He threw back his head and gave a jolly laugh at the bare recollection; it was so hearty and full of enjoyment, that Anna felt obliged to laugh a little too.
“Here you are, my lass,” he said, touching Molly lightly with the whip as they reached the top of the hill. “All level ground now between here and Waverley.—Now, what are you shying at?” as Molly swerved away from a stile in the hedge.
It was at an old man who was climbing slowly over it into the steep lane. He wore shabby, black clothes: his shoulders were bent, and his grey hair rather long; in his hand he carried a violin-case.
“That’s the Mr Goodwin you were asking after, missie,” said the farmer, touching his hat with his whip, as they passed quickly by. “Looks tired, poor old gentleman; hot day for a long walk.”
Anna started and looked eagerly back, but Molly’s long stride had already placed a good distance between herself and the figure which was descending the hill. That her grandfather! Was it possible? He looked so poor, so dusty, so old, such a contrast to the merry June evening, as he tramped wearily down the flowery lane, a
little bent to one side by the weight of his violin-case. Not an important or remarkable person, such as she had pictured to herself, but a tired old man, of whom the farmer spoke in a tone of pity. Her father had done so too, she remembered. Did every one pity her grandfather? There was all the more need, certainly, that she should help and cheer him, yet Anna felt vaguely disappointed, she hardly knew why.
These thoughts chased away her smiles completely, and such a grave expression took their place that the farmer noticed the change.
“Tired, missie, eh?” he inquired. “Well, we’re there now, so to speak. Yonder’s the spire of Waverley church, and the Vicarage is close against it—steady then, lass,” as Molly objected to turning in at a white gate.
“It’s a terrible business is travelling by rail,” he continued, “to take the spirit out of you; I’d sooner myself ride on horseback for a whole day, than sit in a train half a one.”