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"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