Fighting the Flames

  CHAPTER SIX.

  "WHEN ONE IS ANOTHER WHO IS WHICH?"

  "Well, boy, what do you want? Have you anything to say to me?"

  Mr Auberly turned sharp round on Willie, whose gaze had gone beyond thelength of simple curiosity. In fact, he was awe-struck at the sight ofsuch a very tall and very dignified man standing so grimly in the midstof such dreadful devastation.

  "Please, sir, I was sent to you, sir, by--"

  "Oh, you're the boy, the son of--that is to say, you were sent to me byyour mother," said Mr Auberly with a frown.

  "Well, sir," replied Willie, hesitating, "I--I--was sent by--by--"

  "Ah, I see," interrupted Mr Auberly with a smile that was meant to begracious, "you were sent by a fireman; you are not the--the--I meanyou're the _other_ boy."

  Poor Willie, being of a powerfully risible nature, found it hard tocontain himself on hearing his own words of the previous eveningre-echoed thus unexpectedly. His face became red, and he took refuge inblowing his nose, during which process--having observed the smile on MrAuberly's face--he resolved to be "the other boy."

  "Yes, sir," he said, looking up modestly, "I was sent by a fireman; I_am_ the other boy."

  Mr Auberly smiled again grimly, and said that the fireman was a bravefellow, and that he had saved his daughter's life, and that he was veryglad to do anything that lay in his power for him, and that heunderstood that Willie was the fireman's brother; to which the boyreplied that he was.

  "Well, then, come this way," continued Mr Auberly, leading Willie intothe library of the adjoining house, which his friend had put at hisdisposal, and seating himself at a writing-table. "You want a situationof some sort--a clerkship, I suppose?"

  Willie admitted that his ambition soared to that tremendous height.

  "Let me see," muttered Mr Auberly, taking up a pen and beginning towrite; "yes, she will be able to help me. What is your name, boy?"

  "Willie, sir."

  "Just so, William; and your surname--your other name?"

  "Willders, sir."

  Mr Auberly started, and looked Willie full in the eyes. Willie,feeling that he was playing a sort of double part without being able toavoid it, grew red in the face.

  "What did you say, boy?"

  "Willders," replied Willie stoutly.

  "Then you're _not_ the other boy," said Mr Auberly, laying down hispen, and regarding Willie with a frown.

  "Please, sir," replied Willie, with a look of meekness which was mingledwith a feeling of desperation, for his desire to laugh was strong uponhim, "please, sir, I don't rightly know _which_ boy I am."

  Mr Auberly paused for a moment.

  "Boy, you're a fool!"

  "Thank 'ee, sir," said Willie.

  This reply went a long way in Mr Auberly's mind to prove the truth ofhis assertion.

  "Answer me, boy," said Mr Auberly with an impressive look and tone;"were you sent here by a fireman?"

  "Yes, sir," replied Willie.

  "What is his name?"

  "Same as mine, sir--Willders."

  "Of course, of course," said Mr Auberly, a little confused at havingput such an unnecessary question. "Does your _mother_ know you'rehere?"

  This brought the slang phrase, "Does your mother know you're out?" soforcibly to the boy's mind, that he felt himself swell internally, andhad recourse again to his pocket-handkerchief as a safety-valve.

  "Yes, sir," said he, on recovering his composure; "arter I saw Blazes--Frank, I mean, that's my brother, sir--I goes right away home to bed. Istops with my mother, sir, an' she saw me come off here this mornin',sir. She knows I was comin' here."

  "Of course; yes, yes, I see," muttered Mr Auberly, again taking up hispen. "I see; yes, yes; same name--strange coincidence, though; but,after all, there are many of that name in London. I suppose the _other_boy will be here shortly. Very odd, very odd indeed."

  "Please, sir," observed Willie, in a gentle tone, "you said _I_ was theother boy, sir."

  Mr Auberly seemed a little annoyed at his muttered words being thusreplied to, yet he condescended to explain that there was another boy ofthe same name whom he expected to see that morning.

  "Oh, then there's _another_ other boy, sir?" said Willie with a look ofinterest.

  "Hold your tongue!" said Mr Auberly in a sharp voice; "you're a fool,and you're much too fond of speaking. I advise you to keep your tonguequieter if you wish to get on in life."

  Willie once more sought relief in his pocket-handkerchief, while hispatron indited and sealed an epistle, which he addressed to "MissTippet, Number 6, Poorthing Lane, Beverly Square."

  "Here, boy, take this to the lady to whom it is addressed--the lane isat the opposite corner of the square--and wait an answer."

  "Am I to bring the answer back to you, sir?" asked Willie with muchhumility.

  "No; the answer is for yourself," said Mr Auberly testily; "and hark'ee, boy, you need not trouble me again. That note will get you all youdesire."

  "Thank you, sir," said Willie, making a bow, and preparing to retire;"but please, sir, I don't very well know, that is to say--ahem!"

  "Well, boy?" said the patron sternly.

  "Excuse me, sir; I can't help it, you know; but please, sir, I wish toexplain about that other boy--no, that's me, but the _other_ other boy,you know--"

  "Begone, boy!" cried Mr Auberly in a voice so stern that Willie foundhimself next moment in the street, along which he ran chuckling worsethan ever.

  A little reflection might have opened Mr Auberly's eyes to the truth inregard to Willie, but a poor relation was to him a disagreeable subjectof contemplation, and he possessed the faculty, in an eminent degree, ofdismissing it altogether from his mind. Having care enough on his mindat that time, poor man, he deliberately cast the confusion of the twoboys out of his thoughts, and gave himself up to matters moreinteresting and personal.

  We may add here that Mrs Willders was faithful to her promise, andnever more addressed her brother-in-law by word or letter. When Willieafterwards told her and Frank of the absurdity of his interview, and ofthe violent manner in which Mr Auberly had dismissed him when he wasgoing to explain about the "other" boy, his mother thought it best tolet things rest as they stood, yet she often wondered in her own quietway what Mr Auberly would think of her and of the non-appearance of the"other" boy; and she felt convinced that if he only put things togetherhe _must_ come to understand that Willie and Frank were her sons. ButMrs Willders did not know of the before-mentioned happy facility whichher kinsman possessed of forgetting poor relations; so, after wonderingon for a time, she ceased to wonder or to think about it at all.