Chapter II: George at Work

LONG after the younger children had gone to bed, husband and wife sat talking over the new trial which had fallen upon them. George had gone up to the school to tell the master of his engagement by Mr. Day, and little Janet sat at the table as quiet as a mouse, darning stockings.

Mrs. Horbrook spoke hopefully, although her heart was very sad.

"When you first came in and told me all sudden like about having to go away, I felt so taken aback; it all seemed so blank, so dreary, and then our little George spoke out so manfully. He little knows the good his words did me. And now, John, I seem as if I could look it all in the face, and trust in God that it will all be for our good."

"Well said, Susie," replied her husband; "and Dr. Bertram will be kind to you whilst I am away, and he has promised to give me a letter to one of the head surgeons who is a friend."

"And who knows but that in London you may chance to hear something of poor Tom?"

"May be so, wife, though they say London is a large place,—a mighty large place."

Neither John nor his wife had ever been out of the Isle of Wight, and would have had considerable difficulty in realizing the fact that London contains sixty times as many people as there are in the "whole" of the isle of Wight! Yet such is the fact, so there seemed but little prospect of John Horbrook coming across his son Tom.

Tom Horbrook had had every chance of doing well in life. He was a quick boy, and his parents had been able by strict economy to pay for his being taught a trade. But, unfortunately, Tom was fond of mixing with the wild and unsteady lads of the town; every town has its good-for-nothing portion of the population, and Northcliffe had its share. Over and over again did Tom's parents warn him of the ruin he was bringing on himself. At length, some money was missing from his master's counting-house, and grave suspicions fell upon Tom Horbrook. He disappeared suddenly from Northcliffe, and from that day no one had ever heard of or from him.

"If he had but written me one line!" his mother would exclaim, in the bitterness of her sorrow.

Two years had passed away since he left Northcliffe, and most people thought Tom Horbrook had met with some sudden death. Not so his mother, she clung to the conviction that "Tom would write some day." And every night the little ones prayed for their lost brother Tom; whilst Janet, in the quiet of her tiny room which she shared with her two younger sisters, never failed to ask God to "make Tom write to poor mother." And so matters stood when Mrs. Horbrook spoke of the chance of her husband meeting with his son in the far-off city of London.

When George returned home, he was accompanied by Mr. Gilbert, the schoolmaster.

"I hope I'm not intruding by coming so late," he said, as Mrs. Horbrook rose to get him a chair. "But George was telling me about your trouble, and I came round to see if I could be of any use to you."

"It is very good of you, Mr. Gilbert, I'm sure," answered John Horbrook. "It was a great shock to my wife and me just at first, but I think we see matters a little differently now; not but what it 'is' a trial, however we may try to make the best of it."

"There's no doubt about that," said the schoolmaster; "but, like many other trials, it may prove to be a blessing, that is, if used rightly."

"We were talking about that very thing before you came in," said Mrs. Horbrook. "But if the worst should happen," she continued, and her voice "would" tremble in spite of all her efforts to steady it, "what could John do if he returned home a—"

She could not bring herself to say the word "cripple," but Mr. Gilbert understood what she meant.

"It was just on that very point I wished to speak to your husband, Mrs. Horbrook. It is the part of a Christian man to look troubles in the face. If your husband should lose the use of his legs, he has still his hands to fall back upon. And George showed me only last week a pair of boots which he said his father had mended for him."

"John can do anything with his hands," said his wife proudly.

"Then let him take heart, and be assured that if God in His wisdom sees fit to close up one path of life to him, He will open another. There is plenty of work here for shoemakers and shoe-menders. And I will speak to my brother when your husband returns, and I know he will give him employment."

"I know something of shoemaking," said John Horbrook, "for when I was a boy, my father bound me to a shoemaker. But I was not a strong lad, and so much sitting did not agree with me. And after working at my trade for more than a year, I was obliged to give it up, and seek out-door employment."

"All right, Horbrook, see if you don't turn out a first-rate shoemaker, if occasion requires it of you. And how about George? It seems a pity that he should lose what knowledge he has gained; and we all know how soon anything forgotten that we make no use of. I have been telling him, therefore, that whenever he has a spare hour in the evening, and likes to come round to my house, I shall be pleased to give him a little help. In that way, we can manage so that at all events, he shall not forget what he has already learned; and he may add something to his stock of knowledge. No man can rise nowadays without some education. Nay, no thanks, Mrs. Horbrook, I am only doing as I would be done by."

"Mr. Gilbert has promised to teach me a little drawing, father," said George,—"the very thing I always longed for so very much!"

"It will be useful to him in his trade," replied the schoolmaster. "I saw a little sketch he made on a slate one day of some flowers one of the children had brought to school. Now a mason, with anything like a taste for drawing, will soon rise in the world. It was only this afternoon I was speaking to one of the stonemasons who are working at the new church. He was carving a group of flowers for the top of one of the pillars; and he told me that he can earn with ease seven or eight shillings a day."

"If 'I' should ever be able to do that!" cried George.

"There is no reason why you should not some of these days. Meanwhile, accustom yourself to sketch from nature—a leaf, a fern, a flower, you are surrounded by such things here. And the habit of copying nature will help you materially. No matter how roughly the thing is done; a bit of common chalk will serve you as well as a pencil. But I must now bid you good night; and if I can help you in any way, be sure and let me know."

As he spoke, he shook John Horbrook warmly by the hand.

And when he left the cottage, George and his parents sat for some time talking over the kind and hopeful words which had done them so much good.

George was up with the lark the next morning, and whistled as he went off to work.

Very few of the men had arrived when he reached the building. But the foreman was already there, and told George he was glad to see him come in good time, and that he hoped he would continue to do so.

A lad about two years older than George whispered to one of the men something about "new brooms sweeping clean," and looked at the new-comer with no very friendly glance. George took no notice, however, and was soon busy filling a hod with mortar, and carrying it up a ladder to one of the masons. This man, upon whom George was to wait, was a steady, industrious workman; and Mr. Day had told the foreman that he wished George to be under him.

"I'm glad to see Mr. Day has taken you on, Horbrook," he said; "and I hope you will do well for your father's sake. We have trouble with boys sometimes; they are apt to answer impertinently, and one cannot expect that the men will put up with that."

George worked well that day. The man upon whom he waited had never once to tell him to make haste with the mortar. And although, long before the day's work was over, George felt his shoulder becoming painful, he kept to his work as if nothing were the matter.

Matthew Hale said he had never had a better boy to wait on him; and George's eyes shone with pleasure, for Matthew was a man of few words, and not given to praise.

Larkins, the boy who had sneered at George in the morning, overheard what Matthew Hale said, and exclaimed, "So you are going to set up for a pattern boy, are you?"

"I am only going to try and do my duty," answered George quietly.