Blue Lights by Robert Michael Ballantyne (black male authors .txt) 📖

her," answered the man--and the speaker was Thomas Tufnell, the ex-trooper of the Queen's Bays, and the present manager of the Institute--"Ay, that's the `Soldier's Friend.'"

"Well, I might have guessed it," returned Simkin, "from the kindly way in which she shook hands with a lot of soldiers just now."

"Yes, she has shook hands with a good many red-coats in her day, has the `Soldier's Friend,'" returned the manager. "Why, I remember on one occasion when she was giving a lecture to soldiers, and so many men came forward to shake hands with her that, as she told me herself, her hand was stiff and swelled all night after it!"

"But it's not so much for what she has done for ourselves that we're grateful to her," remarked a corporal, who sat on Simkin's right, "as for what she has done for our wives, widows, and children, through the _Soldiers' and Sailors' Wives' Aid Association_. Lookin' arter them when we're away fightin' our country's battles has endeared her to us more than anything else."

Thus favourably predisposed, Simkin was open to good impressions that night. But, indeed, there was an atmosphere--a spirit of good-will--in the hall that night which rendered many others besides Simkin open to good impressions. Among the civilians there was a man named Sloper, who had for some time past been carefully fished for by an enthusiastic young red-coat whom he had basely misled and swindled. He had been at last hooked by the young red-coat, played, and finally landed in the hall, with his captor beside him to keep him there--for Sloper was a slippery fish, with much of the eel in his nature.

Perhaps the most unexpected visitors to the hall were two ladies in mourning, who had just arrived from Egypt by way of Brindisi. Mrs and Miss Drew, having occasion to pass through Portsmouth on their way home, learned that there was to be a tea-fight at the Institute, and Marion immediately said, "I should like _so_ much to see it!"

However much "_so_ much" was, Mrs Drew said she would like to see it _as_ much, so away they went, and were conducted to the front row. There Miles saw them! With his heart in his mouth, and his head in confusion, he quietly rose, bade his wondering mother get up; conducted her to the front seat, and, setting her down beside the Drews, introduced them. Then, sitting down beside Marion, he went in for a pleasant evening.

And it _was_ a pleasant evening! Besides preliminary tea and buns, there were speeches, songs, recitations, etcetera,--all being received with immense satisfaction by a crowded house, which had not yet risen to the unenviable heights of classical taste and _blaseism_. As for Miles and Marion, nothing came amiss to them! If a singer had put B flat in the place of A natural they would have accepted it as quite natural. If a humourist had said the circle was a square, they would have believed it--in a sense--and tried to square their reason accordingly.

But nothing is without alloy in this life. To the surprise of Miles and his mother, their "kind little lawyer" also made his appearance in the hall. More than that, he insisted, by signs, that Miles should go out and speak with him. But Miles was obdurate. He was anchored, and nothing but cutting the cable could move him from his anchorage.

At last the "kind little man" pushed his way through the crowd.

"I _must_ have a word with you, my dear sir. It is of importance," he said.

Thus adjured, Miles unwillingly cut the cable, and drifted into a passage.

"My dear sir," said the little man, seizing his hand, "I congratulate you."

"You're very kind, but pray, explain why."

"I find that you are heir to a considerable fortune."

Miles was somewhat interested in this, and asked, "How's that?"

"Well, you remember Hardy's will, which you put into my hands a few days ago?"

"Yes; what then? _That_ can't be the fortune!"

"Indeed it is. Hardy, you remember, made you his residuary legatee. I find, on inquiry, that the old cousin you told me about, who meant to leave all his money to build a hospital, changed his mind at the last and made out a will in favour of Hardy, who was his only relative. So, you see, you, being Hardy's heir, have come into possession of something like two thousand a year."

To this Miles replied by a whistle of surprise, and then said, "Is that all?"

"Upon my word, sir," said the `kind little lawyer,' in a blaze of astonishment, "you appear to take this communication in a peculiar manner!"

"You mistake me," returned Miles, with a laugh. "I don't mean `is that all the fortune?' but `is that all you have to say?'"

"It is, and to my mind I have said a good deal."

"You certainly have. And, believe me, I am not indifferent or unthankful, but--but--the fact is, that at present I am _particularly_ engaged. Good-bye, and thank you."

So saying, Miles shook the puzzled old gentleman heartily by the hand, and hurried back to his anchorage in the hall.

"I've done it, mother!" whispered Miles, two days thereafter, in the privacy of the Institute reading-room.

"Miles!" said the startled lady, with a reproachful look, "I thought you said that nothing would induce you--"

"Circumstances have altered, mother. I have had a long consultation with your `kind little lawyer,' and he has related some interesting facts to me."

Here followed a detailed account of the facts.

"So, you see, I went and proposed at once--not to the lawyer--to Marion."

"And was accepted?"

"Well--yes. I could hardly believe it at the time. I scarcely believe it now, so I'm going back this afternoon to make quite sure."

"I congratulate you, my darling boy, for a good wife is God's best gift to man."

"How do you know she is good, mother?"

"I know it, because--I know it! Anybody looking in her face can _see_ it. And with two thousand a year, why--"

"One thousand, mother."

"I thought you said two, my son."

"So I did. That is the amount of the fortune left by the eccentric old hospital-for-incurables founder. When poor Hardy made out his will he made me residuary legatee because the trifle he had to leave--his kit, etcetera,--was not worth dividing between me and Armstrong. If it had been worth much he would have divided it. It is therefore my duty now to divide it with my friend."

But in our anxiety to tell you these interesting facts, dear reader, we have run ahead of the tea-fight! To detail all its incidents, all its bearings, all its grand issues and blessed influences, would require a whole volume. We return to it only to mention one or two gratifying facts.

It was essentially a temperance--that is, a total-abstinence, a blue-ribbon--meeting, and, at the end, the "Soldiers' Friend" earnestly invited all who felt so disposed to come forward and sign the pledge. At the same time, medals and prizes were presented to those among the civilians who had loyally kept their pledge intact for certain periods of time. On an average, over a thousand pledges a year are taken at the Institute, and we cannot help thinking that the year we are writing of must have exceeded the average--to judge from the numbers that pressed forward on this particular night.

There were soldiers, sailors, and civilians; men, women, and children. Amongst the first, Rattling Bill Simkin walked to the front--his moral courage restored to an equality with his physical heroism--and put down his name. So did Johnson and Sutherland--the former as timid before the audience as he had been plucky before the Soudanese, but walking erect, nevertheless, as men do when conscious that they are in the right; the latter "as bold as brass"--as if to defy the world in arms to make him ever again drink another drop of anything stronger than tea.

Moses Pyne also "put on the blue," although, to do him justice, he required no protection of that sort, and so did Corporal Flynn and Terence and their mother--which last, if truth must be told, stood more in need of the pledge than her stout sons.

Among the civilians several noted personages were influenced in the right direction. Chief among these was sodden, blear-eyed, disreputable Sloper, whose trembling hand scrawled a hieroglyphic, supposed to represent his name, which began indeed with an S, but ended in a mysterious prolongation, and was further rendered indecipherable by a penitent tear which fell upon it from the point of his red, red nose!

Some people laughed, and said that there was no use in getting Sloper to put on the blue-ribbon, that he was an utterly demoralised man, that he had no strength of character, that no power on earth could save _him_! They were right. No power on earth could save him--or them! These people forgot that it is not the righteous but sinners who are called to repentance.

Time passed away and wrought its wonted changes. Among other things, it brought back to Portsmouth big, burly Jack Molloy, as hearty and vigorous as he was when being half-hanged in the Soudan, but--_minus_ a leg! Poor Jack! a spent cannon-ball--would that it had been spent in vain!--removed it, below the knee, much more promptly than it could have been taken off by the surgeon's knife. But what was loss to the Royal Navy was gain to Portsmouth, for Jack Molloy came home and devoted himself, heart and soul, to the lending of "a helping hand" to his fellow-creatures in distress--devoting his attentions chiefly to the region lying round Nobbs Lane, and causing himself to be adored principally by old women and children. And there and thus he probably works to this day--at least, some very like him do.

When not thus engaged he is prone to take a cruise to a certain rural district in the south of England, where he finds congenial company in two very tall, erect, moustached, dignified gentlemen, who have a tendency to keep step as they walk, one of whom has lost his left hand, and who dwell in two farm-houses close together.

These two gentlemen have remarkably pretty wives, and wonderfully boisterous children, and the uproar which these children make when Molloy comes to cast anchor among them, is stupendous! As for the appearance of the brood, and of Jack after a spree among the hay, the word has yet to be invented which will correctly describe it.

The two military-looking farmers are spoken of by the people around as philanthropists. Like true philanthropists, whose foundation-motive is love to God, they do not limit their attentions to their own little neighbourhood, but allow their sympathies and their benefactions to run riot round the world--wheresoever there is anything that is true, honourable, just, pure, lovely, or of good report to be thought of, or done, or assisted.

Only one of these acts of sympathy and benefaction we will mention. Every Christmas there is received by Miss Robinson at the Soldiers' Institute, Portsmouth, a huge hamper full of old and new garments of all kinds--shoes, boots, gowns, frocks, trousers, shawls, comforters, etcetera,--with the words written inside the lid--"Blessed are they that consider the poor." And on the same day come