"In my right mind again," was the calm, but firmly spoken answer.
"How glad I am to hear you say so!" And Wilkinson grasped the hand of his old friend, and shook it warmly.
"You remember your promise of yesterday?" said Ellis. He spoke seriously.
"To get you a good situation?"
"Yes."
"I have not forgotten my word, Henry; and will keep it. You are a good accountant?"
"I am."
"This morning my book-keeper notified me of his intention to leave as soon as I could supply his place. If you will take the situation at seven hundred and fifty dollars a year, it is open for you."
"John Wilkinson!" exclaimed Ellis, seizing the hand of his friend, and exhibiting much agitation. "Are you indeed in earnest?"
"I never was more so in my life," was replied.
"Then, indeed the day has broken!" said Ellis, with emotion. "When will you want me to begin?" he asked after a short period of silence.
"Now," replied Wilkinson.
"Now, did you say?"
"Yes. I have work that needs attention at once. When will you come?"
"A good beginning never can be made too early. Now."
Wilkinson turned, and the two men walked back to a vacant desk. A number of accounts and letters lay thereon, and, as Wilkinson began to enter into some explanation in regard to them, Ellis took up a pen and laid the point of it on a sheet of paper. The nervous tremor of his hand showed him to be in no condition for the task upon which he was about entering. Wilkinson comprehended this in a moment, and a fear lest the drunkard"s delirium should follow so sudden a withdrawal of stimulant from the system of Ellis, sent a chill through his feelings.
Instead of putting him to the desk at once, he determined, on the instant, to employ him at more active work about the store for a few weeks, until, if he kept to his good resolution, some degree of firmness was restored to his shattered nerves. In agreement with this humane purpose he acted.
With what trembling anxiety did Mrs. Ellis await the return of her husband at dinner-time! The hours wore slowly away, and, at last, her watchful ear caught the sound of his footsteps. She scarcely breathed until the door opened. One glance sufficed. All was well. How glad was the impulse with which her stilled heart went on again! Tears of joy bedewed her face, when he related the good fortune that had attended his call on Wilkinson.
"Yes, yes," said he, when he had told her all, and glancing around the room as he spoke. "This desert place shall blossom as the rose. I have said it, and I will keep my word."
In the evening, Henry and his father met, for the first time, face to face, since they parted in anger on one side and grief on the other.
When Kate came home with the latter on the night previous, Henry had managed to enter the house before them, and so kept out of his father"s way. Now, on coming in from his work, he found him already at home, and so changed in appearance, that he gazed upon him with a surprise which he could not at first conceal.
"Henry, my son," said Mr. Ellis, in a kind, self-possessed tone of voice, and he reached out his hand as he spoke.
The boy took his father"s hand, and looked earnestly into his face.
"Henry, how long have you been with Mr. Wilson?" inquired Mr. Ellis.
"Two years, sir," was answered.
The father looked at the boy"s hands, and sighed. They were hard and discolored from labour.
"Tell Mr. Wilson, in the morning," said he, "that I wish you to leave him after this week."
"Sir!" Henry looked surprised.
"Tell him that I wish you to go to school for a year or two."
"Father!" The blood flew suddenly to the lad"s face. For a few moments he looked at his father; then turning, he pa.s.sed quickly into the adjoining room. In the stillness that followed, were audible the sobs that came from his overflowing heart.
A week, a month, a year have pa.s.sed, yet the promise of that happy time is dimmed not by a single cloud. Firm in his better purpose and fully sustained at home, Henry Ellis is walking steadily the path of safety.
Home is what it ever should have been, the pleasantest place in all the world; for she who is its sunlight never meets him with a clouded face.
His desert has, indeed, blossomed as the rose. May the bloom and fragrance thereof never fade nor lose its sweetness!
THE END.