He shook hands courteously and motioned me to find a chair, while he
resumed his seat beside a little table heaped with letters, or rather
with bundles of letters neatly tied and docketed. His right hand rested
on these bundles, and his fingers tapped upon them idly for a minute
before he spoke again.
"You are a friend of Fritz's? of my grandson?"
"I have not the pleasure of knowing him, sir. Your niece's introduction
leaves me to explain that I am just a wayfarer who had the misfortune to
twist an ankle, an hour ago, on Skirrid, and crawled here to ask his
way."
His face fell. "I was hoping that you brought news of Fritz. But you
are welcome, sir, to rest your foot here; and I ask your pardon for not
perceiving your misfortune. I am blind. But Wilhelmina--my grandniece
--will attend to your wants."
"She is a young lady of very large heart," said I. He appeared to
consider for a while. "She is with me daily, but I have not seen her
since she was a small child, and I always picture her as a child.
To you, no doubt, she is almost a woman grown?"
"In feeling, I should say, decidedly more woman than child; and in
manner."
"You please me by saying so. She is to marry Fritz, and I wish that to
happen before I die."
Receiving no answer to this--for, of course, I had nothing to say--he
startled me with a sudden question. "You disapprove of cousins
marrying?"
I could only murmur that a great deal depended on circumstances.
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