“Oh yes, indeed I have. I remember them well—my father and mother, and my sister Ella, and little brother Oliver. My name is Robin Grey!”
Almost before the words were out of his mouth, the sick man stretched out his arms, exclaiming—
“I thought it was so. Come here, my boy. I am your father. Long and almost hopelessly I have searched for you.”
Robin embraced his father. “O papa, I remember you now,” he answered, “though you look so ill and sad; but you must get well, you must not die; and dear mamma and Ella and Oliver?”
“They were quite well when I left them many months ago; though your poor mother has never ceased to mourn for your loss,” answered Captain Grey. “I could not bear to see her suffering, and year after year, since you were lost, I have set off in search of you, returning home only when driven back by the winter. While I lay here I believed that I must abandon all hopes of restoring you to your mother’s arms; and, ungrateful as I was, a merciful Providence has brought you to me.”
“O papa! papa! I am so happy,” cried Robin. “You must get well, and we’ll go back together to mamma and dear little Ella and Oliver.”
Captain Grey smiled faintly.
“You must pray with me to God that He will restore me, for He alone has the power,” he answered; “and we must never again mistrust His providence.”
This unexpected meeting between Robin and his father gave us all sincere pleasure, and made us acknowledge that our course had been directed by a Superior Power. I cannot but suppose that Robin’s arrival at that very moment had the effect of giving a turn to his father’s complaint; though, for several days, we perceived no change in him.
All we could see was that he was not worse.