CHAPTER XI
[BEATRICE ALMER GIVES A PROMISE TO HER SON]
"It was a spring morning, and my lady was alone. Master Christian was in the woods with his father; he was to be home at noon, and my lady was watching for him at her window.
"Exactly at noon the lad returned, beaming with delight; the hours he spent with his father were memorable hours in his life.
"'You have enjoyed yourself, Christian,' said my lady, drawing her boy to her side, and smoothing his hair. 'It does you good to go out with papa.'
"'Yes, mamma,' said the lad, in his eager, excited voice. 'There is no one in the world like papa--no man, I mean. He knows everything--yes, mamma, everything! There isn't a thing you ask him that he can't tell you all about it. We have had such a beautiful walk; the forests are full of birds and squirrels. Papa knows the name of every bird and flower. See, mamma, all these are wild flowers--papa helped me to gather them, and showed me where some of the prettiest are to be found. You should hear him talk about the flowers! He has told me such wonderful, wonderful things about them! I believe they live, as we do, and that they have a language of their own. Papa smiled when I said I thought the flowers were alive, and he told me that the world was full of the loveliest mysteries, and that, although men thought themselves very wise, they really knew very little. Perhaps it is so--with all men but papa. It is because he isn't vain and proud that he doesn't set himself above other men. In the middle of the woods papa stopped and said, as he waved his hand around, "This, Christian, is Nature's book. Not all the wisdom of all the men in all the world could write one line of it. That little bird flying in the air to the nest which it has built for its young, and which is so small that I could hold it in the palm of my hand, is in itself a greater and more marvellous work than the united wisdom of all mankind shall ever be able to produce." There, mamma, you would hardly believe that I should remember papa's words; but I repeated them to myself over and over again as we walked along--they sounded so wonderful! Mamma, are there flowers in heaven?'
"'Yes, my dear,' she answered, gazing upwards, 'forever blooming.'
"'Then it is always summer there, mamma?'
"'Yes, dear child--it is the better land on which we dwell in hope. Peace is there, and love.'
"'We shall all go there, mamma?'
"'Yes, dear child--one day.'
"'And shall live there in peace and love?'
"'Yes, Christian.'
"'Mamma,' said the child solemnly, 'I shall be glad when the day comes on which you and papa and I shall be together there, in peace and love. Mamma, you are crying. I have not hurt you, have I?'
"'No, dear child, no. To hear you speak gives me great joy.'
"'Ah, but I can't speak like papa. He has told me of that better world, and though I can't understand all he says, I know it must be very beautiful. Papa is a good man. I love him more than any other man--and I love you, mamma, better than any other woman. Papa is a good man, is he not, mamma?'
"'Yes, my child,' said my lady, 'your father is a good and a just man.'
"My heart leapt into my throat as I heard her speak these words of her husband. Was it possible that this dreadful estrangement was to end, and that my master and his wife would at length be reconciled, after all these weary years?
"My lady was lying back in her chair, gazing now at her boy, now at the bright clouds which were floating in the heavens. Ah, my lady, if we were but to follow God's teaching, and learn the lessons He sends us every day and every hour, how much unhappiness should we be spared! But it seems as if there was a wicked spirit within us which is continually dropping poison into the fairest things, for the mere pleasure of destroying their beauty and making us wretched.
"There was an angelic expression on my lady's face as she encouraged her boy to speak of his father.
"'I have often wished to tell you,' said Master Christian, 'that papa is not strong--not as strong as I am. He soon gets tired, while I can run about all day. This morning he often stopped to rest, and once he threw himself upon the ground, and fell fast asleep. I sat by his side and listened to the birds, who were all so happy, while papa's face was filled with pain. Yes, mamma, he was in great pain, and he sighed, oh, so heavily! as though sleep was hurting him instead of doing him good. And he spoke in his sleep, and his words made me tremble. "I call God to witness"--that was what he said, mamma--"I call God to witness that there was in my mind no design to do wrong." And then he said something about sin and sorrow springing from the flower of innocence. A bird was flying near us, stopping to look at us, and not at all frightened, because I was so very, very quiet. "Little bird," I whispered, "that my father could hold in the palm of his hand, do you know what he is dreaming of, and will you, because he is my father and a good man, do something to make him happy?" Oh, mamma, the bird at that very moment began to sing, and papa smiled in his sleep, and all the pain in his face disappeared. That bird, mamma, was a fairy-bird, and knew that papa ought not to suffer. And presently papa awoke, and folded me tight in his arms, and we sat there quite still, for a long, long time, listening to the singing of the bird. Oh, mamma, mamma! why will you not love papa as I do?'
"Who could resist such pleading? My lady could not.
"'My child,' she said, 'I will send for papa to-morrow.'
"'You will--you will!' cried the child. 'Oh, how glad I am! Papa will be here to-morrow, and we shall live together as poor people do, and be happy, as they are!' He sprang from her side, ready to fly out of the room. 'Shall I go and tell papa now? Yes, I may, I may--say that I may, mamma!'
"'Not till to-morrow, Christian. Come and sit quietly by me, and talk to me.'
"He obeyed her, though it was difficult for him to control himself, his joy was so great. He devised numberless schemes in which he and his parents were to take part. They were to go here, and to go there--always together. His friends were to be their friends, and they were to share each other's pleasures. Rambles in the woods, hunting for wild flowers, visits to poor cottages--he planned all these things in the delight of his heart.
"So they passed the day, the mother and child, and when night came he begged again to be allowed to go to his father and tell him what was in store for him. But my lady was firm.
"'No, Christian,' she said, 'you must wait yet for a few hours. They will soon pass away. You are tired, dear child. Go to bed and sleep well.'
"Good mamma! beautiful mamma!' said the lad, caressing his mother and stroking her face. 'I shall dream all night long of to-morrow!'
"She never kissed her child with deeper tenderness than she did on this night. He knelt at her knees and said his prayers, and of his own accord ended with the words: 'And make my papa and my mamma love each other to-morrow!'
"'Good-night, dear child.'
"'Good-night, dear mamma. I want to-morrow to come quickly. Good-night, Denise.'
"'Good-night, Master Christian.'
"In a few minutes he was asleep. Then my lady called me to her, and spoke gratefully of the manner in which I had performed my services to her.
"'You have been a good and faithful servant to me,' she said, 'and you have helped to comfort me. Your duties have been difficult, and you have performed them well.'
"'My lady,' I said sobbing; I could not keep back my tears, she was so gracious and sweet. 'I have done nothing to deserve such thanks. If what you have said to Master Christian comes true I shall be very happy. Forgive me for asking, but is it really true that you will send for my master to-morrow?'
"'It will be so, Denise, unless God in His mercy takes me to-night. We are in His hands, and I wait for His summons. His will be done! Denise, wear this cross in remembrance of me. I kiss it before I give it to you--and I kiss you, Denise!'
"And as she put the cross round my neck, which she took from her own, she kissed me on the lips. Her touch was like an angel's touch.
"Then she said, pointing to the posy which had been gathered in the woods by her husband and her child:
"'Give me those flowers, you faithful woman.'
"Do not think me vain or proud for repeating the words she spoke to me. They were very, very precious to me, and the sweetness has not died out of them, though she who uttered them is dust.
"I gave her the flowers, and she held them to her heart, and encouraged me to sit with her later than usual. Two or three times in the midst of our conversation, she asked me to go to Master Christian's room to see if he was asleep, and when I told her he was sleeping beautifully, and that he looked like an angel, she smiled, and thanked me.
"'He will grow into a noble man,' she said, 'and will, I trust, think of me with tenderness. I often look forward and wonder what his life will be.'
"'A happy one, I am sure,' I said.
"'I pray that it may be so, and that he will meet with a woman who will truly and faithfully love him.'
"Then she asked me if there was a light in her husband's study, and going out into the balcony to look, I said there was, and said, moreover, that my master often sat up the whole night through, reading and studying.
"'You have been in his service a long time, Denise,' said my lady.
"'Yes, my lady. I was born in this house, and my mother lived and died here.'
"'Was your master always a student, Denise?'
"Always, my lady. Even when he was a boy he would shut himself up with his books. He is not like other men. From his youngest days we used to speak of him with wonder.'
"'He is very learned,' said my lady. 'How shall one be forgiven for breaking up his life?'
"'Ah, my lady,' I said, 'if I dared to speak!'
"'Speak freely, Denise!'
"And then I described to her what a favourite my master was when he was a lad, and how everybody admired him, although he held himself aloof from people. I spoke of his gentleness, of his kindness, of his goodness to the poor, whom he used to visit and help in secret. I told her that never did woman have a more faithful and devoted lover than my master was to her, nor a man with a nobler heart, nor one who stood more highly in the world's esteem.
"She listened in silence, and did not chide me for my boldness, and when I was done, she said she would retire to rest. But she was so weak that she could scarcely rise from her chair.
"'I had best remain with you to-night, my lady,' I said; 'you may need my services.'
"'It is not necessary," she said; 'I shall require nothing, and I shall be better to-morrow.'
"I considered it my duty to make my master acquainted with his wife's condition, but I did not tell him of her intention to ask him to come to her to-morrow for fear that she should alter her mind. There had been disappointment and vexation enough in the house, and I would not add to it.
"I could not rest, I was so anxious about my lady, and an hour after I was abed, I rose and dressed myself and went to her room. She was on her knees, praying by the bedside of her child, and I stole softly away without disturbing her.
"Again, later in the night, I went to her room. She was sleeping calmly, but her breathing was so light that I could scarcely hear it. In the morning I helped her to dress, and afterwards assisted her to her favourite seat by the window.
"Master Christian was already up and about, and shortly after his mother was dressed he came in loaded with flowers, to make the room look beautiful, he said, on this happy day.
"It was a day he was never to forget."