At that moment, the doctor came in. He drew his mother aside and told
her not to talk to Diamond. He must be kept as quiet as possible. And
indeed, Diamond felt very strange and weak. But he soon got better with
chicken broth and other nice things.
And it was a good thing that he could get well and strong again. For
since he had come to Sandwich, a sad thing had happened to his father.
Mr. Coleman, his father's employer, had failed in business. It had come
about in this way. Miss Coleman, who had looked so like North Wind that
night on which he had seen her having her long black hair combed beside
the fire, had a lover, a Mr. Evans. Now Mr. Evans was poor and felt
ashamed to marry Miss Coleman until he had made more money and could
live finely. This was a sort of false pride and it brought about great
trouble for them all.
For Mr. Coleman took Mr. Evans into partnership to help him along. As
soon as that happened, Mr. Evans began to urge Mr. Coleman to go into
business ventures which were not honest but in which they could make a
great deal of money. It was not so bad at first, but as they went on, it
became more and more dishonest.
They could not seem to get out of it, however, and get back to carrying
on their business in the right way. So North Wind had to take a hand and
teach them better. It was Mr. Coleman's ship she sank that night when
she carried Diamond into the cathedral to wait for her. In the one
boat-load of people which North Wind drove off to a desert island, was
Mr. Evans. He had gone along on the ship to manage the business. Now he
found that it would have been better to have been poor and stayed at
home to marry Miss Coleman than to be ship-wrecked and have to live on a
desert island because he longed so to be rich.
The loss of the ship ruined Mr. Coleman. He had to sell off his house
and his horses, old Diamond among them, and go and live in a poor little
house in a much less pleasant place. He had to begin again to work and
learn how much better it is to be honest and contented than to try to
get rich quickly. And poor Miss Coleman thought her lover was drowned
and was very, very unhappy.
Nobody suffers alone. When old Diamond was sold, young Diamond's father
was thrown out of work. Then he had no way to earn money to keep Diamond
and his mother and the new little baby brother who had come to them. How
Diamond did wish he was big enough to do something! But of course, he
could think of nothing he could do. Besides he had to get well and
strong first, anyway. His father sent word that he and his mother were
to stay down at Sandwich until he found something to do and a place
where he could make a home for them. It was a very fortunate thing that
Diamond's aunt was glad to keep them with her as long as ever they were
willing to stay.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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