ask him to come over to talk about it. The only difficulty is that I fear he is never free except in the evenings."
"I don't think that would matter," said Miss Lilly,—"not in summer time. Ferdy does not go to bed till half-past eight or nine. And if he gets on well with his carving, grandfather,—andI do believe he will; you know I have always thought there was something uncommon about Ferdy,—hewill be able to help Jesse. Who knows what may come of it? It may be the saving of Jesse."
Her pleasant face grew quite rosy with excitement. It might be such a good thing in so many ways—something to take the little invalid's thoughts off himself and to convince his too anxious mother that feeling himself able to be of use to others would be by far the surest way of securing Ferdy's own happiness in the uncertain and perhaps very trying life before him. And her grandfather quite sympathised in all she felt.
So that evening two letters were sent off from the pretty cottage at Bollins, one to Mr. Linham, accepting his invitation to Cornwall, and one to Mr. Ross, asking him to stop a moment on his drive past the old doctor's house the next morning to have a little talk about Ferdy.
"He is sure to do so, and sure too to be pleased with anythingyouthink would be good for Ferdy," said Eva to her grandfather.
And this was quite true, for though Dr. Lilly no longer looked after ill people, his opinion was most highly thought of, and by no one more than by Mr. Ross, who had known him as long as he could remember knowing any one.
After Miss Lilly left him that afternoon, Ferdy, contrary to his custom, fell asleep and had a good long nap, only awaking when the carriage bringing his mother and Chrissie back from their expedition drove up to the door.
Mrs. Ross's anxious face grew brighter when she saw how fresh and well the boy was looking. She had been afraid lest the increasing heat of the weather would try Ferdy's strength too much, especially as the doctors would not yet allow him to be carried out of doors. But here again the oriel window proved of the greatest use: it could always be open at one side or the other, according to the time of day, so that it was easy to catch whatever breeze was going for Ferdy's benefit, and yet to shade him from the sun. He certainly did not look at all fagged or exhausted this afternoon, though it had been rather a hot day for June.
Christine followed her mother into the room, herarms filled with parcels, her eyes bright with pleasure.
"We've got such a beautiful slate for you, Ferdy," she said, "and a book of animal pictures—outlines—that will be quite easy to copy on a slate, and the man at the shop said it was a very good thing to study them for any one who wanted to try wood-carving."
"Oh, how nice!" said Ferdy eagerly. "Do let me see, Chrissie! And what are those other parcels you've got?"
"Two are from the German confectioner's at Freston—cakes for tea—that nice kind, you know—the fancy curly shape, like the ones in the 'Struwelpeter' pictures."
Ferdy's face expressed great satisfaction.
"We must have a regular good tea," he said; "those cakes are meant to be eaten while they're quite fresh. And what's the other parcel, Chrissie?"
"Oh, it's two little ducky cushions," his sister replied, "quite little tiny ones of eider-down. They are to put under your elbows when you're sitting up, or at the back of your neck, or into any little oddcorner where the big ones don't fit in. You know you've often wished for a little cushion, and when you go out into the garden or for a drive you'll need them still more, mamma says."
All the time she had been talking, Christine had been undoing her parcels, Mrs. Ross helping her to lay out their contents.
"Thank you so very much, mamma," said Ferdy, "everything's beautiful. Which way did you drive to Freston?"
"We went one way and came back the other," said Mrs. Ross,—"by the road that passes near Draymoor, you know. Dear me, even on a fine summer's day that place looks grim and wretched! And there seems always to be idle boys about, even early in the afternoon."
"Miss Lilly says there's often a lot that can't get work to do," said Ferdy. "It's this way—sometimes they're very,verybusy, and sometimes there's not enough to do, and that's how they get into mischief, I suppose," he added, with the air of a small Solomon.
"It seems a pity that no one can take a real interest in the place," said his mother; "but herecomes tea, Ferdy. I am sure we shall all be glad of it. Chrissie, you can arrange the cakes while I pour out tea."
They seemed a happy little party that afternoon—happier than Ferdy's mother, at least, would have believed it possible they could be, had she, three months or so before, foreseen the sad trouble that was to befall her darling.
"I wonder how soon I shall be able to go for a drive," said Ferdy. "Will you ask the big doctor the next time he comes, mamma? I should like to see Draymoor again. I've never forgotten that day I went there with papa. And now I understand about it so much better. Miss Lilly says it isn't that the people are very poor—they earn a lot of money when they are at work, but then they spend it all instead of spreading it over the times they haven't work. Isn't it a pity they can't be taught something else to do for the idle times, to keep them from quarrelling with each other and being unkind to their wives and children?"
Mrs. Ross looked at Ferdy with surprise and some misgiving. It was doubtless Miss Lilly who had talked to him about the Draymoor people.Was it quite wise of her to do so? Ferdy was so sensitive already, and his illness seemed to have made him even more "old-fashioned." To hear him talk as he was doing just now, one could easily have believed him twice his real age. But a second glance at his face made her feel easy again. He was speaking in a tone of quiet interest, but not in any nervous or excited way.
"Yes," she replied, "there is plenty to be done to improve Draymoor, and at present no one seems to take any special charge of it. If your father was less busy and richer, I know he would like to try to do something for the people there."
"Miss Lilly says if there was any one to look after the boys it would be such a good thing," said Ferdy. "I hope Jesse Piggot won't go back there to live."
Then they went on to talk of other things. Ferdy greatly approved of the German cakes, and his mother's spirits rose higher as she saw him eating them with a good appetite and making little jokes with his sister.
The rest of the evening passed happily. Ferdy amused himself for some time by "trying" his newslate. He drew two or three animals without any model, and was delighted to find that Chrissie recognised them all, and that they did not compare very badly with the outlines she had brought him.
"I am tired now," he said as he put down his pencil with a little sigh, but a sigh of contentment as much as of weariness, "but I know what I'll do to-morrow, Chrissie. I'llstudyone animal's head, or perhaps a bird. If those old swallows would but settle for a bit on the window-sill, or even on one of the branches close by, I'm sure I could do them. What a pity it is they can't understand what we want, for I always feel as if they knew all about us."
"That's because of my dream," said Christine importantly. "But I must go now, Ferdy dear; Flowers has called me two or three times to change my frock."
Watching the sweet summer sunset.
So Ferdy lay on his couch, one end of which was drawn into the window, watching the sweet summer sunset and the gentle "good-night" stealing over the world. There were not many passers-by at that hour. The school children had longago gone home; the little toddlers among them must already be in bed and asleep. Now and then a late labourer came slowly along with lagging steps, or one of the village dogs, in search of a stray cat perhaps, pricked up his ears when Ferdy tapped on the window-pane. But gradually all grew very still, even the birds ceasing to twitter and cheep as they settled themselves for the night. And Ferdy himself felt ready to follow the general example, when suddenly his attention was caught by a figure that came down the lane from the farm and stood for a moment or two at the end of the drive where the gate had been left open.
Ferdy almost jumped as he saw it.
"Flowers," he exclaimed, as at that moment the maid came into the room followed by Thomas to carry him up to bed. "Flowers—Thomas, do look! Isn't that Jesse Piggot standing at the gate? He must have come back again."
"I don't know, I'm sure, Master Ferdy," said Flowers, who did not feel any particular interest in Jesse Piggot.
But Thomas was more good-natured. He peered out into the dusk.
"It looks like him, Master Ferdy," he said, "but I don't know that he'll get much of a welcome even if hehascome back. Such a lad for mischief never was," for Thomas had had some experience of Jesse once or twice when the boy had been called into the Watch House for an odd job.
"Never mind about that," said Ferdy, "Ishall be glad to see him again. Be sure you find out in the morning, Thomas, if it is him."
But Ferdy did not need to wait till Thomas had made his inquiries, which most likely would have taken some time, as he was not a young man who cared to be hurried.
Miss Lilly in her quiet way was quite excited when she came the next morning.
"Whom do you think I met yesterday afternoon on my way home, Ferdy?" she said as soon as she and Chrissie came into the oriel room for the part of the morning they now regularly passed there with the little invalid.
"I can guess," said Ferdy eagerly. "I believe it was Jesse Piggot," and then he told Miss Lilly about having seen a boy's figure standing at the end of the drive looking in.
"Poor fellow," said Miss Lilly, "I daresay he was watching in the hopes of seeing some one who could—" but then she stopped short.
Ferdy looked up with curiosity.
"'Who could' what, Miss Lilly?" he asked.
His governess smiled.
"I think I mustn't tell you," she said. "It might disappoint the boy, if he is wanting to give you a little surprise. And I scarcely think he would have sent in a message by any one but me," she went on, speaking more to herself than to Ferdy, "after what I promised him last night."
"What did you promise him, Miss Lilly?" the little boy asked. His curiosity was greatly excited.
"Only that if possible I would get leave for him to come in and see you for a few minutes," the young lady replied. "I must ask Mrs. Ross."
"Oh, I'm sure mamma wouldn't mind," said Ferdy. "I do so wonder what the surprise is."
"You'd better not think about it," said Chrissie sagely. "That's whatIdo. I put things quite out of my mind if I know I can't find out about them. Don't you, Miss Lilly?"
Miss Lilly smiled.
"I try to," she said, "but I own I find it very far from easy sometimes. I think the best way to put something out of your mind is to putsomething else in. So supposing we go on with our lessons, Ferdy."
"Oh, but first," said Ferdy eagerly, "first I must show you the beautiful things mamma and Chris brought me yesterday. See here, Miss Lilly."
And Eva examined his new possessions with great interest, even greater interest than Ferdy knew, for her head was full of her new ideas about Jesse, and the talent she believed he had shown in his carving. She turned over the leaves of the little book of animal outlines till she came to one of a pig, and she sat looking at it in silence for so long that Christine peeped over her shoulder to see what it could be that had so taken her fancy.
"It's a pig, Ferdy," she called out, laughing. "Miss Lilly, I didn't know you were so fond of pigs. I'm sure there are much prettier animals in the book than pigs."
"I daresay there are," said her governess good-naturedly. "But Iamvery interested in pigs, especially their heads. I wish you would draw me one, Ferdy, after lessons. I would like to see how you can do it."
Ferdy was quite pleased at the idea. But in the meantime Miss Lilly reminded both children that they must give their attention to the English history which was that morning's principal lesson.
Jesse Piggot did not make his appearance. It was a busy day at the farm, and for once there was plenty for him to do. He had finished carving the stick, and if he had dared he would have run off with it to the Watch House. But what he had gone through lately had been of use to the boy. He was becoming really anxious to get a good regular place at Farmer Meare's, for he had no wish to go off again on "odd jobs" under the tender mercies of his rough Draymoor cousins.
And, on the whole, Miss Lilly settled in her own mind that she was not sorry he had not come that day, for she hoped that Mr. Ross had seen her grandfather that morning and heard from him about the lessons in wood-carving which the old doctor thought might be so good for Ferdy; and more than that, she hoped that perhaps Mr. Ross's interest in poor Jesse might be increased by what Dr. Lilly would tell about him.
It all turned out very nicely, as you will hear.
Late that afternoon, just as lessons were over and Chrissie had got her mother's leave to walk a little bit of her way home with Miss Lilly, Thomas appeared in the oriel room with a message from Mrs. Ross.
"Would Miss Lilly stay to have tea with Miss Christine and Master Ferdy? Mrs. Ross would come up presently, but there was a gentleman in the drawing-room with her just now."
"What a bother!" exclaimed Chrissie. "Now it will be too late for me to go with you, Miss Lilly. I wish horrid, stupid gentlemen wouldn't come to call and interrupt mamma when it's her time for coming up to see Ferdy. And it's not really tea-time yet."
But tea appeared all the same. There was plainly some reason for Miss Lilly's staying later than usual. And when the reason was explained in the shape of Dr. Lilly, who put his kind old face in at the door half an hour or so later, no one welcomed him more heartily than Chrissie, though she got very red when Ferdy mischievously whispered to her to ask if she countedhim"a horrid, stupid gentleman."
Dr. Lilly was a great favourite with the children. And never had Ferdy been more pleased to see him than to-day.
"I am so glad you've come," he said, stretching out his little hand, thinner and whiter than his old friend would have liked to see it. "Miss Lilly says you know a lot about wood-carving, and I do so want to learn to do it."
Dr. Lilly smiled.
"I am afraid my granddaughter has made you think me much cleverer than I am, my dear boy," he replied. "I can't say I know much about it myself, but I have a young friend who does, and if you really want to learn, I daresay he might be of use to you."
Ferdy's eyes sparkled, and so did Miss Lilly's, for she knew her grandfather too well to think that he would have spoken in this way to Ferdy unless he had good reason for it.
"Grandfather must have seen Mr. Ross and got his consent for the lessons," she thought.
And she looked as pleased as Ferdy himself, who was chattering away like a little magpie to Dr. Lilly about all the lovely things he wouldmake if he really learnt to carve—or "cut out," as he kept calling it—very nicely.
"What I'd like best of all to do is swallows," he said. "You see I've got to know the swallows over this window so well. I do believe I know each one of them sep'rately. And sometimes in the morning early—I can hear them out of my bedroom window too—I really can almost tell what they're talking about."
"Swallows are charming," said Dr. Lilly, "but to see them at their best they should be on the wing. They are rather awkward-looking birds when not flying."
"They've gotverynice faces," said Ferdy, who did not like to allow that his friends were short of beauty in any way. "Their foreheads and necks are such a pretty browny colour, and then their top feathers are a soft sort of blue, greyey blue, which looks so nice over the white underneath. I think they're awfully pretty altogether."
"You have watched them pretty closely, I see," said Dr. Lilly, pleased at Ferdy's careful noticing of his feathered neighbours. "I love swallows as much as you do, but it takes a master hand tocarvemovement. You may begin with something easier, and who knows what you may come to do in time."
Ferdy did not answer. He lay still, his blue eyes gazing up into the sky, from which at that moment they almost seemed to have borrowed their colour. Visions passed before his fancy of lovely things which he would have found it difficult to describe, carvings such as none but a fairy hand could fashion, of birds and flowers of beauty only to be seen in dreams—it was a delight just to think of them. And one stood out from the rest, a window like his own oriel window, but entwined with wonderful foliage, and in one corner a nest, with a bird still almost on the wing, poised on a branch hard by.
"Oh," and he all but spoke his fancy aloud, "I feel as if I could make itsolovely."
But just then, glancing downwards, though still out of doors, he gave a little start.
"Itishim," he exclaimed. "Miss Lilly, dear, do look. Isn't that Jesse, standing at the gate?"
Yes, Jesse it was. Not peeping in shyly, assome boys would have done. That was not Mr. Jesse's way. No, there he stood, in the middle of the open gateway, quite at his ease, one hand in his pocket, in the fellow of which the other would have been, no doubt, if it had not been holding an inconvenient shape of parcel—a long narrow parcel done up in a bit of newspaper, which had seen better days; not the sort of parcel you could possibly hide in a pocket. It was tea-time at the farm, and Jesse had slipped down to the Watch House in hopes of catching sight of Miss Lilly, for she had spoken of the afternoon as the best time for seeing Ferdy.
"Of course it is Jesse," said the young lady. "Look, grandfather, don't you think I may run down and ask Mrs. Ross to let me bring him in for a few minutes?"
And off she went.
A minute or two later Ferdy and Chrissie, still looking out of the window in great anxiety lest Jesse should get tired of waiting and go away before Miss Lilly could stop him, saw their governess hurry up the drive. And Jesse, as he caught sight of her, came forward, a little shy andbashful now, as he tugged at his cap by way of a polite greeting.
Ferdy's face grew rosy with pleasure.
"They're coming in," he said to Dr. Lilly.
"Yes," said the old gentleman. "I will go over to the other side of the room with the newspaper, so that the poor lad won't feel confused by seeing so many people."
But all the same from behind the shelter of his newspaper the old gentleman kept a look-out on the little scene passing before him.
Miss Lilly came in quickly, but Jesse hung back for a moment or two at the door. He was almost dazzled at first by the bright prettiness before him. For he had never seen such a charming room before, and though he would not have understood it if it had been said to him, underneath his rough outside Jesse had one of those natures that are much and quickly alive to beauty of all kinds. And everything that love and good taste could do to make the oriel room a pleasant prison for the little invalid boy, had been done.
It was a very prettily shaped room to begin with, and the creeping plants trained round thewindow outside were now almost in their full summer richness. Roses peeped in with their soft blushing faces; honeysuckle seemed climbing up by the help of its pink and scarlet fingers; clematis, the dear old "traveller's joy," was there too, though kept in proper restraint. The oriel window looked a perfect bower, for inside, on the little table by Ferdy's couch, were flowers too—one of his own moss-baskets, filled with wild hyacinth, and a beautiful large petalled begonia, one of old Ferguson's special pets, which he had been proud to send in to adorn Master Ferdy's room, and two lovely fairy-like maiden-hair ferns.
And the little group in the window seemed in keeping with the flowers and plants. There was the delicate face of the little invalid, and pretty Christine with her fluffy golden hair, and Miss Lilly, slight and dark-eyed, stooping over them, as she explained to Ferdy that Jesse was longing to see him.
Altogether the poor boy, rude and rough as he was, felt as if he were gazing at some beautiful picture; he would have liked to stand there longer—thefeelings that came over him were so new and so fascinating. He did not see old Dr. Lilly behind his newspaper in the farther corner of the room—he felt as if in a dream, and he quite started when Miss Lilly, glancing round, spoke to him by name.
"Come in, Jesse," she said, "I do want Master Ferdy to see—you know what."
Jesse was clutching the little walking-stick tightly. He had almost forgotten about it. But he moved it from his right arm to his left, as he caught sight of the small white hand stretched out to clasp his own big brown one—though, after all, as hands go, the boy's were neither thick nor clumsy.
"I'm so glad you've come back, Jesse," said Ferdy in his clear, rather weak tones. "You didn't care for being away, did you? At least, not much?"
"No, Master Ferdy, 'twas terrible rough," said the boy. "I'm glad to be back again, though I'd be still gladder if Mr. Meare'd take me on reg'lar like."
"I hope he will soon," said Ferdy. "I daresaypapa wouldn't mind saying something to him about it, if it would be any good. I'll ask him. But what's that you've got wrapped up so tight, Jesse?"
Jesse reddened.
"Then the young lady didn't tell you?" he said, half turning to Miss Lilly.
"Of course not," she replied. "Don't you remember, Jesse, I said you should give it to Master Ferdy yourself?"
Jesse fumbled away at the strips of newspaper he had wound round his stick, till Ferdy's eyes, watching with keen interest, caught sight of the ears and the eyes and then the snout of the grotesque but unmistakable pig's head—"old Jerry—the biggest porker at the farm."
"Oh, Jesse," cried Ferdy, his face radiant with delight, "howlovely!" and though the word was not quite exactly what one would have chosen, it sounded quite perfect to Jesse—it showed him that Master Ferdy "were right down pleased."
"'Tis only a bit o' nonsense," he murmured as he stuffed the stick into the little invalid's hands. "I thought it'd make you laugh, Master Ferdy. I took it off old Jerry—you know old Jerry—the fat old fellow as grunts so loud for his dinner."
"Of course I remember him," said Ferdy. "Don't you, Christine? We've often laughed at him when we've run in to look at the pigs. Isn't itcapital? Do you really mean that you cut it out yourself, Jesse? Why, I'dneverbe able to cut out like that! He really looks as if he was just going to open his mouth to gobble up his dinner, doesn't he, Miss Lilly?"
"He's very good—very good indeed," she replied. And then raising her voice a little, "Grandfather," she said, "would you mind coming over here to look at Jesse's carving?"
Dr. Lilly crossed the room willingly. Truth to tell, the newspaper had not been getting very much of his attention during the last few minutes.
In his own mind he had been prepared for some little kindly exaggeration on Eva's part of Jesse's skill, so that he was really surprised when he took the stick in his own hands and examined it critically, to see the undoubted talent—to say the least—the work showed.
Rough and unfinished and entirely "untaught"work of course it was. But that is exactly the sort of thing to judge by. It was thespiritof it that was so good, though I daresay you will think that a curious word to apply to the rude carving of so very "unspiritual" a subject as an old pig's head, by a peasant boy! All the same I think I am right in using the expression.
"Life-like and certainly original," murmured Dr. Lilly. "Grotesque, of course—that is all right, that is always how they begin. But we must be careful—very careful," he went on to himself in a still lower tone of voice.
And aloud he only said, as he looked up with a smile, "Very good, my boy, very good. You could not have a better amusement for your idle hours than trying to copy what you see in the world about you. It is theseeingthat matters. You must have watched this old fellow pretty closely to understand his look, have you not?"
Jesse, half pleased, half shy, answered rather gruffly. "He do be a queer chap, to be sure. Master Ferdy, and Missie too, has often laughed at him when they've been up at the farm. And that's how I come to think of doing him on astick. And many a time," he went on, as if half ashamed of the childishness of the occupation, "there's naught else I can do to make the time pass, so to say."
"You could not have done better," said the old doctor kindly. "Don't think it is waste of time to try your hand at this sort of thing after your other work is done. I hope you may learn to carve much better. A little teaching would help you on a good deal, and proper tools and knowledge of the different kinds of wood."
Jesse's face expressed great interest, but then it clouded over a little.
"Yes, sir," he agreed, "but I dunnot see how I could get the teaching. There's nothing like that about here—not like in big towns, where they say there's teaching for nothing, or next to nothing—evenings at the Institutes."
"Ah well, help comes to those who help themselves. Master Ferdy may be able to give you some hints if he learns carving himself. And he can tell you some stories of the poor country boys in Switzerland and some parts of Germany—how they work away all by themselves till they learnto make all sorts of beautiful things. Have you any other bits of carving by you that you could show me?"
Again Jesse's brown face lighted up, and Ferdy listened eagerly.
"Oh lor, yes, sir, all manner of nonsense—whistles, sir, though there's some sense in whistles, to be sure," with a twinkle of fun.
"Then bring me a pocketful of nonsense this evening—no, to-morrow evening will be better—to my house at Bollins. You know it, of course? And we'll have a look over them together. Perhaps I may have a friend with me, who knows more about carving than I do."
"And after Dr. Lilly has seen them, please bring some of them for me to see too, Jesse," said Ferdy. "When can he come again, do you think, Miss Lilly?"
Miss Lilly considered.
"On Friday afternoon. Can you get off for half an hour on Friday about this time, Jesse?"
"Oh yes, miss, no fear but I can," the boy replied.
"And thank you ever so many times—a great,great many times, for old Jerry," said Ferdy as he stretched out his little hand in farewell.
Jesse beamed with pleasure.
"I'll see if I can't do something better for you, Master Ferdy," he said.
And to himself he added, "It's a deal sensibler, after all, than knocking up after mischief all the evening—a-shamming to smoke and a-settin' trees on fire." For this had been one of his worst misdeeds in the village not many months before, when he and some other boys had hidden their so-called "cigars" of rolled-up leaves, still smouldering, in the hollow of an old oak, and frightened everybody out of their wits in the night by the conflagration which ended the days of the poor tree and threatened to spread farther.
Still more pleased would he have been could he have overheard Ferdy's words after he had gone.
"Isn't it really capital, Dr. Lilly? I don't believe I couldeverdo anything so likerealas this old Jerry."
That summer was a very, very lovely one. It scarcely rained, and when it did, it was generally in the night. If it is "an ill wind that brings nobody any good," on the other hand I suppose that few winds are so good that they bring nobody any harm, so possibly in some parts of the country peoplemayhave suffered that year for want of water; but this was not the case at Evercombe, where there were plenty of most well-behaved springs, which—or some of which at least—had never been known to run dry.
So the little brooks danced along their way as happily as ever, enjoying the sunshine, and with no murmurs from the little fishes to sadden their pretty songs, no fears for themselves of their full bright life running short. Every living thing seemed bubbling over with content; the flowers and blossoms were as fresh in July as in May;never had the birds been quite so busy and merry; and as for the butterflies, there was no counting their number or variety. Some new kindsmusthave come this year from butterflyland, Ferdy said to Christine one afternoon when he was lying out on his new couch on the lawn. Christine laughed, and so did Miss Lilly, and asked him to tell them where that country was, and Ferdy looked very wise and said it lay on the edge of fairyland, the fairies looked after it, that much hedidknow, and some day perhaps he would find out more.
And then he went on to tell them, in his half-joking, half-serious way, that he really thought the swallows were considering whether it was worth while to go away over the sea again next autumn. He had heard them havingsucha talk early that morning, and as far as he could make out, that was what they were saying.
"The spring came so early this year, and the summer looks as if it were going to last for always," he said. "I don't wonder at the swallows. Do you, Miss Lilly?"
Eva smiled, but shook her head.
"It is very nice of them to be considering aboutit," she replied, "for, no doubt, they will be sorry to leave you and the oriel window, Ferdy—sorrier than ever before." For she understood the little boy so well, that she knew it did him no harm to join him in his harmless fancies sometimes. "But they are wiser than we are in certain ways. They can feel the first faint whiff of Jack Frost's breath long before we have begun to think of cold at all."
"Like the Fairy Fine-Ear," said Ferdy, "who could hear the grass growing. I always like to think of that—there's something so—soneatabout it."
"What a funny word to use about a fairy thing," said Christine, laughing. "Ah, well, any way we needn't think about Jack Frost or cold or winter just yet, and a day like this makes one feel, as Ferdy says, as if the summer must last for always."
It had been a great, an unspeakable comfort to the family at the Watch House, all thinking so constantly about their dear little man, to have this lovely weather for him. It had made it possible for him to enjoy much that would otherwisehave been out of the question—above all, the being several hours of the day out of doors.
The big doctor had come again, not long after the day I told you of—the day of Miss Lilly's grandfather's visit, and of the presentation of the "old Jerry stick," as it came to be called. And he gave leave at last for Ferdy to be carried out of doors and to spend some hours on the lawn, provided they waited till a special kind of couch, or "garden-bed" in Ferdy's words, was ordered and sent from London. It was a very clever sort of couch, as it could be lifted off its stand, so to say, and used for carrying the little fellow up and down stairs without the slightest jar or jerk.
And Ferdy did not feel as if he were deserting his dear oriel window, for the nicest spot in the whole garden for the daily camping-out was on the lawn just below the swallows' home. And watching their quaint doings, their flyings out and in, their "conversations," and now and then even a tiny-bird quarrel among the youngsters, came to be a favourite amusement at the times, which must come in every such life as Ferdy had to lead, when he felt too tired to read or tobe read to, too tired for his dearly loved "cutting-out" even, clever as he was getting to be at it.
Miss Lilly's hopes were fulfilled. Ferdy was having real lessons in carving two or three times a week. Dr. Lilly had arranged all about it, with the young man he had thought of, before he went away. His going away had turned into a much longer absence than was at first expected, but out of this came one very pleasant thing—Miss Lilly was living altogether at the Watch House.
This was a most happy plan for Ferdy, and for everybody, especially so far as the carving lessons were concerned, for Mr. Brock could only come in the evening, and but for Miss Lilly's presence there might have been difficulties in the way, Mrs. Ross was so terribly afraid of overtiring Ferdy, and nervous about his straining himself or doing too much in any way.
But she knew she could trust Eva, who really seemed to have, as her grandfather said, "an old head on young shoulders." She was the first to see if Ferdy was getting too eager over his work, or tiring himself, and then too, though she had not actual artist talent herself, she had a veryquick and correct eye. She understood Mr. Brock's directions sometimes even better than Ferdy himself, and was often able to help him out of a difficulty or give him a hint to set him in a right way when he was working by himself in the day-time.
And another person was much the gainer by Miss Lilly's stay at the Watch House. I feel sure, dear children, you will quickly guess who that was.
Jesse Piggot?
Yes, poor Jesse.
But for Eva I doubt if he would have been allowed to share Ferdy's lessons. Mrs. Ross had grown nervous since that sad birthday morning, though at the time she seemed so calm and strong.
But she was now too anxious, and I am afraid Flowers was a little to blame for her mistress's fears that Jesse would in some way or other harm little Ferdy. Flowers did not like Jesse. Indeed, a good many people besides the Watch House servants had no love for the boy. It was partly Jesse's own fault, partly a case of giving a dog a bad name.
"He came of such a rough lot," they would say. "Those Draymoor folk were all a bad lot, and Piggot's set about the worst. Jesse was idle, and 'mischeevious,' and impudent," and besides all these opinions of him, which Flowers repeated to Ferdy's mother, there was always "some illness about at Draymoor—at least there was bound to be—scarlet fever or measles or something, in a place where there were such swarms of rough, ill-kept children."
This was really not the case, for Draymoor was an extraordinarily healthy place, and when Mrs. Ross spoke to Dr. Lilly before he left of her fears of infection being brought to her boy, he was able to set her mind more at rest on this point, and Eva took care to remind her from time to time of what "grandfather had said." And Jesse's luck seemed to have turned. To begin with, he was now regularly employed at the farm, and a week or two after Mrs. Ross had consented to his sharing Ferdy's lessons, the Draymoor difficulty came to an end, for Farmer Meare gave him a little room over the cow-houses, and told him he might spend his Sundays there too if heliked, so that there was really no need for him to go backwards and forwards to the neighbourhood Ferdy's mother dreaded so, at all.
He was not overworked, for he was a very strong boy, but he had plenty to do, and there might have been some excuse for him if he had said he felt too tired "of an evening" to do anything but loiter about or go to bed before the sun did.
No fear of anything of the kind, however. Jesse was a good example of the saying that it is the busiest people who have the most time. The busier he was in the day, the more eager he seemed that nothing should keep him from making his appearance at the door of the oriel room a few minutes before the time at which the wood-carver from Whittingham was due.
And he was sure to be heartily welcomed by Ferdy and his governess, and Christine too, if she happened to be there.
The first time or two Miss Lilly had found it necessary to give him a little hint.
"Have you washed your hands, Jesse?" she said, and as Jesse looked at his long brown fingersrather doubtfully, she opened the door again and called to good-natured Thomas, who had just brought the boy upstairs. "Jesse must wash his hands, please," she said.
And from that evening the brown hands were always quite clean. Then another hint or two got his curly black hair cropped and his boots brushed, so that it was quite a tidy-looking Jesse who sat at the table on Mr. Brock's other side, listening with all his ears and watching with all his eyes.
And he learnt with wonderful quickness. The teacher had been interested in him from the first. Old Jerry's head had shown him almost at once that the boy had unusual talent, and the next few weeks made him more and more sure of this.
"We must not let it drop," he said to Eva one day when he was able to speak to her out of hearing of the boys. "When Dr. Lilly returns I must tell him about Jesse. He must not go on working as a farm-labourer much longer. His touch is improving every day, and he will soon be able to group things better than I can do myself—much better than I could do at hisage," with a little sigh, for poor Mr. Brock was not at all conceited. He was clever enough to know pretty exactly what he could do and what he could not, and he felt that he could never rise very much higher in his art.
Miss Lilly listened with great pleasure to his opinion of Jesse, but, of course, she said any change in the boy's life was a serious matter, and must wait to be talked over by her grandfather and Mr. Ross when Dr. Lilly came home.
And in her own heart she did not feel sure that they would wish him to give up his regular work, not at any rate for a good while to come, and till it was more certain that he could make his livelihood in a different way; for what Dr. Lilly cared most about was to give pleasant and interesting employment for leisure hours—to bring some idea of beauty and gracefulness into dull home lives.
She said something of this kind one evening after Jesse had gone, and she saw by the bright look in Ferdy's face that he understood what she meant, better even than Mr. Brock himself did perhaps.
"It sounds all very nice, miss," said the wood-carver, "but I doubt if there's any good to be done in that sort of way unless when there's real talent such as I feel sure this Piggot lad has. The run of those rough folk have no idea beyond loafing about in their idle hours; and, after all, if they're pretty sober—and some few are that—what can one expect? The taste isn't in them, and if it's not there, you can't put it."
Eva hesitated.
"Are you so sure of that?" she said doubtfully.
"Well, miss, it looks like it. With Jesse now, there was no encouragement—it came out because it was there."
"Yes, but I think Jesse is an exception. Hehasunusual talent, and in a case like his I daresay it will come to his choosing a line of his own altogether. But even for those who have no talent, and to begin with, even no taste, I do thinksomethingmight be done," she said.
"Thomas has taken to making whistles," said Ferdy, "ever since he saw Jesse's. He can't carve a bit—not prettily, I mean—but he cuts out letters rather nicely, and he's been giving everybodypresents of whistles with their—'relitions' on."
"Initialsyou mean, dear," said Miss Lilly.
"Initials," repeated Ferdy, getting rather pink.
"Ah," said the wood-carver with a smile, "you can't quite take Thomas as an example, my boy. Why, compared to many of the even well-to-do people about, his whole life is 'a thing of beauty.' Look at the rooms he lives in, the gardens, the ladies he sees. And as for those Draymoor folk, they'd rather have the bar of an inn than the finest picture gallery in the world. No, miss, with all respect, you 'can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.'"
Ferdy laughed. He had never heard the quaint old saying before, and as it was time for Mr. Brock to go, no more was said.
But both Miss Lilly and Ferdy had their own thoughts and kept their own opinion.
Ferdy's own work made him very happy, and of its kind it was very nice. His little mind was full of sweet and pretty fancies, but these, of course, for such a mere child as he was, and especially as he could not sit up to do hiscarving, it was very difficult to put into actual shape.
But his happy cheeriness kept him from being discouraged.
"I shall never be as clever as Jesse," he told Miss Lilly and Christine, "but I don't mind. P'r'aps when we're big I'llthinkof things for Jesse todo."
"You can't tell yet what you may be able to do when you're big," said his governess. "I think it is wonderful to see all you can do already. Those animals for the poor little children at the hospital are beautiful, Ferdy."
"They'retoys," said Ferdy with some contempt, "only," more cheerfully, "I'm very glad if they'll please the poor little children. But oh, Miss Lilly dear, if I could make you see the beautiful things Ithink! The prettiest of all always comes something like the oriel window—like an oriel window in fairyland."
"Was there a window like that in the house the little fairy had to build, do you think, Miss Lilly?" asked Christine.
"No, of course not," said Ferdy, before his governesshad time to answer. "My thinked window isn't built, it's cut out; it's all beautiful flowers and leaves, like the real window in summer, only far, far prettier. And there are birds' nests, with themalmostflying, they are so light and feathery looking, and—" he stopped, and lay back with his eyes closed and a dreamy smile on his face.
"When you are older," said Miss Lilly, "I hope you will travel a good deal and go to see some of the wonderful carvings there are in Italy and Germany, and indeed in England too. Not only wood-carving, but sculpture. Fancy,stoneworked so as to look as if a breath of air would make it quiver!"
She spoke perhaps a little thoughtlessly, and in an instant she felt that she had done so, for Ferdy opened his big blue eyes and gazed up at her with a strange wistful expression.
"Miss Lilly dear," he said, "you mustn't count on my doing anything like that—travelling, I mean, or things well people can do. P'r'aps, you know, I'll be all my life like this."
Eva turned her head aside. She did not wanteither Ferdy or his sister to see that his quaint words made her feel very sad—that, indeed, they brought the tears very near her eyes.
And in a minute or two Ferdy seemed to have forgotten his own sad warning. He was laughing with Christine at the comical expression of a pigling which he had mounted on the back of a rather eccentric-looking donkey—it was his first donkey, and he had found it more difficult than old Jerrys.
That evening a pleasant and very unexpected thing happened.
It was a lesson evening, but a few minutes before the time a message was brought to the oriel room by good-natured Thomas. It was from Jesse to ask if he might come up, though he knew it was too early, as he wanted "pertickler" to see Master Ferdy before "the gentleman came."
"He may, mayn't he, Miss Lilly?" asked the little invalid.
"Oh yes," Eva replied. She was careful to please Mrs. Ross by not letting Jesse ever forget to be quite polite and respectful, and never, as he would have called it himself, "to take freedoms,"and there was a sort of natural quickness about the boy which made it easy to do this.
And somehow, even the few hours he spent at the Watch House—perhaps too the refining effect of his pretty work—had already made a great change in him. The old half-defiant, half-good-natured, reckless look had left him; he was quite as bright and merry as before, but no one now, not even Flowers, could accuse him of being "impudent."
He came in now with an eager light in his eyes, his brown face ruddier than usual; but he did not forget to stop an instant at the door while he made his usual bow or scrape—or a mixture of both.
"Good evening, Jesse," said Ferdy, holding out his hand. "Why, what have you got there?" as he caught sight of some odd-shaped packages of various sizes, done up in newspaper, which Jesse was carrying.
"Please, Master Ferdy, I've brought 'em to show you. It's my pupils as has done them. They're nothing much, I know, but still I'm a bit proud of 'em, and I wanted to show them to you and Miss here, first of all."
He hastened, with fingers almost trembling with eagerness, to unpack the queer-looking parcels, Miss Lilly, at a glance from Ferdy, coming forward to help him. Ferdy's own cheeks flushed as the first contents came to light.
"Oh," he exclaimed, "IwishI could sit up!"
But in another moment he had forgotten his little cry of complaint, so interested was he in the curious sight before him.
All sorts and shapes of wooden objects came to view. There were pigs' heads, evidently modelled on old Jerry, dogs, and horses, and cows, some not to be mistaken, some which would, it must be confessed, have been the better for a label with "This is a—," whatever animal it was meant to be, written upon it; there were round plates with scalloped edges, some with a very simple wreath of leaves; boxes with neat little stiff designs on the lids—in fact, the funniest mixture of things you ever saw, but all withattemptin them—attempt, and good-will, and patience, and here and there a touch of something more—of real talent, however untrained—in them all, or almost all, signs of love of the work.
There came a moment or two of absolute silence—silence more pleasing to Jesse than any words, for as his quick eyes glanced from one to another of his three friends, he saw that it was the silence of delight and surprise.
At last said Ferdy, his words tumbling over each other in his eagerness, "Miss Lilly, Chrissie, isn't it wonderful? Do you hear what Jesse says? It's hispupils. He's been teaching what he's been learning. Tell us all about it, Jesse."
"Do, do," added Eva. "Yes, Ferdy, you're quite right—it's wonderful. Who are they all, Jesse?"