“It would be a poor beginning to my housekeeping to turn a fellow pilgrim away, would it not?” he asked, with a smile, of Rev. Carl.
“I think so, indeed. You are doing right to invite him to stay and to make him comfortable.”
“Before we leave you perhaps it would be advisable for me to go through the rooms in the back building and see which would be best to give him,” suggested Mrs. Courtney.
Before Mr. Valentine could reply Hilda came running back to the parlor. “He has gone to his room without waiting for anybody to tell him,” she said almost breathlessly. “He says he knows the room that Lois gave him.”
Rev. Carl gave a hearty peal of laughter, in which all joined. “That is the style of visitors to have, brother Val,” he said; “they save you the trouble of entertaining them.”
“I look upon it as a good omen,” smiled his brother-in-law. “I hope my home will be a place of rest and refreshment to all who enter its doors.”
“I am sure it will be,” said Mrs. Courtney sincerely; “but this Archie, I don’t understand his saying that he knows the room that Lois gave him. I am quite sure it was not in Mr. Joshua Farnsworth’s time, or in that of his widow, or Anna. I was here quite often, and never saw him or heard any of them speak of him.”
“The servants who had charge afterward may have allowed him to sleep here, and no doubt were glad to have company near them,” suggested Rev. Carl.
“While we were reviving Hilda the night that Archie found her in the snow, Diana Strong mentioned that she had seen him on the road more than once, but did not know his name,” remarked Mrs. Courtney.
“I, too, remember hearing him spoken of that evening,” rejoined Rev. Carl. “Dr. Lattinger mentioned that he frequently met him, and said that he was a mystery to him, reminding him of the Wandering Jew. He added that Archie is weak-minded and does not know his last name.”