Part 48 (1/2)
”No, father, you are mistaken I am here, father--your only son, Matt
Please open the door”
”You are fooling me! Didn't you fool me about Matt only last week and throw a pail of water on me, and call me Crazy Will? Go away, I say!”
”No, father, I will not go away! Youfor you so long--ever since mother died and you disappeared, and now that I have found you, we shall never separate again Open the door; do, please”
These words, spoken with an intensity which cannot be described, had the necessary effect upon the poor, weak-arret room Matt heard him move slowly toward the door, and then heard the key turn in the lock The next instant the door opened, and the boy sprang into the rooht his father around the neck
”Oh, father, don't you know me?” he cried, with deep emotion ”It is Matt, your only son!”
He looked his father steadily in the eyes, the tearsfreely down his cheeks Mr Lincoln returned the gaze for a moment, then the wild look died out of his eyes, and his breast heaved and he gave a deep sob
”Matt! Matt! It is really you! My son! ed hi the meanwhile like a little child He spoke of his wife and her death, of his lost s, and then, in the midst of it all, threw up his areous boy than Matt would have been badly scared But he knew of these fainting spells, for his father had had the weaker in body, it was true, but always clearer in mind
In one corner of the room lay an old mattress, and upon this he placed his father's foran to bathe his father's forehead with some water that stood in a cracked pitcher near by
Two of the girls that had told him about Crazy Will had followed hi outside of the garret-roo on Matt called them in
”Do either of you want to earn twenty-five cents?” he asked
”What doin'?” asked the older of the two girls proe for me”
”Where to?”
Matt irl said she knehere it was and would willingly take a e there
”Don't yer want a doctor?” she asked
”Not yet You take this note and it will be all right But you must not lose a irl
Taking out a notebook he carried, Matt hastily scribbled down the following brief e:
”ANDY: I have found my father Come with the bearer at once
MATT”
This he folded up and addressed to his partner In anotherdown the teneirl close behind her
When they were gone Matt closed the door and again turned his attention to his father