The Fortunate Youth

it turned the old brown horse into a dappled grey, it powdered the black hair of Barney Bill and of Paul until they looked like vagabo

f everything. They had passed through many towns as similar to Bludston as one factory chimney to another, and had plied their trade in many a mean street, so much the counterpart of Budge Street that he had watched a certain window or door with involuntary trepidation, until he realized that it was not Budge Street, that he was a happy alien to its squalor, that he was a butterfly, a thing of woods and hedgerows fluttering for an inconsequent moment in the gloom. He came among them, none knew whence he was going, none knew whither. He was conscious of being a creature of mystery. He pit

o more chimneys belching forth smoke. This was the Earth, the real broad-bosomed Mother Earth. What he had left was the Hell upon Earth. What he was going to might be Paradise, but Paul's imagination rightly boggled at the conception of a Paradise more perfect. And, as Paul's prescient wit had conjectured, he was learning many things; the names of trees and wild flowers, the cries of birds, the habits of wayside beasts; what was good for a horse to eat and what was bad; which was the Waggon, and Orion's Belt and the Bunch of Keys in the heavens; how to fry bacon and sew up rents in his clothing; how to deal with his fellow-man, or, rather, with his fellow-woman, in a persuasive manner; how to snare a rabbit or a pheasant and convert it into food, and how, at the same time, to evade the terrors of the law; the differences betwee

d in the heat. It was too hot for sustained conversation. Once Barney Bill said: "If Bob"-Bob was

thing under a quart'll

ul, who had already adopted this care

ifferent things," said Barney Bill sententiously. "To spoi

rees? Behind that is the Little Bear Inn. They gives you cool china pots with blue round the edge. You can

very much impressed by Barney Bill's detailed

reak 'is 'eart. Them pots was being use

en," said Paul the scholar. "The

s one think, doesn't it? One of them there quart mugs-suppose it has been filled, say, ten times a day, every day for nine hundred years-my G

kept Barney Bill silent until they reached

h below. In the shade of the elm stretched a trestle table and two wooden benches. The old inn, gabled, half-timbered, its upper story overhanging the doorway, bent and crippled, though serene, with age, mellow in yellow and russet, spectacled, as befitted its years, with leaded diamond panes, crowned deep in secular thatch, smiled with the calm and homely peace of everlas

n search of ambrosia from the blue-and-white china mug. Paul, also afoot, led Bob to the trough. Bob drank with the lusty moderation of be

r, after a second or two of apparent irrelevance, take their place in the essential structure of the drawing. He stood absorbed. He knew that there were such things as pictures. He knew, too, that they were made by hands. But he had never seen one in the making. After a wh

hat's all wrong

lue," s

st time became conscious of the ragamuffin's presence

. "Look at it. It's not brown, anyhow

deuce with tones. "My hat!" cried he, "you're right. It was this confounded y

said

und on his box, clasping knees. "How the dev

o!" sa

etched himself an

that for, mister?" P

ha

ul. "You mun

laughed the artist. "Do

ed yo',"

any old thing I come across. I don't pretend to be a painter, my youthful virtuos

ul, eagerly.

life, inscribed on a brass plate in the Bludston High Street: "E. Thomson,

wondered how the bricklayers knew where to lay the bricks. He grasped the idea that they were but ins

nued: "Anyhow, you can earn a shilling. Just s

or?" as

. Now, I suppose you'll be asking me

in books. 'Th' owd grey tower stood ou

literary gent," s

acquaintance, whom, by his speech and dress and ease of manner, he jud

" said he, setting to work. "Head a little more that way. Capital. Don't move. If you're very quiet I'll give you a sh

nd started. "I

st. "I've just said you couldn't be

ed Paul's head. He dallied for a moment or two with t

The young man motioned wit

r," said Paul. "It'

ed the other, amused. "W

," sai

our mo

ious tone. "I dunno if my parents are l

hat are you doing with

velling wi' h

you going to

n I get there

out for a

Vision dancing before his eyes. "Th

at! If only I could catch the expression! There's nothing like adventure, is there? The glorious uncertainty of

Paul, his

at the luminous eyes. He broke a long

Kegw

the ragged urchin belonged Toms and Bills and Jims

odd?" sa

did you get it

I never thowt of it. I never kn

. Paul felt the thrill of it. He resisted a temptation to ask his ne

of the thick black hair, "are you really going to be dumped dow

said

you going

eches pocket and jingled coins

w m

id Paul, with an opulent air. "And yo'r shill

painter-rather a swell-a Royal Academician. He would love to paint you. So would other fellows. You could ea

h could

y a pound to thirty

y van, distant cornfields and uplands were blotted from

nued the friendly voice. "My name is Rowlatt-W. W.

said

write i

an likely to forget it. I never forget nowt," said

member," said Mr. R

ies and chief towns of Great Britain and Ireland, and all the weight

ried Rowlatt. "

amp vividly the impression he saw that he

you d

ain, Boils, Hails, Locusts, Darkness and D

pose now you'd have no difficulty i

r a pause, "the Thirty-nine Articles o' Religion, as is in th' Pra

answered, stopped his drawing for a moment. "What in the

earn about thi

good thing," said he. "Learn all you can, and you'll be a famous

Barney Bill appeared, cool and refreshed, from the inn door

Just a couple of minutes, if you ca

Bill, limping across the yar

ked over his shoulder. "By Gosh!"

well, hasn't it?" said t

image of 'im,"

n to seek his fortune," said Rowlat

rents," said Barney B

Barney Bill was betraying confidence. Gutter-bred though he was, he accused his vagrant protector of a lack of good taste. Of such a breach he

l find him. There's nothing like romance. Without it lif

o a stew," sa

Paul, my boy, I think after al

a ridiculous cheap price"-he waved toward the van. Rowlatt turned his head and, laughing, looked into the twinklin

, and rose. "Let us have a drink," said

deliciously at the brims. The men, their lips to the bubbles, nodded to each other. The still beat of the August noon enveloped th

with the Vision shimmering before his eyes, was sensitive enough to perceive in a dim and elusive way that he was at the back of each man's thoughts and that, for his sake,

th' picture

ticated sitter. To Paul it was uncanny. He had often seen his own reflection and was familiar with his own appearance, but this was the fir

rve of the lip attracted his boyish egotism. The portrait was an ide

nded him the shilling fee. Paul, than whom none better knew the magic quality of money, hesitated for a seco

ll right," said he, with a playful bow. "

r take money you've not earned. Good day to you, sir"-he touched hi

a low voice. "I don't go back upon my word. I'll help you. But if you're a wise boy and know what's good for you, you'll stick to Mr. Ba

dead selves as stepping-stones to higher things, turned a deaf ear to his new friend's pa

dusty road, and turned with a puzzled expression to his easel. Joy in the Little Bear Inn had for the mome

his bill agape, like a young bird, for whatever food of beauty and emotion and knowledge comes his way is obvious to any fool. But whether, in what I propose, I'm giv

od was in His Heaven, arranging everything for his especial benefit. All was we

she was as good a gal as his own wife, especially seeing as how she supported an old father what had got a stroke, and a houseful of young brothers and sisters. So I'm not saying there's any harm in it. And I wouldn't stand in your way, sonny, seeing as how you want to get to your 'igh-born parents.

ding susceptibilities. But in his heart rose a high pity