Mrs. Maple smiled, but her face remained thoughtful, and all that evening she was puzzling over the wonderful likeness between Una's father and her lost brother. She was unusually silent, and said but little about Mr. Manners to Granfer; but when she was alone with her husband she told him how she had been struck by the artist's appearance and voice.
The farmer listened in surprise.
"Why surely, Mary, you do not mean to say you think this Mr. Manners is your brother David?" he exclaimed in incredulous accents.
"I do not know what to think," she replied; "perhaps I am foolish and fanciful, but he was so like what David might be if he were alive! Oh, if God would only send David home!"
[CHAPTER VII]
GRANFER'S HEART'S DESIRE
IT was the evening before Granfer's birthday, and Mr. and Mrs. Maple had gone for a stroll together, leaving the house in the charge of Nellie and Bessie, with instructions that they were to wash up the tea things and feed the poultry during their parents' absence.
Granfer sat in his accustomed seat, for though it was May, and the weather quite mild, there was a cheerful log fire on the hearth, and the old man was glad of the warmth.
When the children had finished their duties, they joined their grandfather, and Nellie commenced a conversation by saying:
"Your birthday cake in the larder looks delicious, Granfer! Mother has baked it beautifully!"