| 110 | 111 | 112 | 113 | 114 |
| 1 | 133 | 265 | 398 | 530 |
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restrained her tears and must have wept with him. But now she
soothed him with gentle and tender words, smiled at his thinking they
could ever part, and rallied him cheerfully upon the jest. He was soon
calmed and fell asleep, singing to himself in a low voice, like a little
child.
He awoke refreshed, and they continued their journey. The road was
pleasant, lying between beautiful pastures and fields of corn, about
which, poised high in the clear blue sky, the lark trilled out her happy
song. The air came laden with the fragrance it caught upon its way,
and the bees, upborne upon its scented breath, hummed forth their
drowsy satisfaction as they floated by.
They were now in the open country; the houses were very few and
scattered at long intervals, often miles apart. Occasionally they came
upon a cluster of poor cottages, some with a chair or low board put
across the open door to keep the scrambling children from the road,
others shut up close while all the family were working in the fields.
These were often the commencement of a little village: and after an
interval came a wheelwright's shed or perhaps a blacksmith's forge;
then a thriving farm with sleepy cows lying about the yard, and horses
peering over the low wall and scampering away when harnessed
horses passed upon the road, as though in triumph at their freedom.
There were dull pigs too, turning up the ground in search of dainty
food, and grunting their monotonous grumblings as they prowled
about, or crossed each other in their quest; plump pigeons skimming
round the roof or strutting on the eaves; and ducks and geese, far
more graceful in their own conceit, waddling awkwardly about the
edges of the pond or sailing glibly on its surface. The farm-yard
passed, then came the little inn; the humbler beer-shop; and the
village tradesman's; then the lawyer's and the parson's, at whose
dread names the beer-shop trembled; the church then peeped out
modestly from a clump of trees; then there were a few more cottages;
then the cage, and pound, and not unfrequently, on a bank by the
way-side, a deep old dusty well. Then came the trim-hedged fields on
either hand, and the open road again.
They walked all day, and slept that night at a small cottage where
beds were let to travellers. Next morning they were afoot again, and
though jaded at first, and very tired, recovered before long and
proceeded briskly forward.
They often stopped to rest, but only for a short space at a time, and
still kept on, having had but slight refreshment since the morning. It
was nearly five o'clock in the afternoon, when drawing near another
cluster of labourers' huts, the child looked wistfully in each, doubtful
at which to ask for permission to rest awhile, and buy a draught of
milk.
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