“I can recall nothing of any account till I awoke in my own bed weeks afterwards. The strange little boy was there, but Mrs. Day and Dr. Perry told me what I must have told them—that he was the child of my dead sister. Those were the last words uttered by the woman in Brentville; I carried them straight through my illness and brought them out on the other side more firmly intrenched than ever.”
“If only the truth had come back to you sooner!” sighed Ivory, coming back to her bedside. “I could have helped you to bear it all these years. Sorrow is so much lighter when you can share it with some one else. And the girl who died was called Hetty Rodman, then, and she simply gave the child her last name?”
“Yes, poor suffering creature. I feel no anger against her now; it has burned itself all away. Nor do I feel any bitterness against your father. I forgot all this miserable story for so long, loving and watching for him all the time, that it is as if it did not belong to my own life, but had to do with some unhappy stranger. Can you forgive, too, Ivory?”
“I can try,” he answered. “God knows I ought to be able to if you can!”
“And will it turn you away from Rod?”
“No, it draws me nearer to him than ever. He shall never know the truth—why should he? Just as he crept close to you that night, all unconscious of the reason you had for shrinking from him, so he has crept close to me in these years of trial, when your mind has been wandering.”
“Life is so strange. To think that this child, of all others, should have been a comfort to you. The Lord's hand is in it!” whispered Mrs. Boynton feebly.
“His boyish belief in me, his companionship, have kept the breath of hope alive in me—that's all I can say.”
“The Bible story is happening over again in our lives, then. Don't you remember that Aaron's rod budded and blossomed and bore fruit, and that the miracle kept the rebels from murmuring?”
“This rebel never will murmur again, mother,” and Ivory rose to leave the room. “Now that you have shed your burden you will grow stronger and life will be all joy, for Waitstill will come to us soon and we can shake off these miseries and be a happy family once more.”