Page 27 - Fairbrass
P. 27

came  back  to  get  i t ;  the  darting*  swifts,  as

                          they swirled over the homestead,squealed out
                          their  approval  of  the  place ;  the  moorhens

                          loved  to  breast  the  rippling  waters  of  the
                          brook;  the nightingales had for many, many

                          generations  been  happy  and  undisturbed
                          tenants  of  the orchard ;  and  the  grave  and

                          glossy  rooks  cawed  in  solemn  chorus  from
                          the  topmost  boughs  of  the  tall  elm-trees

                          that formed  its  boundary.
                               And as  he  began  to  grow  up,  Fairbrass

                          knew  the  garden  too.            He  loved  it  better
                          than  any place In  the world.             In  the  house

                          everyone was  kind to him—very kind  indeed
                          —far kinder,  as it seemed  to him,  than  they

                          were to each  other;  but all  seemed  to regard
                          him  with  a  sort  of  mournful  pity  that  he
                          could  not  at  all  understand.              When  his

                          mother took  him  on  her  knee  and  pressed

                          him  to  her breast,  he  knew that,  though  she
                          tried  to  smile  011  him,  it  was  through  a  mist
                          of  tears,  and  that some intense grief  quick­

                          ened  her heart-throbs ;  he saw that even  the

                          somewhat stern  eyes of his father moistened
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