Chapter VII: Granfer's Heart's Desire

IT was the evening before Granfer's birthday, and Mr. and Mrs. Maple had gone for a stroll together, leaving the house in the charge of Nellie and Bessie, with instructions that they were to wash up the tea things and feed the poultry during their parents' absence.

Granfer sat in his accustomed seat, for though it was May, and the weather quite mild, there was a cheerful log fire on the hearth, and the old man was glad of the warmth.

When the children had finished their duties, they joined their grandfather, and Nellie commenced a conversation by saying:

"Your birthday cake in the larder looks delicious, Granfer! Mother has baked it beautifully!"

"She showed it to me," he replied. "Ah! I had hoped the little lady from Coombe Villa would have been here to tea, to taste it; but I suppose it will be some days before she will be able to walk as far as this?"

"Yes," Bessie answered, "though her foot is much better. Mr. Manners called us in to see her when we were coming home from school to-day, and she can walk a little; but Mrs. Gray says the sprain will pass quicker if she rests her foot a bit longer."

"Oh, Granfer," Nellie cried, "we saw the picture Mr. Manners is painting; he showed it to us; wasn't it kind of him?"

"Very kind," Mr. Norris agreed; "he seems a nice gentleman."

"He is indeed! Mother says he is like Uncle David!"

"Eh? What?" cried the old man.

"Like Uncle David, Granfer, and he's called David too!"

"Yes, yes!"

He gazed thoughtfully into the fire, and presently two big tears gathered in his eyes and rolled slowly down his withered cheeks. The little girls looked at him in mingled surprise and awe, and Bessie crept to his side and laid her soft cheek against his shoulder.

"Don't cry, dear, dear Granfer," she whispered. "Oh, don't cry!"

"Ah, child," he answered sadly, "if I could but have my heart's desire, and see my boy once more; and if that is too much to ask of God, I wish I could know that my harshness did not spoil David's life!"

"Why, here come mother and father back already!" Nellie cried in astonishment as the door opened, and her parents crossed the threshold. "They cannot have gone far!"

The children noticed at once that their mother looked agitated and flushed, but, though her eyes were full of tears, they shone with a bright, glad expression. She came to her father's side, and took one of his hands in a firm clasp.

"Father, can you bear news—blessed news?" she asked simply. "Oh, my dear father!"

He looked at her doubtfully, and she continued in hurried accents very unlike her usually calm tones:

"Just now we met Mr. Manners, little Miss Una's father, and he tells us that he has news of David!"

"Of David?"

"Yes, he says that David is well and prosperous!"

"Thank God for that!" the old man exclaimed fervently.

"And that he is coming to see us!" Mrs. Maple continued. "He may be here any moment!"

"Let me go to meet him!" Granfer cried excitedly.

"No, father, not yet! There is more to tell! David has been living near us some time, but he never came to see us because he was afraid you were angry and bitter against him still; and father, he has a child of his own whom you already dearly love! Oh, cannot you guess who our David is?"

The old man shook his head, and looked around him in painful bewilderment. Suddenly Nellie gave a little cry of glad surprise.

"Oh, I know, I know!" she cried excitedly. "Uncle David is Mr. Manners, and Una is our cousin!"

"Yes," Mrs. Maple replied, "you have guessed rightly, Nellie." And turning again to Mr. Norris she said: "Una is your own grandchild, father; do you understand now?"

Granfer made no response in words, but his full heart arose in a prayer of thanksgiving to God. There was a brief silence, then the farmer beckoned to the children to follow him, and together the three left the kitchen, while Mrs. Maple hurried to the door and spoke to some one who was waiting without.

"I have told him, David," she said softly. "You can come in and see him now!"

Granfer turned his head quickly, and peered at the tall form that came to his side with outstretched hands that sought his own.

"Father, forgive me!"

It was his son David's voice, and the old man trembled exceedingly, whilst his quivering lips murmured the two words: "My son!"

Mrs. Maple stole gently away to join her husband and children, and to have a good cry, because, as she said, she was so very, very glad.

Then, after an hour had passed, they all returned to the kitchen to find father and son seated side by side talking quietly and happily.

"This is the one like you, David," Granfer said, calling Bessie to him. "I wonder you never noticed the likeness yourself! Your little Una does not favour you in the least!"

"No, she is like her mother, and I am glad she is!"

"Her mother must have been a very sweet woman, I am sure," Mrs. Maple said.

"She was indeed. Her death was a great trouble to me; we had only been married eighteen months when she died. My little daughter is very fond of you, father."

"Yes, she is," the old man admitted, smiling with pleasure. "The first time we met she asked if she might call me Granfer."

"Did she really? How strange!"

"And it was she who led me to pray for you, David: I never did till your child suggested it! God bless her!"

"She is a dear little soul—my Una! Ah, she has looked forward joyfully to the return of your son, never dreaming him to be her own father!"

"Have you not told her yet?" Mrs. Maple asked.

"No, but I shall do so to-morrow."

"Cannot you manage to bring her here to tea? It is father's eightieth birthday, you know, and he will want you and Una to taste his birthday cake. Oh, you must come, David!" Mrs. Maple said appealingly.

"I will certainly see if it can be managed in some way," he responded smiling.

"We will send the gig up to Coombe Villa to fetch you," the farmer offered hospitably.

"Thank you; if you do, we will certainly come. Una will be delighted, I know."

"Shall we call you Uncle David now?" Bessie asked, looking up into her new-found uncle's face, with shy, dark eyes.

"Yes, indeed you must, and Una is your cousin, remember. But my name is really Manners," he added, turning to Granfer. "It was my wife's maiden name, and on our marriage her father stipulated I should take his name on account of some property which had to come to his daughter at his death. He died seven years ago."

Mr. Manners remained some time longer, but at last he rose to leave, saying that Una would wonder what had become of him; and after he had gone a silence fell upon the little party in the farm-kitchen, which was broken only by Mrs. Maple remarking:

"I feel as though I must be dreaming! I cannot realise that he is really David—can you, father?"

"Yes, I recognised his voice in a moment. I had never seen him since he came to live at Coombe Villa except in church, but if I had met him face to face, I should have known him immediately," the old man declared, with conviction in his tones. "God has been very merciful to me, and heard my prayers, and I am happier to-night than I have been for years—indeed ever since David went away."

"Will Uncle David show you the beautiful picture he is painting, Granfer?" Bessie asked. "Oh, you will want to see it, won't you?"

"Yes, I shall," he acknowledged. "Do you remember, Bessie, when you said if painting was his talent, it would have been wrong for him not to use it?"

"Of course I do, Granfer!"

"You were quite right, my dear, quite right!"

"Has God given you your heart's desire, Granfer?" Nellie questioned softly.

"Ay, that He has!"

"And now you will be so happy, won't you?" the little girl continued: "and you shall have such a beautiful birthday, and Uncle David and Una will come to tea, and we shall all have such a lovely time together! Oh, I wonder what Una will say when she knows that you are really and truly her grandfather?"

"She will be very pleased, I feel sure," Mrs. Maple said, her face beaming with happiness. "You children shall have a holiday from school to-morrow, and then you will be able to help me get everything straight by the time our visitors arrive!"