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
'That she is, sir; that she is,' cried Ben, in delight; adding to
himself, under his breath, 'Every inch a gentleman! His kindness to
George and me is a-maz-ing--A-MAZ-ING!'
The idle young dog, entering the parlour, found Bessie very pale and
very unhappy. She was unhappy because of the manner of her parting
from George last night; unhappy and utterly miserable because of the
poisoned dagger which had been planted in her heart.
'I was passing through Covent garden,' said the idle young dog, in
gentle tones, thinking how pretty Bessie looked even in her sorrow,
'and seeing these flowers, I thought you would do me the pleasure to
accept them.'
Bessie thanked him, and took them listlessly from his hand. Tottie,
who was playing at 'shop' in a corner of the room, weighing sand in
paper scales, and disposing of it to imaginary customers as the best
fourpenny-ha'penny moist (is this ever done in reality, I wonder!),
came forward to see and smell the flowers. The idle young dog seized
upon Tottie as a pretext for taking a seat, and, lifting the child on
his knee, allowed her to play with his watch-chain, and opened his
watch for her, and put it to her ear, so that she might hear it
tick--a performance of which she would never have tired. His manner
towards Bessie was very considerate and gentle, and she had every
reason to be grateful to him, for he had been a good friend to her
grandfather and her lover. Certainly he was one of the pleasantest
gentlemen in the world, and he won Tottie's heart by giving her a
shilling--the newest he could find in his pocket. Tottie immediately
slipped off his knee, and went to her corner to brighten the coin with
sand; after the fashion of old Ben Sparrow, who often polished up a
farthing with sand until he could see his face in it, and gave it to
Tottie as a golden sovereign. Tottie valued it quite as much as she
would have done if it had been the purest gold.
The idle young dog did not stay very long; he was no bungler at this
sort of idling, and he knew the value of leaving a good impression
behind him. So, after a quarter of an hour's pleasant chat, he shook
hands with Bessie, and as he stood smiling at her, wishing her
good-day, with her hand in his, the door suddenly opened, and George
Naldret appeared.
His face was white and haggard, and there was a wild grief in his
eyes. The agony through which he had passed on the previous night
seemed to have made him old in a few hours. He stood there silent,
looking at Bessie and young Mr. Million, and at their clasped hands.
It was but for a moment, for Bessie, with a startled cry--a cry that
had in it pain and horror at the misery in his face--had taken her
hand from young Mr. Million's palm; it was but for a moment, but the
new expression that overspread George's face like an evil cloud was
the expression of a man who had utterly lost all faith and belief in
purity and goodness: and had thus lost sight of Heaven.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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