The Story of Antony Grace Part 34

"Mr Ruddle and Mr Lister were in it, with Miss Carr and her sister."

"What, in that?" he said. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir, quite sure. Miss Carr nodded to me."

"Nodded? to you, Grace?"

"Oh yes, Mr Hallett, it was through Miss Carr that I was engaged;" and I told him how it happened.

"And so you are not going to play cricket?" he said dreamily, as he stood gazing wistfully in the direction taken by the waggonette.

"No, thank you," I replied sadly. "I'd rather not."

"Well, I'm going for a ramble in the forest. Dinner will not be ready for two hours. Will you come?"

"Oh yes, sir."

"Come along then, Grace, and well throw away the work for one day, and enjoy the country."

I had never seen him look so bright and pleasant before. The stern, cold, distant air was gone, and his eyes were bright and eager. He seemed to unbend, and it was delightful to find him take so much interest in me as he did.

"Well," he exclaimed, as we turned right into the wood by the first narrow foot-path, "and how are you getting on with the pie?"

"Very slowly, sir," I said sadly.

"Never mind, my boy; patience, and you will do it all; and it will not hurt you."

"But it was so unjust, sir. It was Smith who upset it."

"Ah! and he said it was you?"

"Yes, sir; and it was a lie."

"I thought as much; a young rascal! but never mind, Grace. I would rather be the lad who manfully bears an injustice like a hero, than be the big successful blackguard who escapes his punishment by a contemptible lie."

"So would I, sir," I said, swallowing down something which seemed to rise in my throat as I gazed in his bright, intelligent face.

"Bah! It was a pitiful bit of triumph for the young idiot; but never mind, my lad: work at it and finish it like a man, and it will be a piece of self-denial that you may be proud of to the end of your days."

We walked on for some distance in silence, he evidently thoroughly enjoying the beauty of the forest as we rambled on, knee-deep in ferns and heather, and I feeling that the old days were coming back, such as I used to love when wandering with my father through one of our woods, botanising or collecting bird and insect. Almost involuntarily as Mr Hallett took off his soft felt hat to let the breeze blow on his broad white forehead, I began, as of old, to pick a specimen here and there, till, after being in a musing fit for some time, he suddenly noticed what I was doing, and became interested.

"What have you got there?" he said, pointing to a plant I had just picked.

"Oh, that's a twayblade," I replied, "one of the orchis family."

"Indeed," he said, looking at me curiously, "and what is this?"

"Oh, a very common plant--dog's mercury."

"And this, Grace?" he continued, pointing to another, with its bulbous roots in the water.

"Water hemlock, sir."

"Why, Antony Grace, you are quite a young botanist," he said, smiling and showing his white teeth, while I gazed up at him wonderingly, he seemed so changed.

"I only know a little that papa--I mean my father, taught me."

"He used to take you for walks, then, my boy?"

"Oh, such delicious walks, sir."

"And you learned a good deal? Look! What a great toadstool! Don't handle it, my boy, some of these things are very poisonous."

"This is not, sir," I said eagerly; "this is _Boletus edulis_, and very good eating."

"Indeed; and pray what does _Boletus edulis_ mean?"

"The eatable _boletus_, sir. There is a family of fungi called the _boleti_, sir, and you can easily tell them, because they are all full of pores, or little holes, underneath, while the ordinary agarics have gills like this."

I picked up one with a brilliant scarlet top as I spoke, and showed him the white gills beneath.

"And has that a name?" he said.

"Oh yes; that is a very poisonous and rather rare specimen: it is _Russula emetica_."

"Why, Grace," he said, laying his hand on my shoulder, "you and I must come for country walks together. You must take me for a pupil. Good heavens?" he muttered, "how one does live to find out one's ignorance."

His whole manner from that moment was changed towards me. He seemed to throw off his mask of cold reserve, and laughed and chatted; ran up banks to get rare ferns, and climbed a tree to look at a late wood-pigeon's nest, so that the time flew by till, on referring to his watch, he found that we should have enough to do to get back to the dinner.

"I would rather stay in the forest," he said.

"So would I, sir," I replied rather dolefully.

"But no," he continued, "the firm are very kind, and we should be wanting in respect if we stayed away. Come along; you sit beside me, and we'll slip off afterwards and have another run."

We hurried back just in time for the dinner, but I did not get a place by Mr Hallett; and as soon as this was over speech-making began. It did not interest me, for my eyes were fixed upon a kind of gallery above the heads of the people at the upper table, in which I could see Miss Carr and her sister had taken their places, apparently to listen to the speeches made by Mr Ruddle and Mr Lister in turn.

They seemed, however, to pay little attention to them after the first, and as I sat watching them, and wis.h.i.+ng Miss Carr could see me, to my disappointment I saw them rise to go, just as, after a good deal of whispering between Mr Grimstone, Mr Jabez Rowle, and Mr Hallett, the latter, evidently unwillingly, rose to propose the health of the firm.

At the first sound of his voice I saw Miss Carr pause and stay her sister, and as he went on, she paid more and more attention, leaning over the rail to catch every word, while he, quite unconscious of the presence of such listeners, warmed to his task, and in well-chosen vigorous language, spoke in praise of the firm, and, at the same time, urged his fellow-workmen to give them in the future their best support as earnestly as they would promise it upon this present day.

He grew eager and excited as he spoke, and carried his eloquent speech on to such a climax that he sat down amidst a perfect tempest of cheering, both Mr Ruddle and Mr Lister leaving their seats afterwards to go and quietly shake hands with him, Mr Grimstone all the while apparently seeing in him a rival, for he scowled ominously, and Mr Jabez Rowle completely emptied his box of snuff.

My eyes, though, were princ.i.p.ally fixed upon the ladies in the little gallery, and I was near enough to see that Miss Carr's lips were parted, and her eyes looked eager and strange as she leaned forward more and more, till the speech was at an end. The next time I looked, she was gone.

Soon after I felt some one pull my arm, and starting round, there stood Mr Hallett, and hurriedly following him out of the hot, noisy room, we made our way once more into the forest.

As we rambled on, delighted with the delicious coolness and the sweet scents of the woodlands, Mr Hallett asked me a few questions about myself, soon learning my little history, while my respect for him had increased as I found out more and more how different he was from the ordinary workmen at the office. He was evidently a scholar, and seemed to have a great depth of knowledge in mechanical contrivances.