Annette Lyster

“ Jack warned me that I must guard against that. Yet, sir, I do try to be kind to any one that is in want."
"My boy, I know you do. Did I not hear only yesterday that you have taken that poor old Betty Price, the fishwoman, to be your servant, only because she is no longer able to trudge about with her basket? And what I like so much is, that you never speak of these things. But there is something more wanting; you must come out of your shell, and realize that we have duties to our equals and to ourselves. If you don't, Roger, you'll never become more than half a man. ”

“ It was Deasy, and his appearance quite confirmed his pitiful tale; he was very ragged, his shoes were in holes, he was very thin, and altogether very unlike the saucy, bright-eyed, Easy Deasy Roger remembered.
"Well, I can't take you on, and you know that as well as I do. You're not able to do a man's work, and I haven't leave to have more than one boy. And Read has the place, and I can tell you he isn't the lad to throw away a chance, as he'd tell you himself." ”

“ He heard voices raised as if in anger, and standing still for a moment to listen, knew that one speaker was Tom Avery and that the other had a voice that he had heard before, though he did not at once recognise it. Avery was saying,—
"No, I won't, indeed. You were the plague of my life before with your cheek and your idleness. I've got a lad in your place that does his work like a man. I'll have no more to say to you,—" here the speaker and his companion came round some carriages which had hidden them from Roger,—"so be off with you, you needn't say another word." ”

“ Presently Tom Avery told him that if he continued to please him as well as he now did, he would take him to Birmingham, and get him taken on permanently in Deasy's place. Even then Roger did not give up his saving ways. Young Bowles laughed at him; but Roger said nothing, until he was asked what he was saving for. "One never knows what chance may turn up," was his answer. He was rather fond of the word "chance," meaning opportunity; and whenever he used it, Sparling would look at him with his grave grey eyes, reminding him always of that "best chance of all." ”

“ Roger did not argue the matter with him, but he privately told himself that he had as much chance of getting Mary Wilson as of marrying a princess, and at the same time, if he did not marry her, he did not think he would ever marry at all. And Jack Sparling had been dead a year and more before Roger began to think there might be a chance, and he was not the man to lose it, if so. He had buried dear old Jack in the Newcastle churchyard, beside his lass, and with his own hands he had laid the little picture the faithful fellow had so often looked at on his breast, as he lay in his coffin. ”

“ But Roger did not fail; Mary liked him, her brother was his friend, and her parents had the good sense to see that, however low down the ladder of life Roger Read began, his wife was likely to be a happy woman, truly loved and manfully cared for. And so there is a happy home in the neat rooms over the shop of "Roger Read, Fishmonger."
He never lost Jack Sparling's influence; and though to the end of life, he never willingly lost a chance, he yet kept the best chance steadily in view. As he prospered, in many quiet ways, he gave a helping hand to others. ”

“ MANY years ago, when railroads were not quite so common as they are now, and when no one knew how completely they would change the face of old England and the habits and manners of her children, some workmen from Birmingham were employed in laying the rails of a line which was to connect a certain small seaport in Essex with an inland town twenty miles off, which already possessed railroad communication with London. I shall call this tiny seaport—now a considerable place, thanks to this very railway—Sandsea, and the town Kingsmore, though these are not the real names of the places. ”

“ Most people divide a man into body, soul, and spirit; but, for my own convenience just now, I divide him into soul, brains, and heart, his body being the house in which these live. And if he doesn't take care of the house, the lodgers suffer for it. Now you, Roger, are neglecting the house, and taking care of only one of the lodgers. ”

“ You may do something wrong yourself one day, and if you get the measure you're inclined to give, you'll be in a bad way, boy."
For five years Jack Sparling lived with Roger, and those years made a great change in the young man. No one could be much with so thorough a Christian, and not learn from him, unless resolutely determined not to learn. And Roger, to use his own words, was "right glad of the chance, for I don't want to be a Pharisee." ”

“ A north-east wind blew in from the sea and swept over the somewhat level face of the country, nipping any silly little plants which had ventured to show their noses, and nipping too, not only the noses, but the fingers and toes of all who were exposed to its blast. ”

“ Wilson, of the Post Office, taught this class turns about, thus setting Mr. Aylmer free for the elder lads.
The Wilsons were very kind to Roger, and when their eldest boy finally left school, they often asked him to their house, feeling that he was a very safe companion for their boys. Indeed, Roger had used his opportunities so well that he was now a fairly educated man; and a real desire to be kind and courteous to every one made him a well-mannered man too.
All this time, amid all his interests, Roger had not forgotten his first and best friend, Jack Sparling. ”

“ What is the matter with you? Why, man, you look for all the world as if you were ashamed of yourself!"
"Well, I ain't, then!" said Avery sulkily. "I said then, and I say now, 'Charity begins at home;' you're a great one for proverbs, and that's a good one. It were the only difference Bess and me ever had, but I ain't, ashamed; she's only a woman, and women are some of 'em so soft, they'd take the bit out of their own mouth to give it away. If you must know, then—Jack had to go to the workhouse, and he was drafted off to his own native place, and I don't know where that is." ”

“ You know I divided you into four at the beginning, and I have disposed of the three lodgers. Now for the house, Roger, you don't look half so well as you did the evening you astounded me by proclaiming yourself a fishmonger."
"No, I am not; I miss the journey to and from Sandsea, and the pure salt breezes. But I can't go back to the old way now; my business has outgrown that."
"The cricket, and good long walks when you can spare time, will do just as well. By the way, we ought to be walking homewards. No primroses for me to-night; but if you keep your word, Roger, I shall not mind that." ”

“ My dear, good old Jack, I must find him, no matter how long it takes me. Deasy may be able to tell me something more."
He was turning to go in search of Deasy, when Avery said,—
"Look here, Roger. You've risen in the world, and are well thought of, I make no doubt. You look like a gentleman. You take my advice, and make no inquiry about poor old Jack."
"Mr. Avery, if every workman on the line, on every line in England, told me that Jack Sparling had done anything to be ashamed of, I shouldn't believe it! I do believe you know where he is ”

“ Not in her looks, Mary never had that healthy colour in her face.
"You try for her, Roger,—don't settle down when I'm gone, all alone, and turn yourself into a mill for making money; you will, if you have no one to soften you a bit. It's your snare, Roger, and so I warn you of it. It's all very well to do the best you can for yourself in business, but you want to keep your heart sound too. The good Book says,—
"'Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.'
"If you set it only upon doing well in business, it will get as hard as a flint. ”

“ Sparling!" cried Roger. "What brings you here?"
"Came after you. Do you like this chance so well that I needn't tell you of a better?"
"No, sir, I don't greatly like it. They're a queer set, these men."
"Ay, navvies mostly is. Well, Easy Deasy has gone off. Ever since we came here, he's been troublesome, and Avery says he is only in hopes that no boy can be got to come in his place. It's to light the fire, blow the bellows, carry the lead, do Deasy's work all round. It's one and sixpence a day. Will you come?"
"Will a duck swim?" said Roger gleefully. "Are you going back at once? ”

“ Aylmer, I'll come!" said Roger, laughing again. "I won't keep my brains idle."
"Or feed them with only one kind of food, of which of course they would get very tired. And a tired brain, weary with harping on one idea, is no joke. That is what fills our mad-houses, the doctors say. ”

“ Yes—and then he said, that if the Jews, being no better than slaves and captives, were to seek the peace of that city, how much more should men seek the peace of England, their own native country, where all have rights and privileges and all are free! ”

“ Sparling watched him, and saw that not so much as a crust was kept back for himself, and this gave him a good opinion of the lad, as there could be little doubt that he was in want. The boy brought the basket and laid it on the lorry, saying to Avery—
"If you please, sir, I'm to go to your lodgings with you, for Mrs. Avery took my bundle back with her when I took her basket, and she said I was to come with you and get it."
"All right, get up on the lorry. No, Deasy! not a bit of it, my lad. You rode all the way out this morning and wouldn't help, so you'll just walk, and push all the way in." ”

“ My grandfather was Sir Carew Shafton's gamekeeper."
"The grandfather that bid ye never to lose a chance?"
"Yes, I never had but one grandfather; at least, I must have had two of course, but I never saw the other. Nor my mother either. She died when I was born."
"What like was your father?" inquired Sparling.
"My father?" said Roger. "My father was a genius. That's what they said of him. Man! There was nothing he couldn't do, except—stick to it. Sir Carew got him a place in a big piano factory ”

“ Old Rider left a heap of money, though I do believe that a shilling a day would have paid his expenses; and his heir was a young lawyer in London, and he didn't want the shop."
"So then a tailor took it?"
"A tailor, a mite of a man, with a face like a half-baked roll," said the baker professionally. "And having been there a month, he gave it up and moved at great expense—said he couldn't stand the behaviour of old Rider, creeping up and down the stairs counting his money all night. He said he heard the chink of the money. Mind you, I say, rats!" ”

“ To his great joy they both consented, the old woman saying,—
"One good turn deserves another, and your shop won't injure my little trade!"
While the man bargained for an extra shilling; but, being a lazy fellow, he was glad to be spared his usual tramp. Roger hurried home, sorted out and examined his fish, arranged it temptingly on the yellow table, tried if his arrangement with watering-pot and tub would work, and at ten o'clock proudly took down his shutters, and began business in his own shop. ”

“ Yes, because I took up with Bowles, and you were always down on me; and then I gave impudence, and angered you worse; and then I ran off, thinking to get work on the fishing boats, but they won't have me; and I've tramped the country, and the farmers won't have me, and if you don't take me on again, sir, there's nothing before me but to starve, and that's the gospel truth, so 'tis. ”

“ In a cutting through one of these hills there was a semicircular excavation, where it was intended to build a tool-house presently; but just now it was very useful to the men, as it afforded them shelter from the wind, and for several days they had used it as their dining-room.
"Well, mates!" said Tom Avery, a tall, good-humoured looking fellow, dressed in white flannels, which were wonderfully clean, considering the nature of his work. "Whatever has come to my missis? ”

“ The first thing Roger did, was to take a holiday, and a trip by rail to Colchester. He had seen fishmongers' shops in London, but he wanted to refresh his memory. The glories of the shops in Colchester almost disheartened him—the gold letters, the gilt rails, the marble tables with water always trickling gently down to keep the fish fresh.
"But I'll just do the best I can," he said aloud as he walked back to the station. "To be first in the field is half the battle. I can't afford one of those outside blinds ”

“ And now time passed rapidly with Roger for though his work was not exactly hard, it required him to be always on the alert, and to be at the place where the boats came in very early. After a time, others set up baskets to convey fish to Kingsmore, finding the prices there better than at Sandsea. Then, indeed, Roger had a rather anxious time for they tried to undersell him; but after a few days, he found that most of his customers waited for him, saying that he always gave them good fish, and never tried to cheat. He went on making money steadily ”

“ Aylmer, "where I expect to get some primroses. Roger, I think you used to play cricket down in Devonshire?"
"Oh, yes, sir; you see, I had so little to do."
"Well, I'm going to set up a cricket club here, and I count on you as one of my best members. There'll be a yearly subscription, but it will be small. Mr. Dunlop has given us the use of a very nice field. It is easier to find a good flat field here than at home, Roger." ”

“ He was not very tall, but well-made and strong-looking. He had a sensible, freckled face, not handsome, but remarkably pleasant-looking; honest blue eyes; and brown hair, which he kept cropped very short. It was a bright, wide-awake face, but very pleasant and honest-looking; and Mr. Aylmer felt inclined to like the lad even before he spoke to him.
Mr. Aylmer was a tall, stalwart young man, a splendid cricketer, and a hard-working clergyman, whose evening school was his own idea and his pet undertaking.
CHAPTER V. THE EVENING SCHOOL.
"YOU have never been here before, I think?" ”