The Beautiful Wretch; The Pupil of Aurelius; and The Four MacnicolsBlack, William
General
The Beautiful Wretch; The Pupil of Aurelius; and The Four Macnicols
Black, William
Great Britain -- Fiction
He walked to Scotland Yard, finding it without difficulty, for he knew
all the familiar features of London on the map; and there he told his
story, and delivered up the money, and left his address. He departed
with a light heart. Nay, when he had crossed Westminster Bridge again,
he looked out for a poor-looking coffee-house, and went in and had some
coffee and a roll, and thought he never had enjoyed any dinner more.
He looked at the evening paper, too, and then went out again into the
wet streets, and continued his way. He was further cheered by hearing
that the sick girl, though still feverish and perfectly weak and
prostrate, had not, in the doctor's opinion, caught any serious malady,
and only wanted time and care, and afterwards some better nourishment,
to bring her round.
CHAPTER VI.
THE END OF THE EPISODE.
So with courage and patience, and with a final gulp about that
searching business, he returned to his work at the docks, and very soon
got engaged as a permanent hand. He was a favourite with the foremen,
for he was industrious and minded his own business; but he was greatly
disliked by his companions. They would not believe, and he was at no
pains to convince them, that he had not kept the found money; and they
had expected him, if ever he returned to the docks, to stand treat
liberally. They were angry at Scottie's stinginess, and took to
taunting him. These casual jeers he heeded no more than the idle wind;
they could not hurt.
His savings slowly increased, his only serious expenditure being his
weekly rent. When, each morning at twelve o'clock, the great bell rang
in the docks, and the men and women came in with their baskets and
barrows, his dinner consisted of a couple of penny sausage-rolls ('bags
of mystery,' his mates called them), and these were really quite fresh
and clean and wholesome-looking. In the afternoon or evening he
generally went round to the house where the girl, Mary Ann Ellis, was
now so far recovered that she could sit propped up in bed for an hour
or so; and he would have a chat with her and her landlady, and a cup of
tea, with bread and butter--for which he privately paid. He found this
girl interesting, simple, and intensely grateful, but ignorant to a
degree that he had not thought possible in a human being capable of
reading. In one respect this was lucky, for she believed any nonsense
he told her; and the quite imaginary associations of ladies and
gentlemen for the dispensing of needful charity received her most
earnest thanks for those little sums that were sent to her mother, or
that enabled her to pay off her doctor's weekly bill.
One day John Douglas was leaving the docks as usual, when he was
overtaken by a tall and handsome young fellow, whom he knew to be
connected with the Customs department.
'I say, aren't you the man that found a lot of money?'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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