resented it. But, strange to say, there was a kind of authority in it
that touched her with an uneasiness and repulsion that was stronger than
any other feeling. "I think you have mistaken me for some one else,"
she said hurriedly, yet wondering why she had admitted it, and even
irritated at the admission. "I am a stranger here, a visitor at the
Priory. I called with Miss Amelyn at your cottage, and saw your other
granddaughter; that's how I knew your name."
The old man's face changed. A sad, senile smile of hopeless bewilderment
crept into his hard mouth; he plucked his limp cap from his head and
let it hang submissively in his fingers, as if it were his sole apology.
Then he tried to straighten himself, and said, "Naw offins, miss, naw
offins! If tha knaws mea tha'll knaw I'm grandfeyther to two galls as
moight be tha owern age; tha'll tell 'ee that old Debs at haaty years
'as warked and niver lost a day as man or boy; has niver coome oopen 'em
for n'aporth. An' 'e'll keep out o' warkus till he doy. An' 'ee's put by
enow to by wi' his own feythers in Lanksheer, an' not liggen aloane in
parson's choorchyard."
It was part of her uneasiness that, scarcely understanding or, indeed,
feeling any interest in these maundering details, she still seemed
to have an odd comprehension of his character and some reminiscent
knowledge of him, as if she were going through the repetition of some
unpleasant dream. Even his wrinkled face was becoming familiar to her.
Some weird attraction was holding her; she wanted to get away from it as
much as she wanted to analyze it. She glanced ostentatiously at the sky,
prepared to open her parasol, and began to edge cautiously away.
"Then tha beant from these pearts?" he said suddenly.
"No, no," she said quickly and emphatically,--"no, I'm an American."
The old man started and moved towards her, eagerly, his keen eyes
breaking through the film that at times obscured them. "'Merrikan! tha
baist 'Merrikan? Then tha knaws ma son John, 'ee war nowt but a bairn
when brether Dick took un to 'Merriky! Naw! Now! that wor fifty years
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