Melchiors Dream and Other Tales | Page 7

rest
were little better.
"Poor Melchior! Surely there never was a clearer case of a young
gentleman's comfort destroyed, solely by other people's perverse
determination to be happy in their own way instead of in his. Surely, no
young gentleman ever knew better that if his brothers and sisters would
yield to his wishes, they would not quarrel; or ever more completely
overlooked the fact, that if he had yielded more to theirs the same
happy result might have been attained. At last he lost patience, and
pulling the check-string, bade Godfather Time drive as fast as he could.
"'For,' said he, 'there will never be any peace while there are so many of
us in the coach; if a fellow had the rug and glass, and, indeed, the coach
to himself, he might drive and bow and talk with the best of them; but
as it is, one might as well go about in a wild-beast caravan.'
"Godfather Time frowned, but shook his glass all the same, and away
they went at a famous pace. All at once they came to a stop.
"'Now for it,' says Melchior; 'here goes one at any rate.'
"Time called out the name of the second brother over his shoulder; and
the boy stood up, and bade his brothers and sisters good-bye.
"'It is time that I began to push my way in the world,' said he, and
passed out of the coach, and in among the crowd.

"'You have taken the only quiet boy,' said Melchior to the godfather
angrily. 'Drive fast now, for pity's sake; and let us get rid of the
tiresome ones.'
"And fast enough they drove, and dropped first one and then the other;
but the sisters, and the reading boy, and the youngest still remained.
"'What are you looking at?' said Melchior to the lame sister.
"'At a strange figure in the crowd,' she answered.
"'I see nothing,' said Melchior. But on looking again after a while, he
did see a figure wrapped in a cloak, gliding in and out among the
people, unnoticed, if not unseen.
"'Who is it?' Melchior asked of the godfather.
"'A friend of mine,' Time answered. 'His name is Death.'
"Melchior shuddered, more especially as the figure had now come up to
the coach, and put its hand in through the window, on which, to his
horror, the lame sister laid hers and smiled. At this moment the coach
stopped.
"'What are you doing?' shrieked Melchior, 'Drive on! drive on!'
"But even while he sprang up to seize the check-string the door had
opened, the pale sister's face (a little paler now) had dropped upon the
shoulder of the figure in the cloak, and he had carried her away; and
Melchior stormed and raved in vain.
"'To take her, and to leave the rest! Cruel! cruel!'
"In his rage and grief, he hardly knew it when the untidy brother was
called, and putting his book under his arm, slipped out of the coach
without looking to the right or left. Presently the coach stopped again;
and when Melchior looked up the door was open, and at it was the fine
man on the fine horse, who was lifting the sister on to the saddle before
him. 'What fool's game are you playing?' said Melchior, angrily. 'I

know that man. He is both ill-tempered and a bad character.'
"'You never told her so before,' muttered young Hop-o'-my-Thumb.
"'Hold your tongue,' said Melchior. 'I forbade her to talk to him, which
was enough.'
"'I don't want to leave you; but he cares for me, and you don't,' sobbed
the sister; and she was carried away.
"When she had gone, the youngest brother slid down from his corner
and came up to Melchior.
"'We are alone now, Brother,' he said; 'let us be good friends. May I sit
on the front seat with you, and have half the rug? I will be very good
and polite, and will have nothing more to do with those fellows, if you
will talk to me.'
"Now Melchior really rather liked the idea, but as his brother seemed to
be in a submissive mood, he thought he would take the opportunity of
giving him a good lecture, and would then graciously relent and forgive.
So he began by asking him if he thought that he was fit company for
him (Melchior), what he thought that gentlefolks would say to a boy
who had been playing with such youths as young Hop-o'-my-Thumb
had, and whether the said youths were not scoundrels? And when the
boy refused to say that they were (for they had been kind to him),
Melchior said that his tastes were evidently as bad as ever, and even
hinted at the old transportation threat. This was too much; the