Read Ebook: Miles Murchison by Giberne Agnes

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Ebook has 643 lines and 34974 words, and 13 pages

"You're not well, sir," I said; and he got up a laugh, and said,--"Oh, only a little;" and then he got whiter and whiter, and couldn't hold himself up. So I just saw to him as if he'd been one of my own. I made him lie on the seat, and asked Jervis for some water, which we'd brought with us in case the children should be thirsty. Then I wetted his forehead, and after a minute he gave a sort of gasp, and opened his eyes, and laughed. If I hadn't kept him back he would have started up.

"Don't move yet, sir, please," I said. "It'll make you bad again."

"So very stupid of me," said he. "Thanks--you're so good. It was only that run, you know."

"I'm afraid you're ill, sir," I said.

"Ill! no!" says he. "I was ill in the winter, but that's ages ago. I'm all right now."

"Oh, I'm all right enough," said he again; and then he shut his eyes, and lay still, which didn't seem of a piece with his words.

"What a kind creature you are!" says he, all of a sudden; and he spoke quite brisk, and a streak of colour had come to his cheeks. "It's too bad, though, to bother you like this. I can get up now;" and he was up before I could stop him; but the streak of colour died away in a moment, and he just dropped back again, and I heard him say-- to himself, like--"Oh dear, I do feel bad!"

After that I wouldn't let him stir nor talk, and I kept wetting a clean pocket-handkerchief and laying it on his forehead. He let me do as I liked; and presently he went off sound again, and slept like a top for ever so long. And when he woke up he did look better.

"There! I'm all right," said he, just as he had said before. "How stupid I've been!" And he sat up, and looked me in the face, smiling, with such a pleasant look. "You are a good kind creature!" said he. "What makes you so good to me, I wonder? You're exactly like our dear old nurse--only she's three times as old as you are, you know." I wondered if he meant that really; for three times thirty-six would make her a very uncommon age; but I thought perhaps he was joking.

Very soon after that we got to Ermespoint; and Master Bertram jumped out first, in such a hurry that I only wondered he didn't tumble down. He was rushing across the platform, but he stopped short, and came back, to lift down little Bessie. "Here, porter, bring my bag," said he; and then he rushed off again, and I saw a young lady, rather bigger than my Louey, kissing him, and he kissing a lady. I could hear his voice too, saying--"The nicest woman, mother, you ever saw!--and the very jolliest little girl!"--and they all three came across to us, and the lady thanked me so prettily for my "kind care" of "her boy," as she was pleased to call it. And Master Bertram said--"I shall find you all out on the shore by-and-by. Mind you don't go out of reach."

"After lunch," the lady said. "He must rest a little first,"--though nobody could have guessed from his merry face how bad he'd been an hour before.

What we had to do was to make our way down to the beach, and that was easy enough, Ermespoint being but a small place. We soon got to the Parade, where two or three donkeys stood about, and one little goat-carriage. The first thing my husband couldn't resist was to give Rosie and Bessie a ride in the goat-carriage. I did think the shilling might have been better used: and yet it was such a pleasure to them both! I've always been glad since to think our little Bessie had that ride.

So for an hour we walked or sat about on the Parade, while the children were driven up and down; and after that we went on the sands. Louey made a collection of sea-weed; and the two youngest hunted for shells; and Miles scrambled about on the low rocks; and my husband and I enjoyed it all--the quiet and the breeze, and the sunshine, and our children's delight, and the tiny waves which kept rolling in and breaking. Not big waves, like those Jervis had talked of; but then, as he said, big waves don't come without a big wind to make them; and that wouldn't have been half so nice for a long day on the shore.

The day didn't seem long; at least the morning did not. It was wonderful how the hours slipped by, and how happy we were! Nobody came near us; and I couldn't help thinking how much nicer such a day was, than to go out from home when everybody goes, and when every place is crowded, so one can't find a quiet corner anywhere.

Between twelve and one we had our dinner, and right glad we were of it. The children were just ravenous. After our meal it was nice to sit quiet for awhile. Jervis told stories to the little ones; and Louey arranged her seaweeds; and Miles kicked his heels about, lying on his back to stare up at the sky. All at once I heard a merry voice close behind, saying--"So here you all are!" and when I got up in a hurry, and turned about, there was Master Kingscote, and two young ladies with him--Miss Ellen Kingscote, who was two years older than Louey, and little Miss Rosamund, who was just the same age as our Bessie, and a sweet little lady too, though to my thinking there never was so pretty a child as my poor little Bessie.

"Isn't she jolly, Ros?" said Master Bertram pointing at Bessie. "And I've told my father and mother all about you," said he to me; "and you're all to come to tea in our house at five o'clock. You'll have the big basement-room." Ah! how little he thought, as he said the words, what way we should have the use of that basement-room! "You'll come; won't you?" said he, with that smile of his, which was like nobody's I'd ever seen before.

Well, I thanked him, and I asked him to thank Mr. and Mrs. Kingscote, and I said I was afraid it would be a trouble, more especial as they were just settling into a new house: but to that he wouldn't listen. Then I asked how he was, and he said, "Oh, I'm all right!" and I saw Miss Kingscote gave a little shake to her head, as if she didn't think so, no more than me.

Then Master Bertram asked us what we'd done, and where we'd been; and he said we must come along with him to see the very prettiest part of all, under the west cliff. "I've not been there yet," said he; "but everybody talks about that bit of beach, and I'm going now with my sisters. So you'd better all come along too. Now, Ros, you've got to act showman," said he to the little one, who kept holding on to his hand, and looking up in his face, as if she did love him so. She was like him, with blue eyes and a bright colour; and her hair was short and curly.

"The tide's going out now, so we can walk round under the cliffs, into the cove beyond," said he. "When the tide's high, you can't go that way. You see I know all about it," said he, laughing; and he kept running ahead, to jump from one rock to another, or to make his little sister jump. I couldn't help seeing, though, how quick he lost his breath, and how his colour came and went, and how often he seemed to stop, just to pant quietly, not making any fuss, and trying to hide it.

"I wouldn't go so fast, sir, if I was you," I said.

"Wouldn't you?" said he; and then he asked Miles, "Do you know what it is makes the tides come in and go out?"

"No, sir, I don't," said Miles. I could see Miles was wonderfully taken with the young gentleman, though he was too shy to say much.

"It's the moon," said Master Bertram; and I made sure he was joking; but he wasn't. "I'm not talking nonsense," said he. "It really is the moon and the sun; but most of all the moon. I'll tell you more-- some day!" And I knew he hadn't breath to say much, walking over the shingles and the wet sand; and I wondered if we should ever see him again after that day.

We got to the cove at last, with great high cliffs rising up behind; and it was pretty, there's no denying. I think I noticed directly how the waves seemed to have eaten into the rock down below, digging out a hollow all along, so that the cliffs hung right over. But nobody thought of danger. It wasn't likely we should, being new to the place; and Master Bertram was as new to it as we were, and his sisters had been only there a few days. There were no danger-notices up, as there ought to have been. We heard later that there had been boards, warning people, till a year or two back; but they had been taken away, nobody could say why; and though one or two gentlemen had spoken out, and said how wrong it was, nothing had been done.

So we all went close up under the cliffs, never dreaming of danger; and if we'd all sat down and stayed there, nobody knows how many mightn't have been killed on the spot. But presently we scattered about. Master Bertram was amusing Bessie. He seemed to have taken such a fancy to her; and the dear little thing did look so pretty and smiling, while he built her a house of pebbles, and then wound a big ribbon of sea-weed round her hat. He said she was to take it home with her--little thinking! But none of us knew what was coming.

Presently Master Bertram left Bessie with my husband near the cliffs, and he strolled down the beach half-way to the sea, and got into a talk with Miles, which pleased me; while Jervis sat on a small rock, with Bessie on his knee, not following Master Bertram. Miss Ellie and Miss Rosamund were down near the water, with my Rosie; and I was just going to them, fearing Rosie might be a trouble. And Louey stood alone, not far from me.

I suppose she was the only one free to look-out; for all the rest except me were talking and busy; and I was thinking about Rosie. Louey always had been uncommon sharp to notice things: though she wasn't given to talk. She was not far from me, and about even on the beach with Master Bertram and Miles; and she had her face turned towards the cliff, looking up--watching the sea-gulls, she said after.

All at once, such a shriek came from her. I'd never heard my quiet Louey shriek before. I could not hear what she said; but others told me later that it was something about the cliff tumbling. I only knew the shriek meant something dreadful; and my head went round, for I didn't know where the danger was, nor who needed help, nor where I ought to turn. I saw Louey begin to rush down the beach, towards the sea; and I saw Master Bertram start off the other way towards my husband and Bessie. And I don't rightly know what happened next; only it seemed as if the whole top of the cliff was coming down in a great crash, and as if everybody must be killed.

HOW IT ALL HAPPENED. MRS. MURCHISON'S STORY--.

THEY say it's a common thing enough--cliffs getting worn away underneath by the washing of the sea, and then hanging right over above, so that great pieces must break off and tumble down now and again. And they told us--afterward, you know--that heavy falls had taken place in this very cove, only not for a good while; and that everybody living in Ermespoint knew it to be dangerous. It did seem so cruelly wrong that not one word of warning should be put up for strangers, to keep them from walking into such a trap. But of course nobody could blame Master Bertram for taking us there, because he was just as new to the place as ourselves and knew no more about how things were.

Such a quantity of rock had never been known to fall before as came down that day. As I've said, it looked like the cliff giving way, though it only was a part from above. A great shower of sand and earth came with the rock, and big blocks rolled and bounded down the beach, which meant danger to us all.

But the worst was to know that underneath that pile lay my husband and little Bessie.

It was for their sake that Master Bertram started off to rush to the cliff, the moment he heard Louey shriek: and most likely he'd have met his death, only Miles saw in a moment he could do no good, and sprang and seized hold of him to stop him. In the moment's struggle, I suppose, or somehow, Master Bertram fell; and a great block of stone came bounding towards them both, as the top of the cliff crashed down; and Miles didn't rush off, only to save himself, as so many would have done. He gripped Master Bertram quick as lightning, and gave him a great drag to one side. You see, Miles was a strong lad, and Master Bertram was thin and light. And he was just in time--for the block rolled and dashed past over where Master Bertram had been, and close to them both, and it was big enough to have killed a man outright. So my Miles saved the life of Master Bertram at the risk of his own. I think it's not every boy of fourteen who'd have done so much, nor been so sharp.

I'm telling this because it happened then, and others saw it beside the boys themselves; not because I saw it. I couldn't see aught at first, except that great pile of fallen rocks, where my husband and Bessie had been. I didn't notice Louey go down near me; and though a sharp bit of rock struck me, I didn't so much as feel it.

A lot of people came hurrying up--sailors and other men I hadn't seen to be near, but yet they must have been. The children were made to move away to a distance as fast as possible; but I couldn't stop to think of them, for I was wild to know about Jervis and Bessie. They say I spoke pretty quiet, only I didn't feel myself to be quiet. The next thing was, I found Miles close by me, and he was saying, "They'll get 'em out, mother, and I am going to help."

I couldn't bear Miles to go near, for I thought there'd surely be another fall of the cliff; and I tried to hold him back, but it was no use. A lot of men were hard at work, and Master Bertram was with them; and they had need of courage, for nobody could say if any moment they mightn't be buried too. But still they kept on, as brave as could be, clearing away the rock and the rubbish, hoping that it mightn't be too late.

The time seemed so slow, I didn't know how to bear myself. Sometimes everything turned black, and I couldn't have told where I was, nor what had come to me.

It must have been just after one of those turns that I saw a man carrying something down the beach--carrying a child, and I knew it must be my little Bessie, though I could not properly see. I cried out for Bessie, but somebody stepped between; and I tried to meet him, but I could hardly walk, and he went off and away too quick; and I asked no questions, for my husband wasn't out yet, and I had to wait for him. The blackness came again, and the next minute somebody had hold of my hand, and I jumped up, and cried out, "Is it Jervis?" And then I knew from the feel of the hand, with a glove on it, that it wasn't a man, and I saw the face of Master Bertram's mother, that I had seen on the platform.

"Come with me," she said, and she held me, as if she meant to be obeyed.

"Yes, they are both taken away," said she. "You must come home with me now."

She led me, for I couldn't see rightly, and I kept stumbling over the pebbles: but she held me up, and somebody helped me on the other side, and not a word was said. I couldn't speak either for a time, I felt so strange: and then I had a pain in my left shoulder, and I suppose I put my hand there, for the lady said, "Does it hurt much?"

I think I looked at her, wondering how she knew, for she said,-- "A piece of rock has struck you, and I am afraid you are badly bruised."

I hadn't felt it before, but the pain got worse, till I didn't know how to walk. The rock must have been jagged, for it had torn my dress.

Then all of a sudden we were at the Rectory. I didn't dare to ask any questions, and I was sick with the pain: so Mrs. Kingscote made me sit down, and she loosened my dress and bathed the shoulder; and my arm below the shoulder was all swelled up. And then she made me drink something hot; I couldn't say what it was. After that I must have turned sleepy or stupid, I don't know which, nor for how long; for when I woke up wide in a fright, and longing to know more, it would be a good hour later. Mrs. Kingscote was gone, and only Miss Ellie sat by me, keeping watch; and I was on the sofa in the little workroom where the Rectory maids used to sit. I couldn't think how I'd come on the sofa, nor why I wasn't with my husband, and I sat up in a hurry and said, "Oh, I must go!"

"Wait, please, till my mother comes. Just one moment," said Miss Ellie.

"I can't wait," said I, all in a fever.

"But you don't know where anybody is," said she. "Wait just one moment;" and hardly was she out of sight before Mrs. Kingscote came in.

"Are you a little better now?" said she, and she sat down by me.

I couldn't answer, for it didn't seem to matter how I was. I wanted to hear about them, you know. I just looked at her hard, and I said--"Then they're killed!"

Mrs. Kingscote's blue eyes, which are every bit like Master Bertram's,--were, I ought to say, for eyes alter as people grow older-- her eyes filled up with tears, and her soft hands took tight hold of mine, as if she did want to comfort me.

"Only--one," said she.

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