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Ellinor shrank from this journey, which her love and duty towards her
dead friend rendered necessary. She had scarcely left East Chester
since she first arrived there, sixteen or seventeen years ago, and
she was timorous about the very mode of travelling; and then to go
back to Hamley, which she thought never to have seen again! She
never spoke much about any feelings of her own, but Miss Monro could
always read her silence, and interpreted it into pretty just and
forcible words that afternoon when Canon Livingstone called. She
liked to talk about Ellinor to him, and suspected that he liked to
hear. She was almost annoyed this time by the comfort he would keep
giving her; there was no greater danger in travelling by railroad
than by coach, a little care about certain things was required, that
was all, and the average number of deaths by accidents on railroads
was not greater than the average number when people travelled by
coach, if you took into consideration the far greater number of
travellers. Yes! returning to the deserted scenes of one's youth was
very painful . . . Had Miss Wilkins made any provision for another
lady to take her place as visitor at the school? He believed it was
her week. Miss Monro was out of all patience at his entire calmness
and reasonableness. Later in the day she became more at peace with
him, when she received a kind little note from Mrs. Forbes, a great
friend of hers, and the mother of the family she was now teaching,
saying that Canon Livingstone had called and told her that Ellinor
had to go on a very painful journey, and that Mrs. Forbes was quite
sure Miss Monro's companionship upon it would be a great comfort to
both, and that she could perfectly be set at liberty for a fortnight
or so, for it would fall in admirably with the fact that "Jeanie was
growing tall, and the doctor had advised sea air this spring; so a
month's holiday would suit them now even better than later on." Was
this going straight to Mrs. Forbes, to whom she should herself
scarcely have liked to name it, the act of a good, thoughtful man, or
of a lover? questioned Miss Monro; but she could not answer her own
inquiry, and had to be very grateful for the deed, without accounting
for the motives.
A coach met the train at a station about ten miles from Hamley, and
Dixon was at the inn where the coach stopped, ready to receive them.
The old man was almost in tears at the sight of them again in a
familiar place. He had put on his Sunday clothes to do them honour;
and to conceal his agitation he kept up a pretended bustle about
their luggage. To the indignation of the inn-porters, who were of a
later generation, he would wheel it himself to the Parsonage, though
he broke down from fatigue once or twice on the way, and had to stand
and rest, his ladies waiting by his side, and making remarks on the
alterations of houses and the places of trees, in order to give him
ample time to recruit himself, for there was no one to wait for them
and give them a welcome to the Parsonage, which was to be their
temporary home. The respectful servants, in deep mourning, had all
prepared, and gave Ellinor a note from Mr. Brown, saying that he
purposely refrained from disturbing them that day after their long
journey, but would call on the morrow, and tell them of the
arrangements he had thought of making, always subject to Miss
Wilkins's approval.
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