of thought were greatly in advance of his
years. He was very little, and was
feeble on his legs. So, when the battle
was over, the mother strapped him again
upon her back, and, with light heart and
heavy pocket, recommenced her journey to
Shropshire. On first coming in sight of the
Wrekin, so great was her delight that she
suddenly paused, and fell upon her knees.
Tommy, who had climbed upon her shoulder,
was precipitated over her head, and fell with
great violence on the ground.

"Drat the child," said the unfeeling parent,
"thee can't live to enjoy thy fortune, if thee
breaks thy bones in this guise. Get up,
Tommy. Hast thee snapt off thy t'other
leg? for thy right one be scarce mended
since the miller's donkey kicked it in twain.
Art thee killed?" she cried, in a louder
voice, when Tommy lay quiet. "Clean dead
wi' such a tumble as this—"

The boy opened his eyes, and said, "By
Potterkind, I thinks I be."

The woman gathered him up as if he had
been a piece of broken crockery. "Thee hast
cracked thy two legs," she said, "and three of
thy ribs; thou hast had measles that crooked
thy back, and hooping-cough that wore out
thy chest! thou hast king's evil, and art in a
deep decline, and canst eat nothing, and
never sleeps o' nights. Thee can't live,
Tommy."

"Hold the tongue o' thee," replied the
invalid. " By Splutters of York I won't die
nowhere but in my little bed at home. So
get thee on, mother, for I thinks I shall never
survive the sundown."

Tommy, however, did survive, and when
twenty years were past, he had grown to his
full height, which was not much, and was
strong for so very delicate looking a person;
and as his mother before her decease had
pointed out to him the rafter between which
and the thatch she had hidden the ransom
money of the English crown, he considered
himself above the necessity of work, and
indulged in complete idleness and
independence. Being idle and independent, he
did many foolish things; among the rest, he
fell in love. A girl was coming through the
churchyard with a pail of water on her head;
a beautiful, fair-haired, light figured girl, the
ornament of the village. This was Tommy's
sweetheart.

"Good evening, Susan Proddy," he said.
"Fatherland! how sweet thou lookest; give
us a kiss, Susan."

"Out o' my gate, Tommy the trifler," said
Susan, but stopping at his address. "What
would such a dying like apparition do wi' a
kiss if I gi'ed ye one?"

"'Twould maybe keep me alive," replied
Tommy, "for I've such a pain in the chest."

"Try a poultice," replied the fair physician;
"a little brown paper and tar would be o'
more use to a ghost than ever a kiss
o' mine."

"I'feckins," said Tommy, "perhaps you're
right. I really wish I could die once for
good, for nobody ever thinks I can live a
year. Hark ye, Susan Proddy, I like thee
so that I wish to make thee rich. If thou'lt
marry me, I promise to die within the twelve
months, and thee shalt have all my coin."

"That be a good and tempting offer,
Tommy," replied the girl, with a laugh,
"and I'll think on't. Clear the road, or I'll
souse thee with the water-can." And so
saying, she brushed past the unfortunate
wooer, and tripping gracefully over the stile,
was lost to view.

"Dodderflops! " said Tommy, " if I could
only hope to live for a few years, but it's
useless to hope it. I've had the jaundice and
the small-pox, and the sweating sickness;
I've broke all my bones; I've had my head
cracked; I've had my jaws out of joint; I
have a cough as loud as a shepherd's dog;
I have falling sickness; I have a complaint
in my liver; I have a twist in the spine; I
have ague every spring and autumn, and
scarlet fever every summer; I have enlargement
of the heart, and disease of the kidneys,
and elongated uvula; and lumbago every
winter, and sciatica all the year. Joggles!
it's a marvel I doesn't die."

But the marvel continued, and when
twenty years more were past Tommy was
still a walking catalogue of human woes.
Every part of him seemed to go wrong
except the heart. He was true to his only
love, Susan Proddy; but Susan had left the
village for a long time. She had married one
Dodger, a miller from Wakefield, and had
forgotten all about Tommy the trifler and
his proposal of marriage; but Tommy had
never forgotten her. In the midst of all his
pains and diseases her image lay enshrined,
the only bright thing that shone upon
Tommy's darkened life. He kept himself
constantly informed of all her proceedings.
When news came of her to the village,
Tommy listened with more earnestness and
interest than any one else; and once, when
he was absent for five weeks, it began to be
whispered that he had been making inquiries
where Waketield was, and how the journey
to so distant a place might be accomplished;
and shortly after that, a rumour came to
Susan Proddy's mother, that a stranger had
stopped the nurse who was carrying Susan's
child, and had kissed the baby and placed
round its neck a gold chain and a ring, with
a beautiful coronet on the seal, so that the
mother flattered herself the donor was a
great lord, and augured prosperity to her
daughter from so propitious an event. Tommy
heard the report with great satisfaction.
"Odds spluttertace! " he said, as he lay
groaning on his bed with gout and rheumatism,
in addition to angina pectoris and
spasms in his stomach, " I be glad the nobleman's
chain and ring, out o' mother's old
purse, is so highly valued. Ah, Susan