Thistle and Rose | Page 9

which of the villages
and towns she passed so rapidly were like Dornton and Waverley. It
was surprising that the old lady sitting opposite to her could look so
placid and calm. Perhaps, however, she was not going to a strange
place amongst new people, and most likely had taken a great many
journeys already in her life. Anna was glad this was not her own ease: it
must be very dull, she thought, to be old, and to have got used to
everything, and to have almost nothing to look forward to.
As the day wore on, and the hot afternoon sun streamed in at the
windows, the old lady, who was her only companion, fell fast asleep,
and Anna began to grow rather weary. She took the case with her
mother's picture in it out of her pocket and studied it again attentively.
The gentle, sweet face seemed to smile back kindly at her. "If you are
half as beautiful and a quarter as good," her father had said. Was she at
all like the picture now? Anna wondered. Surely her hair was rather the
same colour. She pulled a piece of it round to the front--it was certainly
yellow, but hardly so bright. Well, her grandfather would tell her--she
would ask him on the very first opportunity. Her grandfather! It was
wonderful to think she should really see him soon, and ask him all sorts
of questions about her mother. He lived at Dornton, but that was only
two miles from Waverley, and, no doubt, she should often be able to go
there. He was an organist.

Her father's tone, half-pitying, half-disapproving, came back to her with
the word. She tried to think of what she knew about organists. It was
not much. There was an organist in the church in London to which she
had gone every Sunday with Miss Milverton, but he was always
concealed behind red curtains, so that she did not even know what he
looked like. The organist must certainly be an important person in a
church. Anna did not see how the service could get on without him.
What a pity that her grandfather did not play the organ in her Uncle
John's church, instead of at Dornton!
She made a great many resolves as she sat there, with her mother's
portrait in her hand: she would be very fond of her grandfather, and, of
course, he would be very fond of her; and as he lived all alone, there
would be a great many things she could do to make him happier. She
pictured herself becoming very soon his chief comforter and
companion, and began to wonder how he had done without her so long.
Lost in these thoughts, she hardly noticed that the train had begun to
slacken its pace; presently, it stopped at a large station. The old lady
roused herself, tied her bonnet strings, and evidently prepared for a
move.
"You're going farther, my dear," she said kindly. "Dornton is the next
station but one. You won't mind being alone a little while?"
She nodded and smiled from the platform. Anna handed out her
numerous parcels and baskets: the train moved on, and she was now
quite alone. She might really begin to look out for Dornton, which must
be quite near. It seemed a long time coming, however, and she had
made a good many false starts, grasping her rugs and umbrella, before
there was an unmistakable shout of "Dornton!" She got out and looked
up and down the platform, but it was easy to see that Mrs Forrest was
not there. Two porters, a newspaper boy, and one or two farmers, were
moving about in the small station, but no one in the least like Aunt
Sarah. Anna stood irresolute. She had been so certain that Aunt Sarah
would be there, that she had not even wondered what she should do in
any other case. Mrs Forrest had promised to come herself, and Anna
could not remember that she had ever failed to carry out her

arrangements at exactly the time named.
"If it had been father, now," she said to herself in her perplexity, "he
would perhaps have forgotten, but Aunt Sarah--"
"Any luggage, miss?" asked the red-faced young porter.
"Oh yes, please," said Anna; "and I expected some one to meet me--a
lady."
She looked anxiously at him.
"Do 'ee want to go into the town?" he asked, as Anna pointed out her
trunks. "There's a omnibus outside."
"No; I want to go to Waverley Vicarage," said Anna, feeling very
deserted. "How can I get there?"
She followed the porter as he wheeled the boxes outside the station,
where a small omnibus was waiting, and also a high spring-cart, in
which sat a well-to-do-looking farmer.