Dick Lionheart Part 7

"Walked from Venley--all but forty miles I came by train."

"Well, then, you must walk a bit further and come home with me. d.i.c.k Crosby was my good friend, and you have saved the kitten and maybe Nellie herself from ill-usage. It's dinner time, so you are just right. Run, Nellie, there is mother watching at the door."

They were walking now in a wider thoroughfare with better houses on either side. At the door of one a motherly woman stood looking out anxiously, and to her Nellie ran with a joyous shout. "Oh, mother, I've got kitty, and daddy's got a boy out there with such a nice dog, only kitty doesn't like him. She makes her tail like a sweeping brush."

"But where have you been, Nellie? We lost you, and father had to come after you."

"It's all right now, wife. I found her--or rather this little man found her, and helped her too, so I've brought him home to dinner."

And in a few words he told the tale, while Pat sent Nellie into shrieks of delight by standing up and begging in his best manner. Doubtless he smelled the savoury Irish stew that was just ready.

And Mrs. Dainton hurried them all in to enjoy it.

CHAPTER VII.

PADDY'S RESOLVE.

Over the pleasant little dinner table d.i.c.k's heart was quite won. The room was so clean and pretty, and the hot meal so good after the meagre fare of the last fortnight. And the new friends were so kind and sympathising, it was easy to tell them about the long march from Venley, and all his hopes about the future. Only there was no uncle d.i.c.k to help him in his heart's desire to become an engineer, and he would have to fight his own way.

But Mr. Dainton was quite disposed to be a true friend.

"I like your pluck, my boy, and I'll see what I can do, for my old friend's sake, and for your kindness to a little kitten. I may be able to get you into our yard, though you'll have to be content with rough work and very small wages at first. I suppose you haven't a reference or testimonial of any sort?"

d.i.c.k suddenly remembered the slip of paper given him by the gentleman on horseback, and he gave it silently into Mr. Dainton's hand.

"Why, this is first-rate, my boy! Couldn't be better. Sir Dale Melville is one of the directors of the line we do so much work for, and it was luck, or something better, that brought you in his way."

"Something better, I should say," Mrs. Dainton remarked softly, and d.i.c.k answered her smile with one as bright.

"You're right, wife, it strikes me G.o.d has been guiding d.i.c.k here right to our door, and I can see he thinks so, too."

"He could stop here, couldn't he mother, till Teddy comes back from grandma's, and have his little room?" said Nellie, eagerly. "Then Pat and Kitty could quite make friends, and have such fun together."

"That's not a bad notion, pet, if mother is willing."

And Mrs. Dainton at once said "Yes," and so d.i.c.k found himself with home and food and friends, before he had been an hour in Ironboro'.

How wonderfully G.o.d had answered his prayers!

"Hulloa, you young hopeful, what do you mean by sleeping all through dinner, and then waking just as we've cleared the dishes?" And Mr.

Dainton stooped to the cradle by the hearth, where a bonny six-month's old baby had wakened with a cry.

"What, fretty, little man? Those teeth do bother you, don't they? And I can't stop to take you now."

"Let me have him!" cried d.i.c.k, quickly, holding out his arms. "I've had a lot to do with babies."

And to their great surprise, baby Jack went to him at once with a contented chuckle, and settled down as if he had known him always.

"I like that, now," said the father as he took his cap to go. "He's mostly so shy with strangers."

Mrs. Dainton nodded her head as if to say "He'll do." And before the day was over she was inclined to think they had indeed entertained an angel unawares.

"He's as handy in the house as a woman," she told her husband that night, "and a master-hand with baby. I think we had better keep him, instead of the nurse-girl you've been wanting me to have."

"Too late, wifie. I'm hoping to get him into the starting shed to-morrow or Monday. Anyhow, the loco. manager will see him. We'll keep him here this week and rig him out with clothes, if only for Richard's sake."

"And for Christ's sake," said the mother softly. "It will be a case for 'Inasmuch' I know. He says his teacher used to call him 'Lionheart' and he means to earn the name."

"I rather think he's done that already, judging by the way he stood up to those bullies on the Waste. We'll see if old Mrs. Garth can give him a lodging. He'll be comfortable there, and we can have him round often, and I hope he and Teddy will be chums. I believe he's going to do well."

The next day it was settled, and d.i.c.k was seen by the manager and engaged as handy-boy for the cleaning shed. The small wages he would have at first seemed wealth indeed to d.i.c.k, though anybody else might have wondered how lodging and food and clothing could be managed on such an income. But Mr. Dainton had a private understanding with the tidy old woman where d.i.c.k's uncle had lodged, and she agreed to find board and lodging for what he could afford to pay, if he would carry coal and chop sticks and do errands for her, for a little while every day, now that she was growing old.

It was a good bargain for both, and d.i.c.k faithfully kept his share of the compact, spending half-an-hour morning and evening in helping her, while Pat fitted into the little household as if he had belonged there always. It was the proudest moment of d.i.c.k's life when he entered the great gates of the engine works on Monday morning.

The crowd of men going in at the summons of the hooter was not so large as on other days. So many of the workmen were keeping Saint Monday after drinking hard on Sat.u.r.day and Sunday, and of those who came some looked sleepy and muddled as if, they, too, had been having too much.

But d.i.c.k was not in a critical mood. Everything looked strange and delightful to the eager boy, and even the dirty work he was ordered to do seemed pleasant because there were engines everywhere, and mysteries of cogs and wheels that he would be able to find out, as the days went by.

The all-pervading smell of oil and grease reminded him of Paddy's boiler-house, and he resolved to spend his first evening in writing to him.

There were three other boys in the shed, all older than himself, and half-a-dozen men, and d.i.c.k was fairly bewildered by the orders they gave him.

As a new hand and the youngest it was quite evident he would be expected to f.a.g for all, and long before night his back and legs were very tired.

But Mrs. Garth had a good tea all ready, and Pat, who had been disconsolate all day, nearly wagged off his short tail for joy when he got home.

And then he wrote a letter.

"DEAR PADDY,

"We got to Ironboro' quite safely, after a lot of ups and downs on the road. Pat was nearly lost, so many people wanted to steal, or beg, or buy him, and no wonder.

"My uncle Richard is gone to Klond.y.k.e, and I am going to write him a letter.

"His friend, Mr. Dainton, found me, or I found his little girl, and they have been so kind. He is a foreman at Lisle & Co.'s, and he knew uncle ever so well. He has got me a place in their sheds, and I began work to-day.

"Our firm is splendid, I should think six times as big as the tin works, and I am going to try so hard there.

"Ironboro' is very dirty, and there are publics everywhere. The men drink a great deal here, and it is such a pity. Mr. Dainton says they could do well if they liked, because the pay is so good.

"One of the men offered me a drink of beer to-day, but of course I said 'No.' When I told him I never meant to touch it the others laughed, and said they'd soon make me know better. But I mean to be Lionheart still.

"Pat sends his love to you. He has a box for a kennel in Mrs. Garth's wood shed where I lodge.

"Dear Paddy, I know G.o.d _does_ hear when we pray, because he brought me here, and made people so kind to me coming along, and gave me friends and work directly. I wish you would come here, too, that Pat and I could see you again. He is so knowing. Everybody likes him. Do come.