With the night comes a slouching figure through the tunnel court, to the
outside of the iron gate of the Potter's field. It holds the gate with its
hands, and looks in between the bars. Stands looking in for a little
while. It then takes an old broom it carries, softly sweeps the step, and
makes the archway clean. It does so very busily and trimly; looks in again
a little while, and so departs.
Jo, is it thou? Well, well?
Though thou art neither a gentleman nor the son of a gentleman, there is
an expression of gratitude and of loyalty, worthy of gentle blood,
indicative of noble character, in thy muttered reason for this:----
"He wos wery good to me, he wos."
Once more without a friend, Jo sweeps his crossing day after day. Before
the stranger came into his life, he had drifted along in his accustomed
place, more unreasoning than an intelligent dog; but the hand of a human
comrade had been laid in his, and it had awakened his humanity; and now as
he sweeps he thinks--about the stranger--wonders where he has gone to, and
how he died.
As it seemed to Jo that the world was bounded on all sides by the events
in Tom-all-Alone's, he was not at all surprised one day to have another
stranger come to his crossing and ask him many questions concerning the
dead man. He was glad to talk of him, to tell again all that he knew of
his life and death, and to show where they had buried him. The interview
over, Jo is overwhelmed to find his hand closed over a piece of money
larger than he has ever owned before.
His first proceeding is to hold the piece of money to the gas-light, and
to be overpowered at finding that it is yellow gold. His next is to give
it a one-sided bite at the edge, as a test of its quality. His next, to
put it in his mouth for safety, and to sweep the step and passage with
great care. His job done, he sets off for Tom-all-Alone's, stopping in the
light of innumerable gas-lamps to produce the piece of gold, and give it
another one-sided bite as a reassurance of its being genuine; and then
shuffles off, back to his crossing; little dreaming--poor Jo!--that
because of his presence at the inquest, and because of this interview, the
rest of his existence is to be even more wretched than his past has been.
He little dreams that persons great and powerful in the outer world were
connected with the secret of his friend's life and death; but it is even
so, and those who fear to have anything brought to light concerning him,
hire officers to hunt Jo away from Tom-all-Alone's,--the only home he has
ever known,--to keep him as far out of reach as possible, because he knew
more about the stranger than any one else. He does not understand it at
all, but from that minute there seems always to be an officer in sight
telling him to "move on."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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