XV.

_MR. TREBY'S DINNER-PARTY._

SIX weeks of hard work had passed away, and Jack's father had a roof over his head once more. He said it was the flood of happiness that overflowed his bounding heart when Jack was found, that enabled him to do twice as much work as he could at any other time in his life. Seco had been sent with the good news to Jaarsveldt, and brought back a pressing invitation for Jack to return there until the house was finished. But Mr. Treby shook his head.

"No, no," he said; "we'll part no more. Come what may, we'll rough it together, Jack."

Yet Jack did often wonder what Zyl and Genderen and Sannie were doing, and wished the farms were just a little nearer, so that they might see one another now and then. Neither did Mr. Treby forget their kindness to his boy.

"I tell you what, Jack," he said at last; "as soon as the house is finished, we'll have a grand day, and ask Van Immerseel to bring all his family to eat the first dinner in it with us."

Jack was full of glee. How he worked and slaved at the preparations—now raking out the rubbish from the garden, now helping his father with the carpentering, and busiest of all when his father trusted him with the paint-brush. An arbour was built in the shadiest nook he could find. The Black Antelope, with an apron of Tottie's tied over her scarlet blanket, was with Jack's assistance making herself a gown. There was not much to be said for its shape and work. Jack insisted upon it that it must have sleeves and a skirt; and the Black Antelope protested that the bags for the arms must be loose, or she should feel as if her arms were tied. She was learning fast a mixture of Hottentot and English, which Jack understood better than any one.

Life was running in the old grooves once again, except the watching for the English post. That had been altogether forgotten by Jack, and his father never spoke about the letter to grandfather which had almost cost Jack his life; for the thought of the poor child wandering in the veldt was more than he could bear. He could not talk about it yet; the very mention of it overcame him. But for all that the answer arrived by the return mail.

There was a thick letter for Mr. Treby, full of sympathy and consolation, assuring him his old father had sent him all he could spare to help him up the hill, and promising more by-and-by. Inside it there was another for Jack himself; and, odder still, a third for Sandford Algarkirke. Mr. Treby was entreated in a postscript to forward this to the young man at once, if he knew anything of his whereabouts.

There was something also in Mr. Treby's letter about Jack, which made him look up with proud, astonished eyes and murmur a fond, "God bless him!"

But Jack neither saw nor heard, for he was absorbed in his own, quite overwhelmed, in fact, by the dignity of receiving a letter of his own. It read as follows:—

"MY DEAR LITTLE GRANDSON,—That was a wonderful find of yours. That a bank-note should be lost in Nottingham and found in South Africa seems to me little short of a miracle. As soon as I had read your letter, I took my hat and stick and off I went to Hawkswood Hall. It was a good step for me, but I managed it by resting a bit here and there. For my little grandson's sake, I determined to give the note into the lady's own hands.

"The servants told me she was just going out and could not see me then. So I took out the note you had found, and told them to ask her if it was not her own handwriting; and if it were, they might say something else had been found with it which I wished to restore to her. I knew very well it was, for I had had many a note from her about the coal-club I started in the winter.

"Back came the footman with, 'Step this way, sir;' and he took me into a large room full of pictures and pretty things. There sat Mrs. Featherstone, with the tattered note spread out on a little table beside her. There was an eager look in her face that spoke of pain rather than pleasure.

"'I can hardly believe my eyes, Mr. Treby,' she began before I was well in at the door. 'But where, where in the whole world was this discovered?'

"'Where you would little think, ma'am—in the wilds of South Africa,' I said.

"'Was there anything in it?' she gasped.

"'Yes, ma'am—this.' And I spread the bank-note before her. First she turned crimson, then white as death itself. I thought she was fainting, so I looked round the room for the bell and rang it sharply. Whilst the servants were coming, I hobbled to the window and got it open.

"'Don't!' she gasped. 'Only tell me all quickly.'

"'As soon as you feel better, I'll read you my grandson's letter, and then you will know as much as I do.' I took out my glasses and began to clear them; but she couldn't wait that minute. She almost snatched the letter out of my hand, so I let her read it for herself. Presently she looked up.

"'You must leave me this.'

"I shook my head over that. 'Part with my grandson's first letter! No, no.'

"'Then wait,' she implored, 'while I send for Mr. Bourke. The loss of this note has made us bitter enemies. I sent it to him to head a subscription list, but it never reached him. I charged his landlady with stealing it; he charged my messenger. Two innocent people have been injured—perhaps irreparably injured. And now here it is. Imagine what my feelings are. I can never express my gratitude to your grandson. You must tell me how I can best I reward his honesty, his sterling honesty.'

"'He will find a rich reward when I tell him what you say,' I put in. 'Two innocent people cleared through him.'

"'Yes, through his courageous honesty. A man could not have acted more prudently. You ought to be proud of him,' she went on.

"'No need to tell me that,' I said. 'He is the very joy of his father's life. He'll make an upright, honourable man to take his father's place; for as the twig is bent, so is the tree inclined.'

"Whilst we were talking, in came the clergyman and his son. I liked the lad's face. He was a big, broad-shouldered young fellow, fresh from a military college.

"'Is it found?' asked the young cadet eagerly. 'Broad as my back may be, it has felt the weight of the blame I have had to bear for giving the note to Sandford Algarkirke, when I ought to have taken it myself.'

"'We have both of us been wrong, Mrs. Featherstone,' said the clergyman gravely. 'You and I refused to believe this money had been lost; we both agreed it must have been stolen. You fixed upon my housekeeper as the thief; and I, in my indignation at such injustice, determined to clear her by hunting out the real offender, and threatened to prosecute him, whoever he might prove to be. You persisted in believing Algarkirke's assertion, that he could not recollect what he did with the note, but as it was not in his pocket, he must have left it at my door.'

"'I warned him,' interrupted the soldier, 'he was likely to get into an unpleasant business, and begged him to try to remember. Like a coward, he took himself off to avoid the nuisance of the investigation. "The most foolish thing he could do," we all exclaimed. Of course suspicion fastened on him at once, and if he had set foot in England, he would have been taken by the police.'

"'Now read this letter,' interrupted Mrs. Featherstone.—'I wish you would leave it with us, Mr. Treby.'

"I was obliged to consent. They all promised to take the greatest care of it, and return it safely, saying such handsome things of you, my Jack, that it brought the tears into your old grandfather's eyes.

"In the evening young Bourke called, and asked me if I would enclose a note for Sandford Algarkirke to my son; for since it appeared he had bought a coat of him, he might know where to find him, which none of them did. So I promised him you and your father would do your best to find the foolish young fellow. Then he began to tell me how he was longing to reward my noble grandson.

"'Gently, gently,' I interrupted. 'Gentlemen don't take rewards for doing right.'

"'Well, anyhow, he shall hear from us all, and that before long,' he cried.

"So we shook hands most heartily; and I sat down to write this letter, and charge you never to part with that ostrich. What would I give to see you and your bird before I die!—Your delighted grandfather,

"JOHN TREBY.

"P.S.—I have written to your dear father about all his troubles. Be a good boy to him, and keep his courage up."

It was a happy moment for Jack when he laid down his grandfather's letter; and a happier still for Mr. Treby as he ran his eye over the closely-written page.

"Well, well," he said; "we'll give the letter for that young scatter-brain to Van Immerseel. He is sure to be at Jaarsveldt before long. But we've some weighty matters to consider before our Dutch neighbours arrive. There is a haunch of elk venison to be roasted and a game pie to be manufactured between us; and it strikes me I shall make a better out of it than Tottie, although I am not a Frenchman. Anyhow, we must try."

So to work they went, sunning themselves in grandfather's letter. The great effort, the risk, the peril, had not been all in vain.

"But they little think of all that effort cost," added Mr. Treby, with a deep-drawn sigh.

"Never mind, father," whispered Jack. "Now it's all over, let's be happy. Here they are!"

Jack pointed as he spoke to a lumbering vehicle, half gig, half cart, in which Van Immerseel was seated with his wife beside him, and Sannie, radiant in her Sunday attire, jolting on her mother's knee. Then came Walt upon his favourite hunter, with Genderen riding pillion behind him. Not a dozen yards behind them, Zyl was to be seen jogging along in the Hottentot's cart with the English schoolmaster.

"This is good luck, indeed!" exclaimed Mr. Treby, as he ran out to welcome his guests. "Where's my voorlooper?" asked Mr. Treby, as he took Sannie in his arms and kissed her fondly; for his heart had gone out to the Dutch baby, when she struck him on the knee and bade him look again for his Jack when everybody else was giving him up for dead.

But he was obliged to give her up to Jack, who rather shrank from meeting Van Immerseel, who roared out in his stentorian tones that he was coming to pay him for all his tricks.