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.
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