Chapter V: Una Learns a Secret

"GRANFER was very pleased," Una informed her father on her return home. "I met him on my way to the farm, so I gave him my present then. He liked the verse so much, and I told him it was you who thought of it. And oh, father, he so much wants to see you!"

"Why?" Mr. Manners asked quickly.

"He wants to speak to you about his son. I asked him to come here, but he said he would not like to intrude. Then I said, perhaps you would go and see him at the farm. Will you, father dear?"

Una was leaning against the arm of the easy chair in which Mr. Manners had settled himself comfortably to read the daily newspaper; now she rested her head upon his shoulder, and lifted her brown eyes pleadingly to his face as she added in coaxing tones:

"He does want to see you so much!"

"I am very busy at present—you know that, Una," her father reminded her.

"Oh, yes, but some evening perhaps you will be able to call at the farm. We might go together."

"Well, I will not promise, but I may go some day!"

"Oh, thank you, thank you! I know Granfer will be glad! It is his birthday next week; he will be eighty. Isn't that very old, father?"

"It is a great age, certainly. By the way, I'm going to walk into the village after dinner, Una; will you care to go with me?"

"Yes, indeed, father!"

So after their midday meal, father and daughter started off together, with Crack in attendance as usual. The little girl chatted all the way about the many objects of interest they came across during their walk—a bird's nest in the hedge with five blue eggs in it, which Mr. Manners' sharp eyes caught sight of, and the many flowers which blossomed everywhere.

"How kind of God to make the world so beautiful!" she exclaimed, when her father called her attention to the view visible through a gateway—a sweep of fair meadow-lands dotted with sheep and lambs busily engaged in cropping the grass. They stood a few minutes watching a group of lambs at play, skipping around each other, and jumping one by one on the top of a little hillock, and down again. Una laughed to see the pretty creatures so happy, clapping her hands with enjoyment of the scene.

Their destination was the village shop, which was also the post-office; and while Mr. Manners was transacting his business Una stood in the doorway looking up and down the street. Presently she uttered a little exclamation of mingled joy and surprise, and ran back to her father.

"Granfer is coming!" she cried. "He will be passing here in a minute! Won't you come and speak to him now?"

She caught hold of her father by the hand, but he gently disengaged the clinging fingers as he answered kindly but firmly:

"No, Una, I cannot speak to him now."

"But father—"

"You hear me, my child, I say no; I cannot do as you wish. Remain where you are. There is not the least necessity for you to stop Mr. Norris now, as you have already seen him to-day."

Mr. Manners turned again to the counter to conclude his business, and Una realised that she must say no more; but she was so disappointed that it was with difficulty she kept back her tears.

When they left the shop, Granfer had disappeared from sight. Mr. Manners took his little daughter's hand and pressed it softly, glancing affectionately at her sober face.

"What an impetuous child you are!" he said. "Why do you so much want me to know your old friend?"

Una was silent, because she did not want to show how near she was to crying, and she was afraid if she spoke her father would notice her emotion.

"I have a very good reason for not wishing to see Mr. Norris yet," he continued. "I wonder if my little daughter can keep a secret?"

She looked up with a rather watery smile as she answered quietly:

"I think I can, father!"

"It has to do with Mr. Norris' only son."

"Oh!" Her voice full of great excitement.

"I think he is coming back, Una. I believe one of these days he will go home to his father, and ask for forgiveness for the long years that he has kept away, but I do not wish to see Mr. Norris before I am quite certain."

"Will he come soon?" the little girl asked anxiously. "Will he be here by Granfer's birthday, next week?"

"Yes, I think he will. Can you keep the secret, my dear?"

"Oh, yes, indeed I can! I will not tell any one, not even Nanny!"

"No, not even Nanny. It is a secret between you and me."

"I feel so thankful!" Una cried, "So very thankful! But I did not know you had ever met Granfer's son!"

"Very likely not; but nevertheless, I know him quite well."

"Is he a good man, father?"

"Not nearly so good as he ought to be, my child. He has done wrong in keeping away from his own people all these years, but his father was hard on him and he determined never to return till he was a successful man. He did not think his father would grieve for him; he believed himself still unforgiven, or he would not have stayed away. He forgot that God would soften his father's heart."

"How pleased they all will be at the farm!" Una exclaimed in bright, glad tones, "Mrs. Maple, and Nellie and Bessie, and the farmer! As for Granfer—well, I really cannot think how he will feel when he knows God has answered his prayers at last!"

Una stepped lightly along by her father's side; all traces of her recent disappointment were gone; her heart danced with joy, and her whole countenance shone with pleasure as she thought of the great happiness in store for her friends.

The knowledge of the secret between her father and herself filled the little girl with a sense of importance, and she was delighted to think that her father trusted her.

"I don't know what has come across you, miss," Nanny declared when she was putting Una to bed that evening; "you're in such high spirits that one would think you had heard good news!"

"So I have, Nanny, but I must not tell you what it is, because it's a secret—only father and I know it yet, and one other person, I suppose. By-and-by you and every one in the neighbourhood will know as well."

"Dear me, is it a very wonderful secret, then?"

"Yes, very wonderful; but you must not ask me what it is."

"I don't mean to, dearie."

"It's an answer to prayer, Nanny, I may tell you that much. I feel so happy and thankful to-night that I don't believe I shall be able to sleep a wink!"

"Oh, yes, you will. Have you thanked the good Lord for the cause of your happiness, Miss Una?"

"Yes, over and over again!"

"That's right! Sometimes when folks are very happy they forget to thank God, and that seems so ungrateful, just as though they only went to Him when they remembered something they wanted. Ah, we're ready enough to ask, but we're not always so ready to give thanks; we're too apt to take the good things as if they were our due."

Nanny tucked the bed-clothes around her little charge, and, after kissing her affectionately, put out the candle and drew up the blind to allow the moon to flood the room with its pale, peaceful light. Then she said, "Good-night," and went downstairs, smiling to herself as she thought of Una's secret, and wondering what it could possibly be.

Una lay awake for some time watching the moonlight and a little twinkling star that peeped at her through the window; but by-and-by her eyelids grew heavy, and she was soon wrapped in a sweet, dreamless sleep.