“I'm going to look down upon the world before I investigate its thoroughfares,” remarked Quincy.
“What do you mean?”
“I shall visit Fernborough for only a short time this summer, a few days in which to see the folks, and then I shall go to the White Mountains. I'm going to stand on the top of Mount Washington, and look down on the busy hives of men.”
Tom knew Quincy had received a letter from Mary, saying that she and her aunt intended spending the summer at Fabyans, and he felt that Quincy, being near Mary, would probably be on a higher pinnacle than any mountain could supply, and the “eternal hills” would become objects of secondary importance. But, Tom wisely refrained from mentioning these thoughts, for lovers do not seek confidants unless help is needed.
Quincy found Fernborough but little changed, During the fourteen years that he had been a resident of, or a visitor to, the town there had been but little to disturb its serenity. Goldsmith's “Deserted Village” could not have had a better record for unbroken placidity. The wrestling match between young Quincy and Bob Wood had been an incentive to some animated conversations at meal times and at the grocery, but the “locals” in the Fernborough Gazette had never risen above the usual level of,
Hal Prentiss has bought a Jersey cow,
Strout and Maxwell have a new wagon,
William Jones has painted his fence green,
Sol. Peters cut twenty tons of hay from his lot on the Center Road,
Mrs. Jerusha May is visiting her daughter Hannah at Westvale,