Part 2 (2/2)
Nello, awakened froez thrust hi here after dark,” he said roughly ”I believe, on my soul, that thou dost know more of the fire than any one”
Nello heard hi that any one could say such things except in jest, and not co how any one could pass a jest at such a ti openly to h no serious charge was ever preferred against the lad, it got bruited about that Nello had been seen in the mill-yard after dark on soe for forbidding his intercourse with little Alois; and so the has of its richest landowner servilely, and whose families all hoped to secure the riches of Alois in sorave looks and cold words to old Jehan Daas's grandson No one said anything to hiether to hues and far for the lances and brief phrases replaced to thes to which they had been always used No one really credited the eous accusations born of thenorant, and the one rich ainst him
Nello, in his innocence and his friendlessness, had no strength to stem the popular tide
”Thou art very cruel to the lad,” the , to her lord ”Sure he is an innocent lad and a faithful, and would never dreaht be”
But Baas Cogez being an obstinate h in his inner
Meanwhile, Nello endured the injury done against him with a certain proud patience that disdained to coave way a little when he was quite alone with old Patrasche Besides, he thought, ”If it should win!
They will be sorry then, perhaps”
Still, to a boy not quite sixteen, and who had dwelt in one little world all his short life, and in his childhood had been caressed and applauded on all sides, it was a hard trial to have the whole of that little world turn against hiht Especially hard in that bleak, snow-bound, faht and ware hearths and in the kindly greetings of neighbors In the winter-time all drew nearer to each other, all to all, except to Nello and Patrasche, ho to do, and ere left to fare as they ht with the old paralyzed, bedridden man in the little cabin, whose fire was often low, and whose board was often without bread, for there was a buyer from Antho had taken to drive his mule in of a day for the milk of the various dairies, and there were only three or four of the people who had refused his terreen cart So that the burden which Patrasche drew had becoht, and the centime-pieces in Nello's pouch had beco would stop, as usual, at all the faates, which were now closed to him, and look up at the to shut their doors and their hearts, and let Patrasche draw his cart on again, empty Nevertheless, they did it, for they desired to please Baas Cogez
Noel was close at hand
The weather was very wild and cold The snoas six feet deep, and the ice was firh to bear oxen and e was always gay and cheerful At the poorest dwelling there were possets and cakes, joking and dancing, sugared saints and gilded Jesus The led everywhere on the horses; everywhere within doors so and smoked over the stove; and everywhere over the snoithout laughingto and from the mass Only in the little hut it was very dark and very cold
Nello and Patrasche were left utterly alone, for one night in the week before the Christmas Day, Death entered there, and took away froht save its poverty and its pains He had long been half dead, incapable of anybeyond a gentle word; and yet his loss fell on thereat horror in it: they mourned him passionately He had passed away froray dawn they learned their bereavement, unutterable solitude and desolation see been only a poor, feeble, paralyzed old man, who could not raise a hand in their defence, but he had loved them well: his smile had alelcoly, refusing to be comforted, as in the white winter day they followed the deal shell that held his body to the naray church They were his only mourners, these tho boy and the old dog
”Surely, he will relent now and let the poor lad co at her husband sht, but he hardened his heart, and would not unbar his door as the little, huar,” he said to himself: ”he shall not be about Alois”
The worave was closed and the one, she put a wreath of io and lay it reverently on the dark, unmarked mound where the snoas displaced
Nello and Patrasche went home with broken hearts But even of that poor, melancholy, cheerless home they were denied the consolation There was a month's rent over-due for their little home, and when Nello had paid the last sad service to the dead he had not a coin left He went and begged grace of the owner of the hut, a cobbler ent every Sunday night to drink his pint of wine and srant no mercy He was a harsh, miserly man, and loved money He claimed in default of his rent every stick and stone, every pot and pan, in the hut, and bade Nello and Patrasche be out of it on the h, and in soh, and yet their hearts clove to it with a great affection They had been so happy there, and in the su beans, it was so pretty and bright in the hted fields!
There life in it had been full of labor and privation, and yet they had been so well content, so gay of heart, running together tos sat by the fireless hearth in the darkness, drawn close together for warmth and sorrow Their bodies were insensible to the cold, but their hearts see broke over the white, chill earth it was theof Christmas Eve With a shudder, Nello clasped close to him his only friend, while his tears fell hot and fast on the dog's frank forehead ”Let us go, Patrasche--dear, dear Patrasche,” he o”
Patrasche had no will but his, and they went sadly, side by side, out from the little place which was so dear to the was to them precious and beloved Patrasche drooped his head wearily as he passed by his own green cart: it was no longer his--it had to go with the rest to pay the rent, and his brass harness lay idle and glittering on the snow The dog could have lain down beside it and died for very heart-sickness as he went, but whilst the lad lived and needed hiive way
They took the old accustomed road into Antwerp The day had yet scarce more than dawned, ers were about They took no notice whilst the dog and the boy passed by therandfather had done hbor's service to the people elt there
”Would you give Patrasche a crust?” he said, ti since last forenoon”
The wo about wheat and rye being very dear that season The boy and the dog went on again wearily: they asked no more
By slow and painful ways they reached Antwerp as the chimes tolled ten