Chapter XI: A Friend in Need

"IF you please, ma'am, may I see Fanny?"

The lady who had opened the door looked at Jack in surprised silence for a minute, and then he said—

"Fanny is my sister, ma'am!"

"Oh dear, what a pity, to be sure, that you have missed each other! How could you have managed it? I hope your father is no worse?" added the lady.

"No, ma'am, he is a good deal better to-day, thank you."

"Fanny will be glad to hear that. She has gone home this afternoon, because of the news she got yesterday morning."

"Yes, ma'am," answered Jack, not knowing what else to say, and wondering how Fanny could have heard the news. "Good afternoon, ma'am," he said, as he turned away to walk home, hoping he might overtake Fanny and ask her how she had heard that his father was hurt.

He walked on quickly, keeping a sharp look-out for his sister as he went, but could see nothing of her. Just before he reached home, a thought occurred to him that made him almost stand still in the middle of the street, and he exclaimed, half aloud—

"Why, how could Fanny have heard that dad was ill yesterday morning? He wasn't hurt till last night. That's a rum go! I'm sure Mrs. Lloyd said she had the news yesterday morning;" and he walked on at a brisker pace, for he was anxious to reach home now and solve this mystery.

As he turned into the street, he saw his mother coming towards him. She had evidently been to see Jessie Collins, and he hurried forward to meet her before she reached their own door.

"Why, how is it you are back so soon, Jack? I thought you said you should go to church with Fanny?"

"Yes, so I should; but she has come home to tea, and I missed her somewhere."

"Home to tea?" repeated Mrs. Brown, in surprise. "She must have come in, then, while I have been away, and I didn't stay long with Jessie either."

"I say, somebody sent and told her father was ill yesterday morning," said Jack, as they were turning in at their own gate.

"Nonsense. No one could have done it, for there was nothing the matter with him until last night."

"Well, Mrs. Lloyd says Fanny knew it yesterday morning. I never thought about it till I was half way home, and then it seemed a rum go to me that Fan should know before anything had happened."

Mrs. Brown looked at Jack in silence for a moment, while she took the key of the door from her pocket; then she said, in a changed tone—

"Jack, we must keep this to ourselves, if Fanny isn't indoors. I am still to keep your father very quiet, the doctor says, and it will never do to upset him about Fanny just now. And he will be cross if he hears that she has had leave to come home, and not come."

"But where could she go?" asked Jack. "She doesn't know anybody out there, does she?"

"She may have made friends!" said his mother. "But mind, your father must not know this just now."

Almost at the same moment Selina opened the door.

"We heard you talking," she announced, "and father said I might come and see who it was. Haven't you been, Jack?" she asked.

"Been? Been where, Miss Inquisitive?" asked her brother.

"Why, to see Fanny, of course. You said you should meet her as she was going to church."

"Well, I missed her," said Jack.

His father was downstairs in the sitting-room now, and heard what he said to Selina.

"You have not seen Fanny?" he said questioningly, as they went into the room.

"No; he missed her somehow," said Mrs. Brown, answering for him.

"Why didn't you go on and see if she had started?" said his father.

"So I did, and saw Mrs. Lloyd, who told me I must have missed her coming along," answered Jack.

"But you could have gone to the church," said Brown, in a tone of annoyance.

"Yes, if I had known which church she was going to to-night; but there are two within easy reach of her place, and she told me the last time I saw her that sometimes she went to one, and sometimes to another; or she may have gone for a walk," suggested Jack, who expected Fanny to come in at any moment, as she evidently had not arrived yet. And then, to avoid being asked any more awkward questions about his sister, he asked his mother how she had found Jessie Collins.

"Oh, she is very poorly, of course, and her foot is very painful to-day, but she is less anxious now they have got her father to go home again. Radford took him this afternoon, and though he looks very bad, he understands all that has happened."

"Poor chap, he has had a hard time of it," said Brown, "and the hardest part is that, having kept himself a sober man all these years, he should break down just now. Did he see you?" he suddenly asked of his wife.

"Oh yes; he was sitting near Jessie when I went in, and he looked up, and asked how you were, and if it was true you had had a bad fall. 'Quite true,' I said, 'but we don't want any fuss made about it,' and then I talked to Jessie while he went and sat by the window."

"I should like to go and see him," remarked Brown.

"That will never do," said his wife, promptly; "it will make matters worse all round. And besides, I heard while I was out that the foreman was coming to see if you would be well enough to go to work as usual to-morrow morning."

"To be sure I shall. Thanks to the doctor's care and your good nursing, I shall be right as a trivet by the morning, and a deal better at my work than stopping here to wonder over this and that, and wish I could alter things."

"Well, if the foreman thinks you had better go, I will not hinder it," said Mrs. Brown, thinking of Fanny, and how her father would worry if he only heard the news Jack had brought.

Just before bedtime the foreman came in, for he had heard all sorts of reports about Brown's illness, and wanted to satisfy himself as to what had happened.

"I wasn't there to see!" answered Mrs. Brown, when the man asked if she had not gone out with her husband. "I had gone into a shop, and when I came out there was a crowd, and Brown lying in the middle of it."

"Well, you know what Collins said—that he had killed you."

"Oh, Collins was mad with drink on Saturday!" said Brown, quickly. "No one believes a man when he is like that."

"And you don't want it to be believed, you mean," said the foreman.

Brown laughed. "Who is likely to believe that I am killed when they hear I have gone to work as usual on Monday morning. Besides, what good would it do to have the police meddling between friends?"

"That is sensible enough, if it satisfies you, that you will not again be hurt by the same fool."

"That's it? Whoever it was knows he is a fool now," said Brown, "and he won't be likely to repeat it. I shall be all right when I once get back to my work, and so I hope you'll let me go as usual to-morrow."

"Let you? I shall only be too glad to have you, if you can come. But it must be on the understanding that you give up if you are not well, and take things easily if you are. Everything is straightforward now, and you like your work, I know."

"Like it? I should think I do, and I should like my Jack to have the chance of learning this branch of it."

"Well now, that will be the very thing for us. I suspect the boy you have had has let his tongue run away with him as to what happened down there, and so I will arrange that he stays here for a time, and your boy can go in his place if he is a steady reliable lad, and he can keep an eye upon you and make things comfortable if you are not quite the thing."

Brown himself hardly liked to accept this kind offer; but Mrs. Brown said eagerly—

"If you could manage this without being unfair to the other boy I should be very thankful, for Jack could let me know at once if his father was not well, and my mind would be at rest about him."

"Well, then, let Jack come with his father to-morrow morning. It will be a lesson, perhaps, to the other chap not to let his tongue run so fast about what does not concern him, so that it will be quite fair to make the change, Mrs. Brown."

Then the foreman went away, and husband and wife could talk over this piece of good fortune—for it was an opportunity of learning the more highly skilled portion of the work, if a lad was careful, steady, and observant.

Jack had to prove whether he would use the opportunity thus given to him; but he was delighted and astonished when he came in to learn that he was to go with his father the next morning. "My boy, it will be the making of you, if you only take care and learn all you can," said his father.

"I shall have to stick to my books, though, if I want to get on," said Jack, to whom book-learning was not pleasant.

"Yes, you will; for, as you know, I have had to do it, old as I am, that if ever the chance came in my way I might be able to take it. There will be arithmetic, and lots of other things to learn of an evening," added his father.

"But you will go this week, at any rate," said his mother; "for I shall fidget about your father unless I know he has somebody to look after him."

"Why, mother, what do you take me for?" said Jack, in a half-offended tone. "Of course I am very glad to go with father, because you will know things are all right; unless I write and tell you he is not so well, and ought to come home."

Brown laughed. "I see you are to go as a sort of keeper, as though I was not to be trusted by myself."

"Well, something like it," admitted his wife. "I know how anxious you are to keep this work, now you have got it. How hard you have tried to fit yourself for this kind of work if ever it came in your way, that you may be inclined not to give it up even when you ought, for fear you should lose it altogether."

"Well, you may be right," said Brown, "for I don't mind telling you that I should be awfully disappointed to lose my present job now. It is responsible work, and requires all a man's thought and attention while he is at it. And because of that, I hope I should not be tempted to stop on when I wasn't fit, even to save my place. So, if Jack sees I am not up to the mark, he must tell me, and I will come home at once, and go under the doctor again. There is no telling what might happen if there was any mistake or neglect where I am now."

"All right, father; don't worry yourself about it," interrupted Jack. "I will keep a strict watch, never fear; and if you only blink as though you had got the headache, off you go, and I shall send for the foreman."

"Right you are, lad," said Brown. "That is what I want you to do for me; and you can think about the book-learning, and whether you will take it up when you are off duty."

"So I can. And I dare say by the end of the week I shall be able to make up my mind whether the job will be worth all the trouble and bother and fuss of having to learn this and that."

"Perhaps it will be better than deciding at once that you will take this chance of getting on," said Mrs. Brown.

But it was easy to see that she would be greatly disappointed if Jack decided against it.

When the lad had gone up to bed, Brown spoke of this.

"Better let him think it out for himself, and count the cost," he said. "Book-learning he don't like, as you know; and he must decide for himself whether he will take the trouble to overcome this dislike, or whether he will jog along as most of the men do. He has got to live his own life, and must decide this question for himself. Many a man quite as good as I am would not take my job, even if they could, because of the responsibility of the thing. I will talk to Jack about it while we are away; but I shall not say a word to persuade him either way, for I don't think that would be fair. As Jack did not leave your letter for Fanny, don't you think you might go over and see her yourself, mother?" he suddenly broke off. "You know, I meant to go to-day, and clear some of the cobweb out of the silly girl's head; but as I couldn't go, and Jack managed to miss her, well, I think it will be better for you to go when you can manage the walk."

"Yes, it will be best, certainly," assented Mrs. Brown, who was wondering where Fanny could have gone when she went out to tea, and how she could have heard that her father was ill before it happened.

The next morning Brown seemed quite recovered, and he and Jack went off by the early train with the others. As soon as breakfast was over, and the girls gone to school, Mrs. Brown went to see Jessie, and hear what they were going to do about her mother's funeral.

She was afraid no provision had been made in any way, and was not surprised to find Jessie in tears, and to hear her say—

"Father is in an awful way about the funeral, Mrs. Brown. He doesn't know what to do, or which way to turn."

"Your mother did not belong to a club or anything of that sort?"

"Mother didn't. She never could save; and father knew it, so he joined a club where they make some sort of allowance when a wife dies. But he hasn't kept this paid up, and unless he can clear the books this morning before twelve o'clock, we shan't get a penny, and mother will have to be buried by the parish." And Jessie burst into tears again at the thought of such an indignity as a parish funeral for her mother.

Mrs. Brown was silent. Perhaps she thought a parish funeral was all that Mrs. Collins deserved; but she did not say so, and she could sympathize with Jessie in her love and regard for her mother. So, at last, she said—

"Do you know how much there is to pay up this club of your father's?"

Jessie shook her head. "Father said it was nearly a pound, and he would never be able to get it in time," sobbed the girl.

"Has he tried?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"He asked two or three of his mates last night," said Jessie.

Again Mrs. Brown was silent, while she thought over what she could do to help.

"Do you know how much money he would get if the club money was all paid up?"

"About six pounds," replied Jessie.

"Enough to buy you and Polly new black frocks, repay the money you must borrow to get this, and still leave plenty to bury your mother decently, and provide something for your father. Now, if I lend you the pound that is wanted, will you promise that I shall be repaid out of this six pounds as soon as you get it?"

"Oh, Mrs. Brown, if you would do this for us, I am sure father will be glad to pay you the moment we get the club money."

"Very well, I will trust you. But, you see, it is what I have got to spend in the house this week, and so I shall have to ask people to give me credit until you can pay it back," explained Mrs. Brown.

"Yes; I see. I understand," said Jessie. "And, of course, you never have credit, Mrs. Brown?"

"Not now. Not as a regular thing. But, you remember, Brown was ill a long time last year, and there was no help for it but to get into debt. Thank God, these debts are nearly all paid off now; but we have had a hard time of it, Jessie, to keep our heads above water sometimes."

Jessie opened her eyes in amazement. "Why, everybody thought you had got a little fortune somewhere!" she exclaimed. "We knew Mr. Brown was ill, and couldn't work; but it didn't seem to make any difference, and you all held your heads as high as ever. Mother said this again and again."

"I did not know that we ever held our heads above our neighbours," said Mrs. Brown, quickly. "Of course, we did not want it talked about that we were sometimes glad to have a dinner of dry bread, and to sell all our best furniture. I tell you this, Jessie, that you may understand that I cannot afford to lose this money I am going to lend you. Now, how will you manage to send it?" asked Mrs. Brown, in conclusion.

"Polly hasn't gone to school yet. She knows where to take it, and I know where father keeps the book. Oh, won't he be glad when he comes home, and I tell him he can go and see about the funeral as soon as he has done work! Why, we never did anything for you when you wanted it, but you are ready to help us all you can," added Jessie.

"Well, for one thing, you did not know how we were pushed. You thought we had a fortune, so that it was not your fault that we were sometimes hungry," said Mrs. Brown. "But when you can do a neighbour a kind turn, do it, whatever it may be. Now, let me sweep up the room and make you comfortable, while Polly goes to pay the club." And as she spoke Mrs. Brown fetched brush and broom, and soon made the kitchen neat and tidy.

"I didn't feel as though I could do anything this morning," said Jessie.

"I dare say not, my dear. Things are hard with you just now, I know; but I have always found it a good rule not to let anything interfere with the sweeping and cleaning. When Brown was ill, I seemed to lose heart sometimes; but I kept a clean floor and a tidy dresser, for it would have made me worse to see things all in a muddle."

When Jessie herself was made comfortable, and her lame foot placed on a pillow, Mrs. Brown went home, wondering whether she had done a wise thing or a foolish in parting with her money so readily. It would put her to some inconvenience through the week to be without ready money in her pocket, until it occurred to her that perhaps Fanny might lend her a few shillings. She resolved to tell her all about Jessie Collins, and ask her if she could let her have a little money until Collins could return what she had lent.