The Dawn of a To-morrow by Frances Hodgson Burnett (good story books to read TXT) đ
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- Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
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Book online «The Dawn of a To-morrow by Frances Hodgson Burnett (good story books to read TXT) đ». Author Frances Hodgson Burnett
Anâ never you stop sayinâ itâlet yer âeart beat it anâ yer breath breathe it âanâ yer âll find yer goinâ about laughinâ soft to yerself anâ lovinâ everythinâ as if it was yer own child at breast. Anâ no âarm can come to yer. Try it when yer go âome.â â
âDid you?â asked Dart.
Glad answered for her with a tremulousâyes it was a TREMULOUSâ giggle, a weirdly moved little sound.
âWhen she wakes in the morninâ she ses to âerself, `Good things is goinâ to come to-dayâcheerfle things.â When thereâs a knock at the door she ses, `Somethinâ friendly âs cominâ in.â Anâ when Drunken Betâs makinâ a row anâ raginâ anâ tearinâ anâ threateninâ to âave âer eyes out of âer fice, she ses, `Lor, Bet, yer donât mean a word of itâyer a friend to every woman in the âouse.â When she donât know which way to turn, she stands still anâ ses, `Speak, Lord, thy servant âeareth,â anâ then she does wotever next comes into âer mindâ anâ she says itâs allus the right answer. Sometimes,â sheepishly, âIâve tried it myselfâpâraps itâs true. I did it this morninâ when I sat down anâ pulled me sack over me âead on the bridge. Polly âd been cryinâ so loud all night Iâd got a bit low in me stummick anâââ She stopped suddenly and turned on Dart as if light had flashed across her mind. âDunno nothinâ about it,â she stammered, âbut I SAID itâjust like she doesâ anâ YOU come!â
Plainly she had uttered whatever words she had used in the form of a sort of incantation, and here was the result in the living body of this man sitting before her. She stared hard at him, repeating her words: âYOU come. Yes, you did.â
âIt was the answer,â said Miss Montaubyn, with entire simplicity as she bit off her thread, âthat âs wot it was.â
Antony Dart lifted his heavy head.
âYou believe it,â he said.
âI âm livinâ on believinâ it,â she said confidingly. âI ainât got nothinâ else. Anâ answers keeps cominâ and cominâ.â
âWhat answers?â
âBits oâ workâanâ things as âelps. Glad there, sheâs one.â
âAw,â said Glad, âI ainât nothinâ. I likes to âear yer tell about it. She ses,â to Dart again, a little slowly, as she watched his face with curiously questioning eyesââshe ses âEâS in the roomâsame as âEâs everywhere âin this âere room. Sometimes she talks out loud to âIm.â
âWhat!â cried Dart, startled again.
The strange Majestic Awful Idea âthe Deity of the Agesâto be spoken of as a mere unfeared Reality! And even as the vaguely formed thought sprang in his brain he started once more, suddenly confronted by the meaning his sense of shock implied. What had all the sermons of all the centuries been preaching but that it was Reality? What had all the infidels of every age contended but that it was Unreal, and the folly of a dream? He had never thought of himself as an infidel; perhaps it would have shocked him to be called one, though he was not quite sure. But that a little superannuated dancer at music-halls, battered and worn by an unlawful life, should sit and smile in absolute faith at such aâa superstition as this, stirred something like awe in him.
For she was smiling in entire acquiescence.
âIt âs what the curick ses,â she enlarged radiantly. âThough âe don t believe it, pore young man; âe onây thinks âe does. `Itâs for âigh anâ low,â âe ses, `for you anâ me as well as for them as is royal fambleys. The Almighty âE âs EVERYWHERE!â `Yes,â ses I, `Iâve felt âIm âereâas near as yâ are yerself, sir, I âaveâanâ Iâve spoke to âIm.ââ
âWhat did the curate say?â Dart asked, amazed.
âSeemed like it frightened âim a bit. `We mustnât be too bold, Miss Montaubyn, my dear,â âe ses, for âeâs a kind young man as ever lived, anâ often ses `my dearâ to them âe âs comfortinâ. But yer see the lidy âad gave me a Bible oâ me own anâ Iâd set âere anâ read it, anâ read it anâ learned verses to say to meself when I was in bedâanâ Iâd got ter feel like it was someone talkinâ to me anâ makinâ me understand. So I ses, ` âT ainât boldness weâre warned against; itâs not lovinâ anâ trustinâ enough, anâ not askinâ anâ believinâ TRUE. Donât yer remember wot it ses: âI, even I, am âe that comforteth yer. Who art thou that thou art afraid of man that shall die anâ the son of man that shall be made as grass, anâ forgetteth Jehovah thy Creator, that stretched forth the âeavens anâ laid the foundations of the earth?â anâ âIâve covered thee with the shadder of me âand,â it ses; anâ âI will go before thee anâ make the rough places smooth;â anâ â âItherto ye âave asked nothinâ in my name; ask therefore that ye may receive, anâ yer joy may be made full.â â Anâ âe looked down on the floor as if âe was doinâ some âard thinkinâ, pore young man, anâ âe ses, quite sudden anâ shaky, `Lord, I believe, âelp thou my unbelief,â anâ âe ses it as if âe was in trouble anâ didnât know âeâd spoke out loud.â
âWhereâhow did you come upon your verses?â said Dart. âHow did you find them?â
âAh,â triumphantly, âthey was all answersâthey was the first answers I ever âad. When I first come âome anâ it seemed as if I was goinâ to be swepâ away in the dirt oâ the streetâone day when I was near drove wild with cold anâ âunger, I set down on the floor anâ I dragged the Bible to me anâ I ses: `There ainât nothinâ on earth or in âell as âll âelp me. Iâm goinâ to do wot the lidy saidâmad or not.â Anâ I âeld the bookâanâ I âeld my breath, too, âcos it was like waitinâ for the end oâ the worldâanâ after a bit I âears myself call out in a âoller whisper, `Speak, Lord, thy servant âeareth. Show me a âope.â Anâ I was tremblinâ all over when I opened the book. Anâ there it was! `I will go before thee anâ make the rough places smooth, I will break in pieces the doors of brass and will cut in sunder the bars of iron.â Anâ I knowed it was a answer.â
âYouâknewâitâwas an answer?â
âWot else was it?â with a shining face. âIâd arst for it, anâ there it was. Anâ in about a hour Glad come runninâ up âere, anâ sheâd âad a bit oâ luckââ
â âT wasnât nothinâ much,â Glad broke in deprecatingly, âonây Iâd got somethinâ to eat anâ a bit oâ fire.â
âAnâ she made me go anâ âave a âearty meal, anâ set anâ warm meself. Anâ she was that cheerfle anâ full oâ pluck, she âelped me to forget about the things that was makinâ me into a madwoman. SHE was the answerâ same as the book âad promised. They comes in different wyes the answers does. Bless yer, they donât come in claps of thunder anâ streaks oâ lighteninââ they just comes easy anâ naturalâ so âs sometimes yer donât think for a minit or two that theyâre answers at all. But it comes to yer in a bit anâ yer âeart stands still for joy. Anâ ever since then I just go to me book anâ arst. Pâraps,â her smile an illuminating thing, âme beinâ the low anâ pore in spirit at the beginninâ, anâ settinâ âere all alone by me-self day in anâ day out, just thinkinâ it all overâanâ arstinââanâ waitinâ âpâraps light was gave me âcos I was in such a little place anâ in the dark. But I ainât pore in spirit now. Lorâ, no, yer canât be when yerâve onây got to believe. `Anâ âitherto ye âave arst nothinâ in my name; arst therefore that ye may receive anâ yer joy be made full.â â
âAm I sitting here listening to an old female reprobateâs disquisition on religion?â passed through Antony Dartâs mind. âWhy am I listening? I am doing it because here is a creature who BELIEVESâknowing no doctrine, knowing no church. She BELIEVESâshe thinks she KNOWS her Deity is by her side. She is not afraid. To her simpleness the awful Unknown is the Knownâand WITH her.â
âSuppose it were true,â he uttered aloud, in response to a sense of inward tremor, âsupposeâitâwere âTRUE?â And he was not speaking either to the woman or the girl, and his forehead was damp.
âGawd!â said Glad, her chin almost on her knees, her eyes staring fearsomely. âSâpose it wasâanâ us sittinâ âere anâ not knowinâ itâanâ no one knowinâ itânor gettinâ the good of it. Sime as ifââ pondering hard in search of simile, âsime as if no one âad never knowed about âlectricity, anâ there wasnât no âlectric lights nor no âlectric nothinâ. Onct nobody knowed, anâ all the sime it was thereâjest waitinâ.â
Her fantastic laugh ended for her with a little choking, vaguely hysteric sound.
âBlimme,â she said. âAinât it queer, us not knowinââIF ITâS TRUE.â
Antony Dart bent forward in his chair. He looked far into the eyes of the ex-dancer as if some unseen thing within them might answer him. Miss Montaubyn herself for the moment he did not see.
âWhat,â he stammered hoarsely, his voice broken with awe, âwhat of the hideous wrongsâthe woes and horrorsâand hideous wrongs?â
âThere wouldnât be none if WE was rightâif we never thought nothinâ but `Goodâs cominââgood âs âere.â If we everyone of us thought itâevery minit of every day.â
She did not know she was speaking of a millenniumâthe end of the world. She sat by her one candle, threading her needle and believing she was speaking of To-day.
He laughed a hollow laugh.
âIf we were right!â he said. âIt would take longâlongâlongâto make us all so.â
âIt would be slow pâraps. Well, so it wouldâbut good comes quick for them as begins callinâ it. Itâs been quick for ME,â drawing her thread through the needleâs eye triumphantly. âLorâ, yes, me legs is betterâme luck âs betterâpeople âs better. Bless yer, yes!â
âIt âs true,â said Glad; âshe gets on somehow. Things comes. She never wants no drink. Me now,â she applied to Miss Montaubyn, âif I took it up same as youâwotâd come to a gal like me?â
âWot ud yer want ter come?â Dart saw that in her mind was an absolute lack of any premonition of obstacle. âWotâd yer arst fer in yer own mind?â
Glad reflected profoundly.
âPolly,â she said, âshe wants to go âome to âer mother anâ to the country. I ainât got no mother anâ wot I âear of the country seems like Iâd get tired of it. Nothinâ but quiet anâ lambs anâ birds anâ things growin.â Me, I likes things goinâ on. I likes people anâ âand organs anâ âbuses. Iâd stay âereâsame as I told YOU,â with a jerk of her hand toward Dart. âAnâ do things in the courtâif I âad a bit oâ money. I donât want to live no gay life when I âm a woman. Itâs too âard. Us pore uns ends too bad. Wisht I knowed I could get on some âow.â
âGood âll come,â said Miss Montaubyn. âJust you say the same as me every morninââ`Goodâs fillinâ the world, anâ some of itâs cominâ to me. It âs beinâ sentâanâ I âm goinâ to meet it. It âs cominââit âs cominâ.â â She bent forward and touched the girlâs shoulder with her astonishing eyes alight. âBless yer, wotâs in
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