YOU would have found it difficult to believe that Claverton was the same place as the one to which I at first introduced you. As day after day passed, and my master's affairs became still more complicated, I could see that his countenance had assumed a reserved and gloomy expression. In his self-brought trouble he knew not the source of comfort and consolation to which my mistress always turned. Late and early-turning night into day-he pondered over his unsatisfactory accounts.
Gladly now as he would have retracted some of his more recent acts, it lay not in his power to do so. Anxious to raise money to meet present necessities his own dwelling-house had been mortgaged; while his business liabilities were discovered to be greater even than he had supposed. Only one resource now lay before him. Proudly as he recoiled from the advice of his solicitor, yet full well he knew that to be a bankrupt was inevitable.
I should like to silently pass over those sad days; but I cannot. There came a day when, with an unceremonious knock at the front door, a stranger entered our quiet dwelling. Coolly looking round at the various articles of luxury and convenience in the apartments, he passed uninvited from room to room. Before night the family was preparing to quit Claverton forever! Mrs. Grahame wept for a few moments; for weeping was a relief to her overcharged heart, and she knew she should feel better for the indulgence. It was a trial to see those so dear to her thus turned out of what had till this affliction been so happy a home!
"Look up, dear mother. There's a God above us who will guide and care for us," whispered Kate.
"I know it, my child," replied Mrs. Grahame tenderly. "May He bless you for reminding me of it at such a moment."
I don't think my mistress thought of me once during the day. Her heart was too full to think of anything except what demanded her immediate attention. It was not till she laid me down on a small wooden dressing-table in a house in a crowded part of Worcester that she remembered my companionship.
I found then that Mr. Grahame had taken some humble apartments in this place for his family until he could decide as to what course to pursue. "This ought not to have been brought away, William, I suppose?" inquired my mistress, as with pale face and weary movement she held me towards her husband before retiring to rest.
"That watch! Did they let you have that?" inquired Mr. Grahame in surprise.
"They did not see it, dear," she answered; "but if it is right that they should have it, you must give it to them."
"It is not right," he said after a short pause. "The watch is yours. I gave you a ten-pound note on the birthday before you bought it, telling you to buy anything you wanted with the money. And when old Harbury came, you bought the watch. So it is yours by right and possession." Whether or not this reasoning would have been allowed in a court of justice, I am not prepared to say.
Worn, sad and weary as my mistress at this moment certainly was, she said no more on the subject. Her pillow was wet with tears before she slept. He who had permitted the trial alone knew its intensity. Above the trouble she would one day hear His voice speaking peace and blessing to her soul. Now it was the furnace; now the refining time. But there would be an “afterward" when she would experience for herself "the peaceable fruits of righteousness."
Several days elapsed before I quitted the chamber of my mistress. Anxiety, followed by the suddenness of the removal from Claverton, had been too much for her naturally delicate constitution, and she lay prostrate for some days. But faith in God continued strong in the mother's heart, and with a feeling of chastened joy Mrs. Grahame found herself once more downstairs amidst her family.
How her heart beat as she entered that lowly parlor! Although Kate had done all she could to make the apartment look as cheerful as possible, yet it was a back room, and no cheerful sunbeams found their way in through its small window. A bird, perched upon the low wall that divided the garden into two equal parts, was the only object that seemed to attract attention in the world beyond.
“Here's mother!" shouted Carrie, as my mistress entered leaning upon Kate's arm. "Here's mother!" echoed Maude and Sydney, as they joyfully rose to greet her on her entrance.
"It won't be half so bad now you're come down, dear mother," said Sydney, as he left the place where he had been seated, and came and stood by his mother's side. "It seems so different when we are all together." "Yes, my boy," said the mother fondly, "the trouble will not be so bad if we can all keep together."
Nothing remarkable occurred during the few weeks that followed our arrival at Worcester. Mr. Grahame did not find it an easy task to procure employment. There were days when little sustenance could be procured for the household. Six people could not live upon the air!
There were other days, however, when Mr. Grahame had been successful in earning a few shillings. Those were better times, and when they talked together of how many more knew poverty worse than theirs, they all acknowledged that there were many things to be thankful for in their lot.
"Here's a letter from Herbert," shouted Sydney, tapping at Mrs. Grahame's bedroom door about seven o'clock one morning in November.
"I shall be downstairs in a few moments," said his mother, as she took the letter in her hand and broke open the envelope. "If you can be patient enough to wait till then, perhaps there will be some special news for you."
Sydney, naturally gay and light-hearted, was running off in his boyish fashion. Two steps at a time was almost too slow a pace for him! The boy was now about eight years of age, and a general favorite with all who knew him. Except that he knew and felt, in some little measure, his father's change of circumstances, Sydney's present style of life rather pleased him. It gave him more freedom than he would otherwise have enjoyed.
"Herbert's coming down to spend the day, Sydney," his mother called after him, as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
"News, Kate! News, Maude! News, Carrie! Herbert is coming down to spend the day with us, mother says," cried the boy, as he re-entered the little parlor, where the breakfast was being prepared. "And there's father," he added, as a step was heard coming along the narrow passage; "I'll be the first to tell him of it!"
But Mr. Grahame did not seem so pleased as his little son had expected. It was painful to him to think that his eldest son should find them in a house which was such a contrast to Claverton. But he said nothing of his thoughts, and only patted the child's curly head.
Herbert Grahame had now attained the age of nineteen. His term of apprenticeship had expired about a year previously, and in accordance with his father's wishes he had remained in the same establishment. He was now receiving a small salary. Gay, thoughtless, but kind-hearted as a lad, his naturally cheerful disposition led him to associate with those of a like temperament. Wiser and better would have been his after course in life, if he had been more careful in the selection of his companions.
"What shall we have for dinner, Emily?" asked my master, as he rose from the breakfast-table.
I was lying upon the mantel-piece as he spoke, for so eager had my mistress been to read Herbert's letter to her husband and children, that she had not hung me in my accustomed position, but had laid me in this place for safety. While waiting for his wife's answer, I could not help imagining that my master was thinking of the means to procure whatever she might suggest for the occasion. Suddenly 1 saw a strange, undecided look pass over his countenance. He advanced a step towards me, then as quickly drew back. Another moment of hesitation, and I felt his hand beneath me, and saw plainly his deep-set eyes making an estimate of my value.
I could read that look upon his pale, haggard countenance. It is a sad sight to see the marks of "the sorrow of the world that worketh death" upon a man's face! The struggle of whatever kind was over, and with a muttered expression of "No! Not to-day! I can manage for to-day," Mr. Grahame laid me in my former place and went out.
Some hours later, in came Herbert with a hand held by each of his younger sisters, who had been to the railway station to give him the first welcome. "Bless you, dear mother!" said Herbert, as he put his manly arms round her neck, and gave her just such a loving kiss as every true son should give a mother. "How are you, mother?" Herbert was saying. "How are you keeping up, with all the trouble you've had?"
For her son's sake Mrs. Grahame was brave over her trials, and made the best of what she could not avoid revealing. It would perhaps have been better had his mother told Herbert more about their mode of living during the last few weeks. It might have made him a little less gay and thoughtless, and have helped to make him more considerate over his own expenditure.
A very merry party they all were at dinner! No trace of the morning's vexation remained upon the father's brow. How could it? Who would not have been proud of such a son as Herbert? The life of the whole dinner-party, the straits of poverty were for a time forgotten beneath his genial influence.
“So you're all off to the cathedral this afternoon, I hear," remarked Mr. Grahame, when dinner was over. “I wish I could make one of the party, but business prevents. However, I'll be home early to tea, and spend the evening with you after. What time does your train go, Herbert?"
“Not before nine o'clock, father! I don't come very often, so I shall stop as long as I can."
“All right, my boy!" nodded Mr. Grahame as he left them.
Herbert, having nothing better to do while the rest of the party were preparing for their walk, amused himself by making a survey of everything in the room. All at once his eye fell upon me!
“It is a real beauty!" said he, as he rose and examined, me-although, of course, he had seen in before during previous visits. "Our Coventry people think very much of their watches; but I really don't think they can at all come up to this one.
"Mother, I shall put your watch in my pocket for this afternoon," said he as she entered. “We shan't' like to be late if father is coming home early, so I will be timekeeper."
Mrs. Grahame made no objection. Across the soft, green grass of the large, level field known as Pitchcroft down by the margin of the rippling Severn, the happy party passed. Fully three-quarters of a mile lay between their present dwelling and the cathedral. Very merry were the three younger children, as they played mimic races with their elder brother. Mrs. Grahame and Kate, with a quieter enjoyment, watched their freaks with satisfaction. Very much of truth did those simple words of Sydney's contain: "Things do not seem so bad when we are all together."
Ah! how sweet to see the invisible bonds that unite in love's fond ties the members of the same family.
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! it is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore." (Psa. 133:1-31<<A Song of degrees of David.>> Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! 2It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; 3As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. (Psalm 133:1‑3).)