CHAPTER VIII

MISS MAGGS IN SUN COURT

"GOOD afternoon. Will you kindly tell me where Mrs. Burt lives?"

Jasper Blamey glanced up from the shoe on which he was engaged in placing a neat piece, and saw a tall, gaunt, elderly woman, clad in rusty black, who had paused directly outside his window. It was the day subsequent to the one on which the discovery of Robin's loss had been made.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied courteously, "she lives in the house at the left; but she's not at home, she's gone out to do a few errands."

"Then I'm afraid I sha'n't see her this afternoon, for I haven't much time to spare and sha'n't be able to wait long. You're Mr. Blamey, I presume?"

"Yes," assented Jasper, looking surprised; "I wonder how you know that?" he added with a smile.

"Oh, I've heard of you from Mrs. Burt's little son. You may perhaps have heard of me—Eliza Maggs?"

"To be sure, ma'am! Robin has often spoken of you to me." Jasper's tone expressed both interest and cordiality. "Will you come in and wait for Mrs. Burt?" he inquired.

Miss Maggs shook her head. "No, thank you," she replied, "I'll stay where I am for a few minutes, and then if Mrs. Burt has not returned, I must go home, for I've two dinners to prepare and cook before seven o'clock. Humph!" she exclaimed, glancing around the court. "This seems a quiet place—dull and stuffy, of course, and not too clean, but it might be worse."

"That's true, ma'am," agreed Jasper.

"You've lived here most of your life, I understand?" interrogated Miss Maggs. She had a sharp way of putting questions, which some people resented, but the old cobbler had heard enough about her from Robin to know that beneath a decidedly unpolished manner she hid a heart of gold.

"Yes, ma'am," he answered, "and now I shouldn't care to live anywhere else."

"Humph!" Miss Maggs looked as though she thought he had peculiar taste. "You know the Burts well?" she asked.

Jasper nodded. "Yes," he said; "Mrs. Burt's a very worthy woman, who's bringing up her boy the right way; I've seen enough of her to know that."

"What about the man?"

"He's all right at heart, ma'am, but undependable like everyone who drinks; I don't believe, though, that he stole the youngster's money."

"You don't? I'm glad to hear that—more glad than I can say."

Miss Maggs looked it. The grim expression of her countenance had given place to one of satisfaction. "I met Robin on the Hoe last night," she proceeded to explain, unaware that her companion had already been informed of that fact by Robin himself, "and he seemed certain that his stepfather had robbed him; but this morning he came to see me, and appeared equally confident that the money had been taken by some outsider. I did not know what to think, so I decided I'd come and see Mrs. Burt, and hear what she has to say. Perhaps you'll consider it's no business of mine, and of course it isn't, but I take an interest in Robin and his mother, and, indirectly, in him who's been the cause of their troubles."

Jasper nodded understandingly. "I believe some outsider must have found out where the money was kept and waited for an opportunity to get at it," he said; "I don't suppose we shall ever know who the thief was, for there's no likelihood of the money being traced. I wish it could be, for, unless it is, Richard Burt will always be credited with having taken it. He reported the matter to the police himself, but from remarks that have been made to me by the neighbours to-day I quite see that he is believed to have been the thief."

"You have your reasons for thinking him not guilty?" said Miss Maggs questioningly.

"Yes, ma'am; the fact is if he'd had money to spare in his pocket, he'd have had a drinking bout for certain." Jasper looked very sad as he spoke. "I've tried many a time to induce him to take the pledge," he continued, "but it was all no use; and lately I haven't spoken to him about it, for I've noticed he's kept out of my way, and I don't want him to shun me."

"He's incorrigible, I fear."

"I won't go so far as to say that, ma'am. I've known many a worse man than he is repent and turn to God. When I see I'm doing harm instead of good by interfering with folks, I just hold my tongue—that's the best plan, I find, but I pray for them all the same."

Miss Maggs nodded her head in approval. "There's a deal of power in prayer," she remarked, "and I agree with you—if one can't see one's way to help people one must leave them to the Lord. Our Father in Heaven knows what's best, and I don't believe He ever turned a deaf ear to the feeblest prayer offered in a right spirit. Ah, here's Mrs. Burt!"

Mrs. Burt was extremely surprised to see Miss Maggs, who greeted her very cordially and accompanied her into her house for a few minutes' private conversation.

"And have you decided whether or not to let Robin go to his grandfather?" inquired Miss Maggs, after the subject of the robbery had been fully discussed.

"Yes, ma'am. We have talked the matter over and decided that he must go. I have not written to his grandfather yet, but I shall do so to-morrow if all's well. I do not know how I shall get on without him, but I am sure it will be better for him to be at Newlyn. He does not wish to leave us, although he did think of running away the other night when you found him on the Hoe. Yes, but for you I believe he would have gone." Mrs. Burt's eyes were full of gratitude as she looked at her visitor.

"Ah, poor child!" exclaimed Miss Maggs. "I do indeed sympathise with him over the loss of his money. How sorry Mrs. Groves would be if she knew!"

"It has been a great blow to him," said Mrs. Burt. She was near the window, and, glancing out, she saw her little son crossing the court.

Robin was looking pale and heavy eyed, but his countenance brightened as he entered the kitchen and saw Miss Maggs, who was on the point of leaving. He begged her to stay a little longer, but that she was unable to do; so he asked if he might walk a short distance with her on her way home.

"I shall be glad of your company," she told him; and, having said good-bye to Mrs. Burt, she preceded her young escort out of the house.

The old cobbler was still at work inside his open window. He glanced up with marked interest in his expression as Miss Maggs and Robin passed by. The former nodded and smiled at him, and afterwards remarked to Robin that she was glad his neighbour was such a nice old man.

"I made myself known to him this afternoon," she said, "and we had a little talk which I shall not forget. Why, goodness me, what have we here?" she cried sharply, with a sudden change of tone.

They had reached the passage leading from the court, where they had come across two big boys—one, Dick Farrant, the other, a boon companion of his—engaged in a game of "pitch and toss." This was no unusual sight for Robin, but it filled Miss Maggs with intense indignation, and she immediately addressed herself to Dick, the elder of the two lads.

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, you great, strong fellow, you, to be idling away the precious hours like this," she cried, shaking a rebuking finger at him; "playing a gambling game, too! Have you no work to do?"

"What's that to you?" demanded Dick, not angrily, but with a sort of good-humoured insolence. "Oh, I see," he went on, "you're the person who was talking to old Jasper Blamey just now, you're one of his sort, I suppose—and a friend of Robin's too. I'm not in your way, ma'am. You can pass on."

"No, I can't," said Miss Maggs, "because I've a word to say to you two." She nodded from one to the other of the lads, and forthwith proceeded to lecture them roundly on the vice of gambling.

"Look here," broke in Dick, "you'd better mind your own business—"

"Just what I'm doing," declared Miss Maggs, interrupting in her turn; "it's the business of every Christian to protest when they see folks doing wrong."

"Oh, so you're a Christian, are you?" said Dick, whilst the other boy, who was not an inhabitant of the court, slunk along the passage and out into the street.

"I hope I am," she replied. She paused momentarily, and looked searchingly at Dick. "You appear a good-tempered lad," she observed, and then she asked him again if he had no work to do.

"Oh, he really does work sometimes!" Robin cried eagerly. "Don't you, Dick?"

"Sometimes," grinned Dick, who still appeared more amused than angry at the scene in which he was playing such a conspicuous part. He shuffled his feet uneasily, and his eyes fell beneath Miss Maggs's searching gaze, which seemed to be summing him up, so he thought.

"I don't see why you need have interfered with us," he remarked; "why couldn't you have passed on? We weren't doing any harm."

"I'm not so sure of that," she told him; "gambling in any shape or form is harmful. That's been my experience. You take my advice, my lad, and give it up. Now, I've told you my mind—if I hadn't, it would have troubled me afterwards. Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon," Dick returned. It was not until she and Robin were gone that he wondered why he had answered her, and then he laughed at the remembrance of her concerned countenance. Nevertheless he could not forget her earnest, warning words.

When Robin, having accompanied Miss Maggs nearly to her own door, returned home, he found Dick Farrant standing at the entrance of the court, evidently on the watch for him, for he greeted him with the question:

"I say, who's that queer old body?"

"She's called Maggs,' replied Robin; she keeps a lodging-house on the Hoe, and Mrs. Groves lodged with her. She's a very nice woman."

"Oh, is she? Shouldn't have thought it. Did she come to Sun Court to see you?"

"To see my mother. She's a real good sort, Dick. You'd say so, too, if you knew her better."

"Don't wish to know her better," Dick responded, with a grimace. "I can't bear people like that," he added.

"People like what?" questioned Robin, rather puzzled.

"People who interfere with others. You heard what a lecture she gave me? Old Blamey said pretty much the same to me the other day. Impertinence I call it. I can't bear Christians."

"Oh, Dick!"

"Well, I can't. They give me an uncomfortable feeling. I daresay I'm bad—I know it, for that matter—but I don't want to think about it."

He seemed about to add more, but, catching sight of a policeman approaching them, abruptly turned on his heel and disappeared into the court.