"
"It is not that I feel solemn, Dick. It is that everything is so new
and strange. Of course, after your saving my life, I have never felt
that you were a stranger, and as long as there were only you and
Surajah, I did not mind, and I have felt quite at home with you. But
now that I am going to a new place, where I don't know anyone, I can't
help feeling desolate."
"You will feel quite as much at home with them, in twenty-four hours,
as you have done with me, Annie. You are tired now, and quite worn out
with your journey, and so you take a gloomy view of things. I will
guarantee that, before I go away again, you will be good friends with
everyone, and will wonder how you could have thought it to be anything
dreadful to come among them."
When they got within a mile of Tripataly, Dick said:
"Now I will ride on ahead, Annie, and prepare my mother for your
coming. It will be pleasant to have no questions or explanations when
you arrive, and I am sure she will carry you straight off to bed, and
keep you there, until you have quite got over the effects of your
journey."
He did not wait to hear Annie's faint protest against his leaving her,
but telling Surajah to take his place beside the cart, and to keep
talking to the girl, he galloped on ahead.
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