THE GRATEFUL PEOPLE
Fabry had left the room, leaving the grandfather and his granddaughter
together. For a long time the old man and the girl sat with their arms
about each other. They only spoke now and again, just to exchange a word
of affection.
"My little granddaughter ... my boy's little girl," murmured the blind
man, stroking her curls.
"My grandpapa," murmured Perrine, rubbing her soft cheek against his.
"Why didn't you tell me who you were?" he asked at last.
"But didn't I try several times?" replied Perrine. "Do you remember what
you said to me the last time I spoke of dear mother and myself. You
said: 'Understand, never speak to me again of those wretched
creatures.'"
"But could I guess that you were my granddaughter?" he said.
"If I had come straight to you, don't you think you would have driven me
away and not have listened to me?" asked Perrine.
"Ah," said the blind man, sadly, "who knows what I would have done!"
"I thought so," said Perrine, "and I thought it best not to let you
know me until, like mama said, 'you would get to love me.'"
"And you have waited so long, and you had so many proofs of my
affection."
"But was it the affection of a grandfather? I did not dare think so,"
said Perrine.
"When I began to suspect that you were my son's child, I then quickly
got positive proofs, and I gave you every chance to tell me that you
were. Finally I employed Fabry, who, with his investigations, forced you
to throw yourself into my arms. If you had spoken sooner, my little
darling, you would have spared me many doubts."
"Yes," said Perrine sweetly, "but we are so happy now, and doesn't that
prove that what I did was all for the best?"
"Well, all is well. We will leave it at that. Now tell me all about your
father ... my boy."
"I cannot speak to you of my father without speaking of my mother," said
Perrine gravely. "They both loved me so much, and I loved them just the
same."
"My little girl," said the blind man, "what Fabry has just told me of
her has touched me deeply. She refused to go to the hospital where she
might have been cured because she would not leave you alone in
Paris...."
"Oh, yes; you would have loved her," cried Perrine; "my darling mother."
"Talk to me about her," said the old man, "about them both."
"Yes," said Perrine; "I will make you know her and then you will love
her."
Perrine told about their life before they lost all their money; then
about their travels through the various countries and the wanderings
over the mountains; then of her father's illness and his death, and how
she and her sick mother journeyed through France with the hope that they
could reach Maraucourt in time before the sick woman died.
While they were talking they could hear vague sounds outside in the
garden.
"What is the matter out there?" asked M. Vulfran. Perrine went to the
window. The lawns and drive were black with a crowd of men, women and
children. They were dressed in their Sunday clothes; many of them
carried banners and flags. This crowd, between six and seven thousand
people, reached outside the grounds to the public park, and the murmur
of their voices had reached the ears of the blind man and had turned his
attention from Perrine's story, great though it was.
"What is it?" he asked.
"It is your birthday today," said Perrine, smiling, "and all your men
are here to celebrate it and to thank you for all you have done for them
and their families."
"Oh!..."
The blind man walked to the window as though he could see them. He was
recognized and a murmur ran through the crowd.
"_Mon Dieu_," he murmured, "how terrible they would be if they were
against us." For the first time he realized the strength of the masses
which he controlled.
"Yes," said Perrine, "but they are with us because we are with them."
"Yes, little girl, and it is all due to you," he replied. "This is very
different from the day when the service for your dear father was held in
that empty church."
"Yes, they are all here now," said Perrine, "and this is the Order of
the Day, grandpapa dear: I am to guide you to the steps exactly at two
o'clock. From there everyone will be able to see you. A man representing
each village where you have your factories will come up the steps, and
fatherly old Gathoye in the name of all is to make a speech."
At this moment the clock struck two.
"Now give me your hand, grandpapa, dear," said Perrine.
They reached the top of the steps and a great cheer broke out. Then the
dear old Gathoye, who was the oldest employe, came forward alone. He was
followed by the five delegates. Ten times the old man had been made to
go over his speech that morning.
"Monsieur Vulfran, sir," he began, "it is to wish you ... it is to
congratulate you ... to congratulate you on...."
Here he stopped short and began gesticulating with his hands, and the
crowd, who saw his eloquent gestures, thought that he making an
elaborate speech.
After some vain efforts, during which he scratched his head several
times, he said: "This is how it is: I had a fine speech all ready, but
I've gone and forgot all I got to say. I had to congratulate you and
thank you in the name of all from the bottom of our hearts...."
He raised his hand solemnly.
"I swear that's so on the faith of your oldest employe, Gathoye."
Although the speech was very incoherent, nevertheless it touched M.
Vulfran deeply. With his hand on Perrine's shoulder, he moved forward to
the balustrade. There all could see him from below.
"My friends," he called out in a loud voice, "your sincere kind wishes
give me the greatest pleasure, all the more so as you bring them to me
on the happiest day of my life, the day when I have found my little
granddaughter, the daughter of my only son whom I have lost. You know
her; you have seen her at the factory. She will go on with the work we
have already begun, and I promise you that your future, and your
children's future, is in good hands."
Thereupon he leaned down towards Perrine and before she could protest he
lifted her up in his arms that were still strong, and presented her to
the crowd, then kissed her tenderly.
Then a deafening cheer rang out. It was continued for several minutes.
Cheers came from the mouths of seven thousand men, women and children.
Then, as the Order of the Day had been previously arranged, a line was
formed and in single file they passed before their old chief and his
granddaughter. With a bow and a hearty wish each man passed by.
"Ah, grandpapa, if you could only see their kind faces!" cried Perrine.
But there were some faces that were not exactly radiant. The two nephews
certainly looked very glum when, after the ceremony, they came up to
their cousin to offer their congratulations.
"As for me," said Talouel, who did not mean to lose any time in paying
court to the young heiress, "I had always supposed...."
The excitement of the day proved too much for M. Vulfran. The doctor was
called in.
"You can understand, doctor," said the blind man anxiously, "how much I
want to see my little granddaughter. You must get me into a state so
that I can have this operation."
"That is just it," said the doctor cheerily, "you must not have all this
excitement. You must be perfectly calm. Now that this beautiful weather
has come, you must go out, but you must keep quiet, and I guarantee that
as soon as your cough has gone we shall be able to have a successful
operation."
And the doctor's words came true. A month after M. Vulfran's birthday
two specialists came down from Paris to perform the operation.
When they wished to put him under an anesthetic he refused.
"If my granddaughter will have the courage to hold my hand," he said,
"you will see that I will be brave. Is it very painful?"
They would use cocaine to alleviate the pain.
The operation was over. Then came five or six days of waiting. The
patient was kept in a dark room. Then at last the grandfather was
allowed to see his little granddaughter.
"Ah, if I had only had my eyes," he cried as he gazed at Perrine's
beautiful little face, "I should have recognized her at the first
glance. What fools! Couldn't anyone have seen the likeness to her
father? This time Talouel would have been right if he had said that he
'supposed'...."
They did not let him use his eyes for long. Again the bandage was put on
and was kept on for thirty days. Then one of the oculists who had
remained at the chateau went up to Paris to select the glasses which
would enable him to read and see at a distance.
What M. Vulfran desired most, now that he had seen Perrine's sweet face,
was to go out and see his works, but this needed great precaution, and
the trip had to be postponed for a time, for he did not wish to be
closed up in a landau with the windows up, but to use his old phaeton
and be driven by Perrine and show himself with her everywhere. For that
they had to wait for a warm, sunny day.
At last the day they wanted came. The sky was blue, the air soft and
warm. After luncheon Perrine gave the order to Bastien for the phaeton
with old Coco to be at the door.
"Yes, at once, mademoiselle," he said with a smile.
Perrine was surprised at the tone of his reply and his smile; but she
paid no more attention to it, as she was busy fussing about her
grandfather so that he would not take cold.
Presently Bastien came to say that the phaeton was ready. Perrine's eyes
did not leave her grandfather as he walked forwards and down the steps
alone. When they reached the last step a loud bray made her start. She
looked up.
There stood a donkey harnessed to a phaeton! A donkey, and that donkey
was like Palikare, a Palikare shiny and glossy, with polished shoes and
adorned with a beautiful yellow harness with blue tassels. The donkey,
with his neck stretched out, continued to bray. In spite of the groom's
hold upon him he turned and tried to get to Perrine.
"Palikare!" she cried.
She flew to him and flung her arms around his neck.
"Oh, grandpapa, what a lovely surprise!" she cried, dancing around her
dear Palikare.
"You don't owe it to me," said her grandfather. "Fabry bought it from
that ragpicker to whom you sold it. The office staff offer it as a gift
to their old comrade."
"Oh, hasn't Monsieur Fabry got a good, kind heart!" cried Perrine.
"Yes, he thought of it, but your cousins did not," said M. Vulfran. "I
have ordered a pretty cart from Paris for him. This phaeton is not the
thing for him."
They got up into the carriage and Perrine took the reins delightedly.
"Where shall we go first, grandpapa?" she asked.
"Why, to the log cabin," he said. "Don't you think I want to see the
little nest where you once lived, my darling?"
He referred to the cabin on the island where she had lived for a time
the preceding year. It remained fondly in his mind. She drove on to the
entrance and helped her grandfather alight at the path.
The cabin seemed just the same as when Perrine left it.
"How strange," said M. Vulfran, "that only a few steps from a great
industrial center you were able to live the life of a savage here."
"In India we led a real savage life," said Perrine. "Everything around
us belonged to us there, but here, I had no right to this and I was
often very afraid."
After M. Vulfran had inspected the little log hut he wanted to see the
creche at Maraucourt.
He thought that he would easily recognize it, as he had so often discussed
the plans with Fabry, but when he found himself at the entrance, and was
able to see at a glance all the other rooms, the dormitory where the
little babies were asleep in their rose and blue cribs according to the
sex, the playroom where those who could walk were playing, the kitchen,
the lavatory, he was surprised and delighted.
Using large glass doors, the architect had cleverly made his plans so
that from the first room the mothers could see all that went on in the
other rooms where they were not allowed to enter.
In the nursery the children sprang forward and jumped upon Perrine,
showing her the playthings that they had in their hands.
"I see that you are known here," said M. Vulfran.
"Known!" replied Mlle. Belhomme, greeting them. "She is loved by all;
she is a little mother to them, and no one can play like she can."
M. Vulfran put his arms affectionately around his granddaughter as
they went on to the carriage.
They returned home slowly as evening fell. Then as they passed from one
hill to another, they found themselves overlooking the surrounding
country, where new roofs and tall chimneys could be seen everywhere.
M. Vulfran took Perrine's hand.
"All that is your work, child," he said; "I only thought of business.
See what you have done. But so that this can all be continued in the
years to come, we shall have to find you a husband, one who will be
worthy of you, who will work for us. We will not ask anything more of him.
I think one day we shall find the right man and we shall all be happy
... en famille...."
THE END
THE BERRY PATCH
Josephine Lawrence
_12mo. Illustrated. Beautiful cloth binding, stamped in gold and
jacket in colors._
_Price, $1.50 Net._
[Illustration: Line drawing of Berry Patch book cover]
_The Berry family home was called the Berry Patch
because of the "cross-patch" dispositions of the
children, but, at heart, they all wanted to be right,
and so the clash of experiences at last brought good
results. In the process of interesting events, the
reform of the family brought about the reform of the
community, with unhappy dispositions changed into
lovable characters, that make good citizens and reach
social success._
Elspeth Oliver is the girl whose energy keeps things whirling in the
Berry Patch. Judge Berry was the great authority on what's what among
them, and John Tabor, the school teacher, was the romantic character in
the community. All the human excitements of pride and self-will enter
into the various ambitions. Even generous impulses were taught restraint
in the experiences of various kinds, showing that there is an appropriate
time and place for everything.
The Berry Patch children did not get into mischief from any desire to
make trouble, but because a surplus of energy was engaged in making
discoveries. However, the greatest of all discoveries was that experience
is a dear teacher, and random experiences sometimes cost many tears.
Human nature in the "Berry Patch" is revealed in so many ways that it
makes profitable and interesting reading for those who are troubled with
household troubles.
_Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue._
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, PUBLISHERS New York
ROSEMARY
JOSEPHINE LAWRENCE
_12mo. Illustrated, Beautiful cloth binding, stamped in gold with
cover inlay and jacket in colors._
_Price $1.50 Net._
[Illustration: Line drawing of Rosemary Book Cover]
_This lively story of charming little girls awakens the fancy and
stimulates the ambition of all little readers to be approved of their
associates, and to win the admiration of their worthiest friends. The
inspiration to do one's best in both work and play, with due regard for
the comfort and welfare of others, is one of the fine merits of this
story._
ROSEMARY
Rosemary Willis is twelve years old, the eldest of three sisters. She is
charming, quick and radiant, with a snappy temper. As she is the
responsible one, she has many hard struggles to do the right thing in
the right way. Sarah is two years younger. She is the peculiar one, with
her love for all kinds of animals about the farm, and her unsocial,
stubborn disposition. Her unruly ideas lead her into numerous troubles
before she changes her mind. Shirley is the baby and pet of six years.
As she gets her own way so often, she is badly spoiled and receives many
hard knocks before she begins to appreciate the comfort and interest of
others. Dr. Hugh is their big brother, who has the care of them in the
absence of their parents, and he ranges in their estimation all the way
from terrible tyrant to wonderful, necessary brother. There are others
who help complicate as well as untangle troubles, and fill up the
experience of the story with interesting glimpses of life.
_Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue._
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, PUBLISHERS New York