CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
WHICH BRINGS MY ADVENTURES TO A CLOSE.
Reader, be my companion in one scene more, and my story is done.
A month or two ago there was a grand merrymaking at the house of oneCharles Newcome, Esquire, late captain in her Majesty's army, tocelebrate the tenth birthday of his son, Master Thomas James Newcome.The company was mostly juvenile, and included, of course, the gallantcaptain's two little girls and his younger son, that most terrible ofall Turks, Charlie the younger. Then there were all the little boys andgirls living in the square, and many others from a distance, and one ortwo big boys and girls, and one or two young gentlemen who stroked theirchins as if something was to be felt there, and one or two young ladieswho would not take twice of sponge-cake, for fear of looking as if theywere hungry. But besides these there were a few grown-up peoplepresent, whom I must not forget to name. Naturally the gallant captainwas one, and the gallant captain's lady was another; and then there werethe last-named lady's two brothers there, one a clergyman called theReverend James Halliday, and the other (and elder) Mr Joseph Halliday,a civil engineer with a ferocious pair of whiskers. And, to completethe party, there was present a grave, anxious-looking gentleman by thename of Mr Drift, a surgeon.
These all sat apart and looked on while the young folk enjoyedthemselves. And how the young folk did enjoy themselves that night!What shouting and laughter there was, what a jingling of the piano, whathiding in corners, what romping on the stair case! And the round games,and the charades, and the family posts! Oh dear me, I'm an old watch,and I've gone through a good many noisy scenes, but I never remembersuch a racket as this.
And how the young folk besieged the elder and compelled them to join inthe fun. There was papa down on his hands and knees with half-a-dozenyoungsters on his back. And there was Uncle Joseph performing tricks ofconjuring before a select audience; and Mr Drift telling stories toanother; and as for the reverend Uncle Jim, he was made blind man, andhad his long coat-tails pulled; and, strange to say, he never caughtanybody all the time. And then the supper! who shall describe that? theclattering of dishes, the rattle of knives and forks, the banging ofcrackers, the peals of laughter, and the cross-fire of chaff.
Alas! all good things must come to an end, and so did this party. Oneby one the little guests said good-bye, and after they had gone thelittle family of children and elders was left alone. Though it was pasteleven, the little urchin Charlie insisted on clambering on to MrDrift's knee, to hear one last story, and the little girls besiegedtheir uncles, and put their arms round their necks, and besought theirintercession with mamma to gain them another half-hour's respite downstairs.
"Charlie," said Tom Drift, "this little fellow is worrying me for astory. Suppose you tell one."
"Oh yes," shouted that small chorus. "Oh yes! papa, please tell us astory?"
"Hear, hear!" said Uncle Joe.
"Fire away," said Uncle Jim.
"Remember, it must be quite a short one, Charles," said mamma.
Charlie Newcome the elder looked puzzled for a minute, and fidgeteduncomfortably in his seat.
Then he turned to his eldest boy, and said,--
"Tom, open that cabinet there and bring me the watch that is under theglass-case."
"The old, ugly watch, papa?" asked the boy, running off on his errand.
"Yes, the old, ugly watch," said papa, with a queer sort of smile.
The boy brought me. I was taken out of my case, and lay there in hisopen hand.
"Once upon a time," began papa--and what a hush fell on that littlecompany!--"once upon a time there was a little boy,"--why was iteveryone but the children looked so grave? and why did Mr Drift pushhis chair back into the shadow? why, even, did papa's voice tremble nowand then as he went on, and caught the eye first of one and then anotherof his listeners?
That night he told my story--not as I have told it to you. There wasnot much about Mr Drift in the story he told, and a great deal lessabout himself than there might have been. But as he went on thesechildren crowded round me and looked with awe upon my battered body, andread with reverence those quaintly-scratched initials, and as theyfollowed me in imagination from one master to another, and from oneperil to the next, ending up with the famous battle before Lucknow, theyforgot I was old and ugly, and I gradually appeared to their little eyesone of the greatest treasures which their father's house contained.
"And here he lies in my hand, children," concluded papa; "and if youlove him as much as I do you must be very fond of him. And now, good-night, all of you."
THE END.
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