Chapter XI. Come with Me

by Frances Hodgson Burnett

　　When they came back from the graveyard, The Rat was silent allthe way. He was thinking of what had happened and of what laybefore him. He was, in fact, thinking chiefly that nothing laybefore him--nothing. The certainty of that gave his sharp, linedface new lines and sharpness which made it look pinched and hard.He had nothing before but a corner in a bare garret in which hecould find little more than a leaking roof over his head--when hewas not turned out into the street. But, if policemen asked himwhere he lived, he could say he lived in Bone Court with hisfather. Now he couldn't say it.He got along very well on his crutches, but he was rather tiredwhen they reached the turn in the street which led in thedirection of his old haunts. At any rate, they were haunts heknew, and he belonged to them more than he belonged elsewhere.The Squad stopped at this particular corner because it led tosuch homes as they possessed. They stopped in a body and lookedat The Rat, and The Rat stopped also. He swung himself toLoristan's side, touching his hand to his forehead."Thank you, sir," he said. "Line and salute, you chaps!" Andthe Squad stood in line and raised their hands also. "Thankyou, sir. Thank you, Marco. Good-by.""Where are you going?" Loristan asked."I don't know yet," The Rat answered, biting his lips.He and Loristan looked at each other a few moments in silence.Both of them were thinking very hard. In The Rat's eyes therewas a kind of desperate adoration. He did not know what heshould do when this man turned and walked away from him. Itwould be as if the sun itself had dropped out of the heavens--andThe Rat had not thought of what the sun meant before.But Loristan did not turn and walk away. He looked deep into thelad's eyes as if he were searching to find some certainty. Thenhe said in a low voice, "You know how poor I am.""I--I don't care!" said The Rat. "You--you're like a king tome. I'd stand up and be shot to bits if you told me to do it.""I am so poor that I am not sure I can give you enough dry breadto eat--always. Marco and Lazarus and I are often hungry.Sometimes you might have nothing to sleep on but the floor. ButI can find a place for you if I take you with me," saidLoristan. "Do you know what I mean by a place?""Yes, I do," answered The Rat. "It's what I've never hadbefore --sir."What he knew was that it meant some bit of space, out of all theworld, where he would have a sort of right to stand, howsoeverpoor and bare it might be."I'm not used to beds or to food enough," he said. But he didnot dare to insist too much on that "place." It seemed toogreat a thing to be true.Loristan took his arm."Come with me," he said. "We won't part. I believe you areto be trusted."The Rat turned quite white in a sort of anguish of joy. He hadnever cared for any one in his life. He had been a sort of youngCain, his hand against every man and every man's hand againsthim. And during the last twelve hours he had plunged into atumultuous ocean of boyish hero-worship. This man seemed like asort of god to him. What he had said and done the day before, inwhat had been really The Rat's hours of extremity, after thatappalling night--the way he had looked into his face andunderstood it all, the talk at the table when he had listened tohim seriously, comprehending and actually respecting his plansand rough maps; his silent companionship as they followed thepauper hearse together--these things were enough to make the ladlongingly ready to be any sort of servant or slave to him if hemight see and be spoken to by him even once or twice a day.The Squad wore a look of dismay for a moment, and Loristan sawit."I am going to take your captain with me," he said. "But hewill come back to Barracks. So will Marco.""Will yer go on with the game?" asked Cad, as eager spokesman."We want to go on being the `Secret Party.' ""Yes, I'll go on," The Rat answered. "I won't give it up.There's a lot in the papers to-day."So they were pacified and went on their way, and Loristan andLazarus and Marco and The Rat went on theirs also."Queer thing is," The Rat thought as they walked together,"I'm a bit afraid to speak to him unless he speaks to me first.Never felt that way before with any one."He had jeered at policemen and had impudently chaffed "swells,"but he felt a sort of secret awe of this man, and actually likedthe feeling."It's as if I was a private and he was commander-in-chief," hethought. "That's it."Loristan talked to him as they went. He was simple enough inhis statements of the situation. There was an old sofa inMarco's bedroom. It was narrow and hard, as Marco's bed itselfwas, but The Rat could sleep upon it. They would share what foodthey had. There were newspapers and magazines to be read. Therewere papers and pencils to draw new maps and plans of battles.There was even an old map of Samavia of Marco's which the twoboys could study together as an aid to their game. The Rat'seyes began to have points of fire in them."If I could see the papers every morning, I could fight thebattles on paper by night," he said, quite panting at theincredible vision of splendor. Were all the kingdoms of theearth going to be given to him? Was he going to sleep without adrunken father near him?Was he going to have a chance to wash himself and to sit at atable and hear people say "Thank you," and "I beg pardon," asif they were using the most ordinary fashion of speech? His ownfather, before he had sunk into the depths, had lived and spokenin this way."When I have time, we will see who can draw up the best plans,"Loristan said."Do you mean that you'll look at mine then--when you havetime?" asked The Rat, hesitatingly. "I wasn't expectingthat.""Yes," answered Loristan, "I'll look at them, and we'll talkthem over."As they went on, he told him that he and Marco could do manythings together. They could go to museums and galleries, andMarco could show him what he himself was familiar with."My father said you wouldn't let him come back to Barracks whenyou found out about it," The Rat said, hesitating again andgrowing hot because he remembered so many ugly past days."But--but I swear I won't do him any harm, sir. I won't!""When I said I believed you could be trusted, I meant severalthings," Loristan answered him. "That was one of them. You'rea new recruit. You and Marco are both under a commandingofficer." He said the words because he knew they would elatehim and stir his blood.