Page:A New England Tale.djvu/208

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A NEW-ENGLAND TALE.
197

thought I was alone in the room; but I heard a slight noise behind me, and there was one who had not followed the multitude; he had a clear open face, and that look—I can't justly describe it, Miss Jane, but it seems as if it was the light of good deeds sent back again; or, may be, the seal the Lord puts upon his own children—and pity and kindness seemed writ in every line of his face. Do you know who I mean?"

"Mr. Lloyd," she replied, in a scarcely audible voice.

"Yes, yes—any body that had ever seen him would guess. He beckoned to me to shut the door, and asked me if I had any particular attachment to this spot; and I owned to him, as I have to you, my childishness about it; and he smiled, and said, he was afraid I was too old to be cured of it; and then asked, if I believed I could persuade the young men to sell as much of the land as I should want. I was sure I could, for I know they are wasteful and ravenous for money, and besides they had had their will, and the land was of no use to them. And then he told me, Miss Jane, that he would give me the money for the land, if I could make a bargain with the Woodhulls, and enough besides to build me a comfortable little house. I could not thank him—I tried, but I could not; and so he just squeezed my hand, and said, he understood me—and charged me to keep it a secret where I got help; and I have minded