Elin's blue eyes being still full of bewilderment, the Factor kissed her again and said, "Now who do you think has left you this great fortune, little one?"
"Christian Christiansson," said the girl.
"Certainly! But don't you know who Christian Christiansson is? No? You neither, Anna?"
Anna was trembling on the verge of discovery. "Who?" she said, but rather with her lips than with her voice.
"Why, Oscar--your son Oscar, who isn't dead at all, and has come back and made amends to everybody! I always knew there was good stuff in my godson!"
The truth burst on Anna in a whirlwind of joy--joy that her son was alive, joy that he had come home and justified her faith in him, joy, too, though with a twinge of pain in it, that he had gone away again and further trouble with Magnus was averted. A prayer gushed from her heart and she wanted to go down on her knees.
"My son!" she said in a breathless whisper.
"My father!" said Elin, with a tenderness the word had never had for her before.
The company were now cackling and crowing again, but the two women--the old one and the young one--looked round for Magnus. He was standing at the back, his strong face all broken up and melted. It was not at this moment that the truth had first burst on him. That had come like a blinding blow of light the instant he had entered the guest-room and realized that God did something after all in this world for His children.
"Mother--Elin!" he stammered, and he opened his arms to them.