"A month or so! only a month!" said Christie to himself, as he walked slowly back, with a dead weight on his soul. A month more with his dear old master,--only another month, only another month. And in the minute which pa.s.sed before Christie reached the attic, he saw, as in a sorrowful picture, what life would be to him without old Treffy. He would have no home, not even the old attic; he would have no friend. _No home, no friend; no home, no friend!_ that would be his sorrow. And only another month before it came! only another month!
It was with a dull, heavy heart that Christie opened the attic door.
"Christie, boy," said old Treffy"s voice; "what did the doctor say?"
"He said you had only another month, Master Treffy," sobbed Christie, "only another month; and whatever shall I do without you?"
Treffy did not speak; it was a solemn thing to be told he had only another month to live; that in another month he must leave Christie, and the attic, and the old organ, and go--he knew not whither. It was a solemn, searching thought for old Treffy.
He spoke very little all day. Christie stayed at home, for he had not heart enough to take the organ out that sorrowful day; and he watched old Treffy very gently and mournfully. _Only another month! only another month!_ was ringing in the ears of both.
But when the evening came on, and there was no light in the room but what came from the handful of fire in the grate, old Treffy began to talk.
"Christie," he said, uneasily, "where am I going? Where shall I be in a month, Christie?"
Christie gazed into the fire thoughtfully.
"My mother talked about heaven, Master Treffy; and she said she was going home. "Home, sweet home," that was the last thing she sang. I expect that "Home, sweet home," is somewhere in heaven, Master Treffy; I expect so. It"s a good place, so my mother said."
"Yes," said old Treffy, "I suppose it is; but I can"t help thinking I shall be very strange there, Christie, very strange indeed. I know so little about it, so very little, Christie, boy."
"Yes," said Christie, "and I don"t know much."
"And I don"t know any one there, Christie; you won"t be there, nor any one that I know; and I shall have to leave my poor old organ; you don"t suppose they"ll have any barrel-organs there, will they, Christie?"
"No," said Christie, "I never heard my mother speak of any; I think she said they played on harps in heaven."
"I shan"t like that _half_ so well," said old Treffy, sorrowfully; "I don"t know how I shall pa.s.s my time."
Christie did not know what to say to this, so he made no answer.
"Christie, boy," said old Treffy, suddenly, "I want you to make out about heaven, I want you to find out all about it for me; maybe, I shouldn"t feel so strange there if I knew what I was going to; and your mother called it "Home, sweet home," didn"t she, Christie?"
"Yes," said Christie, "I"m almost sure it was heaven she meant."
"Now, Christie, boy, mind you make out," said Treffy, earnestly; "and remember there"s only another month! only another month!"
"I"ll do my best, Master Treffy," said Christie, "I"ll do my very best."
And Christie kept his word.
CHAPTER IV.
MABEL"S FIRST LESSON IN ORGAN-GRINDING.
The next day Christie had to go out as usual. Old Treffy seemed no worse than before,--he was able to sit up, and Christie opened the small window before he went out to let a breath of fresh air into the close attic. But there was very little fresh air anywhere that day. The atmosphere was heavy and stifling, and poor Christie"s heart felt depressed and weary. He turned, he hardly knew why, to the suburban road, and stopped before the house with the pretty garden. He wanted to see those merry little faces again,--perhaps they would cheer him; he felt so very dull to-day.
Christie was not disappointed this time. He had hardly turned the handle of the organ twice before Mabel and Charlie appeared at the nursery window; and, after satisfying themselves that it really _was_ Christie, their own organ-boy, they ran into the garden, and stood beside him as he played.
"Doesn"t he turn it nicely?" whispered Charlie to his sister.
"Yes," said little Mabel; "I wish I had an organ, don"t you, Charlie?"
"Shall I ask papa to buy us one?" asked her brother.
"I don"t know, Charlie, if mamma would like it always," said Mabel. "She has such bad headaches, you know."
"Well; but up in the nursery she would hardly hear it, I"m sure," said Charlie, regretfully.
"I _should_ so like to turn it," said Mabel, shyly looking up into Christie"s face.
"All right, missie; come here," said Christie.
And standing on tip-toe at his side, little Mabel took hold of the handle of the organ with her tiny white hand. Very slowly and carefully she turned it, so slowly that her mamma came to the window to see if the organ-boy had been taken ill.
It was a pretty sight which that young mother looked upon. The little fair, delicate child, in her light summer dress, turning the handle of the old, faded barrel-organ, and the organ-boy standing by, watching her with admiring eyes. Then little Mabel looked up, and saw her mother"s face at the window, and smiled and nodded to her, delighted to find that she was watching. And then Mabel went on playing with a happy consciousness that mother was listening. For there was no one in the world that little Mabel loved so much as her mother.
But Mabel turned so slowly that she grew tired of the melancholy wails of "Poor Mary Ann."
"Change it, please, organ-boy," she said; "make it play "Home, sweet Home;" mother _does_ like that so."
But Christie knew that "Rule Britannia" lay between them and "Home, sweet Home;" he took the handle from Mabel, and saying, brightly, "All right, missie, I"ll make it come as quick as I can," he turned it round so fast, that if old Treffy had been within hearing, he would certainly have died from fright about his dear old organ long before the month was over. Several people in the opposite houses came to their windows to look out; they thought the organ must be possessed with some evil spirit, so slowly did it go one minute, so quickly the next.
But they understood how it was a minute afterwards when little Mabel again began to turn, and very slowly and deliberately the first notes of "Home, sweet Home," was sounded forth. She turned the handle of the organ until "Home, sweet Home," was quite finished, and then, with a sigh of satisfaction, she gave it up to Christie.
"I like "Home, sweet Home,"" she said; "it"s such a pretty tune."
"Yes," said Christie, "it"s my favorite, missie. Where is "Home, sweet Home"?" he asked suddenly, as he remembered his promise to old Treffy.
"That"s _my_ home," said little Mabel, nodding her head in the direction of the pretty house. "I don"t know where yours is, Christie."
"I haven"t much of a place to call home, missie," said Christie; "me and old Treffy, we live together in an old attic, and that won"t be for long,--only another month, Miss Mabel, and I shall have no home then."
"Poor organ-boy,--poor Christie!" said little Mabel, in a pitying voice.
Charlie had taken the handle of the organ now, and was rejoicing in "Poor Mary Ann;" but Mabel hardly listened to him; she was thinking of the poor boy who had no home but an attic, and who soon would have no home at all.
"There"s another home somewhere," said Christie, "isn"t there, missie?
Isn"t heaven some sort of a home?"
"Oh, yes, there"s heaven," said little Mabel, brightly; "you"ll have a home _there_, won"t you, organ-boy?"
"Where is heaven?" said Christie.