CHAPTER XI

ONCE AGAIN THE OLD SONG

AUTUMN came that year altogether too soon for the Lesa household. The children did not like to think their days on the pasture were coming to an end, that two of them would soon be living far away in a great city, another go up into the mountains, while Stefeli would stay behind, a sad and lonely little girl.

"No, I don't want to live alone," said Stefeli with determination when they were discussing the sad outlook on one of their last days together. "I shall write a letter and send it to Cousin Lorenz. He promised me something."

"Vinzi will come home," suggested Alida, "and then you will have good company."

That same day Vinzenz Lesa said to his wife: "I only hope Lorenz will not take his boy away from me. It has been such a bountiful years there is much to do. I can't get along without the boy, for I cannot see everything that must be done. He has a good memory, and displays as much thought and care as three. He shows as much interest and pleasure in the farm as though he owned it. Ah, if he were mine! I would give half my wealth for such a son!"

"Let us be happy that he is still with us," rejoined his wife. "Perhaps we can keep him for quite a while; good Cousin Lorenz has sent us no warning yet."

Mr. Delrick wrote regularly, and a letter had recently come containing the usual good news: Vinzi was well and everything was going along all right. Mr. Delrick seemed in no hurry to write about Vinzi's return, though the year of his absence was near its end.

A few days later as the children entered the room one evening a thick envelope lay on the table.

"That is a letter from father to Mr. Lesa!" exclaimed Alida as she glanced at the handwriting.

"Now it's all over!" said Hugo. "You'll find we have to go, Alida."

The children were all alarmed, but even though they talked about their departure none of them thought it was actually near at hand. Even Jos, to whom the news was told the moment he came in, made great eyes. He had not quite conceived that their happiness must end, for he and Hugo had drawn close in a warm friendship.

When Mr. Lesa came in, he took up the letter only to lay it aside, for he read letters only when there was nothing else to do and now supper was ready.

When Mrs. Lesa had brought the food to the table and had attended to everything, she said she would like to open the letter; she knew the children were eager to know what their father had written, and they had recognized his handwriting. He consented, and she read the letter to herself, then said she would tell them all about it next day. There was all sorts of information in it but the main news was that Mr. Thornau would arrive in a few days to take his children home.

Absolute silence followed this announcement. Then, one after the other, the children left the table and gathered under the great walnut tree in front of the house. With the old tree as their witness, they solemnly promised to do all within their power to spend the next summer together.

When they were all fast asleep in their beds and Vinzenz Lesa had lit his evening pipe, his wife sat down beside him, saying she wanted to read the letter aloud. Mr. Thornau wrote from Dresden, where he had gone to visit Mr. Delrick who had asked him to accompany him on a trip to Switzerland. He thought information by word of mouth concerning Vinzi would be more than welcome to the parents, and he would bring it. However, his time in Leuk would be very short. He could not arrive before Sunday evening and must be on his way early Monday morning. Now it would be ever so much pleasanter if they could spend Sunday together in Freiburg. That was Mr. Lesa's old home and surely he would be glad to visit it. Wouldn't they bring his children to meet him there, and of course Stefeli would come too. They could reach Freiburg early Sunday afternoon and he and Mr. Delrick would meet them at the train, for they expected to arrive earlier.

Vinzenz Lesa pondered awhile in silence, then asked, "What does he say about our boy?"

Mrs. Lesa assured him he had written nothing but what she had read; but Mr. Delrick would give them a report in person.

"Do you know why he doesn't care to bring him along?" asked her husband further.

"We can't know that," she replied.

"But we can guess. I can tell you why. Mr. Delrick now sees he cannot make him a traveling musician. He is in no hurry to bring him home and tell me frankly he does not know what to do with him, because he had turned his thoughts further away from being a farmer. Mr. Delrick is a good man, but he miscalculated. Everybody likes to put off as long as possible owning to have made a mistake."

Vinzenz Lesa now blew such dense clouds of smoke that his wife knew it was wise to wait a bit.

Then she said cautiously: "Let us wait until we hear what Mr. Delrick has to say. It will be a blessing to talk with him. What do you think of going to Freiburg?"

"It has not entered my head," he replied curtly. "You surely do not think I'd make a trip like that without any reason, like a fellow who does not know what to do with his time."

"No one who knows you could believe that," said his wife. "But Mr. Thornau would not have settled upon a Sunday without a purpose. He knows you would not come on a week day. It was nice of him to invite us; he could have asked anyone to bring the children. He says it would be a favor if we went with them, and I must say, Vinzenz, I've grown to love them dearly, and they are sorry to leave us. They have told me so and have shown me their hearts. I would like to see them safely in their father's hands."

"You can go with them; why not?" he retorted in a perverse tone. "Go with them to Freiburg; you are sufficient escort for them."

"No, Vinzenz, I will not do that," was his wife's decided reply. "You can see by the letter that Mr. Thornau wants you to come. You know very well that I could not decide about the boy's future. We will go together or not at all."

The silence which followed was too prolonged for Mrs. Lesa's patience, and she began again: "When we are invited in such a friendly manner, I do not know why we should not make the trip to Freiburg. Don't you remember how delighted we were as children when father and mother drove us there on a Sunday and how we thought ourselves the luckiest of mortals as we sat in the high carriage between them, traveling off to meet all kinds of adventures? We should make the trip just for memory's sake. First of all we went into the church and heard the great organ. You must recollect how your mother delighted in this above everything else."

"Wouldn't you take pleasure in going there again? Besides, it strikes me it would be a good plan for you to use this chance to visit the estate. You have been wanting to see how matters stood there for quite a while, and you are sure to find lots of things to attend to. Now that Jos is with us, you are better able to leave than later on. It is certainly time you looked into things there. If nothing special takes you, you will not go until something is wrong and then you will regret the delay."

Vinzenz Lesa began thinking the journey might have its good side. With much hesitation and some resentment, he said, "How did you work that all out? I don't see how we could be away so long. It would take three days."

"Not for all of us," replied Mrs. Lesa quickly, for she had thought it all out. "We can attend to everything here early Sunday morning and be in Freiburg that afternoon. I will start back that evening with the children so we can be home Monday morning."

"How many children are you expecting to bring back? The stranger children will have gone, and you have only your one left."

"Only our two, Jos and Stefeli; I'll bring home no strangers," said his wife appeasingly.

"What? You want to take Jos too?" he said excitedly. "Then my going is out of the question. If Jos isn't home to keep things in order, I'll not take a step away from here; you can reckon on that."

Mrs. Lesa patiently explained that for one day, and that Sunday, the farmhand could attend to the stable work, and Jos would be back again Monday morning. Nothing would be neglected.

"And then think, Vinzenz," she concluded, "Jos has done much for us, and we have never given him the slightest pleasure. He would certainly enjoy this trip. It is because of him that you have the time to go to your other farm and to put things in order there. You can afford to be away eight days for when Jos is with me, I can promise you everything will be done at home."

Vinzenz Lesa was a just man and always ready to do what justice called for. After weighing the pros and cons, he was glad of this opportunity to give Jos a well-earned holiday, and said decisively, "Well, we'll make the trip. Tell Jos at once; he will plan everything out that needs to be done while he is away."

"Tomorrow morning," promised Mrs. Lesa, rejoicing that she could give the good news to all the children, especially to Jos.

When she made the happy announcement the next morning, Alida and Stefeli jumped for joy, and Hugo said, "Then everything isn't quite over! It will be much easier to go away when everybody goes with us."

Jos could hardly conceive that such pleasure was for him. He would see the city, and much beautiful country on the way. It would be his first journey, for he had never been away from his mountain home until the time he came to Leuk.

Sunday arrived, and the merry party journeyed off through the green country. The trip was much finer than they had imagined. Alida and Stefeli talked incessantly and when Hugo was not taking part in the conversation, he was pointing out the interesting things along the way which might otherwise have been unobserved. Jos, on the other hand, was so engrossed with all that was new to him that he gazed about in silence.

Thus the hours flew by and the children jumped up in astonishment when Mr. Lesa said, "Watch out now, we will soon be in Freiburg."

A few minutes later there was a call of "Freiburg!" and the train stopped. Mrs. Lesa peered out of the window, and yes, there stood the gentlemen waiting to receive them. She could not help giving a sigh for she had hoped till this moment that Mr. Delrick might bring Vinzi along. But he was not there.

Alida and Hugo rushed up to their father, and Mr. Thornau took them both in his arms while he responded to their boisterous greetings with happy exclamations. Then he held his son off from him, the better to gaze at him.

"Is this really my son Hugo, the little fellow without life and strength? Nut-brown as a woodsman! Fat cheeks! Eyes like a deer's! Mrs. Lesa, what have you done with this lad? And is this gipsy girl my Alida? The red blood flushes her brown cheeks—what health! Mrs. Lesa, Mrs. Lesa, how did you bring all this about?"

"Oh, we know, we know mighty well," the children chorused, and began to relate how they had spent the summer days.

After Mr. Delrick had greeted Mr. Lesa, he shook the wife's hand and as though he read what was in her heart, he said, "Don't worry, Mrs. Lesa, everything goes well with the boy. That he is not here is due to no bad reason, believe me. Ah, there is my little friend Stefeli, and another old acquaintance. It's fine to have Jos here, for by now he belongs to your household."

"As one of our own," said Mrs. Lesa, putting her hand on the boy's shoulder. "Thank God we have him!"

"I wish to lay a proposition before you, and want Mr. Lesa's approval above that of all others," began Mr. Delrick. "Our friend, Mr. Thornau, has invited us all to dinner, and as the hotel is close by the old St. Nikolas Church, we thought it would be pleasant to go there first!"

Mrs. Lesa looked at her husband, hoping he would consent, for to go to church would suit her best of all.

Old memories crowded Vinzenz Lesa's mind as soon as he trod the streets of Freiburg. Like the child of his neighbor, he had known nothing grander than to drive into Freiburg on Sundays, and, holding his mother's hand, step into the church and listen to the wonderful organ.

"If I had anything to say about it, I would like to go to the church first. It is Sunday and it is proper for us to go there," he said.

So the party wandered into the city, and to the great old church, where it was so silent, so solemn in the semi-darkness that the children stepped very lightly down the aisle and seated themselves beside the grown-ups without a word. Suddenly the organ began to play, and through the stillness there floated music of such power and beauty that it seemed as if the heavenly choir were singing to call all the world to praise and prayer.

Stefeli uttered a suppressed cry of joy, and pulled violently at her mother's sleeve.

"Mother, it is Vinzi!" she exclaimed, greatly excited.

The mother had recognized her Vinzi at her first glance toward the organ and the sight of his curly black head had so surprised and agitated her that it took all her power to keep from sobbing aloud. Her husband must know too. She nudged him gently and whispered, "Vinzenz, it is Vinzi!"

He made no reply, nor did he look up, unwilling to show how the music had moved him.

And now the music suddenly changed. From low mourning it grew to loud lamentation, as if a great choir of despairing mortals gave voice to their suffering and penitence. Bitter pain, then supplication and fervent, humble prayer for succor and mercy. Suddenly it was as though the heavens opened and angels on high sang of merciful love and everlasting joy. Then above the heavenly choir there arose a voice, clear and powerful, filling the great church with the words:

"Yes, the holy hymn of grace Sounds through all eternity."

It was Jos. Hearing those well-known notes sounding afresh so powerfully and inspiringly had overcome him and he could but add his voice to the angelic choir. When the last note died away, perfect silence reigned in the church. Then the two gentlemen rose, and Vinzenz Lesa also got up, wiping his eyes.

"You surely don't believe that," he said in a hoarse voice, as his wife followed him, in answer to the words she had whispered to him some time before. "No one can tell me that was our Vinzi!"

Mr. Delrick was standing just behind him and said, clapping him on the shoulder, "We will not take anything on faith. Let us climb up to the organ loft and see for ourselves who plays like this."

[Illustration]

"He certainly has skill," said Mr. Thornau. "How did you like it, Alida?"

"Oh, it was wonderful! I wish it could have kept on," she said regretfully.

"Well, come along; we too wish to know who was playing," and Mr. Thornau took his daughter by the hand and they all climbed up to the organ loft.

Mr. Delrick had gone ahead, and before the others had reached the loft, the same melody was heard again. Vinzenz Lesa stepped in, then stood motionless. There sat his son at the organ; the curly black head was Vinzi's. And he was playing the organ; he it was who brought forth these soul-stirring notes. There was no help for it, he had to wipe his eyes time and again.

But now Vinzi had finished. His mother let go Stefeli's hand and the little girl rushed off to her brother and threw her arms around him. His mother came up and embraced him tenderly, and the father moved over close to Mr. Delrick.

"Mr. Lesa," said that gentleman, "your son has played the Song of Grace to you. Now you must be gracious and forgive him if he does not become a farmer."

Lesa grasped his son's hand. "More than that, Vinzi!" he said at last, for he had difficulty in controlling his emotion. "You are doing your parents honor, though not as I intended. I did not know such things were possible. I did not know! When I used to come to Freiburg as a boy and heard this organ, I supposed those who played it were people set apart, not folks like us. You have to thank Mr. Delrick, Vinzi; we all are indebted to him. He found the path for you and opened it up."

"Not I, Mr. Lesa; not I," objected Mr. Delrick. "It was Father Silvanus who knew what was in Vinzi and what should be done with him; we must thank him. And you must also learn that our Vinzi will not be a breadless vagabond when he carries on his art. He has been offered a position in a Dresden church, where he will play every Sunday. That will surely please you? At the same time he can continue his studies, for the longer he does that, the better. Let him stay with me for several years; will that be satisfactory to you?"

"Anything you think proper," replied Mr. Lesa without hesitation, now fully convinced that Mr. Delrick had done all along just as he desired, and much pleased that he had kept silent until he could prove his case.

There was one surprise after another in store for Vinzi. There was Jos standing in front of him. How joyously he greeted his old friend.

"It was you, then, after all!" he exclaimed. "I heard you singing down in the church and it almost upset me. I asked myself over and over again, 'Who but Jos knows our song and has a voice like that?' But yet you could not be here. And now you are after all!"

Then Alida stood before him and Hugo and Mr. Thornau. One lively greeting followed the other. Alida had so much to say about past events, present and future, that Mr. Thornau finally had to say it was time to go to dinner; that they could carry on their conversation there.

In spite of Vinzenz Lesa's reluctance, he could not help himself, but had to go to the Zahringerhof Hotel to dinner, a place he had never before entered, and then the hour of departure came too soon for all of them.

"You can have no conception of my gratitude, Mr. Lesa," said Mr. Thornau when he said farewell. "My son, who has never shown the slightest inclination whatever to follow any calling, has just declared his decision to become a farmer. He has already selected the manager for his estate, and insists that your cows are the only stock he will buy; they are the finest to be found. The youngster knows the breed already.

"Then my daughter who has been hostile to studying music for over a year and has not opened the piano in spite of my pleas, now tells me it is her highest ambition to resume her lessons as soon as she returns to Hamburg. Hearing her former pupil play so beautifully makes her desire to follow him. In all earnestness I say, Mr. Lesa, that my gratitude for all my children have shared in your house is greater than I can express. I would like to prove it to you. Will you make a trip to Hamburg some day?"

"No, I believe not," said the latter truthfully. "But it is a pleasure to us if your children have profited by being with us. We have been glad to have them and hope they will come again."

Deeply moved, Mr. Thornau pressed Mrs. Lesa's hand, for he realized she had been a mother to his children and he asked sincerely, "May the children come to you again?"

"I shall be unhappy if they do not come next summer," she replied, torn by both joy and pain, "and I shall look for their return each following summer."

When taking leave of Vinzenz Lesa, Mr. Delrick said they would soon meet again, as he was planning to spend Vinzi's vacation with him in his father's house. But first they would go up the Simplon; Father Silvanus must know how his pupil had progressed. He would take Vinzi with him if Mr. Lesa did not object. Mr. Lesa replied that he could do just as he thought best. Vinzi, standing alongside, listened intently. What was it his father had just said? How could he say this when he had forbidden him to go up the mountain again?

"Father," he asked rather timidly, "may I really go with Mr. Delrick?"

"Do just what he says; it will be the right and proper thing."

Vinzi's eyes sparkled with joy. In a few days he would journey up the mountain and see all those who were dear to him. He could thank Father Silvanus, and he fully realized how much he owed him.

They all left Freiburg at the same hour, but went in different directions. It took the children some time to say farewell, but all were in a happy mood, for they would meet again next summer. Even Vinzi would be with them then. Mr. Delrick had promised he would bring him at the beginning of the vacation. Mr. Thornau journeyed off to Basle with his children; Vinzenz Lesa toward Bulle to his paternal farm, Mr. Delrick and Mrs. Lesa, with the three children, proceeded to Lake Geneva. They were to spend the night in Lausanne and would reach home as early as possible the next morning.

On the evening of the next day, Vinzi went up to his little bedroom with his mother and when they entered, he exclaimed, "Oh, mother, how lovely our home is! Come in and say good-night like you always used to do."

Before going to bed, Stefeli ran out of the house. Yes, there sat Mr. Delrick on the bench, according to his custom.

"If you are really going up the mountain, Mr. Delrick, will you do something for me?" she asked, standing before him. "Will you tell Cousin Lorenz that Jos must certainly stay with us? He said he need not go home until father sends him, and he will never do that, that's easily seen."

Mr. Delrick promised, and smiled quietly as he thought of the similarity of the three messages he bore. Mr. Lesa had bid him urge his cousin to leave his son with him for awhile; it would be hard to get along without the boy. A few minutes later Jos had asked him to inform his father he could not return home for some time, there was so much to do for the winter, and the spring started down here so early that one could barely finish before the next year's work began. And Cousin Vinzenz ought not to be left alone now Vinzi would be away all the time, that was sure. Mr. Delrick said to himself with a smile that Cousin Lorenz could scarcely say no to all three wishes, considering his promise.

Mrs. Lesa went to Vinzi's room and sat down on his bed. This was the first time Vinzi had been alone with his mother since he had come home, and he poured out his heart to her about his life in Dresden. He had not written to her as his father said it was of no use, so now he must tell her Mr. Delrick had been a father to him and had him study the organ with one teacher and the laws of music with another. This second teacher had opened a wonderful world to him.

"But my organ lesson was the happiest time of all," added Vinzi. "Oh, mother, I never supposed one could look forward from day to day to anything as I did to that! It was a feast!"

The mother gazed at him with beaming eyes as she asked, "And to live with Mr. Delrick and be with him constantly was happiness too, wasn't it, Vinzi?"

"Yes, great happiness!" he exclaimed. "It is a good thing you know him, for I could never tell you how kind and helpful he was in everything. Everybody in his house was good to me for his sake. His housekeeper is as good as though she were my grandmother, and the manservant and the maidservant too. They all wait on me; they won't let me do anything for myself. That is because they are all so fond of organ music. The housekeeper says my playing has made Mr. Delrick happy again. Having lost all his loved ones, he was very sad. There is a small organ in his house, and Mr. Delrick asks me to play every evening. Sometimes we can hardly get enough. Now you know my life in Dresden, but lovely as it is there, I am glad to get home once more to my haymow up on the mountain under the stars."

"Vinzi," said his mother, "do you thank God for all the blessings He has given you?"

"Yes, mother, I do," and he looked frankly into her eyes. "I have never forgotten how frightened and anxious I often was. But now when I sing the songs you taught me, I sing them differently than in those old days. Then I heard only the melody, but now I sing the songs of praise with my entire soul."

"Remember also," concluded his mother, "that whatever happens, the Lord means it for your good. When I sat on your bed that night before you went to the mountain, I would have done anything to keep you home. That was my shortsightedness, for going was to bring you your greatest happiness."

Vinzi had listened thoughtfully and now said, "I too thought it was the saddest thing I could experience. It turned out the loveliest. I shall never forget it, mother."

When his mother left his room after an affectionate good-night, her heart was so filled with gratitude and happiness that she folded her hands and sent a prayer of thanks to Heaven. How much God had done for her and her household! Vinzi was on the road to his heart's desire, and his father was not only satisfied, but rejoiced over it. He no longer despised Vinzi; he had acknowledged his son was an honor to his family, and she noticed he again looked on him with pride.

And Vinzi, who had been away for so long and lived in such different surroundings and learned so much, had come back as loving, simple and childlike as when he went away. That was a great blessing to his mother, and she fervently prayed that during his whole life, God would keep her son in the innocence and simplicity of childhood.

THE END