Percival Keene Page 3

  CHAPTER THREE.

  I think that the reader will agree with me that my mother showed in herconduct great strength of character. She had been compelled to marry aman whom she despised, and to whom she felt herself superior in everyrespect; she had done so to save her reputation. That she had been inerror is true but situation and opportunity had conspired against her;and when she found out the pride and selfishness of the man to whom shewas devoted, and for whom she had sacrificed so much,--when her earswere wounded by proposals from his lips that she should take such a stepto avoid the scandal arising from their intimacy--when at the momentthat he made such a proposition, and the veil fell down and revealed theheart of man in its selfishness, it is not to be wondered that, withbitter tears, arising from wounded love, anger, and despair at herhopeless position, she consented. After having lost all she valued,what did she care for the future? It was but one sacrifice more tomake, one more proof of her devotion and obedience. But there are fewwomen who, like my mother, would have recovered her position to theextent that she did. Had she not shown such determination, had sheconsented to have accompanied her husband to the barracks, and havemixed up with the other wives of the men, she would have gradually sunkdown to their level; to this she could not consent. Having once freedherself from her thraldom, he immediately sunk down to his level, as sherose up to a position in which, if she could not ensure more thancivility and protection, she was at all events secure from insult andill-treatment.

  Such was the state of affairs when I had arrived at the important age ofsix years, a comic-looking, laughing urchin, petted by the officers, andas fall of mischief as a tree full of monkeys. My mother's business hadso much increased, that, about a year previous to this date, she hadfound it necessary to have some one to assist her, and had decided uponsending for her sister Amelia to live with her. It was, however,necessary to obtain her mother's consent. My grandmother had never seenmy mother since the interview which she had had with her at MadelineHall shortly after her marriage with Ben the marine. Latterly, however,they had corresponded; for my mother, who was too independent to seekher mother when she was merely the wife of a private marine, now thatshe was in flourishing circumstances had first tendered the olivebranch, which had been accepted, as soon as my grandmother found thatshe was virtually separated from her husband. As my grandmother foundit rather lonely at the isolated house in which she resided, and Ameliadeclared herself bored to death, it was at last agreed that mygrandmother and my aunt Amelia should both come and take up theirresidence with my mother, and in due time they arrived. Milly, as myaunt was called, was three years younger than my mother, very pretty andas smart as her sister, perhaps a little more demure in her look, butwith more mischief in her disposition. My grandmother was a cross,spiteful old woman; she was very large in her person, but veryrespectable in her appearance. I need not say that Miss Amelia did notlessen the attraction at the circulating library, which after herarrival was even more frequented by the officers than before.

  My aunt Milly was very soon as fond of me as I was of mischief; indeedit is not to be wondered at, for I was a type of the latter. I soonloved her better than my mother, for she encouraged me in all my tricks.My mother looked grave, and occasionally scolded me; my grandmotherslapped me hard and rated me continually; but reproof or correction fromthe two latter were of no avail; and the former, when she wished to playany trick which she dared not do herself, employed me as her agent; sothat I obtained the whole credit for what were her inventions, and I maysafely add, underwent the whole blame and punishment; but that I carednothing for; her caresses, cakes, and sugar-plums, added to my naturalpropensity, more than repaid me for the occasional severe rebukes of mymother, and the vindictive blows I received from the long fingers of myworthy grandmother. Moreover, the officers took much notice of me, andit must be admitted, that, although I positively refused to learn myletters, I was a very forward child. My great patron was a CaptainBridgeman, a very thin, elegantly-made man, who was continuallyperforming feats of address and activity; occasionally I would escapewith him and go down to the mess, remain at dinner, drink toasts, and,standing on the mess-table, sing two or three comic songs which he hadtaught me. I sometimes returned a little merry with the bumpers, whichmade my mother very angry, my old grandmother to hold up her hands, andlook at the ceiling through her spectacles, and my aunt Milly as merryas myself. Before I was eight years old, I had become so notorious,that any prank played in the town, any trick undiscovered, wasinvariably laid to my account; and many were the applications made to mymother for indemnification for broken windows and other damage done, toooften, I grant, with good reason, but very often when I had beenperfectly innocent of the misdemeanour. At last I was voted a commonnuisance, and every one, except my mother and my aunt Milly, declaredthat it was high time that I went to school.

  One evening the whole of the family were seated at tea in the backparlour. I was sitting very quietly and demurely in a corner, a suresign that I was in mischief, and so indeed I was (for I was putting alittle gunpowder into my grandmother's snuff-box, which I had purloined,just that she might "smell powder," as they say at sea, without dangerof life or limb), when the old woman addressed my mother--

  "Bella, is that boy never going to school? it will be the ruin of him."

  "What will be the ruin of him, mother?" rejoined my aunt Milly; "goingto school?"

  "Hold your nonsense, child: you are as bad as the boy himself," repliedgranny. "Boys are never ruined by education; girls sometimes are."

  Whether my mother thought that this was an innuendo reflecting upon anyportion of her own life, I cannot tell; but she replied very tartly.

  "You're none the worse for my education, mother, or you would not besitting here."

  "Very true, child," replied granny; "but recollect, neither would youhave married a marine--a private marine, Bella, while your sister looksup to the officers. Ay," continued the old woman, leaving off herknitting and looking at her daughter, "and is likely to get one, too, ifshe plays her cards well--that Lieutenant Flat can't keep out of theshop." (My granny having at this moment given me an opportunity toreplace her snuff-box, I did not fail to profit by it; and as Iperceived her knitting-pin had dropped on the floor, I stuck it into theskirt of her gown behind, so that whenever she looked for it, it wascertain ever to be behind her.)

  "Mr Flat is of a very respectable family, I hear say," continued mygrandmother.

  "And a great fool," interrupted my mother. "I hope Milly won't listento him."

  "He's an officer," replied my granny, "not a private."

  "Well, mother, I prefer my private marine, for I can make him do as Iplease; if he's a private, I'm commanding officer, and intend so to beas long as I live."

  "Well, well, Bella, let us say no more on the old score; but that boymust go to school. Deary me, I have dropped my needle."

  My grandmother rose, and turned round and round, looking for her needle,which, strange to say, she could not find; she opened her snuff-box, andtook a pinch to clear her optics. "Deary me, why, what's the matterwith my snuff? and where can that needle be? Child, come and look forthe needle; don't be sticking there in that corner."

  I thought proper to obey the order and pretended to be very diligent inmy search. Catching aunt Milly's eye, I pointed to the knitting-needlesticking in the hind skirts of my grandmother's gown, and then was downon my knees again, while my aunt held her handkerchief to her mouth tocheck her laughter.

  A minute afterwards, Ben the marine first tapped gently, and then openedthe door and came in; for at that late hour the officers were all atdinner, and the shop empty.

  "There are three parcels of books for you to take," said my mother; "butyou've plenty of time, so take down the tea-things, and get your tea inthe kitchen before you go."

  "You haven't got a shilling, Bella, about you? I want some 'baccy,"said Ben, in his quiet way.

  "Yes, here's a shilling, Ben; but don't drink too much b
eer," replied mymother.

  "Deary me, what can have become of my needle?" exclaimed my grandmother,turning round.

  "Here it is, ma'am," said Ben, who perceived it sticking in her skirt."That's Percival's work, I'll answer for it."

  My granny received the needle from Ben, and then turned to me: "Yougood-for-nothing boy; so you put the needle there, did you? pretendingto look for it all the while; you shall go to school, sir, that youshall."

  "You said a needle, granny; I was looking for a needle: you didn't sayyour knitting-pin; I could have told you where that was."

  "Yes, yes, those who hide can find; to school you go, or I'll not stayin the house."

  Ben took the tea-tray out of the room. He had been well drilled in andout of barracks.

  "I'll go down in the kitchen to father," cried I, for I was tired ofsitting still.

  "No, you won't, sir," said my mother, "you naughty boy; the kitchen isnot the place for you, and if ever I hear of you smoking a pipe again--"

  "Captain Bridgeman smokes," replied I.

  "Yes, sir, he smokes cigars; but a child like you must not smoke apipe."

  "And now come here, sir," said my granny, who had the lid of hersnuff-box off, and held it open in her hand; "what have you been doingwith my snuff?"

  "Why, granny, have I had your snuff-box the whole day?"

  "How should I know?--a boy like you, with every finger a fish-hook; I dobelieve you have; I only wish I could find you out. I had fresh snuffthis morning."

  "Perhaps they made a mistake at the shop, mother," said aunt Milly;"they are very careless."

  "Well, I can't tell: I must have some more; I can't take this."

  "Throw it in the fire, granny," said I; "and I'll run with the box andget it full again."

  "Well, I suppose it's the best thing I can do," replied the old woman,who went to the grate, and leaning over, poured the snuff out on thelive coals. The result was a loud explosion and a volume of smoke,which burst out of the grate into her face--the dinner and lappetssinged, her spectacles lifted from her nose, and her face as black as asweep's. The old woman screamed, and threw herself back; in so doing,she fell over the chair upon which she had been sitting, and, somehow oranother, tripped me up, and lay with all her weight upon me. I had beenjust attempting to make my escape during the confusion--for my motherand Milly were equally frightened--when I found myself completelysmothered by the weight of my now almost senseless granny, and, as Ihave before mentioned, she was a very corpulent woman. Had I been inany other position I should not have suffered so much; but I hadunfortunately fallen flat on my back, and was now lying with my faceupwards, pressed upon by the broadest part of the old woman's body; mynose was flattened, and my breath completely stopped. How long mygranny might have remained there groaning I cannot tell; probably, as Iwas somewhat a spoiled child before this, it might have ended in hercompletely finishing me; but she was roused up from her state of halfsyncope by a vigorous attack from my teeth, which, in the agony ofsuffocation, I used with preternatural force of jaw from one so young.I bit right through everything she had on, and as my senses were fastdeparting, my teeth actually met with my convulsive efforts. My granny,roused by the extreme pain, rolled over on her side, and then it wasthat my mother and aunt, who supposed that I had made my escape from theroom, discovered me lifeless, and black in the face. They ran to me,but I still held on with my teeth, nor could I be separated from my nowscreaming relative, until the admission of fresh air, and a plentifulsprinkling of cold water brought me to my senses, when I was laid on thesofa utterly exhausted. It certainly was a narrow escape, and it may besaid that the "biter was nearly bit." As for my granny, she recoveredher fright and her legs, but she did not recover her temper; she couldnot sit down without a pillow on the chair for many days, and, althoughlittle was said to me in consequence of the danger I had incurred, yetthere was an evident abhorrence of me on the part of the old woman, aquiet manner about my mother, and a want of her usual hilarity on thepart of my aunt, which were to me a foreboding of something unpleasant.A few days brought to light what was the result of various whisperingsand consultations. It was on a fine Monday morning, that Ben made hisappearance at an unusually early hour; my cap was put on my head, mycloak over my shoulders; Ben took me by the hand, having a coveredbasket in the other, and I was led away like a lamb to the butcher. AsI went out there was a tear in the eyes of my aunt Milly, a melancholyover the countenance of my mother, and a twinkling expression ofsatisfaction in my grandmother's eyes, which even her spectacles couldnot conceal from me: the fact was, my grandmother had triumphed, and Iwas going to school.