The coming of Emily created a sensation among the servants; but her father was not at home, though he was momentarily expected. Flora and I were conducted to a magnificent parlor, whose splendors exceeded anything of which I had ever dreamed. Emily went up stairs, to clothe herself properly before her father came. The poor girl wept bitterly as she entered the house which she had left three weeks before with her mother. The torrent of grief was renewed as she gazed again upon the familiar scenes which had always been so closely associated with the dear one who was gone.
A mulatto servant-man came into the room where Flora and I were. He had just greeted his young mistress, and his eyes were still filled with tears.
"We have been expecting Miss Emily for several days," said he. "Her father has suffered everything on her account."
"I am sorry she was delayed, but she would not leave my sister," I replied.
"But how did she come? It was a very slow steamer," he added.
"It was not a steamer. Didn't she write to her father?"
"Yes; but she didn't say what she was coming in; only that she was with very good friends, and should be home in a week or ten days."
"On a raft!" exclaimed the man. "Miss Emily?"
"It was her own choice. I tried to have her take a steamer; but she would not. But there was a house on the raft, and she had a good bed."
"Of course her father has felt very bad, and since the funeral he has fretted a great deal about her."
"Her mother's. Poor Mrs. Goodridge was brought down from Cairo, packed in ice, and the funeral was a week ago yesterday."
One of the many steamers which passed us on our way down the river had brought the remains of Emily's mother, and they had already been committed to their last resting-place.
The ringing of the door-bell called the servant from us. We heard the heavy step of a man, as he went up stairs; but we did not witness the first interview between Emily and her father. They had much to say, and we did not see them for half an hour. When they entered the parlor together, both of them were tolerably calm; but the traces of tears were still visible in their eyes.
"Young man," said Mr. Goodridge, taking me by the hand, after Emily had introduced Flora and me by name, "I am indebted to you for the life of my child."