"Where do they live?"
Mrs. Howland gave the direction asked by her son, who departed immediately on his errand of good will.
For a time after Andrew left the store of his father, Mr. Howland sat half bewildered by the strange occurrence that had just taken place, while his heart felt emotions of tenderness going deeper and deeper toward its centre. Though confessed to no one, he had felt greatly troubled in regard to the iron discipline to which he had subjected his wayward boy, and had tried for years, but in vain, to force from his mind the conviction that upon his own head rested the sin of his ruin. Long since had he given him up as lost to this world, and, he sadly feared, lost in the next. To have him return, as he did, without even a foreshadowing sign of his coming, was an event that completely broke down his feelings. Moreover, he was touched by the spirit in which his son came back; a spirit of practical forgiveness; the first act flowing from which was the conference of a great benefit.
"There was good in the boy," sighed the old man, as he mused on what had just occurred. "Alas! that it should have been so long overshadowed. A milder course might have done better. Ah, me! we are weak and shortsighted mortals."
Mr. Howland remained in his store until the late mails were distributed at the post-office, when, unexpectedly, a letter came from Edward. It contained a draft for a thousand dollars, and was in these words--
"DEAR FATHER--I received your two letters. To the first returned no answer; I need hardly give you the reason. It was a hard, harsh, insulting letter, charging me with extensive frauds on you and others, a.s.suming that I was in possession of large sums of money thus obtained, and imperiously demanding rest.i.tution. As to your sources of information, I know nothing; but I trust, that before you take such stories for granted, you will, at least, look well to their authenticity. Your second letter was in a different tone, and awoke in me a far different spirit from that awakened by the one first received. I am pained to hear of your great embarra.s.sment, which I did not antic.i.p.ate. I thought that the extension of time you received, would enable you to meet all demands, and deeply regret that such has not proved to be the case. Enclosed, I send you a draft for one thousand dollars, which I have raised with great difficulty; I wish, for your sake, that it were ten times the amount. But it is the best I can do. When I came here I had about fifteen hundred dollars in money; upon this I commenced business, and have done tolerably well, but I am still on the steep up-hill side, and it is far from certain whether I will go up or down from the point I now occupy. Give my love to mother and Martha,
Affectionately yours,
EDWARD."
Mr. Howland mused for some time after receiving the letter; then he turned to his desk, and wrote briefly, as follows--
"MY DEAR SON--I have your letter enclosing a draft for one thousand dollars. I thank you for the remittance, but, happily, have received aid from an unexpected quarter, and do not now need the money. With this I return the draft you sent. I regret any injustice I may have done you in a former letter, and hope you will forgive a too warm expression of my feelings.
Yours, &c.,
ANDREW HOWLAND."
This letter was dispatched by the Southern mail, and then Mr.
Howland turned his steps homeward. He felt strangely. There was a pressure on his bosom; but it was not the pressure of trouble that had rested upon it so long, but a pressure of conflicting emotions, all tending to soften and subdue his feelings, to bend the iron man, and to mould his spirit into a new and better form. With a lively pleasure was he looking forward to the second meeting with Andrew in the presence of his mother, but he did not know how great a pleasure, beyond his antic.i.p.ations, was in store for him.
On arriving at his house, Mr. Howland opened the door and went in.
He had pa.s.sed along the entry but a few paces, when some one stepped from the parlor. He paused, and looked up. It was his daughter Mary who stood before him. In her arms was a sweet little girl, and on her face was a smile, the warmth and light of which were on his heart in an instant.
"Father!"
It was the only word she uttered. The tone of her voice, and the expression of her face told all he wished to know.
"My dear child!" fell warmly from the lips of Mr. Howland, as he grasped his daughter"s hand, and then kissed tenderly both her own lips and those of her babe.
"Dear father!" murmured Mary, as she leaned her head, in tears, upon his breast.
At this moment there was a movement of feet in the parlor, and the husband of Mary presented himself. An open, frank, forgiving expression was on his face, as he came forward and offered his hand, which was instantly seized by Mr. Howland, in a hearty pressure.
Andrew and his mother joined the group, and, with smiles and pleasant words, made perfect the sphere of happiness.
"My children," said Mr. Howland, at length, speaking in a trembling voice, "my cup is full to-night. I must leave you a little while, or it will run over."
And saying this, he gently disengaged himself, and pa.s.sed up to his chamber, where he remained alone for over half an hour. When he joined the family, his manner was greatly subdued, and in his speech there was a softness which none had known before.
In the glad reunion of that evening, how many heart-wounds were healed, how many old scars covered over and hidden!
CHAPTER XIV.
SHOCKED as was Emily Winters at the sight of Andrew, bleeding in the hands of the watchman, and by the subsequent newspaper report of his bad conduct; and estranged from her early regard for him, as she had been, by these and other things that she had heard, the young girl could not entirely banish from her mind the image of the boy who had been to her so gentle and affectionate since the early and innocent days of childhood. In spite of all her efforts to turn her thoughts away from him, they were ever turning toward him; and, as time pa.s.sed on, and his long absence left all in doubt concerning his fate, his memory became to her something like a hallowed thing.
In pa.s.sing on to the estate of womanhood, Emily, who possessed more than common beauty, attracted admirers, and from two or three of these she received offers of marriage. But in each case the suitor had failed to win her heart, and she was too true a woman to give her hand to any one unless her heart could go also.
In at least one case her father took sides with the lover, and urged his suit with a degree of feeling that resulted in a partial estrangement of affection. But he afterward had cause to be well satisfied with Emily"s decision in the case.
On the morning that had succeeded the day of Andrew Howland"s return to P--, Emily Winters, who had long since ceased to think of the young man as alive, was informed that a gentleman had called, and wished to see her.
"Who is he?" was the natural inquiry.
"I don"t know," replied the servant.
"You should have asked his name."
"I did so, but he said that it was no matter."
After making some slight change in her dress, Emily went down to the parlor. As she entered, a gentleman arose and advanced a few steps toward her.
"Miss Winters!" said he, while he fixed his eyes intently on her face.
The young lady bowed slightly in return, while she looked at him inquiringly.
"You don"t know me?" said the stranger, with perceptible disappointment in his voice.
Emily dropped her eyes for a moment to the floor, and then lifted them again to his countenance. There was a gentle suffusion on her face, as she slowly shook her head.
"I have seen you before," she remarked, "but I cannot, at this moment, tell where."
"Years have pa.s.sed since we met," replied the stranger, with something of sadness in his voice; "but I had hoped you would not forget me."
As he spoke, he came nearer, and held out his hand, which Emily did not hesitate to take.
At the moment of this contact, a light flashed on the maiden"s face, and she exclaimed, with sudden emotion--
"Andrew Howland! Can it be?"
And she stepped back a pace or two, and sunk upon a chair. Andrew did not relinquish her hand, but sat down by her side, replying, as he did so--
"Yes, Emily, it is even so. After a long, long absence, I have come back to my old home, wiser and better, I trust, than when I went away."
It was some time before Emily looked up or replied; but she did not make a motion to withdraw the hand which Andrew held with no slight pressure.
"How often, Emily," continued Andrew, seeing that she remained silent, "have I thought of the sweet hours we spent together as children--hours, too often, of stolen delight. Their remembrance has, many a time, saved me from evil when strongly tempted. But for that, and the memory of my mother, I should long since have become a castaway on the ocean of life."