Into the Storm (45 page)

N
either Maura nor Nathaniel went to work that day. Instead, she made the suggestion that Nathaniel should fetch the money from the bank. Laurence was only too willing to let the young man do it.

There was not the slightest problem. Nathaniel showed the key to the teller, who led him to the vault, indicated the locked boxes, and left him alone. Nathaniel opened the box, took out all the money, handed in the key, and walked out to the street.

For a long moment Laurence looked at the bills and small change, then put them all in his pocket and held them tightly until he returned to Nathaniel's room.

Mr. Grout could now arrange for Mr. Drabble's funeral. Laurence insisted.

 

The service was held the next day in a small cemetery on the edge of Lowell. Mrs. Hamlyn was expressly invited by Maura.

The narrow pine box — upon which the actor's volume of Shakespeare had been placed — was lowered into the earth. Mr. Grout spoke the final words. “'E was a good man,” he said, “and a friend with a 'eart wider than 'e 'imself was. 'Ere's 'opin' God blesses 'im.”

When the funeral was over, the mourners repaired to a restaurant on Merrimack Street. There was very little talk, but when the table was cleared, Laurence stood up. “I have to say something,” he announced in his small voice. He nodded to
Mr. Grout. From his pockets the one-eyed man took a number of envelopes.

“I have all this money from my father. I shouldn't have taken it. But I can't give it back now. It needs to be used.” He slid one envelope to Mrs. Hamlyn.

“That's a thousand dollars to find another house.”

He handed another envelope to Maura. “There's two thousand dollars to help you and Patrick and Bridy make your way in America.”

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Maura gasped.

“The rest is for Mr. Grout, Mr. Brewster … and me. We're going to California. And when Mr. Grout and I have made back all the money I took from my father, we're going to take it to him. Mr. Brewster will keep his own fortune and can do what he wants with it.”

Nathaniel glanced across the table at Maura. She was holding Bridy on her lap and stroking Patrick's hand. She lifted her tearstained face briefly, looked into Nathaniel's eyes, then turned back again to gaze at Laurence.

M
r. Clemspool and Sir Albert stood upon the quarterdeck of the clipper ship
Good Fortune
. They did not face each other but gazed separately at the New England coast fast fading behind.

“See here, Clemspool,” said Sir Albert, “we need to buck each other up. I'm going to tell my father that Laurence died. You'll have to give evidence, you know.”

“As long as you testify that I had nothing to do with his going to America.”

Albert hesitated. Then he said, “Of course.”

Mr. Clemspool, noting the hesitation, winced. All he said, however, was, “Then we should get by.”

“Jolly well too,” returned Albert, though there was little conviction in his voice. “What's my father going to do, disown his only son and heir? Cause a scandal? Not him.”

Mr. Clemspool, saying nothing, stared glumly at the undulating sea.

“Well then,” Albert pressed, “you should be glad to be going home.”

“Sir, considering the way things have transpired — being obliged to flee England, forced out of America — well, sir, I am not, to make my point precisely, altogether
pleased
.” So saying, he turned upon his heels and walked off toward his steerage berth.

 

Not long after, Maura, Patrick, and Bridy stood on the well-lit platform of the Lowell & Boston Railway station in Lowell.
From the rear deck of the last car, Laurence, Mr. Grout, and Nathaniel smiled down at them.

Suddenly the train's whistle shrieked, causing Bridy to press her hands to her ears. Great clouds of smoke and steam blew forth. With much clanging, the train began to pull out. “Good-bye! Good-bye!”

Patrick, Bridy, and Maura waved back.

In silence the three walked out of the station and into the chilly dimness of the predawn air. Bridy was anxious to return to their new home — Mr. Brewster's old room. Patrick kept wishing he could have gone west, but he knew that he needed to stay with Maura. They would make a new life. And hadn't Maura told him that with the money Laurence had given them she would continue working, but he could go to school as well as look after Bridy. Though Patrick did wonder how long it would be before the others came back from the west and what adventures might befall them, he was excited by the thought of school. Who knew what might become of him!

For her part, Maura thought of her mother alone in Ireland. She would write her a letter, telling her about Da's death and all that had happened. She thought too of Nathaniel Brewster and what he would be like when — and if — he returned. How would she be, by that time, herself?

Looking up, Maura saw that it was dawn. She stopped and listened. All was still. Suddenly, her heart began to beat with joy. She felt herself teetering on the edge of possibilities.