Tom All-Alone's by Lynn Shepherd Read Free Book Online

allowed to enter without permission, or by myself – and presented me to a gentleman of a very distinguished appearance, dressed in black and drinking tea, whom I had never, to my knowledge, seen before.
    â€˜This,’ said Mrs Millard in a confidential tone, ‘is the child. This is Hester, sir.’
    The gentleman sat forward in his chair and beckoned to me. ‘Come here,’ he said. Let me look at you.’
    Then he asked me if I would be so kind as to take off my bonnet, and when I had done so, he said, ‘Ah!’ and afterwards, ‘I see. Yes. Quite.’
    And then he leant back in his chair again, and picked up his tea-cup, and Mrs Millard said, ‘That will be all, Hester. Go and play now, there’s a good girl.’
    So I made him the curtsy my mother taught me, and left the room.
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    I think it was a few weeks later, and the winter nearly gone, when the gentleman in black reappeared. I was sent for by Mrs Millard, and found him in the same place in the parlour.
    â€˜I have news for you, Hester,’ he said. ‘Your Guardian has arranged for you to be placed at an excellent establishment, where you may finish your education, and find a secure home that will offer you every appropriate comfort and amenity.’
    I knew not what to say. I had never heard I had a Guardian, and only the vaguest idea what the word might mean.
    The man was watching me closely, and seemed concerned to give me what reassurance was within his power.
    â€˜You need not fear, Hester. Mr Jarvis is a kind man, and you will want for nothing, of that I am sure.’
    I could not speak, not then, because my heart was overflowing with gratitude for this unknown Guardian and his kindness to me, and I think the gentleman sensed some of this, because he reached over and patted me gently on the shoulder and said,
    â€˜Run along now, child. I have business to talk with good Mrs Millard.’
    And so it was that exactly a week later I left the only place that I had ever known, and travelled by stagecoach for London. Mr Millard showed no discernible emotion at my departure aside, perhaps, from relief, but Mrs Millard had a softer heart and wept many sad tears. I do believe she had become quite fond of me, in the short time we had had together. When she gave me one last kiss, and adjured me to tread always in the paths of righteousness, I felt so remorseful and despondent that I threw my arms around her and wept myself, saying it was all my fault, and that Mother would never have left me if I had been good.
    â€˜No, Hester!’ she returned with a sad smile. ‘It is just your unhappy lot, my dear. And whatever Mr Millard says on the matter, I believe in my heart that our Heavenly Father does not visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, and will not hold you culpable for the circumstances of your birth, but only for the rectitude of your own conduct.’
    I wondered a little at these words, but the coach was already at the gate, so I had no time to ask her what she meant. She turned then and went into the house, and I never saw heragain. I had no friend left now in the world, and no protector, except, perhaps, for my new and as yet unknown Guardian.
    I looked back at the house until I could see it no more, and then wiped my eyes and cast my gaze instead at the landscape unrolling before me. It was a very beautiful day, with the new buds on the trees, and the fields pricked with the first green shoots of the year. After a very long and rattling journey, during most of which I was quite alone, the coach finally came to a halt and a lady opened the coach door and said, ‘I am Miss Darby. You must be Hester.’
    â€˜Yes, ma’am.’
    â€˜Come then. Mr Jarvis is waiting for us.’
    My boxes were put into a small green pony carriage by a maid in a starched white apron and cap, dressed altogether rather more formally, to my eyes, than the servants I was used to seeing in our