When Bridget arrived with the doctor she found that the old lady had disappeared leaving, however, a card for Mrs. Wilkie. On the latter’s return Bridget told her the whole story, adding that she supposed the old lady had come to herself and got tired waiting; in time, however, the baby was missed, and that threw a new light on affairs. Mrs. Wilkie was frantic; she denounced Bridget as a good-for-nothing, refused to sit down to dinner, and set off with her mother in the direction of Mrs. Wilkie’s house.
This time, however, the dowager was on her guard. The child was carefully looked after, being under the care of a faithful ally of the old lady, whose instructions were never to leave him for a moment out of her sight. Mrs. Wilkie and her mother might walk up and down and look at the lighted windows; they might also watch at a distance the youthful hope of the house of Wilkie as he took his daily airing in the park, but the trick once tried could not be repeated, and the fond mother (for whatever her faults were she loved her child) was obliged to pine in weary loneliness.
During all these sieges and reprisals the little fellow waxed strong and healthy, in sublime unconsciousness of the importance attached to the possession of his person: he was by no means neglected, the only risk he ran was that of being hugged to death, as each party, more through joy at the success of its schemes than from love of the youth in question, caressed him lavishly if not fondly.
Some months after these occurrences Mr. Wilkie removed to Montreal, where he soon became permanently established, and, as he was always fond of politics, he was in a short time recognised as one of the leaders of the liberal party. When the reaction consequent on the famous “Pacific Scandal” set in, Mr. Wilkie, M. P., took his seat for K——, a small town below Montreal, rising in Parliament, as he did everywhere else by his ability, far above the common level. His son was placed at the Montreal High school, and gave promise of becoming in time even more distinguished than his father.
They had not been long resident in Montreal before the poor old dowager was seized with acute rheumatism, to which she finally succumbed, and Mr. Wilkie was obliged to engage a housekeeper to look after his household affairs and his son’s education. It was a sad time for poor little Aleck; his grandmother fairly doted on him, and indulged his every whim, but Mrs. Riddell, the new housekeeper, cared not whether he was happy or miserable so long as she drew her monthly pay.
All this time Mrs. Wilkie had been living with her mother in Toronto, and, as soon as she heard of her mother-in-law’s death, she persuaded her mother to remove to Montreal, so that she might secretly keep watch over her boy, whom she now loved, if possible, more than ever. Assuming the name of Mrs. Johnson, she took lodgings in a house nearly opposite the residence of Mr. Wilkie, and thus was enabled to observe closely all the proceedings of his household; she longed to throw herself at her husband’s feet and implore his forgiveness, but her proud spirit rebelled against such an act, and she sat at her window day after day in moody silence watching her darling boy going and returning from school.
Shortly after his wife’s arrival in Montreal, Mr. Wilkie was summoned to England on business of importance, a fact with which Mrs. Wilkie became easily acquainted through the Gazette, which heralded all his movements, the fond mother now became more anxious than ever about her boy, and indeed not without reason, for, being monarch of all she surveyed, the easy-going housekeeper laid herself out for “a good time,” and, although in her way she was kind enough to the child, she left him to take care of himself as well as he could, being content if she prepared a bed for him to sleep in, and ordered his three meals a day with unfailing regularity. The house Mr. Wilkie lived in was situated in one of the newest and most fashionable localities, having what are generally designated “modern improvements,” and one of these latter so improved the internal arrangements of Master Aleck, that he was soon confined to bed with enteric fever. Mrs. Johnson, missing the boy from the street, called to enquire after him, and had her fears confirmed by the housekeeper, who said she did not know what to do for his father was away, and she had never in her life nursed a fevered patient. The wily mother seized the opportunity with avidity, and with unblushing effrontery perpetrated the atrocious falsehood that she was a professional nurse of large experience, and that such an interest did she feel in the little fellow that she would if permitted undertake to nurse him free of charge. Mrs. Riddell was delighted, and at her neighbor’s suggestion sent for Dr. Brownie, who had, she said great experience in such cases. A cablegram was despatched to Mr. Wilkie, and everything that science could devise was done for the poor little sufferer. For many days he seemed to get worse and worse and his devoted mother was nearly worn out as she sat up night after night wiping his fevered brow, or moistening his parched lips, at length the crisis came, and the doctor pronounced him on the way to recovery, adding that the slightest neglect on the part of those who tended him would permit a relapse, which would in all probability prove fatal. In this case, however, the latter caution was altogether unnecessary, what Mrs. Johnson lacked in experience she more than made up for in care and solicitude, and, as every direction of the physician was carried out to the letter, the little fellow began perceptibly to mend before the telegram came announcing Mr. Wilkie’s arrival in Quebec. On the receipt of the missive Mrs. Johnson made preparations for her departure, saying that her services were now scarcely needed, and that she needed rest; Mrs. Riddell at first tried hard to induce her to remain, but when she looked at the pale thin face, and thought how many weary nights the lady had voluntarily sat up with the raving child, she ceased to urge the request, and at once set out for a mercenary to replace her.
What a difference there is between him who enters on a labor of love and the hireling who works for pay! In this case, then, it may easily be supposed with a mother’s ardent affection on the one hand, how different was the cold professional service rendered by the nurse who replaced Mrs. Johnson: although kind and attentive, she had not the same soothing power, nor could she sing the sweet lullaby which so often in his fevered moments had calmed poor little Aleck’s soul, and the little fellow became at once very low indeed. At this juncture his father arrived, and when he saw his boy he was completely overcome; he learned from the housekeeper all the particulars of the kind neighbor’s attention, and resolved to go personally to her residence and implore her not to desert his boy till he was out of all danger. Waiting only to partake of a morsel of food, he set out for the house indicated by his housekeeper, and inquired for Mrs. Johnson. The girl who opened the door told him that Mrs. Johnson had been out nursing a sick child for several nights, and had just fallen into a deep sleep, the first she had had for days, and urged him to call round again in the afternoon, when her mistress would probably be able to see him. In the afternoon he returned in great haste, saying that he must see Mrs. Johnson at all hazards, that his boy was worse, and raved incessantly for her. While he was speaking the lady he inquired for suddenly came down stairs, and as their eyes met both uttered an exclamation of surprise. Forgetting everything in her anxiety for her boy’s safety the poor mother’s face became suffused with tears as she anxiously cried with bated breath, “Is he dead?” “No; thanks be to God and his mother’s care he still lives, but you must not let him die now.”
The rest of the story is soon told; the pride of both husband and wife was humbled by adversity, and in their heavy affliction each was made to feel what a strength and comfort it was to have a companion who could sympathize not only with the joys but with the sorrows of the other. The boy was several weeks before he was able to leave his room, during which time his mother told him the history of her troubles, and recounted how miserable she felt without him and his father, all of which was of course retailed to the latter gentleman, and effectually healed the breach between the man and his wife. The dowager’s name was for obvious reasons never mentioned by either Mr. or Mrs. Wilkie, and as for the youthful hope of the house, his memory was so elastic that he never even thought about the old lady.
Mrs. Riddell was astonished when she became acquainted with the true relations of the nurse and her patient, but, having become quite enamoured of the former (who by-the-by was now become both a discreet and amiable matron), she readily fell into a subordinate position in the household, taking her orders quite gladly, and having a special care for little Aleck. Mrs. Wilkie has now an assortment of boys and girls, Aleck being entered as a law student at McGill University and the others being still at school; she seldom thinks of the past, preferring to look forward to a bright and happy future. Still at times her mind will revert to scenes of yore, and she shudders as she thinks of the bitter experiences she has had, attributing most if not all of them, rightly or wrongly, to her mother-in-law.