Rumours of the post-office robbery, as little Miss Selby called it, had travelled up to the Grange, and she was wild to know what had happened to Harold; but her grandmamma, not knowing what highway robbers might be roaming about Friarswood, would not hear of her walking to the post-office, and drove thither with her herself, in full state, close carriage, coachman and footman; and there was Mrs. King, with her head in at the carriage window, telling all the story.
‘So you have this youth here?’ said Lady Jane.
‘Yes, my Lady; he was so poorly that I couldn’t but let him lie down.’
‘And you have not sent him to the workhouse yet?’
‘Why, no, not yet, my Lady; I thought I would wait to see how he is to-morrow.’
‘You had better take care, Mary,’ said Lady Jane. ‘You’ll have him too ill to be moved; and then what will you do? a great lad of that age, and with illness enough in the house already!’ She sighed, and it was not said unkindly; but Mrs. King answered with something about his being so good a lad, and so friendless. And Miss Jane exclaimed, ‘O Grandmamma, it does seem so hard to send him to the workhouse!’
‘Do not talk like a silly child, my dear,’ said Lady Jane. ‘Mary is much too sensible to think of saddling herself with such a charge—not fit for her, nor the children either—even if the parish made it worth her while, which it never will. The Union is intended to provide for such cases of destitution; and depend on it, the youth looks to nothing else.’
‘No, my Lady,’ said Mrs. King; ‘he is so patient and meek about it, that it goes to one’s very heart.’
‘Ay, ay,’ said the old lady; ‘but don’t be soft-hearted and weak, Mary. It is not what I expect of you, as a sensible woman, to be harbouring a mere vagrant whom you know nothing about, and injuring your own children.’
‘Indeed, my Lady,’ began Mrs. King, ‘I’ve known the poor boy these four months, and so has Mr. Cope; and he is as steady and serious a boy as ever lived.’