pickles and sue had to go a long way before they reached the destination of "the best little woman in the world." they walked along by-streets and all kinds of queer places, and presently reached a part of london where sue had never been before. they passed whole streets of warehouses, and came then to poor-looking dwelling-houses, but all of an immense height, and very old and dirty. it was the back slums of westminster over again, but it was a westminster severed as far as one pole is from another to sue.80
"we does a roaring trade yere," said pickles, looking around him with the air of a proprietor well satisfied with his property.
"wot in?" asked sue.
"wot hin? well, that may surprise yer. hin fire, of course."
"wot do yer mean?" asked sue.
"wot does i mean? i mean as we deals in that 'ere rampagious helement. we belongs to the great london fire brigade. that his, my brother will does; and i have a cousin wot thinks hisself no end of a swell, and he's beginning his drill. do you suppose, you goose, as i'd have acted as i did, wid that 'ere remarkable coolness jest now, when the fire wor burning, and the man wor on the wery brink of destruction, ef fire had not bin, so to speak, my native hair? but now, here we are at last, so come along hup to mother!"
taking sue's hand, pickles dragged her up flight after flight of stairs, until they reached the top of one of the very tall, dirty houses. here he suddenly flung open a door, and pushing sue in, sang out:
"mother, yere i be! and let me introduce to you cinderella. her sisters have bin that unkind and mean as cannot be told, and she have taken refuge wid us until the prince comes to tie on the glass slipper."
no doubt pickles' mother was thoroughly accustomed to him, for she did not smile at all, but coming gravely forward, took sue's two hands in hers, and looking into her face, and seeing something of the great trouble there, said in a soft, kind tone:
"sit down, my dear—sit down. if i can help you i will."
"oh, you can help her real fine, mother!" said pickles, beginning to dance a hornpipe round them both. "and i said as you were the wery best little 'oman in all the world, and that you would do hall you could."
"so i will, my lad; only now do let the poor dear speak for herself."
but sue did not. there are limits beyond which fortitude will not go, and those limits were most suddenly reached by the poor child. her morning's early rising, her long walk to her place of business, her hard work when she got there; then her hurried run for the sick girl's lunch, her cruel betrayal, her very startling capture by pickles; the fact that her hair had been cut off, her clothes changed, her very name altered, until she herself felt that she must really be somebody else, and not the sue whom giles loved.
all these things she had borne with tolerable calmness; but now (for sue was really starving) the warm room, the bright fire—above all, the kind face that bent over her, the gentle voice that asked to hear her tale—proved too much. she put up her toil-worn hands to her face and burst into such sobs as strong people give way to in agony.
mrs. price beckoned to pickles to go away, and then, sitting81 down by sue's side, she waited until the overloaded heart should have become a little quieted; then she said:
"and now, my dear, you will tell me the story."
sue did tell it—told it all—mrs. price sitting by and holding her hands, and absolutely not speaking a single word.
"you believes me, marm?" said sue at last.
mrs. price looked in the girl's eyes and answered simply:
"yes, poor lamb, i quite believe you. and now i am going to get you some supper."
she made sue lie back in the easy-chair by the fire, and drawing out a little round table, laid a white cloth upon it.
sue's mind, by this time partly relieved of its load, was able to take in its novel surroundings. the house might be very tall and very dirty, but this room at least was clean. floor, walls, furniture—all reflected a due and most judicious use of soap and water; and the woman moving about with gentle, deft fingers, arranging now this and now that, was quite different from any woman sue had ever seen before. she was a widow, and wore a widow's cap and a perfectly plain black dress, but she had a white handkerchief pinned neatly over her shoulders, so that she looked half-widow, half-nun.
she was tall and slender, with very beautiful dark eyes. sue did not know whether to think her the very gravest person she had ever seen or the very brightest. her face was thoughtful and sweet; perhaps when in repose it was sad, but she never looked at a human being without a certain expression coming into her eyes which said louder and plainer than words, "i love you."
this expression gave the hungry and poor who came in contact with her glance many a heart-thrill, and it is not too much to say they were seldom disappointed of the sympathy which the look in those dark and lovely eyes gave them reason to hope for.
mrs. price now laid the tea-things, giving the poor little shorn and transformed cinderella sitting by the hearth so many expressive glances that she began to feel quite a heavenly peace stealing over her. "worn't jesus real good to bring me yere?" was her mental comment. she had scarcely made it before two young men came in.
these young men were dressed in the uniform of the london fire brigade. they looked dusty, and the taller of the two was covered with smoke and dirt.
"mother," he said as he tossed his helmet on the table. "i've been worked almost to death. you have supper ready, i hope."
"yes, yes, my lad—a nice little piece of boiled pork, smoking hot, and pease-pudding and potatoes. i am glad you've brought george with you. he is kindly welcome, as he knows."
"as he knows very well," answered george, with a smile.
he touched the woman's shoulder for an instant with his82 big hand. then the two young men went into the next room to have a wash before supper.
"william is coming on fine," said george, when they returned, looking at the other fireman—"though you did disobey orders, william, and are safe to get a reprimand.—fancy, mrs. price! this brave son of yours, returning from his day's drill, must needs see a fire and rush into it, all against orders—ay, and save a poor chap's life—before any one could prevent him."
it may be as well to explain here that each man who wishes to join the metropolitan fire brigade must first have served some time at sea; also, before a man is allowed to attend a fire he must be thoroughly trained—in other words, he must attend drill. there's a drill class belonging to each station. it is under the charge of an instructor and two assistant instructors. each man, on appointment, joins this class, and learns the use of all the different appliances required for the extinction of fire.
william price had not quite completed his eight weeks' drill.
"yes, it was a ticklish piece of work," continued anderson. "the poor chap he rescued was surrounded by flames. then, too, the street was so narrow and the crowd so great that the whole matter is simply wonderful; but that policeman who kept order was a fine fellow."
"why, it worn't never the fire as we come from jest now!" here burst from sue.
"hush—hush, cinderella!" said pickles, who had come back, giving her a push under the table. "it 'ud be more suitable to yer present sitiwation ef yer didn't talk. in course it wor that same fire. why, it wor that deed o' bravery done by my own nearest o' kin as incited me to hact as i did by you."
"whoever is the girl?" said price, noticing poor sue for the first time.
"cinderella's the name of this 'ere misfortunate maiden," replied pickles; "an' yer ax no more questions, bill, an' yer'll get no stories told."
"i must go, mrs. price," said anderson; "but i'll be back again as soon as possible."
"tell me first, george," said the widow, "how your mother is."
"i haven't been to see her for a few days, but she wrote to say that both the children who were rescued from the fire a few days back are doing fairly well. the boy was bad at first, but is now recovering."
"ah! that was a brave deed," said price in a voice of the greatest admiration.
"and did she tell you the names of the poor little critters?"
"she did. connie was the name of one——"
"connie?" cried sue, springing to her feet.
"sit down, cinderella, and keep yourself quiet," cried pickles.
george anderson gave the queer little girl who went by this name a puzzled glance.
"yes," he said briefly, "connie was the name of one, and ronald the name of the other. i never saw a more beautiful little creature in all the world than connie."
"that's 'er!" broke from sue's irrepressible lips.
