World War, 1914-1918 -- United States -- Juvenile fiction; Young women -- Societies and clubs -- Juvenile fiction
“No it is not Philip, your son,” quickly answered the young man, who had
instantly divined who the old lady was, “but Philip’s son, your
grandson, Philip de Brie Renwick.”
The next moment Philip was holding the old lady in his arms, while he
quietly tried to soothe her sobs, as she wept in happy joy on his
breast. As her sobs subsided somewhat, Philip said gently, “Mother
Mine,”—it used to be his father’s pet name for his mother,—“here is
the ring you gave father when at college.” He drew the seal ring from
his finger and held it up before his grandmother, who, with one look at
it, cried, “Yes, grandson, I know _he_ has gone, for he promised me—”
there was a quiver in her voice—“that the ring should never be removed
until—” she drew a deep breath that threatened to turn into a
sob—“until he was no more. But he has given me—you, his son. Oh, my
dear boy, my own grandson!”
* * * * *
Nathalie sat by her little sewing-table under the trees, gazing off at
her grand old friends, the purple-misted mountains. It had seemed hard
to do anything, this her last day at Seven Pillars, but gaze at the
lofty heights that stood forth so calm and beautiful in their mystical
splendor on this gloriously White Mountain day. But she _must_ read over
that letter to see if it was all right, so, in soft, low tone she read
slowly,
“Dear Helen:
“I have such good news to tell you that I can hardly
write,—for, oh, Helen! the little old lady who lived in the red
house is Mrs. Renwick, and Philip de Brie, the British soldier
whom we found up in the cabin on the mountain, is her grandson!
And I have won the prize. No, of course, it is not really a
prize, but the good-will and affectionate regard of Aunt Mary,
because—well—I made her happy by selecting her son’s Bible as
the most valuable thing in her house. And now I have dandy news
to tell. She is going to send me to college. I have just lived
in a dream ever since I heard the good news. Yes, and I have one
hundred dollars for my _very own_, to do just as I like with—no
restrictions, reparations, or indemnities, but just for _wee
little me_. I think that blessed sum was given to me, because
the boys, when told I had won the prize, could not understand
anything so vague as going to college, but they did finger that
crisp bank-note with eager, curious little fingers when I showed
it to them. Sometimes I feel a little guilty, for _really_
Cynthia’s selection, a Van Dyke painting, was the most valuable
from a certain point of view.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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