Page:Popular Tales and Romances of the Northern Nations (Volume 2).djvu/103

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The Spectre Barber.
91

deserted, nobody remaining except himself and the beggars, who opened their knapsacks and dined on their cold provisions, without quitting their places. Frank had no objection to imitate them, and, as he had no provisions with him, he bought some fruit, and dined as he walked about. All the members of the club who dined on the bridge had taken notice of him from the length of time he had remained on the bridge without accosting any body, and without transacting any business. They took him to be some idle youth, and though all of them had, more or less experienced his benevolence, yet he did not escape their contemptuous observations. They nick named him the bridge surveyor; but the old soldier observed that his countenance no longer bore that expression of cheerfulness which it had in the morning, that he seemed deeply to reflect on some serious business, with his hat drawn over his face, that his steps were slow and deliberate, and, that for a long time he gnawed the remains of an apple, without seeming to be aware of it himself.