"Ah, child," he answered sadly, "if I could but have my heart's desire, and see my boy once more; and if that is too much to ask of God, I wish I could know that my harshness did not spoil David's life!"
"Why, here come mother and father back already!" Nellie cried in astonishment as the door opened, and her parents crossed the threshold. "They cannot have gone far!"
The children noticed at once that their mother looked agitated and flushed, but, though her eyes were full of tears, they shone with a bright, glad expression. She came to her father's side, and took one of his hands in a firm clasp.
"Father, can you bear news—blessed news?" she asked simply. "Oh, my dear father!"
He looked at her doubtfully, and she continued in hurried accents very unlike her usually calm tones:
"Just now we met Mr. Manners, little Miss Una's father, and he tells us that he has news of David!"
"Of David?"
"Yes, he says that David is well and prosperous!"
"Thank God for that!" the old man exclaimed fervently.
"And that he is coming to see us!" Mrs. Maple continued. "He may be here any moment!"