"Well?" said he.
"Father is better," said Harry. "Mother hopes he will get over it.""Thank God!" said the governor, "and now you must keep him warm, and keep his mind easy, and that brings me to the horses;you see Jack will be all the better for the rest of a week or two in a warm stable, and you can easily take him a turn up and down the street to stretch his legs; but this young one, if he does not get work, he will soon be all up on end, as you may say, and will be rather too much for you; and when he does go out there'll be an accident.""It is like that now," said Harry. "I have kept him short of corn, but he's so full of spirit I don't know what to do with him.""Just so," said Grant. "Now look here, will you tell your mother that if she is agreeable I will come for him every day till something is arranged, and take him for a good spell of work, and whatever he earns, I'll bring your mother half of it, and that will help with the horses' feed.
Your father is in a good club, I know, but that won't keep the horses, and they'll be eating their heads off all this time; I'll come at noon and hear what she says," and without waiting for Harry's thanks he was gone.
At noon I think he went and saw Polly, for he and Harry came to the stable together, harnessed Hotspur, and took him out.
For a week or more he came for Hotspur, and when Harry thanked him or said anything about his kindness, he laughed it off, saying it was all good luck for him, for his horses were wanting a little rest which they would not otherwise have had.
Jerry grew better steadily, but the doctor said that he must never go back to the cab work again if he wished to be an old man. The children had many consultations together about what father and mother would do, and how they could help to earn money.
One afternoon Hotspur was brought in very wet and dirty.
"The streets are nothing but slush," said the governor;"it will give you a good warming, my boy, to get him clean and dry.""All right, governor," said Harry, "I shall not leave him till he is;you know I have been trained by my father."
"I wish all the boys had been trained like you," said the governor.
While Harry was sponging off the mud from Hotspur's body and legs Dolly came in, looking very full of something.
"Who lives at Fairstowe, Harry? Mother has got a letter from Fairstowe;she seemed so glad, and ran upstairs to father with it.""Don't you know? Why, it is the name of Mrs. Fowler's place --mother's old mistress, you know -- the lady that father met last summer, who sent you and me five shillings each.""Oh! Mrs. Fowler. Of course, I know all about her. I wonder what she is writing to mother about.""Mother wrote to her last week," said Harry; "you know she told father if ever he gave up the cab work she would like to know.
I wonder what she says; run in and see, Dolly."Harry scrubbed away at Hotspur with a huish! huish! like any old hostler.
In a few minutes Dolly came dancing into the stable.
"Oh! Harry, there never was anything so beautiful; Mrs. Fowler says we are all to go and live near her. There is a cottage now empty that will just suit us, with a garden and a henhouse, and apple-trees, and everything! and her coachman is going away in the spring, and then she will want father in his place; and there are good families round, where you can get a place in the garden or the stable, or as a page-boy;and there's a good school for me; and mother is laughing and crying by turns, and father does look so happy!""That's uncommon jolly," said Harry, "and just the right thing, I should say;it will suit father and mother both; but I don't intend to be a page-boy with tight clothes and rows of buttons. I'll be a groom or a gardener."It was quickly settled that as soon as Jerry was well enough they should remove to the country, and that the cab and horses should be sold as soon as possible.
This was heavy news for me, for I was not young now, and could not look for any improvement in my condition. Since I left Birtwick I had never been so happy as with my dear master Jerry; but three years of cab work, even under the best conditions, will tell on one's strength, and I felt that I was not the horse that I had been.
Grant said at once that he would take Hotspur, and there were men on the stand who would have bought me; but Jerry said I should not go to cab work again with just anybody, and the governor promised to find a place for me where I should be comfortable.
The day came for going away. Jerry had not been allowed to go out yet, and I never saw him after that New Year's eve. Polly and the children came to bid me good-by. "Poor old Jack! dear old Jack! I wish we could take you with us," she said, and then laying her hand on my mane she put her face close to my neck and kissed me. Dolly was crying and kissed me too. Harry stroked me a great deal, but said nothing, only he seemed very sad, and so I was led away to my new place.
