And so they sat, while Mr. Rexworth told his story, a story that had its moral, too, for it revealed how disobedience to a father might bring sore punishment afterwards.
For, as we now know, Mr. Rexworth was the son of old Lord Stephen, and in his early days he had been wild and headstrong, and had frequently disobeyed his father's commands. And in that he had been aided by his cousin Elgert. For Elgert envied the young heir his position, and hoped to make a bad quarrel between the father and son.
And he was successful. The quarrel came, and Mr. Rexworth had run away from home, dropping his name of Stephen, and going away to the wild plains of Texas, to indulge in the roving life for which he longed. But he soon found that it was not all pleasure—that hardship and disappointment followed, and that whether in England or away in wild lands, the best thing for a man was to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But he did not write to his father, for he believed that he would never be forgiven. And he met his wife, and married, and Ralph was born; and then he was content, and put all thoughts of the old home away, striving to bring his son up as a true Christian, even amidst their wild surroundings.
But his wife, when she was dying, spoke seriously to her husband, for she knew the truth, and she said that their boy ought to come to his own; and so, because she wished it, for the first time Mr. Rexworth wrote home to his father.
But Lord Stephen was dead, and his nephew reigned in his place; and Lord Elgert had sent a cold letter back, saying that he did not wish to have anything to do with a man who had broken a good father's heart, and that everything had been left to him.
But with that letter there came another, one written by a faithful old servant, enclosing a will. Lord Stephen had made that will just before he died, and had entrusted it to his old retainer; so that if ever his son, whom he had forgiven, should come back, he should have his own again.
Then Mr. Rexworth had started for England with Ralph, but he had not told his son anything of the business which took him there; and when at last they had reached Stow Ormond he had left the boy at the Horse and Wheel with old Simon, and had started off for Castle Court.
And an angry, disappointed man was Lord Elgert when he found that his cousin was to take from him everything which he had schemed to gain.
"He had nothing to say," said Mr. Rexworth, "but he looked very strange as I left—as if he would have liked to kill me. I had told him that no one knew who I really was, and that my own son was ignorant of the truth. It was a foolish thing to have done, for it meant that if I were out of the way, no one would know anything about the business which had brought me home.