Bob, Son of Battle by Alfred Ollivant (classic literature list TXT) đ
- Author: Alfred Ollivant
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âDinna look at me sae, lass!â he cried, and fell on his knees, kissing the picture, hugging it to him and sobbing passionately.
Red Wull came up and pushed his face compassionately into his masterâs; but the little man shoved him roughly away, and the dog retreated into a corner, abashed and reproachful.
Memories swarmed back on the little man.
It was more than a decade ago now, and yet he dared barely think of that last evening when she had lain so white and still in the little room above.
âPit the bairn on the bed, Adam man,â she had said in low tones. âIâll be gaeinâ in a wee while noo. Itâs the lang good-by to youâand him.â
He had done her bidding and lifted David up. The tiny boy lay still a moment, looking at this white-faced mother whom he hardly recognized.
âMinnie!â he called piteously. Then, thrusting a small, dirty hand into his pocket, he pulled out a grubby sweet.
âMinnie, haâ a sweetieâain oâ Davieâs sweeties!â and he held it out anxiously in his warm plump palm, thinking it a certain cure for any ill.
âEat it for mither,â she said, smiling tenderly; and then: âDavie, ma heart, Iâm leavinâ ye.â
The boy ceased sucking the sweet, and looked at her, the corners of his mouth drooping pitifully.
âYeâre no gaeinâ awaâ, mither?â he asked, his face all working. âYeâll no leave yen wee laddie?â
âAy, laddie, awaââreet awaâ. Haâs callinâ me.â She tried to smile; but her motherâs heart was near to bursting.
âYeâll takâ yen wee Davie wiâ ye mither!â the child pleaded, crawling up toward her face.
The great tears rolled, unrestrained, down her wan cheeks, and MâAdam, at the head of the bed, was sobbing openly.
âEh, ma bairn, ma bairn, Iâm sam to leave ye!â she cried brokenly. âLift him for me, Adam.â
He placed the child in her arms; but she was too weak to hold him. So he laid him upon his motherâs pillows; and the boy wreathed his soft arms about her neck and sobbed tempestuously.
And the two lay thus together.
Just before she died, Flora turned her head and whispered:
âAdam, ma man, yeâll haâ to be mither and father baith to the lad nooâ; and she looked at him with tender confidence in her dying eyes.
âI wull! afore God as I stanâ here I wull!â he declared passionately. Then she died, and there was a look of ineffable peace upon her face.
âMither and father baith!â
The little man rose to his feet and flung the photograph from him. Red Wull pounced upon it; but MâAdam leapt at him as he mouthed it.
âGit awaâ, ye devil!â he screamed; and, picking it up, stroked it lovingly with trembling fingers.
âMaither and father baith!â
How had he fulfilled his loveâs last wish? How!
âOh God! ââand he fell upon his knees at the table-side, hugging the picture, sobbing and praying.
Red Wull cowered in the far corner of the room, and then crept whining up to where his master knelt. But MâAdam heeded him not, and the great dog slunk away again.
There the little man knelt in the gloom of the winterâs afternoon, a miserable penitent. His gray-flecked head was bowed upon his arms; his hands clutched the picture; and he prayed aloud in gasping, halting tones.
âGie me grace, O God! âFather and mither baith,â ye said, Floraâ and I haâna done it.
But âtis no too lateâsay itâs no, lass. Tell me thereâs time yet, and say ye forgie me. Iâve tried to bear wiâ him mony and mony a time. But heâs vexed me, and set himself agin me, and stiffened my back, and ye ken hoo I was aye quick to takâ offence. But Iâll makâ it up to himâmakâ it up to him, and mair. Iâll humble maselâ afore him, and thatâll be bitter enough. And Iâll be father and mither baith to him. But thereâs bin none to help me; and itâs bin sair wiâoot ye. Andâ. but, eh, lassie, Iâm wearyinâ for ye!â
It was a dreary little procession that wound in the drizzle from Kenmuir to the little Dale Church. At the head stalked James Moore, and close behind David in his meagre coat. While last of all, as if to guide the stragglers in the weary road, come Owd Bob.
There was a full congregation in the tiny church now. In the squireâs pew were Cyril Gilbraith, Muriel Sylvester, and, most conspicuous, Lady Eleanour. Her slender figure was simply draped in gray, with gray fur about the neck and gray fur edging sleeves and jacket; her veil was lifted, and you could see the soft kair about her temples, like waves breaking on white cliffs, and her eyes big with tender sympathy as she glanced toward the pew upon her right.
For there were the mourners from Kenmuir: the Master, tall, grim, and gaunt; and beside him Maggie, striving to be calm, and little Andrew, the miniature of his father.
Alone, in the pew behind, David MâAdam in his fatherâs coat.
The back of the church was packed with farmers from the whole March Mere Estate; friends from Silverdale and Grammochtown; and nearly every soul in Wastreldale, come to show their sympathy for the living and reverence for the dead.
At last the end came in the wet dreariness of the little churchyard, and slowly the mourners departed, until at length were left only the parson, the Master, and Owd Bob.
The parson was speaking in rough, short accents, digging nervously at the wet ground. The other, tall and gaunt, his face drawn and half-averted, stood listening. By his side was Owd Bob, scanning his masterâs countenance, a wistful compassion deep in the sad gray eyes; while close by, one of the parsonâs terriers was nosing inquisitively in the wet grass.
Of a sudden, James Moore, his face still turned away, stretched out a hand. The parson, broke off abruptly and grasped it. Then the two men strode away in opposite directions, the terrier hopping on three legs and shaking the rain off his hard coat.
Davidâs steps sounded outside. MâAdam rose from his knees. The door of the house opened, and the boyâs feet shuffled in the passage.
âDavid!â the little man called in a tremulous voice.
He stood in the halflight, one hand on the table, the other clasping the picture. His eyes were bleared, his thin hair all tossed, and he was shaking.
âDavid,â he called again; âIâve somethinâ I wush to say to ye!â
The boy burst into the room. His face was stained with tears and rain; and the new black coat was wet and slimy all down the front, and on the elbows were green-brown, muddy blots. For, on his way home, he had flung himself down in the Stony Bottom just as he was, heedless of the wet earth and his fatherâs coat, and, lying on his face thinking of that second mother lost to him, had wept his heart out in a storm of passionate grief.
Now he stood defiantly, his hand upon the door.
âWhat dâyoâ want?â
The little man looked from him to the picture in his hand.
âHelp me, Floraâheâll no,â he prayed. Then raising his eyes, he began: âIâd like to sayâIâve bin thinkinââI think I should tell yeâitâs no an easy thing for a man to sayââ
He broke off short. The self-imposed task was almost more than he could accomplish.
He looked appealingly at David. But there was no glimmer of understanding in that white, set countenance.
âO God, itâs maist mair than I can do!â the little man muttered; and the perspiration stood upon his forehead. Again he began: David, after I saw ye this afternoon steppinâ doon the hillââ Again he paused. His glance rested unconsciously upon the coat. David mistook the look; mistook the dimness in his fatherâs eyes; mistook the tremor in his voice.
âHere âtis! takâ yoâ coat!â he cried passionately; and, tearing it off, flung it down at his fatherâs feet. âTakâ itâandâandâ-curse yoâ/â
He banged out of the room and ran upstairs; and, locking himself in, threw himself on to his bed and sobbed.
Red Wull made a movement to fly at the retreating figure; then turned to his master, his stump-tail vibrating with pleasure. But little MâAdam was looking at the wet coat now lying in a wet bundle at his feet.
âCurse ye,â he repeated softly. âCurse ye âye heard him. Wullie?â
A bitter smile crept across his face. He looked again at the picture now lying crushed in his hand.
âYe canna say I didna try; ye canna ask me to agin,â he muttered, and slipped it into his pocket. âNiver agin, Wullie; not if the Queen were to ask it.â
Then he went out into the gloom and drizzle, still smiling the same bitter smile.
That night, when it came to closing-time at the Sylvester Arms, Jem Burton found a little gray-haired figure lying on the floor in the tap-room. At the little manâs head lay a great dog.
âYoâ beast!â said the righteous publican, regarding the figure of his best customer with fine scorn. Then catching sight of a photograph in the little manâs hand:
âOh, yoâre that sort, are yoâ, foxy?â he leered. âGie us a look at âer,â and he tried to disengage the picture from the otherâs grasp. But at the attempt the great dog rose, bared his teeth, and assumed such a diabolical expression that the big landlord retreated hurriedly behind the bar.
âTwo on ye!â he shouted viciously, rattling his heels; âbeasts baith!â
Chapter IX. RIVALS
MâADAM never forgave his son. After the scene on the evening of the funeral there could be no alternative but war for all time. The little man had attempted to humble himself, and been rejected; and the bitterness of defeat, when he had deserved victory, rankled like a poisoned barb in his bosom.
Yet the heat of his indignation was directed not against David, but against the Master of Kenmuir. To the influence and agency of James Moore he attributed his discomfiture, and bore himself accordingly. In public or in private, in tap-room or market, he never wearied of abusing his enemy.
âFeel the loss oâ his wife, dâye say?â he would cry. âAy, as muckle as I feel the loss oâ my hair. James Moore can feel naethinâ, I tell ye, except, aiblins, a mischance to his meeserable dog.â
When the two met, as they often must, it was always MâAdamâs endeavor to betray his enemy into an unworthy expression of feeling. But James Moore, sorely tried as he often was, never gave way. He met the little manâs sneers with a quelling silence, looking down on his asp-tongued antagonist with such a contempt flashing from his blue-gray eyes as hurt his adversary more than words.
Only once was he spurred into reply. It was in the tap-room of the Dalesmanâs Daughter on the occasion of the big spring fair in Grammochtown, when there was a goodly gathering of farmers and their dogs in the room.
MâAdam was standing at the fireplace with Red Wull at his side.
âItâs a noble pairt ye play, James Moore,â he cried loudly across the room, âsettinâ son against father, and dividinâ hoose against hoose. Itâs worthy oâ ye weâ yer churchgoinâ, and yer psalm-singinâ, and yer godliness.â
The Master looked up from the far end of the room.
âHappen yoâre not aware, MâAdam,â he said sternly, âthat, anâ it had not bin for me, Davidâd haâ left you years agoneâand âtwould nobâbut haâ served yoâ right, Iâm thinkinâ.
The little man was beaten on his own ground, so he changed front.
âDinna shout so, manâI have ears to hear, Forbye ye irritate Wullie.â
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