CHAPTER TWELVE.
LOO'S GARDEN.
The plans of nurses, not less than those of mice and men, are apt to getinto disorder. Mrs Durby having packed up the diamond ring in thecareful manner which we have described in a previous chapter, essayed toget ready for her important journey to London on pawning purposesintent, but she found that there were so many little preparations tomake, both in regard to her own toilette and to the arrangements of MrsTipps' establishment, in prospect of its being left without its firstmate for a time, that a considerable period elapsed before she got heranchor tripped and herself ready to set sail with the first fair wind.Worthy Mrs Durby, we may observe, was fond of quoting the latecaptain's phraseology. She was an affectionate creature, and liked torecall his memory in this somewhat peculiar fashion.
In anticipation of this journey, Netta went one evening, in company withEmma Lee, to pay Mrs John Marrot a friendly visit, ostensibly for thepurpose of inquiring after the health of baby Marrot, who, havingrecently fallen down-stairs, swallowed a brass button and eaten anunknown quantity of shoe-blacking, had been somewhat ailing. The realobject of the visit however, was to ask Mrs Marrot to beg of herhusband to take a special interest in Mrs Durby on her journey, as thatexcellent nurse had made up her mind to go by the train which he drove,feeling assured that if safety by rail was attainable at all, it must beby having a friend at court--a good and true man at the helm, so tospeak.
"But la, Miss!" said Mrs Marrot, sitting on the bed and patting thebaby, whose ruling passion, mischief, could not be disguised even indistress, seeing that it gleamed from his glassy eyes and issued inintermittent yells from his fevered throat, "if your nurse is of anarvish temperment she'd better not go with my John, 'cause _he_ usuallydrives the Flyin' Dutchman."
"Indeed!" said Netta, with a puzzled smile; "and pray, what is theFlyin' Dutchman?"
A yell and a glare from baby interrupted the reply. At the same instantthe 7:45 p.m. express flew past with a roar, which was intensified bythe whistle into a shriek as it neared the station. The house trembledas usual. Netta, not unnaturally, shuddered.
"Don't be alarmed, Miss, it's only the express."
"Do expresses often pass your cottage in that way?" asked Netta, with atouch of pity.
"Bless you, yes, Miss; they're always passin' day and night continooly;but we don't think nothink of it. We've got used to it now."
"Does it not disturb you at night?" asked Emma Lee in some surprise.
"No, Miss, it don't--not in the least. No doubt it sometimes _do_influence our dreams, if I may say so. As my son Bob says--he's ahumorous boy is my Bob, Miss--he says, says he, the trains can't awaken_us_, but they _do_ awaken noo trains of ideas, especially w'en theystops right opposite the winder an' blows off steam, or whistles likemad for five minutes at a time. I sometimes think that Bob is right,an' that's w'y baby have took to yellin' an' mischief with such a 'igh'and. They do say that a man is knowd by the company he keeps, and I'msure it's no wonder that baby should screech an' smash as he do,considerin' the example set 'im day an' night by them ingines."
Here another yell from baby gave, as it were, assent to these opinions.
"But, as I was sayin'," continued Mrs Marrot, "the Flyin' Dutchman isthe name that my 'usband's train goes by, 'cause it is the fastest trainin the kingdom--so they say. It goes at the rate of over sixty miles anhour, an' ain't just quite the train for people as is narvish--though my'usband do say it ain't more dangerous than other trains--not s'much so,indeed, wich I believe myself, for there ain't nothink 'appened to myJohn all the eight years he have drove it."
"Is sixty miles an hour _very_ much faster than the rate of ordinarytrains?" asked Emma.
"W'y, yes, Miss. Or'nary trains they run between twenty and forty milesan hour, though sometimes in goin' down inclines they git up to fifty;but my 'usband _averages_ sixty miles an hour, an' on some parts o' theline 'e gits up the speed to sixty-five an' siventy. For my own partI'm quite hignorant of these things. To my mind all the ingines seem togo bangin' an' rushin' an' yellin' about pretty much in the same furiousway; but I've often 'eard my 'usband explain it all, an' _he_ knows allabout it Miss, just as if it wor A, B, C."
Having discussed such matters a little longer, and entered with genuinesympathy into the physical and mental condition of baby, Netta finallyarranged that her old nurse should go by the Flying Dutchman, seeingthat she would be unable to distinguish the difference of speed betweenone train and another, while her mind would be at rest, if she knewherself to be under the care of a man, in whom she could trust.
"Well, Miss, I dessay it won't much matter," said Mrs Marrot,endeavouring to soothe the baby, in whom the button or the blackingappeared to be creating dire havoc; "but of course my 'usband can'tattend to 'er 'isself, not bein' allowed to attend to nothink but 'isingine. But he'll put 'er in charge of the guard, who is a very'andsome man, and uncommon polite to ladies. Stay, I'll speak to WillumGarvie about it now," said Mrs Marrot, rising; "he's in the gardingbe'ind."
"Pray don't call him in," said Netta, rising quickly; "we will go downto him. I should like much to see your garden."
"You'll find my Loo there, too," said Mrs Marrot with a motherly smile,as she opened the door to let her visitors out. "You'll excuse me notgoin' hout. I dursn't leave that baby for a minute. He'd be over the--there he--"
The sentence was cut short by a yell, followed by a heavy bump, and thedoor shut with a bang, which sent Emma and her friend round the cornerof the house in a highly amused frame of mind.
John Marrot's garden was a small one--so small that the break-van of hisown "Flyin' Dutchman" could have contained it easily--but it was not toosmall to present a luxuriance, fertility, and brilliance of colour thatwas absolutely magnificent! Surrounded as that garden was by "ballast"from the embankment, broken wheels and rail, bricks and stones, andother miscellaneous refuse and _debris_ of the line, it could only becompared to an oasis in the desert, or a bright gem on a ruggedwarrior's breast. This garden owed its origin to Lucy Marrot's love forflowers, and it owed much of its magnificence to Will Garvie's love forLucy; for that amiable fireman spent much of his small wage inpurchasing seed and other things for the improvement of that garden, andspent the very few hours of his life, not claimed by the inexorable ironhorse, in assisting to cultivate the same.
We use the word `assisting' advisedly, because Loo would not hear of histaking this sort of work out of her hands. She was far too fond of itto permit that, but she had no objection whatever to his assistance.There never was, so Will and Loo thought, anything like the love whichthese two bore to each other. Extremes meet, undoubtedly. Their lovewas so intensely matter of fact and earnest that it rose high above theregion of romance, in which lower region so many of our race do delightto coo and sigh. There was no nonsense about it. Will Garvie, who wasnaturally bold--no wonder, considering his meteor-like style of life--saw all the flowers in the garden as well as any other man, and admiredthem more than most men, but he said gravely that he wouldn't give theend of a cracked boiler-tube for the whole garden, if she were not inthe midst of it. At which Loo laughed heartily, and blushed withpleasure, and made no other reply.
It was quite delightful to observe the earnestness with which these twodevoted themselves to the training of honeysuckle and jessamine over atrellis-work porch in that preposterously small garden, in which therewas such a wealth of sweet peas, and roses, and marigolds, andmignonette, and scarlet geraniums, and delicately-coloured heliotropes,that it seemed as though they were making love in the midst of a glowingfurnace. Gertie was there too, like a small female Cupid nestling amongthe flowers.
"A miniature paradise," whispered Emma, with twinkling eyes, as theyapproached the unconscious pair.
"Yes, with Adam and Eve training the flowers," responded Netta quiteearnestly.
Adam making love in the fustian costume of the fireman of the "FlyingDutchman" was an idea which must have struck Emma in some fashion, f
orshe found it difficult to command her features when introduced to theinhabitants of that little Eden by her friend.
"I have called to tell Mrs Marrot," said Netta, "that my old nurse,Mrs Durby, is going to London soon, and that I wished your father totake a sort of charge of her, more for the sake of making her feel atease than anything else."
"I'm quite sure he will be delighted to do that," said Loo; "won't he,Will?"
"Why, yes," replied the fireman, "your father is not the man to see awoman in distress and stand by. He'll give her in charge of the guard,for you see, ma'am, he's not allowed to leave his engine." Willaddressed the latter part of his remarks to Netta.
"That is just what Mrs Marrot said, and that will do equally well.Would _you_ like to travel on the railway, Gertie?" said Netta,observing that the child was gazing up in her face with large earnesteyes.
"No," answered Gertie, with decision.
"No; why not?"
"Because it takes father too often away, and once it nearly killed him,"said Gertie.
"Ah, that was the time that my own dear mother received such a shock, Isuppose?"
"No, ma'am," said Will Garvie, "Gertie is thinkin' of another time, whenJack Marrot was drivin' an excursion train--not three years gone by, andhe ran into a lot of empty trucks that had broke loose from a train inadvance. They turned the engine off the rails, and it ran down anembankment into a ploughed field, where it turned right over on the topof Jack. Fortunately he fell between the funnel and the steam-dome,which was the means of savin' his life; but he got a bad shake, and wasoff duty some six or eight weeks. The fireman escaped without ascratch, and, as the coupling of the leading carriage broke, the traindidn't leave the metals, and no serious damage was done to any one else.I think our Gertie," continued Will, laying his big strong hand gentlyon the child's head, "seems to have taken an ill-will to railways sincethen."
"I'm not surprised to hear it," observed Emma Lee, as she bent down andkissed Gertie's forehead. "I have once been in a railway accidentmyself, and I share your dislike; but I fear that we couldn't get onwell without them now, so you and I must be content to tolerate them,Gertie."
"I s'pose so," was Gertie's quiet response, delivered, much to theamusement of her audience, with the gravity and the air of a grownwoman.
"Well, good-evening, Gertie, good-evening," said Netta, turning toGarvie; "then I may tell my nurse that the engine-driver of the expresswill take care of her."
"Yes, ma'am, you may; for the matter o' that, the fireman of the expresswill keep an eye on her too," said the gallant William, touching his capas the two friends left that bright oasis in the desert and returned toEden Villa.