And then he clasped his sister in a long, voiceless hug--loosed her and
caught her again:
"I missed you, Polly, dear!" he sighed.
When all the others had been greeted, he turned to his mother:
"Where's Pa?"
"Down in the field with the colts."
"I'll go find him!"
With a bound he was off. He wondered what his silent, undemonstrative
father would do. He had always felt that he was a man of deep emotion
for all his self-control.
He saw him in the field, walked along the edge of the woods, and
suddenly came before him without warning. The father's lips trembled. He
stooped without a word, clasped the Boy in his arms and kissed him again
and again.
The youngster couldn't help wondering why a strong man should kiss so
big a boy. The mother--yes--but his father, a man--no.
It was sweet, this home-coming to those who loved deepest. Somehow the
monastery, its bells, its organ, its jeweled windows, and its kindly
black-robed priests seemed far away and unreal now--only a dream that
had passed.
VI
REBELLION
The mother's breakdown was not allowed to stop the Boy's education. Both
father and older brother were determined on this. They would use the
schools at home now.
He was sent to the County Academy in the fall.
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