He looked across at Katherine instinctively—she, sitting now upright, gazing out of the window, turned as though she had known and smiled at him. They were in Glebeshire, there was the first valley, mysterious, now like a dark purple cup, there the white winding road that went over the hill on to Rasselas, Liskane, Clinton and Truxe, there was the first break in the hills, where you always peered forward expecting to catch a shimmer of the sea, here that cluster of white cottages that, when he had been small, had seemed to be tumbling down the hill, very dangerous to live in ... at last the pause at Carlyon, the last stop before Rasselas.
It was quite dark now. The light had suddenly been drawn from the sky, and the earth was filled with new sounds, new scents, new mysteries. The train stopped for a minute before Rasselas, and, suddenly all about it, through the open window there crowded whispers, stealthy movements, the secret confidences of some hidden stream, the murmured greetings of the trees. The train lay there as though it had wanted them all to know how lovely the evening was. On the road that skirted the train a man with a lantern greeted a cart. “Well, good-night to ’ee,” a voice said clear and sharp like an invitation; Henry’s heart began to beat furiously. Glebeshire had welcomed them.
With a jerk the train stumbled forward again, and they were in Rasselas. The little station, which was of some importance because it was a junction for Pelynt and therefore also for Rafiel, lay very quietly at the bottom of the wooded hill. A porter went down the train swinging a lantern and crying: “Change for P’lynt. Change for P’lynt.”
A stream flowed near by, and the scent of a garden flooded the station: there would be already snowdrops and primroses and crocuses. The whole party of them were bundled out on to the platform—a great pile of luggage loomed in the distance. Heads from the carriage windows watched them, then a pause, a cry, and the train was off, leaving them all high and dry, with the wind blowing round their hair and clothes and ankles like a friendly and inquisitive dog. There was sea in the wind.
“Smell the sea!” cried Millie. “I must have left it in the restaurant car,” said Aunt Aggie. “Too provoking. I particularly wanted you to read that article, Harriet. I think you might have noticed, Millie ... you were sitting next to me.”
“There’s Jacob!” Henry, suddenly happy and excited and free from all burdens, cried:
“Hallo! Jacob! How are you? How’s everyone? How’s Rebekah?”
Jacob, with a face like a red moon, smiled, touched his hat, stormed at a young man in buttons. “Do ’ee bustle a bit, John. Didn’t I tell ’ee the box with the black ’andles?... very comfortable, Mr. ’Enry, sir, thank ’ee, as I ’opes you finds yourself. Been a bit o’ sickness around down along in the village ... but not to ’urt....”
Could they all get in? Of course they could. The luggage was all on the luggage-cart, and Rock and Clarence with it; a silver moon, just rising now above the station roofs, peeping at her, laughed at her serious dignity.
“No, we’ll go on the box, Philip and I,” said Katherine. “Of course I shan’t be cold. No, really, we’d rather, wouldn’t we, Philip? Plenty of room, Jacob.”