He obeyed it
with misgiving--so much had fear become a habit.
"Ask your grandfather, Andrew, if he will allow you to go down to the
seaside with me for a fortnight or three weeks," said the master.
"Yes, sir," Truffey meant to say, but the attempt produced in reality
an unearthly screech of delight, with which he went off on a series of
bounds worthy of a kangaroo, lasting all the way to his grandfather's,
and taking him there in half the usual time.
And the master and Truffey did go down to the sea together. The master
borrowed a gig and hired a horse and driver; and they sat all three in
the space meant for two, and their boxes went by the carrier. To happy
Truffey a lame leg or two was not to be compared with the exultant
glory of that day. Was he not the master's friend henceforth? And was
he not riding in a gig--bliss supreme? And was not the harvest around
them, the blue tent of the sun over their heads, and the sea somewhere
before them? Truffey was prouder than Mr Malison could have been if,
instead of the result of that disastrous Sunday, he had been judged to
surpass Mr Turnbull in pulpit gifts, as he did in scholastic
acquirements. And if there be as much joy in the universe, what matter
how it be divided!--whether the master be raised from the desk to the
pulpit, or Truffey have a ride in a gig!
About this time Tibbie, sitting too late one evening upon the grass,
caught a bad cold and cough, and was for a fortnight confined to bed.
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