The Adventures of Tom Leigh Read Online Free PDF Page B

written.’”
    â€œIs that all?” demanded Mr. Firth.
    â€œAye, that’s all.”
    â€œWell, it’s enough. Unless he was to take the whole of Upper High Royd, there isn’t much more the indentures could give him.”
    â€œNow, Stephen,” said Mr. Gledhill soothingly.
    â€œWhere do I sign?”
    â€œHere and here.”
    The scroll was laid out on the table. Mr. Firth signed it twice, once halfway along its length, once at its foot. Then Mr. Gledhill and Mr. Swain signed twice, and then Sir Henry likewise signed twice.
    â€œI have already obtained the necessary signatures from a second magistrate,” he said.
    â€œDo I not sign?” I asked. It seemed to me that when seven years of my life were being given away, I ought to sign the agreement myself.
    â€œYou cannot sign anything till you are twenty-one,” said Mr. Swain shortly.
    â€œCanst truly write, then, Tom?” said Mr. Firth, putting his hand on my shoulder.
    â€œYes, sir.”
    He gave me a smile and a kind of wink which seemed to say:
Don’t take too much notice of all this to-do, we shall be well enough when we are alone together
. My heart warmed to him, and I smiled, though rather faintly, in reply.
    â€œThat’s better,” said he. “Cheer up! I cannot abide anyone sullen about me.”
    â€œScissors, scissors, where are the scissors?” Sir Henry was saying impatiently.
    â€œHere, sir,” said I, picking them out from under the indentures.
    He took them in his hand and to my amazement began to cut across the indentures at their halfway. He cut, too, in such a wavy, pointed, up and down kind of line, I was really horrified.
    â€œListen, Tom,” said Sir Henry, smiling. “I cut these indentures like this so that only these two halves will fit into each other. The line where they are cut is
indented
, and that is how indentures get their name. Mr. Firth keeps one half and the Overseers keep the other half. So if either of them wanted to write new conditions and pretend they were theoriginal ones, the other could say: ‘Tit your paper into my paper.’ If the papers did not fit, one of them was not the true one. Do you understand?”
    â€œYes, sir,” I said, though I was astonished.
    â€œHere is a leather apron, Tom, the sign that you are apprenticed; it is the gift of the Barseland magistrates. Put it on.”
    I tied the apron sadly round my waist.
    â€œWell, that’s all, I take it, Sir Henry? We can leave now, eh?” said Mr. Firth, rolling his half of the indenture and stuffing it in his pocket.
    â€œYes, that is all. Give me your hand, Firth. Now you give me yours, Tom Leigh. A good master and a good apprentice. I hope you will spend happy years together.”
    We both mumbled our thanks, feeling a trifle embarrassed, and then we were out of the house and in the April wind. A shower of light rain was falling softly to the earth.
    â€œSpoiling the druft,” said Mr. Firth crossly.
    â€œDruft?” said I, perplexed.
    â€œThe drying of the cloth,” said Mr. Firth, impatient.
    We turned up a very steep, stony lane.
    â€œThe house is high on the hill?” I said.
    â€œWell, it is called Upper High Royd, so you may guess,” said Mr. Firth, laughing.
    So I left the Barseland poorhouse, and began a new life as an apprentice.

3
The New Apprentice
    We climbed steadily for some fifteen minutes. Suddenly Mr. Firth halted and cried out:
    â€œWhat the hangment is Daisy doing down here?”
    I looked at him in astonishment, for how he could describe the place where we stood as “down” I could not imagine. The hillside ahead of us sloped up steeply, to be sure, but all around us were hilltops, plunging sharply to valleys between. Nor did I perceive anyone to be referred to as Daisy at first, till hearing a loud “moo” near by I looked over the wall and saw a brown and white cow. Mr. Firth leaned over