RELATES WHAT OLIVER'S NEW VISITORS THOUGHT OF HIM
With many loquacious assurances that they would be agreeably surprised in the
aspect of the criminal, the doctor drew the young lady's arm through one of him;
and offering his disengaged hand to Mrs. Maylie, led them, with much ceremony
and stateliness, upstairs.
'Now,' said the doctor, in a whisper, as he softly turned the handle of a
bedroom-door, 'let us hear what you think of him. He has not been shaved very
recently, but he don't look at all ferocious notwithstanding. Stop, though! Let
me first see that he is in visiting order.'
Stepping before them, he looked into the room. Motioning them to advance, he
closed the door when they had entered; and gently drew back the curtains of the
bed. Upon it, in lieu of the dogged, black-visaged ruffian they had expected to
behold, there lay a mere child: worn with pain and exhaustion, and sunk into a
deep sleep. His wounded arm, bound and splintered up, was crossed upon his
breast; his head reclined upon the other arm, which was half hidden by his long
hair, as it streamed over the pillow.
The honest gentleman held the curtain in his hand, and looked on, for a
minute or so, in silence. Whilst he was watching the patient thus, the younger
lady glided softly past, and seating herself in a chair by the bedside, gathered
Oliver's hair from his face. As she stooped over him, her tears fell upon his
forehead.
The boy stirred, and smiled in his sleep, as though these marks of pity and
compassion had awakened some pleasant dream of a love and affection he had never
known. Thus, a strain of gentle music, or the rippling of water in a silent
place, or the odour of a flower, or the mention of a familiar word, will
sometimes call up sudden dim remembrances of scenes that never were, in this
life; which vanish like a breath; which some brief memory of a happier
existence, long gone by, would seem to have awakened; which no voluntary
exertion of the mind can ever recall.
'What can this mean?' exclaimed the elder lady. 'This poor child can never
have been the pupil of robbers!'
'Vice,' said the surgeon, replacing the curtain, 'takes up her abode in many
temples; and who can say that a fair outside shell not enshrine her?'
'But at so early an age!' urged Rose.
'My dear young lady,' rejoined the surgeon, mournfully shaking his head;
'crime, like death, is not confined to the old and withered alone. The youngest
and fairest are too often its chosen victims.'
'But, can you--oh! can you really believe that this delicate boy has been the
voluntary associate of the worst outcasts of society?' said Rose.
The surgeon shook his head, in a manner which intimated that he feared it was
very possible; and observing that they might disturb the patient, led the way
into an adjoining apartment.
'But even if he has been wicked,' pursued Rose, 'think how young he is; think
that he may never have known a mother's love, or the comfort of a home; that
ill-usage and blows, or the want of bread, may have driven him to herd with men
who have forced him to guilt. Aunt, dear aunt, for mercy's sake, think of this,
before you let them drag this sick child to a prison, which in any case must be
the grave of all his chances of amendment. Oh! as you love me, and know that I
have never felt the want of parents in your goodness and affection, but that I
might have done so, and might have been equally helpless and unprotected with
this poor child, have pity upon him before it is too late!'
'My dear love,' said the elder lady, as she folded the weeping girl to her
bosom, 'do you think I would harm a hair of his head?'
'Oh, no!' replied Rose, eagerly.
'No, surely,' said the old lady; 'my days are drawing to their close: and may
mercy be shown to me as I show it to others! What can I do to save him, sir?'
'Let me think, ma'am,' said the doctor; 'let me think.'
Mr. Losberne thrust his hands into his pockets, and took several turns up and
down the room; often stopping, and balancing himself on his toes, and frowning
frightfully. After various exclamations of 'I've got it now' and 'no, I
haven't,' and as many renewals of the walking and frowning, he at length made a
dead halt, and spoke as follows:
'I think if you give me a full and unlimited commission to bully Giles, and
that little boy, Brittles, I can manage it. Giles is a faithful fellow and an
old servant, I know; but you can make it up to him in a thousand ways, and
reward him for being such a good shot besides. You don't object to that?'
'Unless there is some other way of preserving the child,' replied Mrs.
Maylie.
'There is no other,' said the doctor. 'No other, take my word for it.'
'Then my aunt invests you with full power,' said Rose, smiling through her
tears; 'but pray don't be harder upon the poor fellows than is indispensably
necessary.'
'You seem to think,' retorted the doctor, 'that everybody is disposed to be
hard-hearted to-day, except yourself, Miss Rose. I only hope, for the sake of
the rising male sex generally, that you may be found in as vulnerable and
soft-hearted a mood by the first eligible young fellow who appeals to your
compassion; and I wish I were a young fellow, that I might avail myself, on the
spot, of such a favourable opportunity for doing so, as the present.'
'You are as great a boy as poor Brittles himself,' returned Rose, blushing.
'Well,' said the doctor, laughing heartily, 'that is no very difficult
matter. But to return to this boy. The great point of our agreement is yet to
come. He will wake in an hour or so, I dare say; and although I have told that
thick-headed constable-fellow downstairs that he musn't be moved or spoken to,
on peril of his life, I think we may converse with him without danger. Now I
make this stipulation--that I shall examine him in your presence, and that, if,
from what he says, we judge, and I can show to the satisfaction of your cool
reason, that he is a real and thorough bad one (which is more than possible), he
shall be left to his fate, without any farther interference on my part, at all
events.'
'Oh no, aunt!' entreated Rose.
'Oh yes, aunt!' said the doctor. 'Is is a bargain?;
'He cannot be hardened in vice,' said Rose; 'It is impossible.'
'Very good,' retorted the doctor; 'then so much the more reason for acceding
to my proposition.'
Finally the treaty was entered into; and the parties thereunto sat down to
wait, with some impatience, until Oliver should awake.
The patience of the two ladies was destined to undergo a longer trial than
Mr. Losberne had led them to expect; for hour after hour passed on, and still
Oliver slumbered heavily. It was evening, indeed, before the kind-hearted doctor
brought them the intelligence, that he was at length sufficiently restored to be
spoken to. The boy was very ill, he said, and weak from the loss of blood; but
his mind was so troubled with anxiety to disclose something, that he deemed it
better to give him the opportunity, than to insist upon his remaining quiet
until next morning: which he should otherwise have done.
The conference was a long one. Oliver told them all his simple history, and
was often compelled to stop, by pain and want of strength. It was a solemn
thing, to hear, in the darkened room, the feeble voice of the sick child
recounting a weary catalogue of evils and calamities which hard men had brought
upon him. Oh! if when we oppress and grind our fellow-creatures, we bestowed but
one thought on the dark evidences of human error, which, like dense and heavy
clouds, are rising, slowly it is true, but not less surely, to Heaven, to pour
their after-vengeance on our heads; if we heard but one instant, in imagination,
the deep testimony of dead men's voices, which no power can stifle, and no pride
shut out; where would be the injury and injustice, the suffering, misery,
cruelty, and wrong, that each day's life brings with it!
Oliver's pillow was smoothed by gentle hands that night; and loveliness and
virtue watched him as he slept. He felt calm and happy, and could have died
without a murmur.
The momentous interview was no sooner concluded, and Oliver composed to rest
again, than the doctor, after wiping his eyes, and condemning them for being
weak all at once, betook himself downstairs to open upon Mr. Giles. And finding
nobody about the parlours, it occurred to him, that he could perhaps originate
the proceedings with better effect in the kitchen; so into the kitchen he went.
There were assembled, in that lower house of the domestic parliament, the
women-servants, Mr. Brittles, Mr. Giles, the tinker (who had received a special
invitation to regale himself for the remainder of the day, in consideration of
his services), and the constable. The latter gentleman had a large staff, a
large head, large features, and large half-boots; and he looked as if he had
been taking a proportionate allowance of ale--as indeed he had.
The adventures of the previous night were still under discussion; for Mr.
Giles was expatiating upon his presence of mind, when the doctor entered; Mr.
Brittles, with a mug of ale in his hand, was corroborating everything, before
his superior said it.
'Sit still!' said the doctor, waving his hand.
'Thank you, sir, said Mr. Giles. 'Misses wished some ale to be given out,
sir; and as I felt no ways inclined for my own little room, sir, and was
disposed for company, I am taking mine among 'em here.'
Brittles headed a low murmur, by which the ladies and gentlemen generally
were understood to express the gratification they derived from Mr. Giles's
condescension. Mr. Giles looked round with a patronising air, as much as to say
that so long as they behaved properly, he would never desert them.
'How is the patient to-night, sir?' asked Giles.
'So-so'; returned the doctor. 'I am afraid you have got yourself into a
scrape there, Mr. Giles.'
'I hope you don't mean to say, sir,' said Mr. Giles, trembling, 'that he's
going to die. If I thought it, I should never be happy again. I wouldn't cut a
boy off: no, not even Brittles here; not for all the plate in the county, sir.'
'That's not the point,' said the doctor, mysteriously. 'Mr. Giles, are you a
Protestant?'
'Yes, sir, I hope so,' faltered Mr. Giles, who had turned very pale.
'And what are YOU, boy?' said the doctor, turning sharply upon Brittles.
'Lord bless me, sir!' replied Brittles, starting violently; 'I'm the same as
Mr. Giles, sir.'
'Then tell me this,' said the doctor, 'both of you, both of you! Are you
going to take upon yourselves to swear, that that boy upstairs is the boy that
was put through the little window last night? Out with it! Come! We are prepared
for you!'
The doctor, who was universally considered one of the best-tempered creatures
on earth, made this demand in such a dreadful tone of anger, that Giles and
Brittles, who were considerably muddled by ale and excitement, stared at each
other in a state of stupefaction.
'Pay attention to the reply, constable, will you?' said the doctor, shaking
his forefinger with great solemnity of manner, and tapping the bridge of his
nose with it, to bespeak the exercise of that worthy's utmost acuteness.
'Something may come of this before long.'
The constable looked as wise as he could, and took up his staff of office:
which had been recling indolently in the chimney-corner.
'It's a simple question of identity, you will observe,' said the doctor.
'That's what it is, sir,' replied the constable, coughing with great
violence; for he had finished his ale in a hurry, and some of it had gone the
wrong way.
'Here's the house broken into,' said the doctor, 'and a couple of men catch
one moment's glimpse of a boy, in the midst of gunpowder smoke, and in all the
distraction of alarm and darkness. Here's a boy comes to that very same house,
next morning, and because he happens to have his arm tied up, these men lay
violent hands upon him--by doing which, they place his life in great danger--and
swear he is the thief. Now, the question is, whether these men are justified by
the fact; if not, in what situation do they place themselves?'
The constable nodded profoundly. He said, if that wasn't law, he would be
glad to know what was.
'I ask you again,' thundered the doctor, 'are you, on your solemn oaths, able
to identify that boy?'
Brittles looked doubtfully at Mr. Giles; Mr. Giles looked doubtfully at
Brittles; the constable put his hand behind his ear, to catch the reply; the two
women and the tinker leaned forward to listen; the doctor glanced keenly round;
when a ring was heard at the gate, and at the same moment, the sound of wheels.
'It's the runners!' cried Brittles, to all appearance much relieved.
'The what?' exclaimed the doctor, aghast in his turn.
'The Bow Street officers, sir,' replied Brittles, taking up a candle; 'me and
Mr. Giles sent for 'em this morning.'
'What?' cried the doctor.
'Yes,' replied Brittles; 'I sent a message up by the coachman, and I only
wonder they weren't here before, sir.'
'You did, did you? Then confound your--slow coaches down here; that's all,'
said the doctor, walking away.
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