“Come, Lise, you shall have the surprise now,” I said, as I heard the sound of carriage wheels on the gravel outside.
One by one our guests arrive and Lise and I stand in the hall to welcome them. There is Mr. Acquin, Aunt Catherine and Etiennette, and a bronze young man who has just returned from a botanical expedition and is now the famous botanist—Benjamin Acquin. Then comes a young man and an old man. This journey is doubly interesting to them for when they leave us they are going to Wales to visit the mines. The young one is to make observations which he will carry back to his own country to strengthen the high position which he now holds in the Truyère mine, and the other to add to the fine collection of minerals which the town of Varses has honored him by accepting. It is the old professor and Alexix. Lise and I greet our guests, the landau dashes up from the opposite direction with Arthur, Christina and Mattia. Following in its wake is a dog cart driven by a smart looking man, beside whom is seated a rugged sailor. The gentleman holding the reins is Bob, now very prosperous, and the man by his side is his brother, who helped me to escape from England.
When the baptismal feast is over, Mattia draws me aside to the window.
“We have often playful to indifferent people,” he said; “let us now, on this memorable occasion, play for those we love?”
“To you there is no pleasure without music, eh, Mattia, old boy,” I said, laughing; “do you remember how you scared our cow?”
Mattia grinned.
From a beautiful box, lined with velvet, he drew out an old violin which would not have brought two francs if he had wished to sell it. I took from its coverings a harp, the wood of which had been washed so often by the rain, that it was now restored to its original color.
“Will you sing your Neapolitan song?” asked Mattia.
“Yes, for it was that which gave Lise back her speech,” I said, smiling at my wife who stood beside me.