XXXVII
THE FATHER'S RETURN
That evening Raff Brinker felt so much better that he insisted uponsitting up a while on the rough, high-backed chair by the fire. For afew moments there was quite a commotion in the little cottage. Hans wasall-important on the occasion, for his father was a heavy man, andneeded something firm to lean upon. The dame, though none of yourfragile ladies, was in such a state of alarm and excitement at the boldstep they were taking in lifting him without the meester's orders, thatshe came near pulling her husband over, even while she believed herselfto be his main prop and support.
"Steady, vrouw, steady," panted Raff; "have I grown old and feeble, oris it the fever makes me thus helpless?"
"Hear the man!" laughed Dame Brinker, "talking like any other Christian.Why, you're only weak from the fever, Raff. Here's the chair, all fixedsnug and warm; now, sit thee down--hi-di-didy--there we are!"
With these words, Dame Brinker let her half of the burden settle slowlyinto the chair. Hans prudently did the same.
Meanwhile Gretel flew about generally, bringing every possible thing toher mother to tuck behind the father's back and spread over his knees.Then she twitched the carved bench under his feet, and Hans kicked thefire to make it brighter.
The father was "sitting up" at last. What wonder that he looked abouthim like one bewildered. "Little Hans" had just been almost carryinghim. "The baby" was over four feet long, and was demurely brushing upthe hearth with a bundle of willow wisps. Meitje, the vrouw, winsome andfair as ever, had gained at least fifty pounds in what seemed to him afew hours. She also had some new lines in her face that puzzled him. Theonly familiar things in the room were the pine table that he had madebefore he was married, the Bible upon the shelf, and the cupboard in thecorner.
Ah! Raff Brinker, it was only natural that your eyes should fill withhot tears even while looking at the joyful faces of your loved ones. Tenyears dropped from a man's life are no small loss; ten years of manhood,of household happiness and care; ten years of honest labor, of consciousenjoyment of sunshine and outdoor beauty, ten years of gratefullife--One day looking forward to all this; the next, waking to find thempassed, and a blank. What wonder the scalding tears dropped one by oneupon your cheek!
Tender little Gretel! The prayer of her life was answered through thosetears. She _loved_ her father from that moment. Hans and his motherglanced silently at each other when they saw her spring toward him andthrow her arms about his neck.
"Father, _dear_ father," she whispered, pressing her cheek close to his,"don't cry. We are all here."
"God bless thee," sobbed Raff, kissing her again and again. "I hadforgotten that!"
Soon he looked up again, and spoke in a cheerful voice: "I should knowher, vrouw," he said, holding the sweet young face between his hands,and gazing at it as though he were watching it grow. "I should knowher. The same blue eyes, and the lips, and, ah! me, the little song shecould sing almost before she could stand. But that was long ago," headded, with a sigh, still looking at her dreamily, "long ago; it's allgone now."
"Not so, indeed," cried Dame Brinker, eagerly. "Do you think I would lether forget it? Gretel, child, sing the old song thou hast known solong!"
Raff Brinker's hands fell wearily and his eyes closed, but it wassomething to see the smile playing about his mouth, as Gretel's voicefloated about him like an incense.
It was a simple air; she had never known the words.
With loving instinct she softened every note, until Raff almost fanciedthat his two-year-old baby was once more beside him.
* * * * *
As soon as the song was finished, Hans mounted a wooden stool and beganto rummage in the cupboard.
"Have a care, Hans," said Dame Brinker, who through all her poverty wasever a tidy housewife. "Have a care, the wine is there at your right,and the white bread beyond it."
"Never fear, mother," answered Hans, reaching far back on an uppershelf, "I shall do no mischief."
Jumping down, he walked toward his father, and placed an oblong block ofpine-wood in his hands. One of its ends was rounded off, and some deepcuts had been made on the top.
"Do you know what it is, father?" asked Hans.
Raff Brinker's face brightened. "Indeed I do, boy; it is the boat I wasmaking you yest--alack, not yesterday, but years ago."
"I have kept it ever since, father; it can be finished when your handgrows strong again."
"Yes, but not for you, my lad. I must wait for the grandchildren. Why,you are nearly a man. Have you helped your mother, boy, through allthese years?"
"Aye, and bravely," put in Dame Brinker.
"Let me see," muttered the father, looking in a puzzled way at them all,"how long is it since the night when the waters were coming in? 'Tis thelast I remember."
"We have told thee true, Raff. It was ten years last Pinxter-week."
"Ten years--and I fell then, you say. Has the fever been on me eversince?"
Dame Brinker scarce knew how to reply. Should she tell him all? Tell himthat he had been an idiot, almost a lunatic? The doctor had charged heron no account to worry or excite his patient.
Hans and Gretel looked astonished when the answer came.
"Like enough, Raff," she said, nodding her head, and raising hereyebrows, "when a heavy man like thee falls on his head, it's hard tosay what will come--but thou'rt well _now_, Raff. Thank the good Lord!"
The newly-awakened man bowed his head.
"Aye, well enough, mine vrouw," he said, after a moment's silence, "butmy brain turns somehow like a spinning-wheel. It will not be right tillI get on the dykes again. When shall I be at work, think you?"
"Hear the man!" cried Dame Brinker delighted, yet frightened, too, forthat matter; "we must get him on the bed, Hans. Work, indeed!"
They tried to raise him from the chair--but he was not ready yet.
"Be off with ye!" he said, with something like his old smile (Gretel hadnever seen it before); "does a man want to be lifted about like a log? Itell you before three suns I shall be on the dykes again. Ah! there'llbe some stout fellows to greet me. Jan Kamphuisen and young Hoogsvliet.They have been good friends to thee, Hans, I'll warrant."
Hans looked at his mother. Young Hoogsvliet had been dead five years.Jan Kamphuisen was in the jail at Amsterdam.
"Aye, they'd have done their share no doubt," said Dame Brinker,parrying the inquiry, "had we asked them. But what with working andstudying, Hans has been busy enough without seeking comrades."
"Working and studying," echoed Raff, in a musing tone; "can theyoungsters read and cipher, Meitje?"
"You should hear them!" she answered proudly. "They can run through abook while I mop the floor. Hans there is as happy over a page of bigwords as a rabbit in a cabbage patch--as for ciphering----"
"Here, lad, help a bit," interrupted Raff Brinker. "I must get me on thebed again."