My Doggie and I by R. M. Ballantyne (series like harry potter TXT) đ
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- Author: R. M. Ballantyne
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âI am so glad to see you, Miss Blythe,â I stammered; âI had feared the consequences of that terrible nightâthat rude descent. Youâyouâare better, Iââ
âThank you; very much better,â she replied, with a sweet smile; âand how shall I ever express my debt of gratitude to you, Mr Mellon?â
She extended her delicate hand. I grasped it; she shook mine heartily.
That shake fixed my fate. No doubt it was the simple and natural expression of a grateful heart for a really important service; but I cared nothing about that. She blushed as I looked at her, and stooped to pat the jealous and impatient Dumps.
âSit here, darling, on this easy-chair,â said Mrs McTougall; âyou know the doctor allows you only half an hourâor an hour at mostâto-night; you may be up longer to-morrow. There; and you are not to speak much, remember.âMr Mellon, you must address yourself to me. Lilly is only allowed to listen.
âYes, as you truly said, Mr Mellon,â continued the good lady, who was somewhat garrulous, âher descent was rough, and indeed, so was mine. Oh! I shall never forget that rough monster into whose arms you thrust me that awful night; but he was a brave and strong monster too. He just gathered me up like a bundle of clothes, and went crashing down the blazing stair, through fire and smokeâand through bricks and mortar too, it seemed to me, from the noise and shocks. But we came out safe, thank God, and I had not a scratch, though I noticed that my monsterâs hair and beard were on fire, and his face was cut and bleeding. I canât think how he carried me so safely.â
âAh! the firemen have a knack of doing that sort of thing,â said I, speaking to Mrs McTougall, but looking at Lilly Blythe.
âSo I have heard. The brave, noble men,â said Lilly, speaking to Mrs McTougall, but looking at me.
I know not what we conversed about during the remainder of that hour. Whether I talked sense or nonsense I cannot tell. The only thing I am quite sure of is that I talked incessantly, enthusiastically, to Mrs McTougall, but kept my eyes fixed on Lilly Blythe all the time; and I know that Lilly blushed a good deal, and bent her pretty head frequently over her âdarling Pompey,â and fondled him to his heartâs content.
That night my leg violently resented the treatment it had received. When I slept I dreamed that I was on the rack, and that Miss Blythe, strange to say, was the chief tormentor, while Dumps quietly looked on and laughedâyes, deliberately laughedâat my sufferings.
It was a considerable time after the fire before my leg permitted me to resume my studies and my duties among the poor. Meanwhile I had become a regularly-established inmate of Mr Dobsonâs house, and was half-jocularly styled âDr McTougallâs assistant.â
I confess that I had some hesitation at first in accepting such generous hospitality, but, feeling that I could not help myself till my leg should recover, I became reconciled to it. Then, as time advanced, the doctorâwho was an experimental chemist, as well as a Jack-of-all-tradesâfound me so useful to him in his laboratory, that I felt I was really earning my board and lodging. Meanwhile Lilly Blythe had been sent to visit an aunt of Dr McTougallâs in Kent for the benefit of her health.
This was well. I felt it to be so. I knew that her presence would have a disturbing influence on my studies, which were by that time nearly completed. I felt, also, that it was madness in me to fall in love with a girl whom I could not hope to marry for years, even if she were willing to have me at all, which I very much doubted.
I therefore resolved to put the subject away from me, and devote myself heartily to my profession, in the spirit of that Word which tells us that whatsoever our hands find to do we should do it with our might.
Success attended my efforts. I passed all my examinations with credit, and became not only a fixture in the doctorâs family, but as he earnestly assured me, a very great help to him.
Of course I did not mention the state of my feelings towards Lilly Blythe to any oneânot being in the habit of having confidantsâexcept indeed, to Dumps. In the snug little room just over the front door, which had been given to me as a study, I was wont to pour out many of my secret thoughts to my doggie, as he sat before me with cocked ears and demonstrative tail.
âYouâve been the making of me, Dumps,â said I, one evening, not long after I had reached the first round of the ladder of my profession. âIt was you who introduced me to Lilly Blythe, and through her to Dr McTougall, and you may be sure I shall never forget that! Nay, you must not be too demonstrative. When your mistress left you under my care she said, half-jocularly, no doubt that I was not to steal your heart from her. Wasnât that absurd, eh? As if any heart could be stolen from her! Of course I cannot regain your heart, Dumps, and I will not even attempt itââHonour bright,â as Robin Slidder says. By the way, that reminds me that I promised to go down to see old Mrs Willis this very night, so Iâll leave you to the tender mercies of the little McTougalls.â
As I walked down the Strand my last remark to Dumps recurred to me, and I could not help smiling as I thought of the âtender merciesâ to which I had referred. The reader already knows that the juvenile McTougalls were somewhat bloodthirsty in their notions of play. When Dumps was introduced to their nurseryâby that time transferred from Dobsonâs dining-room to an upper floorâthey at once adopted him with open arms. Dumps seemed to be willing, and, fortunately, turned out to be a dog of exceptionally good-nature. He was also tough. No amount of squeezing, bruising, pulling of the ears or tail, or falling upon him, either accidentally or on purpose, could induce him to bite. He did, indeed, yell hideously at times, when much hurt, and he snarled, barked, yelped, growled, and showed his teeth continually, but it was all in play, for he was dearly fond of romps.
Fortunately, the tall nurse had been born without nerves. She was wont to sit serene in a corner, darning innumerable socks, while a tornado was going on around her. Dumps became a sort of continual sacrifice. On all occasions when a criminal was to be decapitated, a burglar hanged, or a martyr burned, Dumps was the victim; and many a time was he rescued from impending and real death by the watchful nurse, who was too well aware of the innocent ignorance of her ferocious charges to leave Dumps entirely to their tender mercies.
On reaching Mrs Willisâs little dwelling, I found young Slidder officiating at the tea-table. I could not resist watching him a moment through a crack in the door before entering.
âNow then,â said he, ââere you are! Set to work, old Sneezer, with a will!â
The boy had got into a facetious way of calling Mrs Willis by any term of endearment that suggested itself at the moment, which would have been highly improper and disrespectful if it had not been the outflow of pure affection.
The crack in the door was not large enough to permit of my seeing Mrs Willis herself as she sat in her accustomed window with the spout-and-chimney-pot view. I could only see the withered old hand held tremblingly out for the smoking cup of tea, which the boy handed to her with a benignant smile, and I could hear the soft voice sayâ âThank you, Robinâdear boyâso like!â
âI tell you what it is, granny,â returned Slidder, with a frown, âIâll give you up anâ âand you over to the pâleece if you go on comparinâ me to other people in that way.âNow, then, âave some muffins. Theyâre all âot and soaked in butter, old Gummy, just the wery thing for your teeth. Fire away, now! Wotâs the use oâ me anâ Dr McTougall fetchinâ you nice things if you wonât eat âem?â
âBut I will eat âem, Robin, thankfully.â
âThat ainât the way, old âooman,â returned the boy, helping himself largely to the viands which he so freely dispensed; âitâs not thankfully, but heartily, you ought to eat âem.â
âBoth, Robin, both.â
âNot at all, granny. We asked a blessinâ fust, now, didnât we? Vell, then, wot weâve to do next is to go in and win heartily. Arter that itâs time enough to be thankful.â
âWhat a boy it is!â responded Mrs Willis.
I saw the withered old hand disappear with a muffin in it in the direction of the old mouth, and at this point I entered.
âThe wery man I wanted to see,â exclaimed Slidder, jumping up with what I thought unusual animation, even for him.
âCome along, doctor, just in time for grub. Mrs W hainât eat up all the muffins yet. Fresh cup anâ saucer; clean plate; ditto knife; no need for a fork; now then, sit down.â
Accepting this hearty invitation, I was soon busy with a muffin, while Mrs Willis gave a slow, elaborate, and graphic account of the sayings and doings of Master Slidder, which account, I need hardly say, was much in his favour, and I am bound to add that he listened to it with pleased solemnity.
âNow then, old flatterer, wâen youâve quite done, pâraps youâll tell the doctor that I wants a veekâs leave of absence, anâ then, pâraps youâll listen to what him anâ meâs got to say on that pâint. Just keep a stuffinâ of yourself with muffins, anâ donât speak.â
The old lady nodded pleasantly, and began to eat with apparently renewed appetite, while I turned in some surprise.
âA weekâs leave of absence?â said I.
âJust soâa veekâs leave of absenceâfurlow if you prefers to call it so. The truth is, I wants a âoliday wery bad. Granny says so, anâ I thinks sheâs right. Dâyou think my constitootionâs made oâ brass, or cast-iron, or bell-metal, that I should be able to york on anâ on for ever, black, black, blackinâ boots anâ shoes, without a âoliday? Wây, lawyers, merchants, bankersâeven doctorsâneeds a âoliday now anâ then; âow much more shoeblacks!â
âWell,â said I, with a laugh, âthere is no reason why shoeblacks should not require and desire a holiday as much as other people, only itâs unusualâbecause they cannot afford it, I suppose.â
âAh! âthatâs just wâere the shoe pinchesââas a old genâleman shouted to me tâother day, with a whack of his umbreller, wâen I scrubbed âis corns too hard. âRight you are, old stumps,â says I, âbut youâll have to pay tuppence farden hextra for that there whack, or be took up for assault anâ battery.â Dâyou know that genâleman larfed, he did, like a âiaena, anâ paid the tuppence down like a man. I let âim off the farden in consideration that he âadnât got one, anâ I had no change.âVell, to return to the pâintâvich was wot the old toper remarked to his wife every nightâIâve bin savinâ up of late.â
âSaving up, have you?â
âYes, them penny banks âas done it. Wây, it ainât a wirtue to be savinâ now-a-days, or good, or that sort oâ thing. What between city missionaries, anâ Sunday-schools, anâ penny banks, an cheap wittles, and grannies like this here old sneezer, itâs hardly possible for a young feller to go wrong, even if he was to try. Yes, Iâve bin anâ saved enough to give me a veekâs âoliday, so Iâm goinâ to âave my âoliday in the north. My âealth requires it.â
Saying this, young Slidder began to eat another muffin with a degree of zest that seemed to give the lie direct to his assertion, so
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