Nell loved the place with a great and exceeding love, with all the love
of a girl to whom beauty is a continual feast. She knew every inch of
it; for she had lived in the cottage on the hill since she was a child
of seven, and she was now nearly twenty-one. She knew every soul in the
fishing village, and, indeed, for miles around, and not seldom she was
spoken of as "Miss Nell, of Shorne Mills;" and the simple folk were as
proud of the title as was Nell herself. They were both fond and proud of
her. In any cottage and at any time her presence was a welcome one, and
every woman and child, when in trouble, flew to her for help and comfort
even before they climbed to the vicarage--that refuge of the poor and
sorrowing in all country places.
As she swung to the little gate behind her this morning, she paused and
looked round at the familiar scene; and its beauty, its grandeur, and
its solitude struck her strangely, as if she were looking at it for the
first time.
"One could be so happy if mamma--and if Dick could find something to
do!" she thought; and at the thought her eyes grew sadder and the sweet
lips drooped still more at the corner; but as she went up the hill, the
fine rare air, the brilliant sunshine acted like an anodyne, and the
eyes grew brighter, the lips relaxed, so that Smart's--the
butcher's--face broadened into a smile of sympathy as he touched his
forehead with a huge and greasy finger.
"Sweetbreads! No, no, miss; I've promised the cook up at the
Hall----There, bless your heart, Miss Nell, don't 'ee look so
disappointed. I'll send 'em--yes, in half an hour at most. Dang me if it
was the top brick off the chimney I reckon you'd get 'ee, for there
ain't no refusin' 'ee anything!"
Nell thanked him with a smile and a grateful beam from her gray eyes,
and then, still lighter-hearted, went on to Mrs. Porter's. By great good
luck not only had the toilet vinegar arrived from London, but a copy of
the _Fashion Gazette_; and with these in her hand Nell went homeward.
But at the bend of the road near the cottage she paused. Mrs. Lorton
would not want the vinegar or the paper for another hour. Would there be
time to run down to the jetty and look at the sea? She slipped the paper
and the bottle in the hedge, and went lightly down the road. It was so
steep that strangers went cautiously and leaned on their sticks, but
Nell nearly ran and seemed scarcely to touch the ground; for she had
toddled down that road as a child, and knew every stone in it; knew
where to leave it for the narrow little path which provided a short cut,
and where to turn aside for the marvelous view of the tiny harbor that
looked like a child's toy on the edge of the opal sea.