Story 4--Chapter VII.
Harry Smith, the very shadow of his former self, waited until the procession neared, and then stood aside to let the one sad woman pass to the shabby funeral carriage, after which he made his way back into the court, to listen to the narrative of the sad havoc worked by the disease while he had been tossing in delirium upon his own pallet. But he went home sad and yet happy, as he pondered upon some information he had gained from the neighbours; for he learned for certain that no one whose visits he had dreaded had passed up the court to Number 5.
The days glided on. It was the depth of winter, and the snow lay thickly upon the house-tops. It was churned up into a black mud sometimes in the streets; but, in spite of powdering blacks, it still struggled to lie white and pure upon the ledges and window-sills. The storm came again and again, and Jenny’s window-sill was covered, and somehow in the morning, when she rose, there lay a tiny bunch of sweet violets in amongst the snow. From whence did the offering come? There was but one explanation—it must have been thrown across from a neighbour’s window; and morning after morning the flowers were there, and as Jenny took each bunch and placed it in water she thought of the market and its floral treasures even at that season of the year, and a blush burned hotly in her cheek, for she remembered who had brought roses during the illness, and wondered why he had ceased to come.
There was much for Harry to ponder upon, though, in the long hours during which, for want of strength, he was compelled to remain idle; he thought of his own rough ways and garb, as compared with the bearing and dress of his favoured rival; telling himself that he was mad and foolish to expect that Jenny could prefer him to the man chosen by her grandfather. If she could only read his heart aright, he thought that there might be hope for him; but how could he expect that!
And time still sped on, giving to Harry Smith once more muscle and vigour, but little peace of mind, since now Jenny declined to let him bring her flowers, for she kept entirely to her needlework, lodging with an old widow on the opposite side of the court. But the flowers once more began their struggle for life in Jenny’s window, and with better success, for there was quite an hour’s more sun on that side of the way, so that the once bare window-sill grew gay with bright-hued blossoms.
But as Jenny grew brighter with her flowers, day by day, Harry Smith’s heart grew sad within, for with her consent or not—how could he tell?—John Wilson, the fair-weather friend, was frequently to be seen by the young girl’s side, as she was going to and from the warehouse whence she obtained the work which made sore her little fingers. Harry knew not that poor Jenny was pestered sadly, and went to the warehouse at different hours each day, so as to avoid a meeting. Harry judged only from what he saw, and grew daily more disheartened and sad. He did not rail against her, he only blamed his own folly, and at last made up his mind to leave the country—his attention having been taken by the inducements held out by emigration placards.
But this was not until nearly a year had passed, and now that his mind was fully made up, he watched for an evening when he could see Jenny alone, and tell her—he thought he would like to tell her how he had loved her—before he went.
Harry’s words were nearly left unsaid; for it happened that one evening he saw Jenny hurrying through the busy streets laden with the work she was taking home, and at a short distance behind he could make out John Wilson following rapidly in her steps.
The sight made the young man’s heart sink within his breast, and he was about to turn back when he saw that the young girl was panting beneath her burden, and half angrily he hastened up, and asked if he might carry it, determined for this time not to be driven away.
And it came to pass that evening that as they stepped into the quieter streets the bells of one of the old churches began to peal up joyfully for a practice, and it may be they inspired the young man with hope to declare his intentions, and then to his own surprise he grew warm and eloquent, reproaching his companion even for her conduct towards one who had loved her long and well.
“O Jenny!” he exclaimed, “I have always looked upon you as a violet growing therein—”
“A violet in the snow,” she said archly, as she gazed in his face; and—well, the street was very dark—he held her for a moment in his arms.
She shrank from him startled and angry, and he felt hurt once more.
“Ah!” he said bitterly, as they reached the door in the alley, “fine feathers make fine birds, and perhaps Jenny Blossom likes such birds to watch for her, and follow her about.”
“Can I help it, Harry?” said Jenny softly, as she laid one little work-scarred hand upon his. “I have no one to protect me,” and before he could speak again she had hurried up-stairs.
There must have been something more than the ordinary interpretation of those words, so effectually to drive away Harry Smith’s anger. Perhaps it arose from the way in which they were said. At all events John Wilson must have imagined that a fresh plague had broken out in the court, for he came near no more; and at one regular hour every evening Harry was to be seen accompanying the dainty little maiden to the warehouse, turning himself into a regular pack-horse with parcels, and all to the great hindrance of the emigrating scheme.
And so weeks—months passed, and then something more must have been said; for one day Harry Smith was seen busily carrying Jenny’s flower-pots from her lodging to his own home, which could have been from no other reason than that Jenny had at last consented to tend them there, and send brightness to the honest young fellow’s home. And so it passed, for from that time Jenny Blossom’s name faded out of the chronicles of Gutter-alley. Year after year, though, when tiny little blue-eyed children were born to Harry in the cold wintry season, there was a fancy of his which may be recorded. It was only the fancy of a rough, honest worker—a soldier in the fight for life; but all the same, the idea had its tinge of poetry. The idea was this—to say that the tiny blossoms that came to find this world in its wintry garment of purity were like Violets in the Snow.