Then they went up the steep steps, and found mother and son standing by the flower-clad cross.
"Dr. Wentworth, I have found my mother!" cried Fred, hardly seeing that the doctor was not alone in his agitation.
"Fred, I have found both our boys," said Janet, leaving her son and taking her husband's arm; "and God has taken care of both of them."
[CHAPTER XIII.]
"AS WE FORGIVE."
THE Wentworths contrived to find room for the Rayburns, and begged of them to stay as long as they conveniently could. Indeed, for some days Janet could hardly have travelled, but she soon regained her usual health and quiet cheerfulness. She and her husband, with Lily for their companion, made Fred show them every spot connected with the story of Frank's death, and his own life since then. Betty Giles's cottage, the very spot on the road where the child-hero at last stumbled and fell, were visited and revisited. But the mystery as to how the children had so quickly got so far away from Rugeley was never thoroughly solved. Fred had no remembrance of the long railway journey.
The Rayburns were the more inclined to linger at Edgestone because they could not bring themselves to take Fred away from the kind friends who had long regarded him as their own son. But this difficulty was ended by a conversation between Mrs. Wentworth and Janet, one day when the rest had gone for a long walk, leaving them to keep each other company. They talked of various matters for some time. Then there was a short silence, broken by Mrs. Wentworth, who said—
"Janet—I may call you Janet, may I not?—I want to ask you, if you don't mind, what you mean to do about Fred?"