The Treasure of Netherstrand

Chapter 39

Grace paused and thought for a moment. "When we go home, will I have my old room back?" she asked. After getting a nod in reply, she timidly asked, "And...must I be all alone? Enna and I always shared a room. She wasn't very nice. But...it was more comforting to have someone there." Arthur assured her that, when they went home, she would choose a personal maid, a sweet-hearted friend with whom she could play and spend every hour of the day and night. And of course, if that failed to comfort her, he told her that she could always go to him and tell him about her troubles.

As Grace and Arthur talked about the way things would be when their normal life resumed, Timothy listened quietly. He felt happy for them. He tried to imagine what it must have been like to have a house that was all one's own. To belong in every room of it, and to have people there who belonged to you. But it was very hard for him. He couldn't remember belonging to anyone. He couldn't remember calling any place a home.

"When will we go back to Clemence Hall, Arthur?" Grace asked at length. "As much as we have talked about it, I almost feel homesick!" she laughed. "But...at the same time, I still would like to see the treasure when it is found!"

"I'm sure we both would," Arthur said, smiling. Then he hesitated. Truthfully, he didn't know when they would travel homeward. He knew that it ought to be soon. He had been away from his house so long that everyone in his town had begun to wonder about him. But there was something a bit more precious than a treasure which kept him at Netherstrand.

He glanced at Timothy's thoughtful face and wondered what the child was thinking. Poor, homeless, fatherless boy. No, not quite fatherless. Timothy would have reminded him that God was his Heavenly Father and that Heaven was his home. Even then, those thoughts were running through the lad's mind, and he was finding comfort in those facts. But Arthur felt unsettled even so.

Once in a while, when he looked at Timothy, a faded future dream came back to his mind. He could remember planning the day when he and Wendy would have a son. Then, that big garden and house would have been all for his little boy, and he would have played with the child for hours there. Now, there could be no little son in his life. But there was Timothy, and he loved him just as much as he would have loved his own child.

"I think you would like our home, Timothy," he said after a while. "There are so many rooms to explore. And beyond the garden, there are fields of wheat, and orchards, and vineyards. You would like all of the people there. They are kind souls, and I am sure you would make all of them your friends. If they could put up with a troublesome boy like me, they will think you are the best of children!" He laughed, remembering what a mischievous lad he had been at Timothy's age. Then, in a very welcoming tone he asked, "Would you like to come and see it?"

Tim's bright eyes looked up at him in surprise. "See yer grand 'owse an' stay a while wiv ya?" the boy gasped. "I'd like it more'n I can tell! Only..." His brow wrinkled thoughtfully. "Only, I'd 'ave t' leave on a Sunday evenin' 'cause it's all the time I got away from work. An' I'd 'ave t' be back by six the next mornin'."

"That is only because you are an errand boy here at Netherstrand. But you needn't stay one, Timothy. What if you were as free as Grace is? Free to learn your lessons every morning, and then run outside and play for hours until you heard the call to luncheon? Wouldn't you like that?"

"I wouldn't be an errand boy no more?" Tim asked thoughtfully.

"No. You would be a gentleman," Arthur answered.

Gracie was blinking up at her brother in surprise and delight. Timothy looked stunned. A gentleman? He had never dreamed of that. He had only ever imagined that he would be a pauper, or an errand boy, or perhaps a sailor. But to be a gentleman and to visit Arthur's beautiful mansion, it was too much for him to fathom. The question was, would he like that?