Milly's errand : $b or, Saved to save

The story opens on a bleak stretch of shoreline where a gathering storm threatens to turn the tide. Two teen boys, Jack and Bob, haul heavy bundles of sea‑weed in a rickety donkey‑cart, hoping to fulfill a lucrative order for the reclusive Dr. Mansfield’s garden. As the wind picks up, the boys exchange nervous jokes about the doctor’s rumored madness and the darkness that seems to cling to his house.

Both boys are driven by desperate needs: Jack’s mother lies ill with rheumatism, and the promised payment could buy a new blanket and a chance at comfort. Local gossip paints Dr. Mansfield as a brilliant yet tormented man, haunted by a possible family tragedy that has left him isolated and volatile. Their simple errand quickly becomes a test of courage, as they wonder whether delivering the sea‑weed will bring them reward—or thrust them into the physician’s enigmatic world.