Probable Sons Part 7

"One of them skulking poachers--they're always in here after the rabbits. If I hadn't a-had you to look after and had my thick stick I would a-been after him."

"But you wouldn't have hurt him?"

"I should have taught him a lesson, that I should!"

"But, Maxwell, you mustn't, really! Only think, he might be--Tommy coming home! You couldn't see who it was, could you? It would be dreadful if you chased away Tommy."

"No fear o' that," Maxwell said in a quieter tone. "My own son wouldn't skulk along like that. He was a ragged vagabond, that's what he was."

"Prodigal sons are nearly always ragged. He might have been some one's prodigal son, Maxwell."

"He was just a poacher, my dear, and I think I know the chap. He's staying at the Blue Dragon, and has been a-watching this place for some time."

"Perhaps he is one of G.o.d's prodigal sons," said Milly softly, "like Jack was."

To this Maxwell made no reply, but when he set her down in the brightly-lighted hall a little later, he said,--

"Don't you fret about our Tommy. I should know him fast enough. He wouldn't run from his own father."

And Milly went in, and that night added another pet.i.tion to her prayers:--

"And please G.o.d, if the man who ran away from Maxwell is a prodigal son, bring him back to his father for Jesus' sake. Amen."

CHAPTER VII.

CROSS-EXAMINATION.

"Nurse, where is Miss Millicent? I haven't seen her for days. Fetch her in here this afternoon, and you go and get a little fresh air; I am well enough to be left alone now."

Sir Edward's tone was impatient. He was getting to the convalescent stage, and nurse found him a most trying patient. Nothing would please him, and he wearied both himself and her with his perpetual complaints.

"I thought she would only worry you, sir. She has been asking me every day to come in and see you. I will fetch her at once."

Milly shortly appeared in a clean pinafore, her little face radiant with smiles. As she climbed up into the chair by the bedside and gently stroked the hand that was given her, she said with sparkling eyes,--

"Nurse says I may stay here all alone with you, uncle; won't that be lovely? May I give you your medicines, and be your nurse?"

"I can't promise that, but you may sit there and talk to me."

"What shall I talk about?"

"Anything you like. You never seem to be at a loss for conversation."

Milly considered for a moment.

"I've had so few people to talk to lately, you see; I generally talk most to Fritz. He understands, I'm sure, but he doesn't talk back. When will you be quite well again, uncle?"

"Not this side of Christmas, I'm afraid."

"Oh dear, what a long time! But I'm very glad G.o.d has made you better.

Nurse said it was a mercy you hadn't broken your neck. Do you know, uncle, I saw such a sad sight yesterday morning. I was down in the fir plantation with Fritz, and we came upon a dear little rabbit caught in a steel trap. Maxwell said a poacher had put it there, and he was very angry. The rabbit was quite dead, and his two hind legs were broken.

Wasn't it dreadful? What is a poacher, uncle?"

"A thief--a man that steals game that isn't his."

"Maxwell says there are lots of poachers about. I'm so afraid he will think Tommy is one when he comes back. I do hope he will be careful, because if it's dark he might make a mistake. Wouldn't it be dreadful if he hurt his own prodigal son! And I expect Tommy will look very like a poacher. He is sure to have ragged, dirty clothes. If I was----" Here Milly paused, and gazed dreamily in front of her for some minutes in silence.

"Well?" inquired Sir Edward, looking at his little niece with interest as she sat in her big chair, her elbows supported by her knees, and her chin resting in her hands, "are you going into a brown study?"

"I was just thinking if I was a prodigal son--I mean a real one, not just playing at it, as I do--I would rather be one of G.o.d's prodigal sons, than belonging to any one else."

"Why?"

"Because I would know for certain He would meet me and take me back.

Nurse told me she had a cousin who ran away and made himself a soldier, and when he was sorry and wanted to come home, his father shut the door in his face, and wouldn't let him in. And then there's Tommy, I can't help s'posing that his father mightn't know him. But G.o.d can't make mistakes. It must be lovely just to run right into G.o.d's arms, and hear Him saying, _'Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him.'_ I should love to have Him say that to me."

Milly's little face glowed with pleasure at the thought, and she turned her expressive eyes toward her uncle, who lay with knitted brows listening to her.

"And supposing if G.o.d would not receive you; supposing you had stayed away so long, and had refused to listen to His voice when He called, and then when you did want to come back, you felt it would be too late, what would you do then?"

Milly smiled.

"Why, uncle, it would be never too late for G.o.d, would it? Maxwell said he would be glad to see Tommy if he came back in the middle of the night, and G.o.d would never turn one of his prodigal sons away. He loves them so that he sent Jesus to die for them. He would never say He couldn't have them back again."

Sir Edward said no more, and after another pause the child went on.

"I was asking Mrs. Maxwell the other day if she had some best clothes for Tommy when he came home, and she took me upstairs into his little room, and opened a long drawer, and told me to look inside. And there were his best Sunday coat and waistcoat and trousers, and a silk handkerchief with lavender in it, and a necktie with yellow and red stripes, and she told me they had been there for nine years, and she shakes them out and brushes them every Sat.u.r.day. He didn't run away in his best clothes, you know; he left them behind. So they're quite ready for him. The only thing Mrs. Maxwell hasn't got is the ring."

"The what?" inquired Sir Edward, amused.

"The ring," Milly repeated earnestly. "Maxwell will have to say, '_Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet_.' Mrs. Maxwell has got a pair of carpet slippers. I couldn't bear her not having any shoes ready for him, so we looked about and found a pair that are just too small for Maxwell, and I put them in the drawer my own self. Mrs. Maxwell says he won't want a ring, and that she thinks the Bible people dressed differently, and she said Tommy was a poor man's son: it wasn't as if he was rich. But I don't know; I don't like to think we have no ring for him. I suppose you haven't one, uncle, that you would like to give him?"

Sir Edward put his head back on his cushions and laughed aloud. Then, noting Milly's troubled face, he said:

"Wait till Tommy comes back, little woman, and then it will be time enough to see about his ring, though I quite agree with his mother that it would be most unfitting."

"You have had the picture I gave you taken away, uncle," said Milly presently, her quick eyes roving round the room. "Ah! you've had it hung up on the wall. That's nice there. You can see it from your bed. Don't you like looking at it? Doesn't it make you feel happy?"

"I can't say it does," replied Sir Edward, glancing at the picture in question. "Why ought it to make me feel happy?"

"Oh, it's so nice to think he is just getting home after being away so long. I wonder if he was a great time walking back. How long do you think it takes one of G.o.d's prodigal sons to get back to Him, uncle?"

"I should say a very long time, indeed," said Sir Edward, slowly.