Lady Good-for-Nothing | Page 7

He heard the word for the first time in his life, and had no notion of its meaning; but in a dim way he felt it to be an evil word, and also that the people were protesting out of pity. A rush of blood came to his face. He gulped, lifted his chin, and said, with his eyes steady on the face of the blinking fancier,--
"Give it back to me, please, and I will get it changed."
He took the coin, and walked away resolutely with a set white face. He saw none of the people who made way for him.
The bird-fancier stared after the small figure as it walked away into darkness. "Bastard?" he said. "There's Blood in that youngster, though he don't face ye again an' I lose my deal. Blood's blood, however ye come by it; you may take that on the word of a breeder. An' you ought to be ashamed, Sam Wilson--slingin' yer mud at a child!"
The word drummed in the boy's ears. What did it mean? What was the sneer in it? "Brat!" "cry-baby," "tell-tale," "story-teller," these were opprobrious words, to be resented in their degree; and all but the first covered accusations which not only must never be deserved, but obliged a gentleman, however young, to show fight. But "bastard"?
He felt that, whatever it meant, somehow it was worse than any; that honour called for the annihilation of the man that dared speak it; that there was weakness, perhaps even poltroonery, in merely walking away. If only he knew what the word meant!
He came to a halt opposite the drug store. He had once heard Dr. Lamerton, the apothecary at home, described as a "well-to-do" man. The phrase stuck in his small brain, and he connected the sale of drugs with wealth. (How, he reasoned, could any one be tempted to sell wares so nasty unless by prodigious profit?) He felt sure the drug-seller would be able to change the guinea for him, and walked in boldly. His ears were tingling, and he felt a call to assert himself.
There was a single customer in the store--a girl. With some surprise he recognised her for the girl who had beaten the flame out of the curtain.
She stood with her back to the doorway and a little sidewise by the counter, from behind which the drug-seller--a burly fellow in a suit of black--looked down on her doubtfully, rubbing his shaven chin while he glanced from her to something he held in his open palm.
"I'm askin' you," he said, "how you came by it?"
"It was given to me," the girl answered.
"That's a likely tale! Folks don't give money like this to a girl in your position; unless--"
Here the man paused.
"Is it a great deal of money?" she asked. There was astonishment in her voice, and a kind of suppressed eagerness.
"Oh, come now--that's too innocent by half! A guinea-piece is a guinea-piece, and a guinea is twenty-one shillings; and twenty-one shillings, likely enough, is more'n you'll earn in a year outside o' your keep. Who gave it ye?"
"A gentleman--the Collector--at the Inn just now.
"Ho!" said the drug-seller, with a world of meaning.
"But if," she went on, "it is worth so much as you say, there must be some mistake. Give it back to me, please. I am sorry for troubling you." She took a small, round parcel from her pocket, laid it on the counter, and held out her hand for the coin.
The drug-seller eyed her. "There must be some mistake, I guess," said he, as he gave back the gold piece. "No, and you can take up your packet too; I don't grudge two-pennyworth of salve. But wait a moment while I serve this small customer, for I want a word with you later. . . . Well, and what can I do for you, young gentleman?" he asked, turning to Dicky.
Dicky advanced to the shop-board, and as he did so the girl turned and recognised him with a faint, very shy smile.
"If you please," he said politely, "I want change for this--if you can spare it."
"Bless my soul!" exclaimed the man, staring. "What, another?"
"The bird-seller up the road had no change about him. And--and, if you please," went on Dick hardily, with a glance at the girl, "she hurt her hands putting out a fire just now. I expect my father gave her the money for that. But she must have burnt her hands dreffully!"--Dicky had not quite outgrown his infantile lisp--"and if she's come for stuff to put on them, please I want to pay for it."
"But I don't want you to," put in the girl, still hesitating by the counter.
"But I'd rather insisted Dicky.
"Tut!" said the drug-seller. "A matter of twopence won't break either of us. Captain Vyell's boy, are you? Well, then,