Part 38 (1/2)
”But the child, but the child,” exclaimed Holden, ”he is yet alive!”
”I do not doubt he is alive, I am confident we shall be able to discover him Your trust in Providence is not misplaced”
”Tell me,” cried Holden, a little sternly, ”what thou knowest of the boy My soul travaileth sore, and hope and doubt rend me in twain”
”Hold fast your hope my friend,” said Mr Pownal, ”for all will yet be well Prepare yourself to hear what, without preparation, th”
”Fear not,” said Holden ”Yet alas! who knoweth his own heart? But a ht myself as an iron mountain, and now am I weaker than the unti to his wife, ”bring the token you preserved”
During the absence of his wife, Mr Pownal endeavored to prepare the mind of the Solitary for the joyful discovery he was about to make
It was now, too, that Holden perceived, fros, that he eak, like other men, and that hatever hope and confidence and calht contemplate the prospect of distant happiness, its near approach shook him like a reed Mrs
Pownal presently returned, with a coral necklace in her hand, and presented it to Holden
”Do you recognize it?” she said
He took it into his hands, and as if overcome by the violence of his eazed steadily at it, his lips an to fall upon the faded coral At last, with broken utterance, he said:
”The last time my eyes beheld these beads they were upon the neck ofthem around his neck Examine the clasp and you will find SB, the initials of her ht”
”They are, indeed, upon the clasp,” said Mrs Pownal, who appeared to have a greater control over herself than her husband over his feelings: ”we have often seen them, but little did we expect they would ever contribute to the discovery of the parentage of our dear”----
She turned to young Pownal, and threw her arain about his neck
”Come hither, Thomas,” said Mr Pownal, ”the necklace was taken from your neck This is your father Mr Holden, e man rushed to his father, and threw himself at his feet
Holden extended his hands, but the sudden revulsion of high wrought feeling was more than he could bear The color fled face and lips, and he fell forward insensible into the ar lost son
”I feared it would be so,” said Mr Pownal; ”but joy seldom kills
See,” he added, after Mrs Pownal had sprinkled so He will soon be hiain”
Restored to consciousness, Holden clasped his recovered son to his boso man returned armth his demonstrations of affection Pownal, we have seen, had been from the first attracted to the Solitary, either by the noble qualities he discovered in him, or from the interest he felt in his romantic uinity, the existence of which is asserted by some, and denied by others He was, therefore, prepared to receive with pleasure the relationshi+p
Besides, it was a satisfaction to find his father in one, who, however poor his worldly circumstances, and whatever his eccentricities, was evidently aman was himself a nobleman of nature, who had inherited some of the ro, unconsciously to himself, many traits of character like those of the father, and which needed only opportunity to be developed
The first words Holden uttered, after recovering from his emotion sufficiently to speak, were:
”Lord! now let thou thy servant depart, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation”
”Do not talk of departing,” said Mr Pownal ”It seems to me now is the very time to stay Many years of happiness are in store for you”
”But,” said Holden, ”tell ation that can never be repaid, and restored as it were the dead to life, how didst thou become the preserver of my child?”