The Armourer's Apprentice — page 59: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

. aa vy " ? Nt t Salt me var Be Re eee Tra vt ‘SADDLE , ‘( i ee ‘ -_* ‘APCS wr ~ * Never mind,” said the “ Yoni “are 4 ve ve king me, and yexing iny fa ahecene ‘Do, _ pray, come in.” om We yan Margaret, ” replied the apprentice. Tm not without 8 sé. ofmy own, Pu e y my own bread. Vil work after hours. li eat at no man’s table.” if f “Wave you a bed heart?” said the girl. “have a right feeling,” replied Dick. Yell; and if you have, Dick,” replied on 2 girl, ‘ you've fasted longenough, Why ou grieve me too? Well, well, I cannot ¢ fa 6 you come, so ood-night, eee bs ’ Dick took her little trembling hand and | held it for awhile, and felt a strong desire " to blubber and givein. He could haveheld € ane anything but her compassion, Se Rosine stood there, still holding her hand for ie menerninutes, saying nota word; till, just the moment that she turned away, he > vhispered to her, hurriedly, “I'll go. I care or nothing, You shan’t grieve about me. & ere in, They shall say or think what * th AS that he set his work aside, and went ‘into the room where the saddler was, and jat down in silence and ate his meal. : He bore all the old man’s jokes, and let a 2 im tell of how often he had known such stubborn folks brought round by hunger, ise in his own conceit, sat there, and little & n ght what power had wrought the hange. That night Margaret met her ather’s apprentice on the stairs and bade oh im good-night, and told him he was a _ IKind-hearted fellow, and that she would, re- A: C9 SP atahes that day. | | _ From that time old Ranson had no more pe Pp ower to wake his apprentice miserable. ~ Diek worked hard and did his best, and if the old man complained he gave ‘him no answer. The time was drawing near when , ae apprenticeship would end, and Dick i int of what he should do when master “of his time, and planned out many a Bhi ie But old’ Ranson grew every day more 1im, looked like contempt. He saw the time drawing near whon he a a that _ this apprentice would throw off the mask % and set, him at defiance, All things soured _ him; and one day, when he had been rating his apprentice for some trifie, Dick, who - thoug tno more of the matter, began to whistle at his work, The old man’s anger 4 was roused at this. He rushed at his apprentice and struck ‘him, If Dick had ie oat to think a moment, he would re iene oe care RS APPRENTICE Rey eal ; p ae pad T have not earned, ” “nid | Pa nd made no answer; while the old saddler, itable, _ Dick's silence, when he spoke to. ~ ~~ Ae A oe ay ai ause ‘to think a open, He knocked im down. 3 There could be no reconciliation after that. The old man declared solemnly that Dick should be taken before 8 magistrate the next day and sent to jail. Ranson, it is true, had struek the apprentice first: _ but magistrates had no sympathy with © apprentices. The old man had bruises; Dick had none. There was nothing more certain than that Dick, if he came before a magistrate, would be sent to & prisor to associate with thieves and rogues, Dick turned it over in bis mind that night; but, look at it how he would, he saw no hope, except in running away: so he made up his mind at once. He tied in a bundle all he possessed, put on all his clothes. dropped out of the low window on to the porch, and — so into the roadway, and walked away. A runaway apprentice in those days was a far greater villain thanheisnow. There was not @ man or woman in the country round about where poor Dick had spent his days who would have helped him with a ~ crust. of masters, and barked at all such unnatural rebels. Dick hada little money saved up, and he did not doubt of getting work when | he had got far enough to be safe. Dick’s plan, in short, was to make a fortune at once, and return and claim Margaretforhis wife—to compelold Ranson to forgive him | and forget the past. But, although this scheme seemed to him well defined and practical enough, he found difficulties. In — a many towns there was not 4 single saddler to be found. More than a week aiter he had left his home he came to a place where he Jearned at last that there was a saddler’s shop. Dick surveyed the house, and de- termined to goin and ask for work; but, going across the road to clean his shoes and shake the dust from his clothes, he made a discovery which turned him in 4 mnie from his purpose. Right.facing him was — the watch-house, and there, for the first time, Dick caught sight of his own name upon a large ‘handbill, evidently newly — stuck upon the board beside the door. Dick read hurriedly the description of him- self, which made him of a down and sullen look, and, on the whole, was not flattering. It gave Dick a nang to think how his de- tractors must have it afi their own way now—how every littie fault he had com- mitted would be raked up and exaggerated, and how Margaret, hearing such things all day, might come, before long, to lose her — liking for him, om to think that they were right, "So. he sat diet vnat night, and moved by love for Margaret, ep & manly, Eomicbooks (E (0) The very dogs were m the interest