At last! At last! There was her father, just inside the door, looking exactly the same as ever, with his old smile, and the shiny bald place on his head, and the dear shabby old brown coat. There he was, hugging each child in turn, and then stopping to take her and the baby both into his arms.
“Well, here’s Madgie, then!” he said. “How are you, old woman? And here’s the young scamp that’s been frightening you all so much;” and he took the baby from her, and carried him into the sitting-room. “Looks a little pale still, the young monkey.”
Close behind, and following him in, came Mrs. Kayll laughing, and trying to hide the fact that she was crying at the same time. And after her came Jack, who kept rather in the background, and was very silent and quiet in the midst of the joyous confusion.
“Well, here I am again,” said Mr. Kayll, when the kissing and shaking of hands and general embracing were over, as he sat down on a box with the baby on one knee, Bessie on the other, and Edie with her arms round his neck from behind. “And time, too, I think. Nice goings-on your mother’s been telling me about. I see you’re not fit to be trusted without me. In one week you’ve made the baby very ill, pulled the house down, and drowned the furniture!”
The children laughed, and poured into his ear a stream of information about the storm, and one thing and another, until he was nearly deafened, and announced that he was very hungry and wanted his tea, on which everyone else was discovered to be hungry too, and they settled down to that meal while the bustle subsided.
Then Mr. Kayll asked a hundred questions, which everybody answered at once, so that he found it difficult to understand any of the replies. After which it became his turn to be questioned, and to tell his adventures from the very beginning, describing how he had been taken to the police-cell, while the true thieves got away scot-free.
“And I really think,” he said in conclusion, “that in spite of everything the owner of that shop still believes me to be the real burglar, and a most desperate character into the bargain.”
At which they all laughed as though it were the best joke in the world. And the more they looked at the simple kind-hearted cheery little man, the more amusing it seemed. Even Mrs. Kayll, who had almost forgotten how to smile during the past week, laughed till the tears came into her eyes again, and startled the baby so much by such an unwonted proceeding, that he puckered up his face for a cry, and had to be comforted, and kissed, and fed with spoonfuls of tea from his father’s cup until he recovered his spirits.
Soon after Jem came in, and then Bob, entering nervously, uncertain whether there was pleasure or sorrow in store, and then hurrahing for joy. And, of course, everything had to be explained again, so that there was little pause from talking until it grew late, and the younger ones had to go to bed.
Before he said good-night, Jack found an opportunity to speak to his father aside. His voice was rather unsteady as he said: