There was a long pause after the tramp had addressed Mr. Brander. In spite of herself, Olivia found herself at last holding her breath with impatience to hear the clergyman’s answer. She would not look at him, although through the gaps in the rough stonework she might easily have done so; but her hands, with which she had at first tried to stop her ears, fell down at her sides. When at last he spoke, Mr. Brander’s voice was low and husky, affected by some strong feeling.
“Yes, Abel, it’s a long time—a very long time.”
The blood rushed to Olivia’s face, and her cold hands stole together; there was something in the vicar’s voice which told so clearly of years of keen suffering that a great throb of pity wrung the girl’s heart; and she hoped, as eagerly as if the matter had affected her personally, that this tramp would keep his secret.
“Ay,” said Abel, in whose tones, to do him justice, there was no malignity. “Ah’ve kept ma word, parson. Ah promised ye that neeght as Ah’d go on straight wi’out resting hereabouts. An’ on Ah went, and Ah nivver said nowt, and Ah’ve nivver been nigh t’ pleace from that day to this. Now that’s straight dealin’, parson, arn’t it?”
“Yes, Abel; I always knew you for a straight man.”
Mr. Brander spoke gravely and appreciatively, but there was no undue humility in his tone, as of a man demanding mercy. Abel resumed.
“Ay, parson, so I be. Ah’m not mooch of a Christian, as tha knaws, an’ if so be a mon treats ma ill, Ah loike to be even wi’ him. But if so be a mon treats ma fair, Ah treat him fair beck. An’ tha’s treated ma more nor fair, parson, mony’s the time. An’ so, when tha says, ‘Shut tha mooth an’ mak’ nae guesses,’ Ah shuts ma mooth, an’ Ah doan’t guess nowt.”
“What brings you here now, then?” asked Mr. Brander, abruptly, with perceptible anxiety in his tone.
“Weel, parson, tha knaws Ah wur born and bred hereaboots. An’ though Ah been fond o’ trampin’ it i’ ma time, Ah’m not so spry-like as Ah wur, an’ Ah’d like to settle in t’ pleace where Ah wur bred.”
“You’ve saved some money, then?” asked Mr. Brander as sharply as before.