One hot Saturday afternoon, when the College had holiday, Mr. Henry
went to the railway station to inquire after an expected parcel of
books. Saturday afternoon was no holiday for him. He had three private
lessons to give in it. As he left the station, walking very fast to
keep his time at Mrs. Gall's, a sharp, sudden pain seized upon him. He
was leaning against the fence of the plantation, white and faint, when
Sir Simon Orville passed.
"Why, bless me, what's to do?" exclaimed that hearty gentleman. "Have
you been run over?"
Mr. Henry smiled: his colour was coming back again. He said something
about a sudden pain.
"Been eating green gooseberries?" asked the unsophisticated man. "I
caught young Dick buying a quart. He's crunching the lot."
"It took me here," said Mr. Henry, touching his left side. "It's gone
now."
"Why, that's near the heart; it couldn't have been there, I should
think," said Sir Simon, peering at him curiously. "Well, we are close
at home; come in to Pond Place and rest.
"Thank you, Sir Simon; I am all right now. I must go on quickly to my
pupils."
"I'll tell you what it is, sir; you are overworking yourself. That's my
opinion."
"Oh, no. Folks can't do too much at my age."
"That depends upon the amount of strength: I could have plodded on
night and day; you seem to get more of a lath than ever. What's the
reason you never will accept my hospitality? Got any dislike to
me?—taken up a prejudice? I know I'm a plain man, without education;
but you might put up with that."
"If I could only show you how I respect you, Sir Simon; if I could but
live to be of service to you!" was the impulsive answer. "But, indeed,
I can never get time for visiting: the little Galls are waiting for me
now."
And away he went through the plantation, leaving Sir Simon considerably
puzzled, as he had been before, at the earnestness of the words and
manner; for they seemed to imply more than was on the surface. That
afternoon, in the very midst of explaining to Master Fred Gall an
abstruse difficulty in the Latin grammar, Mr. Henry leaned back in his
chair and quietly fainted away. With a hullabaloo that might have been
heard at the distant college, the children threw open the door and
scattered away, pell-mell.
The noise brought forth Mrs. Gall and her eldest son; who had stepped
in at home, as he had the liberty to do on holidays. They took off his
neckcloth and brought him wine, and were very tender with him.
"Do forgive me," he murmured, in deep contrition for the trouble he was
causing. "The heat must have overpowered me; I have been walking fast."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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