A HAMPER OF HOLLY
Two days before Christmas Hector Beaudessart arrived at the
station together with a large and heavy hamper, which he
consigned to the porter, and bade him take charge of it till it
was called for.
Hector was not quite easy in his mind in accompanying the
promised supply of holly.
The Frobisher girls had distinctly emphasised their desire not
to be traced; but a good deal of concern had been prevalent in
the neighbourhood of Pendabury as to their fate. Some thought
that they were in a condition of real destitution, and that they
had disappeared from the district, ashamed to have their state
known and talked about. They had no relations, though they had
many friends.
Rumours more or less extravagant and absurd circulated
concerning them.
Hector's mother had been greatly troubled on their account, and Hector's mind had been disturbed.
At length the tension became unendurable; he resolved on
risking the displeasure of Joan Frobisher, and on discovering in
what condition she and her sister actually were, so as to
intervene in a peremptory manner, should they be in difficulties. He was determined, if possible, not to show himself, and not to allow them to become aware that he had made inquiries about them. He would but satisfy his own mind and that of his mother, without disconcerting Joan, unless there were real occasion for his appearing on the scene.
He was too honourable not to shrink from the semblance of
doing an ungentlemanly act, such as prying into the condition of
the girls might be taken to be. Yet he felt that a duty devolved
upon him to act, so far as might be, as their protector, against
possible dangers into which, in their ignorance of the world, they might unwarily step. They were young, and had no natural guardian; they were badly off, and someone must assume a right to see that they did not succumb under their misfortunes, and no other person had so great a claim to do so as himself.
By this means he satisfied his conscience.
As Hector stood outside the straggling station, looking up a
long road that had not as yet dared to call itself a street, doubtful what to do and whither to go, he was accosted by an urchin of apparently twelve years, to judge by his size, but with an old-young face that might belong to one at any age under twenty. The eye was bright and the face smooth; there were, however, hollows under the temples, and sunken cheeks and a pinched throat that proclaimed privation.
"Shall I carry your portmantle, sir?"
"No, thank you—not just now. Let me see. Do you belong to the
station?"
"No, sir, the station belongs to me. I'm one of the gen'l
public, and if the gen'l public didn't favour it, where'd the Co. be as runs the line?"
"Are you here all day?"
"Yes, sir, and part of the night."
"I daresay you would not object to earn half a crown?"
"None at all, but why split it? Stretch a point and make it a
crown. But nothing underhand, you know."
"No impertinence! There is a hamper of holly left at the
station to be called for. I want you to watch and discover who
fetches it, and whither it is taken, and then to inform me."
"Shell out!" shouted the boy. "Right you are."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm the chap commissioned to fetch that there 'amper when it
arrives."
"It is addressed to a Miss Frobisher."
"I know her, Joan. She's a topper. She sent me arter it
yesterday, but it hadn't come to 'and; so I was bid look out for
it to-day. I've earned that 'arfcrown fair and honourable, so you
plank up at once."
"You scaramouch, you shall have it. Go at once and fetch the
hamper—but I forewarn you, it is too heavy for you to
carry."
"Then there's something in it more than holly," said the boy, with a wink.
"That is no concern of yours. You are to convey it to Miss
Frobisher's house."
"All right, guv'ner. I'll borrer a barrer over at yond
coalshed to begin with. They know me there, intimate; and me and
the manager entertains mutual respect. I'll 'ave the 'amper on a
barrer in the cock of yer eye."
"Stay a moment. What do you know of Miss Frobisher? Does she
live at a distance?"