"Yes, great happiness!" he exclaimed. "It is a good thing you know him, for I could never tell you how kind and helpful he was in everything. Everybody in his house was good to me for his sake. His housekeeper is as good as though she were my grandmother, and the manservant and the maidservant too. They all wait on me; they won't let me do anything for myself. That is because they are all so fond of organ music. The housekeeper says my playing has made Mr. Delrick happy again. Having lost all his loved ones, he was very sad. There is a small organ in his house, and Mr. Delrick asks me to play every evening. Sometimes we can hardly get enough. Now you know my life in Dresden, but lovely as it is there, I am glad to get home once more to my haymow up on the mountain under the stars."
"Vinzi," said his mother, "do you thank God for all the blessings He has given you?"
"Yes, mother, I do," and he looked frankly into her eyes. "I have never forgotten how frightened and anxious I often was. But now when I sing the songs you taught me, I sing them differently than in those old days. Then I heard only the melody, but now I sing the songs of praise with my entire soul."
"Remember also," concluded his mother, "that whatever happens, the Lord means it for your good. When I sat on your bed that night before you went to the mountain, I would have done anything to keep you home. That was my shortsightedness, for going was to bring you your greatest happiness."
Vinzi had listened thoughtfully and now said, "I too thought it was the saddest thing I could experience. It turned out the loveliest. I shall never forget it, mother."
When his mother left his room after an affectionate good-night, her heart was so filled with gratitude and happiness that she folded her hands and sent a prayer of thanks to Heaven. How much God had done for her and her household! Vinzi was on the road to his heart's desire, and his father was not only satisfied, but rejoiced over it. He no longer despised Vinzi; he had acknowledged his son was an honor to his family, and she noticed he again looked on him with pride.
And Vinzi, who had been away for so long and lived in such different surroundings and learned so much, had come back as loving, simple and childlike as when he went away. That was a great blessing to his mother, and she fervently prayed that during his whole life, God would keep her son in the innocence and simplicity of childhood.
THE END