Few words were required, the stranger's height and length of arms did
all that was needful, and Don was placed in safety with less pain and
outcry than could have been hoped, Rachel ascending before the polite
stranger had time to offer his assistance. The dog's hurt was, he agreed
with Rachel, a broken leg, and his offer of carrying it home could not
be refused, especially as he touched it with remarkable tenderness and
dexterity, adding that with a splint or two, he thought he had surgery
enough to set the limb.
They were much nearer the Homestead than to Myrtle-wood, and as it had
been already agreed that Bessie should breakfast there, the three bent
their steps up the hill as fast as might be, in consideration of Mrs.
Curtis's anxieties. Bessie in a state of great exultation and amusement
at the romantic adventure, Rachel somewhat put out at the untoward
mishap that obliged her to be beholden to one of the casual visitors,
against whom her mother had such a prejudice.
Still, the gentleman himself was far from objectionable, in appearance
or manner; his air was that of an educated man, his dress that of a
clergyman at large, his face keen. Rachel remembered to have met him
once or twice in the town within the last few days, and wondered if he
could be a person who had called in at the lace school and asked so many
questions that Mrs. Kelland had decided that he could be after no good;
he must be one of the Parliament folks that they sent down to take the
bread out of children's mouths by not letting them work as many hours
as was good for them. Not quite believing in a Government commission
on lace-making grievances, Rachel was still prepared to greet a kindred
spirit of philanthropy, and as she reflected more, thought that perhaps
it was well that an introduction had been procured on any terms.
So she thawed a little, and did not leave all the civility to Miss
Keith, but graciously responded to the stranger's admiration of the
views, the exquisite framings of the summer sea and sky made by tree,
rock, and rising ground, and the walks so well laid out on the little
headland, now on smooth turf, now bordering slopes wild with fern
and mountain ash, now amid luxuriant exotic shrubs that attested the
mildness of Avonmouth winters.
When they came near the front of the house, Rachel took man and dog in
through the open window of her own sitting-room, and hastened to provide
him with bandages and splints, leaving Bessie to reassure Mrs. Curtis
that no human limbs were broken, and that no one was even wet to the
skin; nay, Bessie had even the tact to spare Mrs. Curtis the romantic
colouring that delighted herself. Grace had followed Rachel to assist
at the operation, and was equally delighted with its neatness and
tenderness, as well as equally convinced of the necessity of asking the
performer first to wash his hands and then to eat his breakfast, both
which kind proposals he accepted with diffident gratitude, first casting
a glance around the apartment, which, though he said nothing, conveyed
that he was profoundly struck with the tokens of occupation that it
contained. The breakfast was, in the first place, a very hungry one;
indeed, Bessie had been too ravenous to wait till the surgery was over,
and was already arrived at her second egg when the others appeared, and
the story had again to be told to the mother, and her warm thanks given.
Mrs. Curtis did not like strangers when they were only names, but let
her be brought in contact, and her good nature made her friendly at
once, above all in her own house. The stranger was so grave and quiet
too, not at all presuming, and making light of his services, but
only afraid he had been trespassing on the Homestead grounds. These
incursions of the season visitors were so great a grievance at the
Homestead that Mrs. Curtis highly approved his forbearance, whilst she
was pleased with his tribute to her scenery, which he evidently admired
with an artistic eye. Love of sketching had brought him to Avonmouth,
and before he took leave, Mrs. Curtis had accorded him that permission
to draw in her little peninsula for which many a young lady below was
sighing and murmuring. He thanked her with a melancholy look, confessing
that in his circumstances his pencil was his toy and his solace.