Before we went to supper, however, we sent to the cottage, as we were getting very anxious; and his granddaughter answered from the window that her dear grandfather had returned and had a basin of warm broth and was now in bed.
We could hardly eat our supper, any of us, for talking of the Man of Snow and what he had said about having been once upon a time a Lapland giant! For my part I could not sleep for thinking of it, and all the young ladies said the same thing the next morning at breakfast.
You may be sure we were all very anxious for the evening to come when we were again to go and hear what the Man of Snow had to say. He told us, you recollect, to come again at moon-rise; and the moon, papa said, would rise about seven o’clock.
We had a dinner party at our house and nearly all the time we talked of little else except the Man of Snow or rather what he had done when he was a giant in Lapland; and we thought that, perhaps, he might tell us the history of his life. We determined every one of us to go all together down to the great field when the moon rose.
As the time approached we became so anxious that we got ready too soon, and then, as we were all ready, we thought we might just as well go and wait there till the white giant chose to speak. So off we all set, and went very merrily, and yet not without some little fears, down toward the large field.
But when we had all got over the stile who should come running after us but Mr. Downes. He was quite out of breath, but as soon as he could speak he said, “Indeed, you are too soon. It’s too soon by half an hour. You had much better get over the stile again and go into the other field a little while.”
Now this made some of us laugh, for, do you know, we now began to suspect that it was Mr. Downes himself who had spoken for the Man of Snow.
We thought perhaps he had got behind somewhere, or perhaps into the side of the great figure and thus spoken for him. But now, as we had come too soon he had no time to get ready. We were sorry for poor Gaffer Downes, yet still we could not help laughing at the scrape he was in. He went on assuring us the Man of Snow would not speak at all as we had come before the time he ordered. But this made us laugh the more, as we were now almost sure how it had been continued. Meantime, we had slowly advanced toward the Man of Snow, poor Mr. Downes telling us all the time that the Man would be sure not to utter a word as we had disobeyed his directions.
“But see,” said papa, “the moon is now rising!”
“Aha! ’tis no matter now,” answered Mr. Downes in a melancholy tone. “The Man of Snow will not speak a single word.” Mr. Downes had scarcely said this when a voice from the Man of Snow called out in a loud tone: