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'
'
I steal away alone! why that,' replied the child, with assumed gaiety,
would be a pleasant jest indeed. See here, dear grandfather, we'll
make this place our garden - why not! It is a very good one - and to-
morrow we'll begin, and work together, side by side.'
'
It is a brave thought!' cried her grandfather. 'Mind, darling - we begin
to-morrow!'
Who so delighted as the old man, when they next day began their
labour! Who so unconscious of all associations connected with the
spot, as he! They plucked the long grass and nettles from the tombs,
thinned the poor shrubs and roots, made the turf smooth, and cleared
it of the leaves and weeds. They were yet in the ardour of their work,
when the child, raising her head from the ground over which she bent,
observed that the bachelor was sitting on the stile close by, watching
them in silence.
'A kind office,' said the little gentleman, nodding to Nell as she
curtseyed to him. 'Have you done all that, this morning?'
'It is very little, sir,' returned the child, with downcast eyes, 'to what
we mean to do.'
'
Good work, good work,' said the bachelor. 'But do you only labour at
the graves of children, and young people?'
'
We shall come to the others in good time, sir,' replied Nell, turning
her head aside, and speaking softly.
It was a slight incident, and might have been design or accident, or
the child's unconscious sympathy with youth. But it seemed to strike
upon her grandfather, though he had not noticed it before. He looked
in a hurried manner at the graves, then anxiously at the child, then
pressed her to his side, and bade her stop to rest. Something he had
long forgotten, appeared to struggle faintly in his mind. It did not pass
away, as weightier things had done; but came uppermost again, and
yet again, and many times that day, and often afterwards. Once, while
they were yet at work, the child, seeing that he often turned and
looked uneasily at her, as though he were trying to resolve some
painful doubts or collect some scattered thoughts, urged him to tell
the reason. But he said it was nothing - nothing - and, laying her
head upon his arm, patted her fair cheek with his hand, and muttered
that she grew stronger every day, and would be a woman, soon.
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