Blade-O'-Grass. Golden Grain. and Bread and Cheese and Kisses.Farjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
General
Blade-O'-Grass. Golden Grain. and Bread and Cheese and Kisses.
Farjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
Christmas stories; Fiction
'It's only a matter of a couple of sovereigns, Tom,' said Mr.
Merrywhistle, stammering as if he were committing an act of meanness
instead of an act of kindness. 'They may come useful to you when you
land in Canada.'
Tom took the money and thanked him; then said that he had forgotten to
say something to Blade-o'-Grass, and ran up-stairs. I learnt
afterwards that he had given her the money, and had insisted, despite
her entreaties, that she should take it.
I did not leave Tom Beadle until the ship sailed. He related to me the
whole story of his life, and asked me once,
'Won't the old devil break out in me when I'm on the other side o' the
water?'
'Not if you are strong, Tom--not if you keep your thoughts on
Blade-o'-Grass, and think of the perfect happiness you can bestow upon
her by keeping in the right path.'
'I'll try to, sir. No man's ever tried 'arder than I mean to.'
When I thought of the friends that were waiting on the other side of
the Atlantic to help him, and encourage him, and keep him straight, I
was satisfied that all would turn out well.
I returned to London with a light heart. It was nearly nine o'clock at
night when I reached home. I lit my lamp, and saw upon my table a
large envelope, addressed to me in a lawyer's handwriting. I opened
the letter, and found that it contained a sealed packet, and the
following note, dated from Chancery-lane:
'Sir,--In accordance with instructions received from our late client,
Mr. James Fairhaven, we forward to you the enclosed packet, seven days
after his death.--We are, sir, your obedient servants,
'WILSON, SON, & BAXTER.
'To Andrew Meadow, Esq.'
The news of the death of my benefactor and old friend, Mr. Fairhaven,
shocked and grieved me. It was a sorrowful thought that he had parted
from me in anger. If I had known of his illness, I am sure I should
have gone to him, despite his prohibition. But I did not know; and
even the consolation of following to the grave the last remains of the
man who had so generously befriended me had been denied to me. I
passed a few minutes in sorrowful reflection, and then took up the
sealed packet. It was addressed, in his own handwriting, to Andrew
Meadow, and was very bulky. The manuscript it contained was headed,
'_James Fairhaven's last words to
Andrew Meadow_.'
It was with a beating heart I prepared to read what he had written.
XIV.
IT IS SUNRISE. A GOLDEN MIST IS RISING FROM THE WATERS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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