It was not until they were quite exhausted and could no longer maintain the pace at which they had fled from the race-ground, that the old man and the child ventured to stop, and sit down to rest upon the borders of a little wood.Here, though the course was hidden from their view, they could yet faintly distinguish the noise of distant shouts, the hum of voices, and the beating of drums.Climbing the eminence which lay between them and the spot they had left, the child could even discern the fluttering flags and white tops of booths; but no person was approaching towards them, and their resting-place was solitary and still.
Some time elapsed before she could reassure her trembling companion, or restore him to a state of moderate tranquillity.His disordered imagination represented to him a crowd of persons stealing towards them beneath the cover of the bushes, lurking in every ditch, and peeping from the boughs of every rustling tree.He was haunted by apprehensions of being led captive to some gloomy place where he would be chained and scourged, and worse than all, where Nell could never come to see him, save through iron bars and gratings in the wall.His terrors affected the child.Separation from her grandfather was the greatest evil she could dread; and feeling for the time as though, go where they would, they were to be hunted down, and could never be safe but in hiding, her heart failed her, and her courage drooped.
In one so young, and so unused to the scenes in which she had lately moved, this sinking of the spirit was not surprising.But, Nature often enshrines gallant and noble hearts in weak bosoms--oftenest, God bless her, in female breasts--and when the child, casting her tearful eyes upon the old man, remembered how weak he was, and how destitute and helpless he would be if she failed him, her heart swelled within her, and animated her with new strength and fortitude.
'We are quite safe now, and have nothing to fear indeed, dear grandfather,' she said.
'Nothing to fear!' returned the old man.'Nothing to fear if they took me from thee! Nothing to fear if they parted us! Nobody is true to me.No, not one.Not even Nell!'
'Oh! do not say that,' replied the child, 'for if ever anybody was true at heart, and earnest, I am.I am sure you know I am.'
'Then how,' said the old man, looking fearfully round, 'how can you bear to think that we are safe, when they are searching for me everywhere, and may come here, and steal upon us, even while we're talking?'
'Because I'm sure we have not been followed,' said the child.
'Judge for yourself, dear grandfather: look round, and see how quiet and still it is.We are alone together, and may ramble where we like.Not safe! Could I feel easy--did I feel at ease--when any danger threatened you?'
'True, too,' he answered, pressing her hand, but still looking anxiously about.'What noise was that?'
'A bird,' said the child, 'flying into the wood, and leading the way for us to follow.' You remember that we said we would walk in woods and fields, and by the side of rivers, and how happy we would be--you remember that? But here, while the sun shines above our heads, and everything is bright and happy, we are sitting sadly down, and losing time.See what a pleasant path; and there's the bird--the same bird--now he flies to another tree, and stays to sing.Come!'
When they rose up from the ground, and took the shady track which led them through the wood, she bounded on before, printing her tiny footsteps in the moss, which rose elastic from so light a pressure and gave it back as mirrors throw off breath; and thus she lured the old man on, with many a backward look and merry beck, now pointing stealthily to some lone bird as it perched and twittered on a branch that strayed across their path, now stopping to listen to the songs that broke the happy silence, or watch the sun as it trembled through the leaves, and stealing in among the ivied trunks of stout old trees, opened long paths of light.As they passed onward, parting the boughs that clustered in their way, the serenity which the child had first assumed, stole into her breast in earnest; the old man cast no longer fearful looks behind, but felt at ease and cheerful, for the further they passed into the deep green shade, the more they felt that the tranquil mind of God was there, and shed its peace on them.
At length the path becoming clearer and less intricate, brought them to the end of the wood, and into a public road.Taking their way along it for a short distance, they came to a lane, so shaded by the trees on either hand that they met together over-head, and arched the narrow way.A broken finger-post announced that this led to a village three miles off; and thither they resolved to bend their steps.
The miles appeared so long that they sometimes thought they must have missed their road.But at last, to their great joy, it led downwards in a steep descent, with overhanging banks over which the footpaths led; and the clustered houses of the village peeped from the woody hollow below.
It was a very small place.The men and boys were playing at cricket on the green; and as the other folks were looking on, they wandered up and down, uncertain where to seek a humble lodging.There was but one old man in the little garden before his cottage, and him they were timid of approaching, for he was the schoolmaster, and had 'School' written up over his window in black letters on a white board.He was a pale, simple-looking man, of a spare and meagre habit, and sat among his flowers and beehives, smoking his pipe, in the little porch before his door.
'Speak to him, dear,' the old man whispered.
'I am almost afraid to disturb him,' said the child timidly.'He does not seem to see us.Perhaps if we wait a little, he may look this way.'