Part 23 (1/2)
”I declare, I believe it is the very place! If these Sterlings turn out to be the people you lead me to think they are, Warren, there's a small fortune awaiting them.”
”What! a fortune awaiting the widow Sterling and Derrick? It can't be!
Why, they haven't a relative in the world.”
”That may all be, but what I tell you is true. If this Gilbert Sterling was a son of Deacon Giles Sterling of Newfields, in Crawford County, his heirs are the owners of one of the most valuable bits of property in the State. Why, man, this little old rocky farm you speak of, if it is the same--and I am inclined to think it must be--lies in the very centre of the richest oil district that has yet been discovered. The best-paying well owned by our company is located on its border. For a clear t.i.tle to that farm I am authorized to offer twenty-five thousand dollars cash, and a one-fifth interest in whatever oil may be taken from it.”
The next morning Mr. Jones called at the Sterlings', and was amazed to find Derrick already showing signs of recovery. A splendid const.i.tution and a determined will, aided by twelve hours of sleep and an abundance of nouris.h.i.+ng food, were already beginning to efface the traces of hunger and suffering.
The boy gave his visitor a cheerful greeting, and tried to express something of his grat.i.tude in words, but they failed him utterly.
The other said, ”Don't try, Derrick. It's over now, and we all have cause for the most profound grat.i.tude; but each of us understands the other's feelings, and there is no need of words between us.”
Mrs. Sterling's eyes were filled with happy tears as, sitting beside her son, she tried to tell something of the pride she felt in him. After a while she said,
”I know it's wrong, but I can't help trying to look ahead a little, and, I confess, with some anxiety. I want my boy to do what is right, and I do not want him to remain idle; but oh! Mr. Jones, I cannot let him go down into that awful mine again. It has nearly killed him; and I am sure I could not survive another such experience.”
”I don't blame you for feeling as you do,” said the young man, ”and I think perhaps some other arrangement can be made. One reason for my calling this morning was to ask if I might bring a gentleman to see you who is greatly interested in Derrick, and desirous of making his acquaintance. Are you willing that I should, and do you think Derrick is strong enough to receive visitors?”
”Certainly I am,” said Mrs. Sterling; and Derrick answered for himself that he felt strong enough to see any number of gentlemen who were interested in him.
So Mr. Jones left them, and shortly afterwards returned with Mr.
Halford, who soon won his way to the mother's heart by saying pleasant things about her boy, and to Derrick's by thanking him for his kindness to Mrs. Halford and Miss Nellie. He said that he had been especially commissioned by his daughter to inquire concerning the welfare of her b.u.mping-mule, and was glad to hear from Derrick that that knowing animal was rapidly recovering from his injuries.
The conversation was led on from one thing to another, until Mr. Halford was satisfied that he had really found the family of whom he was in search. Then he told them of the good-fortune in store for them, provided they could prove their owners.h.i.+p of the little Bradford County farm.
Trembling with excitement, Mrs. Sterling brought out a box full of her husband's papers, among which was found a deed for the farm, and receipts for taxes paid up to the time of his death.
Having satisfied himself of the correctness of these, Mr. Halford made them the offer of which he had spoken to Mr. Jones the evening before.
Then he left them, saying he knew they would want some time to consider his proposition, and that he would call the next day to learn their decision.
After their visitors had gone, Derrick and his mother gazed wonderingly at each other. Could it all be true? Were their days of poverty really over? Was the overworked mother to have a release from the toil and the bitter anxieties that made her look so thin and careworn? Were Derrick's dreams of a college education and a profession about to be realized?
Long and earnestly they talked, but not as to what answer they should give Mr. Halford. They had decided that almost before he left. They talked with grateful and loving hearts of the Heavenly Father who had so ordered their ways as to turn their very darkness into brightest light.
As she thought over her mercies, the wonderful promises that had sustained the widowed mother through so many an hour of trial came back to her with their fullest force.
That afternoon Derrick felt strong enough to walk out, and went to the Everts' to see his dear friend and recent companion in suffering. He found Paul able to see and talk to him, but in bed, and very weak and languid.
”If I could only get away, far away from it all, Dare,” he said. ”The horror of the mine hangs over me all the time, and I'd almost rather never get well than go down into it again.”
Then Derrick bent down and whispered something that brought a new light into the crippled lad's eyes and a faint flush to his pale cheeks.
”Oh, Dare!” he exclaimed. ”Is it true? Really! Do you mean it?”
Derrick answered that it was true, and he meant every word of it.
CHAPTER XX