sometimes sat down under her
umbrella to rest and to watch their happiness, for a certain hopefulness
as to the result of her visit gave ease to her mind, and between
important thoughts left it free to dwell on any infinitesimal matter
which caught her eyes.

Mrs. Yeobright had never before been to her son's house, and its exact
position was unknown to her. She tried one ascending path and another,
and found that they led her astray. Retracing her steps, she came again
to an open level, where she perceived at a distance a man at work. She
went towards him and inquired the way.

The labourer pointed out the direction, and added, "Do you see that
furze-cutter, ma'am, going up that footpath yond?"

Mrs. Yeobright strained her eyes, and at last said that she did perceive
him.

"Well, if you follow him you can make no mistake. He's going to the same
place, ma'am."

She followed the figure indicated. He appeared of a russet hue, not more
distinguishable from the scene around him than the green caterpillar
from the leaf it feeds on. His progress when actually walking was more
rapid than Mrs. Yeobright's; but she was enabled to keep at an equable
distance from him by his habit of stopping whenever he came to a brake
of brambles, where he paused awhile. On coming in her turn to each of
these spots she found half a dozen long limp brambles which he had cut
from the bush during his halt and laid out straight beside the path.
They were evidently intended for furze-faggot bonds which he meant to
collect on his return.

The silent being who thus occupied himself seemed to be of no more
account in life than an insect. He appeared as a mere parasite of
the heath, fretting its surface in his daily labour as a moth frets a
garment, entirely engrossed with its products, having no knowledge of
anything in the world but fern, furze, heath, lichens, and moss.

The furze-cutter was so absorbed in the business of his journey that he
never turned his head; and his leather-legged and gauntleted form at
length became to her as nothing more than a moving handpost to show her
the way. Suddenly she was attracted to his individuality by observing
peculiarities in his walk. It was a gait she had seen somewhere before;
and the gait revealed the man to her, as the gait of Ahimaaz in the
distant plain made him known to the watchman of the king. "His walk
is exactly as my husband's used to be," she said; and then the thought
burst upon her that t