To The West | Page 7

hand was taken by a graceful-looking lady, who must once have been very beautiful. "You are hot and tired. Come and sit down here."
I felt hot and uncomfortable, everything was so different from what I had expected; for the room was not in the least shabby, and the tea-things placed ready added to the pleasant home-like aspect of the place.
"You have not walked?" said Mr John Dempster.
"Oh, yes," I replied.
"From--where?"
I told him.
"Camberwell? And I was so unreasonable as to ask you to come all this way."
I did not know how it was, but I somehow felt as if I had come to visit some very old friends, and in quite a short time we were chatting confidentially about our affairs. They soon knew all about my own home, and my life since I left school so suddenly; and on my side I learned that Mrs John Dempster had had a very serious illness, but was recovering slowly, and that they were contemplating going abroad, the doctors having said that she must not stay in our damp climate for another winter.
I learned, too, that, as Mr John Dempster said, when things came to the worst they improved. It had been so here, for the night after his visit to his cousin in the city, a letter had come from Mrs John Dempster's brother, who was in the North-west--wherever that might be--and their temporary troubles were at an end.
That would have been a delightfully pleasant meal but for one thing. No allusion was made to the visit to the city, and though I sat trembling, for fear they should both begin to thank me for my offer, not a word was said. The tea was simple. The flowers on the table and in the window smelled sweetly, and the birds sang, while there was something about Mrs John that fascinated me, and set me thinking about the happy old days at home.
The one unpleasantly was the conduct of the little maid they kept. She was a round rosy-faced girl of about fifteen, I suppose, but dressed in every respect, cap and apron and all, like a woman of five-and-twenty. In fact she looked like a small-sized woman with very hard-looking shiny dark eyes.
Upon her first entrance into the room bearing a bright tin kettle, for the moment I thought that as she looked so fierce, it was she who uttered little snorts, hisses, and sputtering noises. But of course it was only the kettle, for she merely looked at me angrily and gave a defiant sniff. As the evening went on, I found that this was Maria, and it soon became evident that Maria did not like me, but looked upon me as a kind of intruder, of whom she was as jealous as a girl of her class could be.
Pleasant evenings always pass too rapidly, and it was so here; I could not believe it when the hands of the little clock on the chimney-piece pointed to nine, and I rose to go.
"How soon it seems!" sighed Mrs John. "Well, Mayne,"--it had soon come to that--"you must call and see us again very soon--while we are here," she added, slowly.
"Ah, and who knows but what he may come when we are far away!" said Mr John. "The world is only a small place after all."
"Where should you go?" I said, earnestly. "I would come if I could."
"Possibly to Canada," said Mr John. "But there, we are not gone yet. You will not feel lonely, dear, if I walk a little way with our visitor?"
She gave him a very gentle smile, and as I held out my hand, she drew me to her and kissed me.
I could not say "Good-bye" then, for there was a strange choking feeling in my throat which made me hurry away, and the last thing I heard as I went out was the sharp banging and locking of the little gate, followed by another defiant sniff.
"Come and see us as often as you can, Mayne," said my new friend at parting. "We never had any children, and it is a pleasure to us to have young people about us, for since my misfortunes we have lived very much to ourselves. In fact, my dear wife's health has made it necessary that she should be much alone."
"But she is getting better, sir?"
"Oh, rapidly now; and if I can get her abroad--Ah, we must talk about this another time. Goodnight."
"Good-night."
It was like the opening out of a new life to me, and I walked back to Camberwell as if the distance was nothing, thinking as I was all the time about the conversation, of Mrs John's sweet, patient face, and the constantly attentive manner of Mr John, every action of his being repaid by a grateful smile. "I wonder,"