"So my uncle was telling me just now," Dick said politely.
"I mind more than most," Granfer continued; "that's why folks come to me when they want any information about the neighbourhood; and I'm willing to oblige them, I am!"
"I wish you would tell me about the secret passage from the Manor House to the sea!" Dick cried eagerly. "My grandfather told me that you remember your father speaking of it!"
"So I do, so I do! There's a secret passage sure enough; but no one knows where it is—no one!"
"I should like to find it!" Dick exclaimed.
The old man lifted his almost sightless eyes to the boy's face, then shook his head regretfully.
"I wish I could see you, young gentleman," he said in wistful tones; "but my eyes are dim with age. You've got the same ring in your voice as your father had when he was a boy; and by that I can tell that you've a brave spirit like all the Gidleys. Is he like his father in appearance?" he asked of the doctor.
Dr. Warren assented; adding that every one remarked the likeness.
"What a pretty garden you have," Dick said, noticing a patch of ground on one side of the cottage gay with flowers—marigolds, candy-tuft, and other hardy annuals.
"I can't see to tend it myself now," Granfer responded; "but I've grandchildren living in Holton, and one or another of them look after it for me. I can smell the scent of the flowers, and tell one from the other that way. I've a deal to be thankful for! Nigh a hundred years of life has the Lord given me, and good health all my days! I've worked hard in my time; but I've always loved the sea, and now I can't sail on it any more, I can bide near it still, and smell the salt air, and hear the waves dashing against the cliffs in a storm, and think of Him who loved the sea too, and made His friends of fisher-folk like me!"