He said this as he followed Mary with a shuffling step to the door.
“Ned would never dream of doing anything of the sort,” she answered, now feeling greatly hurt at the remark.
“They’re all alike, they’re all alike,” muttered the old man; “but you, I dare say, can keep him in order. I didn’t mean to offend you, little girl,” he added, observing Mary’s grave look, as she turned round to wish him good-bye before going through the doorway.
The remark pacified her. “Poor old man!” she thought, “sickness makes him testy.”
“Good-bye, little girl,” said Mr Shank, as he stood with his hand on the door-latch; “you’ll come again soon?”
“If Aunt Sally sends me; but you must promise not to accuse Ned wrongfully. Good-bye!” answered Mary, as she stepped over the threshold, the old man immediately closing and bolting the door.
Ned, who had been on the watch at a little distance, sprang forward to meet her. She did not tell him what old Mr Shank had said, as she naturally thought that it would make him indignant; and like a wise girl she confined herself merely to saying how glad he seemed to be to get the food, and how pool and wretched he looked.
Mary and Ned had a pleasant walk home. After this she paid several visits to old Mr Shank, sometimes with Aunt Sally, at others with the lieutenant and Ned, but she always carried the basket and presented the contents to the old man. Aunt Sally would not believe that he was really a miser, although the people called him one. The cottage was his own, and he obtained periodically a few shillings at the bank, but this was all he was known to possess, and the amount was insufficient to supply him with the bare necessaries of life. He picked up sticks and bits of coal which fell from carts for firing. He possessed a few goats, which lived at free quarters on the downs, and their winter food cost but little. He sold the kids and part of the milk which he did not consume. He seemed grateful to Mary, and talked to her more than to any one else; but to Aunt Sally and the lieutenant he rarely uttered a word beyond a cold expression of thanks for the gifts they bestowed upon him.
Ned in the meantime was waiting anxiously for an answer to the letter his uncle had written Messrs Clew, Earring and Grummet, the shipowners. After some delay a reply was received from a clerk, stating that Mr Clew was dead, and that the other partners were unable to comply with the lieutenant’s request unless a considerable premium was paid, which was utterly beyond his means.
This was a great disappointment to Ned.