The eye of the world seems to trouble
him, although he necessarily lives so much in it. I never expected
to see him in an open field."
"Have you learned anything of his history?" asked Hollingsworth.
"Not a circumstance," I answered; "but there must be something
curious in it. I take him to be a harmless sort of a person, and a
tolerably honest one; but his manners, being so furtive, remind me of
those of a rat,--a rat without the mischief, the fierce eye, the
teeth to bite with, or the desire to bite. See, now! He means to
skulk along that fringe of bushes, and approach us on the other side
of our clump of maples."
We soon heard the old man's velvet tread on the grass, indicating
that he had arrived within a few feet of where we Sat.
"Good-morning, Mr. Moodie," said Hollingsworth, addressing the
stranger as an acquaintance; "you must have had a hot and tiresome
walk from the city. Sit down, and take a morsel of our bread and
cheese."
The visitor made a grateful little murmur of acquiescence, and sat
down in a spot somewhat removed; so that, glancing round, I could see
his gray pantaloons and dusty shoes, while his upper part was mostly
hidden behind the shrubbery. Nor did he come forth from this
retirement during the whole of the interview that followed. We
handed him such food as we had, together with a brown jug of molasses
and water (would that it had been brandy, or some thing better, for
the sake of his chill old heart!), like priests offering dainty
sacrifice to an enshrined and invisible idol.
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