Chapter 2

"'I would not have you distress yourself so, Miss Vea,' said Natilie. 'I think I can get him out of this difficulty, with very little patience, if we could get him carried home.'

"'If you get him out of the hole he has fallen into,' said Dick, 'I will manage the rest.'

"'But how can you carry him over such a rough beach?' asked Alfred.

"'I will get the boat from my grandfather,' replied Dick, 'and we can row him round to the harbour, where the men can help us up to the house with him.'

"'Oh yes, that will be the plan,' said Vea. 'Do run, like a good boy, and get the boat; I am sure your grandfather will be very glad to lend it to us, for Patrick was always a favourite with him.'

"'And I know somebody who is a greater favourite than even Master Patrick,' replied Dick, smiling, before he hurried away towards his grandfather's house.

"Very soon, though it seemed a long time to Vea, Dick was plainly seen shoving out the boat from the shore, with the assistance of two boys, who then jumped in and rowed it round as close to where Patrick lay as they possibly could.

"Natilie had by this time managed to get Patrick up out of the sort of hole he had fallen into, and by our united efforts we at last succeeded in getting him into the boat, where we all helped to support him, as he had fainted away again. It was considered advisable to row to Dick's grandfather's house for the present; and accordingly the boat was steered for a cove, up which the tide carried us.

"The hut where Dick's grandfather lived was a very poor one, built mostly of turf, and thatched with rough bent or sea-grass. The chimney-can was made with an old barrel, which stood the blast and served better than an ordinary one would have done at such a stormy part of the coast. One or two fishing-boats lay at the rough pier or jetty old Dick had constructed, the men belonging to which were earnestly engaged preparing their nets for going to sea that evening; while a number of boys were busy sailing miniature boats in a small pool left by the last tide. No sooner, however, did they hear the shouts of their companions in our boat, than they left their sport, and hurried down to lend a hand in pulling in the boat to a place of security.

"'Has grandfather come back from the town, Jack?' cried Dick to a rough-looking boy, the tallest of them all, and who had carried his model boat in his arms, instead of leaving it as the others had done theirs.

"'No, he ha'n't,' replied Jack; 'and, what's more, it's likely he won't be for some time either; for I hears Tom Brown saying to Tim that my father would be late to-night, and I knows your grandfather is to keep him company.'

"'Then what's to be done now, miss?' said Dick. 'I had been thinking grandfather, who knows all about sores, seeing as he was boatswain's mate aboard a man-o'-war, might have been able to put young master's leg to rights.'

"'Oh no, Dick, that would never do,' said Vea; 'we must get him ashore and laid in your grandfather's bed, and somebody had better run up to tell aunt of the accident, and get her to send for the doctor at once.'

"While Natilie prepared the bed in the old fisherman's hut, Patrick was being carried by the men who had been summoned from the boats. The poor boy was still in a fainting state, and it was not till after he had been laid on the bed that he opened his eyes and showed signs of consciousness. 'Oh, where am I?' he uttered; but even this exertion was too much for him, and he became insensible once more.

"'It's a bad break, this,' said one of the men to his fellow; 'I shouldn't wonder, now, if he had to lose his leg altogether!'

"'Oh, please don't speak of it,' said Vea, her face becoming ghastly pale. 'Do look out again, Lily dear, and see if Alfred is coming with the doctor.'

"Yes; there he was at last, running at a break-neck speed down the steep and rocky bank to the beach, while the doctor was distinctly seen high overhead on the regular path, coming very quickly too. Indeed, though he had taken the longest road, and did not seem to hasten like Alfred, he was only a few minutes behind him, and showed no signs of heat and over-exertion.

"'Heyday, this is a pretty business,' said Dr. Blyth cheerily. 'What's this you've been about, Miss Vea? breaking your brother's leg, eh?' All this time he had been unrolling a case of formidable-looking instruments, taking off his coat, and getting fresh water brought, and bandages prepared with the help of Natilie. When these were ready, he turned to look at his patient, and bidding every one leave the hut but the two fishermen and Natilie, he shut the door against them himself, and secured it firmly.

"'Oh, please, doctor, let me stay,' Vea had said pitifully. 'I'm sure Patrick would like me to stay.'

"'I'm sure of that too,' said the doctor kindly; 'but you shall have plenty of nursing by-and-by: don't be afraid, I mean to engage you as my chief assistant. Meanwhile, my dear, trust me for knowing what is best for you and for your brother, and take yourself off to the beach there. Come, Miss Lily,' he continued, turning to me, 'you take your friend down to the beach, and keep her there till I call you. Remember, you are not to leave the rock there till I call you, Miss Vea.'

"'Oh dear, dear, it does seem hard,' said Vea, when we were seated under the rook, 'to leave Patrick in the hands of strangers. And yet, Dr. Blyth is such a good, kind man, I'm sure he won't give him unnecessary pain.'

"'Would you like me to read a story to you, dear Vea?' I inquired, opening a book I had brought out with me. 'It might help to pass the time away.'

"'Thank you, Lily,' said Vea; 'but I feel as if I couldn't listen to anything; and yet, if I sit here I shall go mad with the suspense.'

"'Come, then, take a walk along the beach,' I replied; 'we will be within reach of the doctor's voice quite as well. I know he will take some time to set the leg; for when our stable-boy, Reuben, got his leg broken, the doctor took a long time to set it.'

"'And did Reuben's leg get well again--quite well, I mean?' inquired Vea earnestly; 'was he able to walk with it as he did before?'

"'Oh yes; he could use it quite as well as before,' I replied. 'Indeed, papa used to say Reuben was quicker at going a message after the accident than before.'

"'Oh, I am so glad to hear that,' said Vea, sighing. 'I do hope it will be the same with Patrick. Poor Patrick! Aunt Mary has so often said he would need to get some severe lessons to make him think. She was always telling him that he would find out the path of transgressors is hard, instead of pleasant, as he seemed to fancy. I don't think there is such a miserable girl as I am in the world?' And here Vea began to cry.

"After comforting her as well as I could, she was at last prevailed upon to take a short walk along the beach in the direction where some children were playing. As we walked along I told her that my mother often said, when we fancied ourselves ill-used and very unhappy, if we looked about us we would generally find that there was somebody even more miserable than we were ourselves. By this time we had come up to the children, and found three of them in earnest conversation. We were not long in discovering that the youngest was in evident distress, and her companions were listening to her words with deep interest.

"'I wouldn't stand it, if I were you, Polly,' said the eldest girl, who was standing in front of the group.

"'But what can I do, Martha?' replied the girl, rocking herself to and fro, and weeping afresh.

"'Do? I would run away,' replied the other. 'I would go into service, or beg my bread from door to door, rather than bear what you have to bear.'

"'But don't you think you had better speak to teacher, Polly?' said the other girl softly, looking from under her sun-bonnet with great dreamy-looking blue eyes; 'I wouldn't do anything rash before speaking to teacher. You remember what she said to us last Sunday, that all our trials were sent from our Father in heaven.'

"'Yes, Rachel, I heard her say that,' replied Polly; 'and I try to think about it; but oh! my step-mother would make anybody angry; and then my temper rises, and I speak out, and then I am beaten. I wouldn't mind that, however, if she would only beat me; but when I see her raise her hand to strike little Willie, who never was angry in his life, but was always gentle and good--always, always.'

"'Is there anything I can do for you, little girl?' said Vea, stepping forward, forgetting for the time her own trouble while witnessing the distress of another. 'Why does your companion want you to run away?'

"'It's to escape from her step-mother, miss,' replied the girl called Martha. 'She uses her shameful, she do, and all for what? Because Polly's father made so much of her afore he was lost.'

"'And was your father lost at sea, Polly? Oh, how dreadful!' said Vea, seating herself on the stones beside her. 'And have you no mother of your own?'

"'No, miss; mother died when Willie was a year old,' said Polly.

"'And do you remember her quite well?' asked Vea.

"'Oh yes, quite well, miss. It was a terrible night that, just before she died. Father was away to the town for some tackle, and I was left all alone with her and Willie. She hadn't been very well for some weeks, but nobody thought she was going to die. Even the very doctor had said that morning so cheerily to father she would weather through. She had been lying sleeping with Willie in her arms, but a sudden squall shook the door, and made it and the window-frame rattle, and that startled her, and she wakened. Then I couldn't help seeing she was much worse; and I tried to keep from crying, for she seemed wild-like, and the doctor had said she was to be kept quiet. Then she looked up in a moment, and said, "Polly, promise me you'll look after Willie when I die. Never let any harm come to Willie, mind that; and take care of father, but look well after Willie." She never spoke again, not even to father, who came in soon after, and cried like a baby over her. She just opened her eyes once, and looked at him with a smile, and tried to push Willie over to him, and then she died. How good father was to us then! He used to take Willie down to the beach with him while I made the house tidy and got the dinner; and he made Willie a fine boat, and dug out a place for him to sail it in; and oh! but we were happy then!'

"'I don't think your father would have been lost if it hadn't been that step-mother of yours,' said Martha angrily. 'I can't a-bear her, I can't.'

"'Oh, don't say that, Martha. It was God who took father,' said Polly, in a low whisper. 'Didn't you hear the rector saying it was God's will to send the storm that night?'

"'Yes,' said Martha; but if your step-mother had only bade your father stay at home, as all the other men did, he never would have been lost. Didn't old Joe Gafler warn them there was a squall a-coming! but no, she is so grasping, she wanted the money for the fish, and she let him go. It was a shame!'

"'But father often says the boat may be found yet,' said Rachel; 'and you know even old Dick says the thing is likely.'

"'Well, if so be's it should happen that Will Dampier comes to land again, I hope he'll know how his Polly has been treated when he was away,' said Martha.

"'Oh, I wouldn't mind for myself not one bit,' said Polly. 'It's when she strikes Willie that I can't bear it; and I somehow think Willie is not so well this last week.'

"'Then you mustn't think of running away, Polly,' said Vea. 'Wasn't that what Martha was urging you to do? If you went away, who would take care of Willie? Do you know, I have a brother I am very anxious about too, Polly?' said Vea. 'He is lying in Dick's cottage, with his leg broken, and the doctor is setting it while we are waiting out here.'

"'Oh, I am very sorry indeed, miss,' said Polly, forgetting her own troubles in turn. 'Is that the young gentleman who is living with Mrs. Berkley?'

"'Yes, Polly,' said Vea. 'Mrs. Berkley is my aunt.'

"'He's a very kind young gentleman, miss. Is there anything I could do for him, miss? I should like to do something so much, for he helped me more than once.'

"Vea naturally looked a little surprised, for Patrick was so often in trouble, that it was rather astonishing to hear any one praising him.

"'I don't think it could be my brother Patrick,' said Vea.

"'Oh yes, miss, that was his name,' said Polly. 'He told me his name was Patrick.'

"'And what did Patrick do for you?' said Vea, looking much pleased.

"'I was playing with Willie one day at the harbour, and young Dick was showing me a great anchor some of the men had left on shore for a new boat they were going to build, when my step-mother called from the cottage door, and bade me take the ropes and carry home the drift-wood she had been gathering all the morning. Dick said as how he was sorry he couldn't go to help me, as he had to go out in his grandfather's boat that afternoon; and so, after leaving Willie beside old Dick, I took the ropes and went down on the beach. My step-mother had called after me I was to drag them in three bundles, but they were so heavy that I had to separate the first one into two; and for doing this she beat me. I was going back to the next one, crying a good deal, for I was wishing I could go to my own mother and to father, when a boy jumped up from behind a stone, and asked me why I was crying; and so I told him. And when he heard it, he called my step-mother some hard names; and then says he, "Are you the little girl young Dick helps when he has any spare time?" And when I answered "Yes," he says, "Well, then, give me the ropes and I'll help you, for Dick is away to-day." I couldn't help saying that dragging drift-wood wasn't fit work for a gentleman; but he just laughed, and said there were lots of people would be glad to know Patrick Berkley was so usefully employed.'

"'And did he drag the wood for you?' said Vea, the tears standing in her eyes.

"'That he did, miss. And whenever he sees me carrying a heavy load along the beach, he just slips up to me, and, without saying a word, takes it out of my hand. And then if he sees any of the boys frightening me, he won't let them. I was so sorry, miss, for the cut he got on his eye; that was from wild Joe throwing a stone at him when he was carrying my basket for me round the Bluff Crag.'

"'You have no idea how happy you have made me, Polly,' said Vea. 'Aunt Mary always says there is a great deal of good in Patrick, only his love of mischief sometimes chokes the good seed. It is very strange he never lets us see him doing a kind or a generous action.'

"At this moment Natilie opened the cottage door and called to her young mistress to come up. I waited by the beach, and taking off my shoes and stockings, waded into the cool water. The girls were much amused at my delight, and I may say terror also, as, looking down into the clear blue water, I saw various small fishes darting in and out among the stones; and even Polly forgot her angry step-mother at home, and screamed with laughter at my sudden fright when a small crab seized hold of my great toe, and hung tenaciously to it, even when I was far up on the sandy beach.

"Then Natilie came and called to me to come up also; and there I found Patrick lying very quiet and still on the bed, and Vea sitting by the side of it holding his hand. It was arranged that I should return to the house with Natilie and Alfred, while Vea remained with her brother till Natilie returned; but just as we were setting out, my Uncle John came down to see after the patient, and I was told I might amuse myself for an hour outside till the maid returned with the articles required by the doctor. I would have liked to have stayed with Vea, but both the doctor and my uncle thought that as the cottage was so small, the fewer there were in it the better for Patrick.

"'I would like to get home,' said poor Patrick in a faint voice. 'Couldn't I be carried home, sir?' he pleaded, turning to the doctor.

"'Not for some days, my boy,' replied the doctor kindly. 'If you lie very still, and attend to orders, we shall see what can be done for you then.'

"But when the doctor had gone, Vea came slipping out, and bidding me follow her, went round to where some boats lay moored. A ladder was placed against the side of one of these, and up this Vea mounted before I knew what she was going to do. 'I feel sure,' she said, looking over the side of the boat to me, as I stood on the beach below, 'if we could only get Patrick hoisted up here, we might get him taken home quite safely.'

"'Ah, but I don't think the doctor will allow you to do that,' I replied; 'I fear he must remain here for some weeks.'

"'He seems very anxious to get home, poor boy. I cannot make it out,' said Vea. 'He says he will tell me the reason once he finds himself in his own bed at Aunt Berkley's. I wonder who this boat belongs to.'

"'Polly said it belonged to Martha's father,' I replied; 'she told me so just before they left me to go home.'

"'Polly, I hope, has quite made up her mind not to run away,' said Vea.

"'Oh yes, I think she has given up that idea; indeed, I heard her say to Rachel she would try to bear it a little longer.'

"'There is Dick returned already,' said Vea; and she scrambled out of the boat, and ran down to the beach to meet Dick, who was coming from the doctor's house with a basket containing medicines for the sick boy.

"'Oh, you are a good boy, Dick,' said Vea. 'How fast you must have gone!'

"'Well, yes, miss, I did go fast,' said Dick, pleased with Vea's speech apparently. 'I went by the beach, the tide being out, and it is nigher that way by a good mile. I would go faster than most folks for the young master.'

"'Why, has Patrick been kind to you too, Dick!' said Vea, in much surprise.

"'That he has, miss,' said Dick gratefully. 'When I lost grandfather's knife, didn't he buy me a new one with the new half-crown his aunt gave him to spend at the fair! And didn't he let grandfather think he had broken the glass in the window, when all the time it was me, and nobody else! And hasn't he often and often brought me a bit of his own dinner tied up in his handkerchief, or a pie he would find lying handy in the pantry, when he knowed I'd had nothing for my dinner that day at all!'

"Vea said nothing, but she evidently thought her brother was a very curious boy, and that she had not understood him at all.

"When Natilie had returned with the things required by the sick boy and his attendants, Uncle John and I set off home, he promising that we would return the next afternoon to inquire after Patrick. The sun was just shedding its last rays of golden light over the sea, lighting it up with a strange lurid light, which, with the stillness of the scene, and the great rocks on the coast, left a strange impression on my mind.

"'And you say you have enjoyed yourself, my dear!' said Uncle John, after we had walked on in silence for some time.

"'Oh, very much indeed, uncle,' I replied. 'I like Vea so much, and Alfred is such a funny boy. Isn't it a pity that Patrick is so fond of mischief, when he seems to have such a kind heart?'

"'I've always liked that boy Patrick,' said my uncle; 'and, what is more,' he continued, as if to himself, 'I never liked Alfred.'

"'That is very strange, uncle,' I replied; 'he is such a polite boy, and so quiet in the drawing-room. He is so funny too; he nearly set me off laughing at the funny faces he made behind his aunt's back; and he can speak just like her, in that queer low drawling tone.'

"'Exactly,' said my uncle; 'that is the very thing I dislike about him. He has the power of mimicry, and is also able to keep a grave face when others are forced to laugh--a thing poor Patrick is not able to do, and the consequence is he gets into sad disgrace for laughing, and, to save his brother, won't tell what he is laughing at. Alfred is a mean boy, for twice I have seen him allow his brother to be punished, when, by simply telling he was the cause of it, the punishment might have been avoided. Now, who do you think was the actual culprit who cut that nice table in the summer-house?'

"'It must have been Patrick, uncle; he never denied it,' I replied.

"'That is the strange thing, dear. Patrick is greatly to blame in this, that he will not tell upon his brother, but is so easy-minded, that, rather than exert himself to make his friends think well of him, he allows every one to suppose that he is the offender; and, as I said before, Alfred is so mean, that, knowing this, he plays the tricks and lets his brother take the blame. A tale-teller is to be despised; but a boy who is so lazy that he cannot say a good word for himself when his character is concerned, is almost as bad.'

"'But how did you find all this out, uncle?' I inquired.

"'Well, I overheard the two boys speaking about it in the shrubbery; and what struck me most was, even when Patrick had an opportunity to reprove his younger brother he did not do so, though a good word costs nothing, and might save his brother much misery in the end. I am half glad he has met with this accident; it will give him time to think.'

"At this moment a boat sailed past, filled with gay company, who waved their handkerchiefs to us, and cheered most lustily. One little girl held up her doll, and made it wave its hat to Uncle John's polite bow, which made them all laugh very much.

"Dolly was very glad to see me again, and said so kindly that she had never spent such a long, dull day, and that she hoped I would not go junketting in a hurry, else she would require to go with me herself. There was no time to tell her all the story of our visit to Mrs. Berkley that night, because a woman came in asking her to go down to the village to see a sick man who had wandered there that day, and had been found lying under a hedge by a field-worker. Then, as it was close to my bed-hour, and I was very tired, Dolly carried me off to my room at once, and when she had seen me safely in bed, went away. The next morning while at breakfast she told me the sick man was apparently a fisherman, but he was so weak he could not give an account of himself. Once or twice he had suddenly become uneasy in his sleep, and had moaned out a name some of the women thought was Polly, but so faintly, that they could not be sure even of that.

"'Oh, it must be Polly's father come to life again,' I cried, starting up and knocking over my basin of milk upon the clean white table-cover. 'Oh, do let me run and tell uncle about it, Dolly; he will know what ought to be done.'