He said:--
"I"ve brought "im to ye fra the edge o" daith. His t.i.tle to your luve is pinnit on "is breast. I"m thankfu"--thankfu" for ye--both."
Bachelor Billy"s work was done. He had lived to place his dearest treasure in the safest place on earth; there was nothing left for him to do. He sank down gently to the floor of the broad hall. The first sunlight of the new day flashed its rays against the stained-gla.s.s windows, and the windows caught them and laid them in coverlets of blue and gold across the prostrate form of this humblest of earth"s heroes.
Under them was no stain visible, no mark of poverty, no line of pain; he lay like a king in state with the cloth of gold across his body, and a crown of gold upon his head; but his soul, his brave, pure, n.o.ble soul, ah! that was looking down from the serene and lofty heights of everlasting life.
Yes, he lived, Ralph lived and became well and strong. He took his name and his estates and chose his mother for his guardian; and life for him was very, very beautiful.
The summer pa.s.sed and the singing birds grew silent in the woods and fields. The grain stood golden, and the ripe fruit dropped from vine and tree. October came, with her frosty nights and smoky days. She dashed the hill-sides with her red and yellow, and then she held her veil of mist for the sun"s rays to shine through, lest the gorgeous coloring should daze the eyes of men.
On one of these most beautiful autumnal days, Ralph and his mother went driving through the country roads, gathering golden-rod and purple aster and the fleecy immortelle. When they returned they pa.s.sed through the cemetery gates and drove to one spot where art and nature had combined to make pleasant to the living eye the resting-places of the dead, and they laid their offering of fresh wild-flowers upon the grave of one who had n.o.bly lived and had not ign.o.bly died. Above the mound, a block of rugged granite rose, bearing on its face the name and age and day of death of William Buckley, and also this inscription:--
"Having finished his work, by the will of G.o.d he fell asleep."
As they drove back toward the glowing west, toward the pink clouds that lay above the mountain-tops behind which the sun had just now disappeared, toward the bustling city and the dear, dear home, Ralph lifted up his face and kissed his mother on her lips. But he did not speak; the happiness and peace within him were too great for words.