occasions when the boy allowed himself an outburst of rebellion became more rare as he felt his way slowly up the school-room to the height of the third standard; the collingwood mother found herself able one day to congratulate him on the fact that for two months he had not imperilled his right to a meat dinner. excellence of table proved, indeed, with all the boys in the cottage homes a powerful incentive to good behaviour. the bill of fare changed every day; boiled beef and carrots on (say) thursday were followed by roast mutton on friday and by irish stew on saturday, with a precise allowance to each cottage (a restriction which did not apply to vegetables), so that meals had, by reason of this variety, a charm of unexpectedness which pleased the boys greatly. in their own homes in hoxton most of them had only been sure of two things in regard to dinner—either that there would not be enough, or that there would be none at all. p. 47thus it was that when appeals to a boy’s sense of honour or his sense of decorum failed, an appeal to his appetite proved effective. with bobbie, moreover, there was ever, as a high goal to be strived for, the band. with the assistance of a good-natured euphonium who lived in collingwood, and after much wrestling with obstinate difficulties, the knowledge that f.a.c.e. spelt the open spaces became his proud possession; other musical facts capitulated on seeing his determination. whenever tempted to punch another boy’s head, and roll that boy on the asphalted space where they played during the ten minutes’ relief from school, and to tear that boy’s pocket, and to do him grievous damage, the thought of himself marching in the band uniform and blowing the cornet part of the “turkish patrol” arrested his hand; the same thought did him the same good service when, on being sent to the store-keeper’s room, he found himself near to an open drawer containing sugar and chocolate. at times, however, temper burst so suddenly that there was no time for the thought of cornet to intervene, and then the possibility of being allowed to join the band went away so far as to be nearly out of sight, and bobbie mourned. on one of these grey days he happened to be despatched to the bandmaster with a note. the bandmaster was rehearsing the overture to “zampa” in the small room overfilled with noise by twenty lads, who had become scarlet-faced from the tension of watching the slips of music before them, of watching, also, the bandmaster’s beat.
“’pon my word,” cried the bandmaster explosively, rapping the stand before him with his stick, and stopping the brazen blasts that had made windows shake, “if you cornets aren’t enough to make a saint forget himself. what do you think you’re doing?”
cornets, with respect, replied that they thought they were playing a tune.
“i should never have guessed that,” retorted the bandmaster caustically. bobbie delivered his note. “what you’ll be like if you go out anywhere to play this summer don’t bear thinking about.”
one of the cornets offered the remark that he was doing his best.
“and bad’s your best,” cried the bandmaster explosively. “why, i’d guarantee to take a piece of wood and make it play the cornet better than you do, nutler.” the cornet player, nutler, here chuckled under the impression that the bandmaster required laughter in recognition of the humour of the remark. “don’t laugh at me, sir,” ordered the bandmaster violently. “i won’t have it.” nutler, the cornet-player, assumed a look of abject woe. “and don’t look like that, either.”
master nutler, goaded, inquired resentfully how he was to look, then.
“you’re to look smart, sir,” said the bandmaster, “if you want to continue in the band. there’s plenty of others, mind you, ready to take your place.”
master nutler muttered the disastrous remark that they would take a bit of finding.
“oh!” said the bandmaster, “would they take a bit of finding?” he called to bobbie, now leaving the room. “boy,” he cried out, “come here.”
bobbie returned and saluted.
“have you any ear for music?”
“how d’you mean ear, sir?” asked bobbie anxiously.
“can you sing?”
p. 48“what’ll you ’ave, sir?” said bobbie.
“anything.”
the boy, round-eyed with eagerness, sang a few lines of an amiable glee which collingwood boarders were accustomed to chant.
“we’re gowing to the woodlands, to the woodlands gay and free.
now, who will be my comrade and come along with me?
for i—”
“that’ll do,” said the bandmaster. “do you think you could play a musical instrument?”
“i think i could try, sir.”
“good! you come to elementary practice this evening.”
“thank you, sir,” said bobbie, flushing delightedly.
“now, mr. clever nutler,” remarked the bandmaster acutely to the cornet boy, “we’ll see who’s right—you or me. come along. let’s try this second part again.”
master nutler whispered to bobbie as he went by that for two pins he would wring bobbie’s something neck, but the two pins not being forthcoming master nutler did not carry his threat into effect. bobbie went out of the room, and as he walked by the side of the garden could not help noticing how much brighter the sun appeared, and how very excellent was the world. he grew so ecstatic over the prospect of becoming a man of importance that he wrote in the evening to the duchess at the address given to him two years before, a letter which seemed to him to err, if anything, on the side of modesty.
“my dear duches,—i am writing a few lines to hope that you and mr. leigh are quite well and getting on fine. i have not seen you for a long pereod.
“i am pleased to tell you that i am principle player in the band here, and much esteemed by my masters and by my fellow scolars. everybody says i shall make one of the finest music players in the world if i only go on and succede. dear duches, i think sometimes of the old days, but not often, because i am so busy with my music. i am an accomplished scolar and a cr. to the schools.
“if you ever come to london you can come and see me, but dress nice, and do not say nothing about ely place and mr. miller. i am in compond division. remember me to mr. leigh, and i remain,—yours truly,
“robert lancaster.
“i shall probably play at the flower show in augst. they all say the band will be nothing without me. i am now twelve years next birthday, which will be also in augst.”
robert lancaster took so much care in regard to behaviour after his first lesson on the cornet, and walked about with such a detached important air that the collingwood mother insisted on giving him medicine under the impression that his health could not be perfect. an outburst of temper reassured the good lady, but general improvement was a passport that enabled bobbie to enter the gates of her matronly reserve, and she singled him out for favour by telling him about her youth in devonshire; memories that helped to revive bobbie’s thoughts of his one gay spell of hop-picking years ago in kent. the collingwood mother, having been away from her p. 49native county for twenty years, gave idealistic descriptions of torrington, and milton damerel, and brandis corner, so that the country generally became pictured in his mind as a land of fair delight. when collingwood’s mother shook her head in despair at being unable to describe the joys more fully, bobbie would brag about hoxton and the haberdashers’ school at the end of pitfield street, with its statue of aske and its tall iron railings. somehow the more he talked of the place the less inclined be felt to return there.
“don’t speak to me about your hoxtons,” begged the collingwood mother. “give me decent people to mix with that know how to wash ’emselves.”
“they’re pretty smart up there,” urged bobbie, with deference. “they know a thing or two.”
“they know a thing or two too many,” declared the collingwood mother, severely. “i don’t suppose you’ve ever come across the worst of ’em, but i’m told there are thieves and coiners, and goodness knows what all about the place.”
“think it’s a fact, mother?” inquired bobbie with innocence.
“bless you, yes. the lowest of the low. didn’t you never come across any of them?”
“me?” echoed the boy. “goo’ gracious! what a question to ask.”
“perhaps you were too young to take notice.”
“that might have been it,” he conceded. “fact of the matter is my real mother was very careful who she mixed with, and there might ’a been railway snatchers or anything around us for all i knew.”
“don’t talk about them,” interrupted the collingwood mother, shivering. “let me tell you some more about devonshire.”
summer came to the cottage homes and brought with it cricket matches to be played against the boys of the private school a few meadows off, where the two different grades of young men met on common ground that the best of games offers, and where bobbie developed an ability for bowling slows of a peculiarly artful and delusive character, insomuch that they came from his hand in a way that made the batter (confident of hitting a six-er) run out to strike, with the result that he not infrequently found himself bowled or stumped. these games with boys of happier circumstances did much to refine the lads of the cottage homes; even bobbie, whilst he ridiculed and burlesqued some of the private school youths who had a languid way of talking and a courteous behaviour, found himself selecting some of the tricks of manner that seemed to him worthy and commendable, and these improved him. the cornet helped.
rehearsals of the band became more furious as the day of the flower show approached. master nutler by dint of successful experiments in insubordination found his engagement for the event in peril, and master nutler had more than once pressed bobbie to decide the question of their musical ability by a stand-up fight. quite a large family of nutlers lived in the homes, ranging from the lanky, red-haired girl of fifteen to a baby of two; the father and mother of the family having, on retirement to an unknown quarter, generously presented their entire quiver-full to the guardians as souvenir of indebtedness to their native parish, so that a sample of the nutler family could he found in nearly every cottage and in the ophthalmic hospital beyond the gates. the gauge of combat being thrown down repeatedly in the presence of witnesses, bobbie felt bound at p. 50last to take it up, and arrangements being effected by a mature boy, the fight took place furtively in the kitchen garden one evening at twilight; bobbie punishing master nutler so effectively that he had to give that weeping indignant young gentleman two glass alleys, a china apple, and a copy of a book from the index expurgatorius, in order to prevent him from saying anything about it. master nutler, thus bribed, generously agreed not to report the circumstance to the authorities, but he gave information to the other members of his family, and commanded a vendetta against robert lancaster. the nutler family had its private differences; indeed, its members seldom met without quarrelling, but in the presence of an opportunity for spite against a common enemy they united, and conferred amicably on a course of action. the eldest miss nutler favoured scratching of the enemy’s face; after debate the others induced her to withdraw this resolution, and to agree to a plan of more elaborate strategy.
gay expectation scented the air on the morning of the flower show. for the band especially, it meant occupying on a sunlit lawn a position of conspicuous importance, to be followed by admirable feeding and iced lemonade that had no limits except those fixed by the band’s own capacity. it was an occasion, too, when fair ladies came from mansions of the neighbourhood and paid graceful compliments to the band, sometimes giving to members bright, alluring pieces of silver. master nutler, who had received intimation that, owing to his want of care at rehearsals, his services would not be required, when about muttering to himself in a gruff undertone, as men will when they are suffering from repressed grievances. at twelve o’clock, after morning school, the conscientious bandmaster took the boys through the devious ways of the “il trovatore” selection, and piloted them with the solo parts of “h.m.s. pinafore.” bobbie’s playing of his solo extorted from the bandmaster a rare word of approval.
“you’ve got on wonderfully well, lancaster,” said the bandmaster.
“thanks to you, sir,” said the boy politely.
“you aren’t quite so steady as i could wish, but i think you’ll pull through.”
“you leave it to me,” said bobbie, rubbing the cornet affectionately with his handkerchief.
“at two o’clock, boys, we start. take care that none of you get into a mischief between now and then.” a chorus of assurances. “ah!” sighed the bandmaster, “i know what boys are. lancaster, can you take a note to the superintendent for me?”
“like a shot, sir.”
bobbie, flying out into the asphalted playground to take the note in the promised manner, found himself tripped up by master nutler, who, having done this, demanded, with great indignation, to know where bobbie was a-coming to. bobbie replied that some day, when he could afford it, he proposed to enjoy the pleasure of again wiping the floor with nutler, whereupon that young gentleman requested that the task should not be postponed, but should be effected at once. bobbie forced himself into composure, and hurried on, followed by a parting remark from nutler, “sneak!”
trotting along by the fringe of flower beds on the right-hand side of the broad walk, in great good-humour, the scream of a girl near to one of the red-roofed houses made him stop. lanky miss nutler, having seen him approach, had twisted the arm of the small girl who, two years previously, p. 51had arrived at the homes with bobbie, and who, having long since given up tears, had become one of the brightest little maids in the place. at present, however, she appeared terrified out of her usual cheerfulness because of superfluous attention paid to her by miss nutler.
“now will you be good?” inquired miss nutler, suavely, as she gave the small girl’s arm another twist.
“i am good,” cried the small girl piteously. “leave off twistin’ my wrist, or else i shall have to scream.”
“promise not to call me miss camel again,” ordered the lanky young woman.
“i never did.”
“i shall punish you,” said miss nutler, with regret, “more for telling a lie than for calling me out of my proper name.” the small girl screamed with pain. “ah! you may ’oller.”
“leave the girl alone,” shouted bobbie from the fence of the garden.
“beg your pardon?” said miss nutler, with studied courtesy. “i didn’t quite catch what you said.”
“leave that little girl alone,” he repeated sharply. “if she’s done anything wrong, it’s for others to punish her, not you.”
“i don’t wish to ’old any conversation with you,” said the young woman sedately. “kindly mind your own business.”
“leggo my wrist,” cried the small girl agonizedly. “come and make her, bobbie lancaster. she’ll—she’ll break my arm.”
master lancaster darted through the gates. the small girl’s face was white with pain; miss nutler’s face yellow with defiance. he released the small girl quickly, and she ran off. miss nutler staggered hack, and fell, an ungraceful heap, on the ground.
“’elp! ’elp! murder!” yelled miss nutler. “fi—yer!”
“now what are you kicking up a row for?” demanded bobbie.
“he’s killed me,” declared miss nutler, panting, to the mother of her cottage, who had hastened out to ascertain the cause of disturbance. “oh, the villain! oh, fetch a doctor! oh, don’t let him make his escape!”
“i’m not going to make no escape,” said the boy sturdily. “i never knocked her down; she fell down.”
“oh!” cried miss nutler. “to think that he should tell a untruth. oh, i wonder he ain’t struck down before my very eyes! oh, i’m going into ’sterricks!”
and she went off into what, it must be admitted, was, for a young amateur, a very fair imitation of a hysterical fit.
the mother, much concerned, told bobbie that he would have to be taken at once to the superintendent. the father of a cottage opposite appeared. interference by boys with girls, said the father, was just the one thing that had to be punished for more than anything. could not be permitted for a single moment—not for a single moment.
“why, what’s anyone to do,” stammered the boy, indignantly, “when they see a big girl like her ill-using another ’alf her size?”
the father said that it was not for bobbie to interfere.
“i simply separated of ’em,” pleaded the boy. “she was using the little girl something crool, and—”
“perjerer!” interrupted miss nutler, reviving for this purpose. she closed her eyes again, and hammered at the ground with her heels.
p. 52“and i particular don’t want to get into no trouble just now. i’ll explain it all to-morrow.”
the father said that to-morrow would not do. bobbie must go along with him now to the superintendent’s house, the while the mother would use her best endeavours to restore miss nutler. the latter task proved to be one of no difficulty, for the young woman, on the palms of her hands being slapped, re-opened her eyes, and said, faintly,—
“where am i? tell me, someone! is it all a ’orrible dream?”
the superintendent, ordinarily a cheery man, whistled gravely as he listened to the report against the boy standing at the other end of the table.
“thought you were a good lad, lancaster.”
“not much use being good, sir,” growled bobbie, “when your luck’s against you.”
the father, an old policeman, enjoying this echo of the old days, repeated and added to his report of miss nutler’s condition, remarking sagely that extreme violence must have been used.
“we’ll investigate it fully to-morrow,” commanded the superintendent. “no time now. meanwhile you’ll stay at home, my lad.”
“what?” said bobbie, amazedly. “and not play at the show?”
“and not play at the show. some one else must be found to take your place. i’m sorry.”
the boy swallowed something in his throat, and his under lip twitched. he looked round at the framed list of rules on the wall, at the papers on the table, and at everything in the room with a dazed air.
“i’m a—a bit sorry about it, too,” he said gloomily.
“rules are rules,” mentioned the superintendent.
“someone shall suffer for it,” declared the boy, with sudden fierceness. “i ain’t going to be jumped on just because—”
“take him down to collingwood,” ordered the superintendent.
“can’t you give me a good wolloping, sir, and have done with it?”
“take him away, please.”
it was a fierce and an aggrieved and a revengeful lad who looked out of the window of collingwood that afternoon and watched the band marching out towards the gates, uniformed in its best, and carrying its instruments proudly. the rays of the bright sun reflected in the shining brass, and robert lancaster blinked as he looked at them, but he did not cry, because, when he saw nutler marching with cornet in hand, his hot little brain racked with a burning sense of injustice. he went upstairs and watched the short line of boys until trees intervened. he had some vague idea of breaking everything in the cottage that could be broken, but a moment’s consideration informed him that this as a remedy would be imperfect. the mother called to him, offering some work in cleaning the grate, and bobbie, setting to this with great strenuousness, produced such excellent results that the mother gave him her sympathy for his present situation, and joined him in denouncing miss nutler in good set terms. nevertheless, the grievance remained, and the mother went so far in her cordial agreement that, after a while, the grievance appeared to have grown enormously, and he felt himself to be the very worst used man in the whole world. somebody’s head should be punched for this; if he had teddy sullivan’s revolver, a more convincing action could be adopted. it would be rather fine and dramatic to go out when the band p. 53returned and, covering them with a six-shooter, force them to hold up their hands and give him full apology for the wrong that had been done to him. failing the presence of an arm of warfare, it seemed not easy to see what he could do. all that he could decide in his aggrieved, blazing, infuriated mind was that he would do something.
when a post letter came at about four o’clock addressed to him in a strange old-fashioned writing, he did not at first open it, because, rare as letters were, he felt gloomily that nothing like good fortune could come to him on that day. he tore the envelope after a while, and prepared himself for another shaft of ill-luck. a postal order dropped out, and his anticipations whirled round.
“my dear bobbie,—i were glad to hear from you, and to know that you was getting on so well in the world. my husband were also greatly pleased. he is now what is called a landoner, and is much occupied during the day looking after the men that is employed under him.
“dear bobbie, you must know that we live in an immense hotel, and that i ride to the hounds every day of my life. we also intertain the gentry of the neighbourhood, who treat us as their equals or more. we are not proud of our good fortune, for we know that pride cometh before a fall. i enclose a trifle to buy yourself something; i could easily send more, as we are, so to speak, roling in money, but i am in a hurry to catch the post.
“my husband sends his best respects, and hopes you will continue to grow up a good boy and respect your elders.—yours affect’ly,
“l. leigh.
“fond love and kisses.”
bobbie read this friendly and agreeable letter from the duchess three times. then, looking at the address carefully, he started up with a sudden inspiration.
“i know what i’ll do,” he said to himself excitedly. “i’ll bunk off.”
he made his preparations with haste, having a vague fear that something might happen to induce him to change his mind. the mother of collingwood cottage was dozing in her kitchen as he came downstairs, and he had a good mind to kiss the good soul; but he knew that doing this might twist his determination, and he set his mouth hard. he stuffed his small bundle under his waistcoat, and went across to the band-room with the stolid face of a man obeying orders.
“please, i’ve got to take my cornet and get down to the flower show as sharp as i possibly can.”
the same story contented the gate-keeper, who gave him the correct time, and bobbie started along the white road at a quick pace. at the first turning he branched off, and, skirting the fields belonging to the cottage homes, returned to the town, where a post-office was to be found. there he changed the postal order. in five minutes he was speeding away londonwards, with defiant head well out of the carriage windows, a cigarette between his lips, the cornet and his handkerchiefed bundle in his hand.
“this,” said the boy truculently to the distant red-roofed homes, “this’ll let you see what a man can do when he’s put upon.”
