So he remained for
several seconds. Once during that time he closed his eyes, and the muscles
of his face contracted. Then he opened his eyes again. They were moist.
He could see a gentle old lady, with smooth gray hair, and an expression of
calm and not unhappy melancholy. She was sitting in a rocking-chair, her
hands resting on the arms, her look fixed unconsciously on the paper on the
wall. She was thinking, and evidently her thoughts, though sad, perhaps,
were not keenly painful.
The tramp read that much upon her face. Presently, without a word, he
turned quickly about and hurried away, closing the gate after him.
When the two children told about their visitor later, their mother said:
"You mustn't talk to strange men, Tommy. You and Mamie should have come
right in to grandma."
Their father said: "He was probably looking for a chance to steal
something. I'll let the dog out in the yard to-night."
And their grandmother: "I suppose he was only a man who likes to hear
children talk, and perhaps, poor fellow, he has no little ones of his own."
The tramp knew the way to the cemetery.
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