And across the paddock came Aunt Betty, fresh as the spring day in her blue print gown, and advancing more slowly behind came Mr. and Mrs. Treherne.
"A surprise visit, Father Jack, but none the less a welcome one," said Mr. Treherne. He was a typical Tasmanian farmer with his rough clothes and slouch hat, but a kindly contentment shone out of his true blue eyes, and he had an almost patriarchal simplicity of manner. He bore a high name in all the country-side for uprightness of character, and was any neighbour in trouble Treherne was the man to turn to for counsel and help. And his wife was a help-meet indeed, a bustling active little woman, who made light of reverses and much of every joy. The loss of her eldest daughter had been the sharpest of her sorrows, and the gradual drifting of her four sons to different parts of the colony where competition was keener and money made faster than in "sleepy hollow," as Tasmania is nicknamed by the bustling Australians. There was only one left now to help father with the farm, Ted and Betty out of a family of seven!
But still Mrs. Treherne asserted confidently that the joys of life far outweighed its sorrows. Perfectly happy in her own married life, her heart had gone out in tenderest pity to the young Lieutenant so early left a widower, and a deep bond of affection existed between the two. She took one of his hands between her own, and beamed welcome upon him.
"It's good luck that brings you again so soon."
"It's a matter of business that I've come to talk over with you all, but it can wait until after supper. I'm as hungry as a hunter. I came straight on from Burnie without waiting to get a meal."
"If you had wired, you should have had a clean son to welcome you," said Betty. "Climb down, Jack, and come with me and be scrubbed. Don't wait for us, mother. The tea is all ready to come in."
Jack chattered away in wildest excitement whilst Aunt Betty scrubbed and combed, but Betty's heart was thumping painfully, and she answered the boy at random, wondering greatly if the business Father Jack talked about implied a visit to England, and whether he would want to take his little son with him.
"He has the right! of course he has the right," she thought. "Aunts are only useful to fill up gaps," and her arms closed round little Jack with a yearning hug.
"There! now you're a son to be proud of, such a nice clean little boy smelling of starch and soap," she said merrily, with a final adjustment of the tie of his white sailor suit, and they went down to tea hand in hand, to tea laid in the verandah, with a glimpse in the west of the sun sinking towards its setting in a sky barred with green and purple and gold.
Little Jack sat by his father, listening to every word he said, and directly tea was ended climbed again on to his knee and imperatively demanded a story. It was the regular routine when Father Jack paid a visit.