Perhaps, too, his own benevolence of spirit interfered to save the
nephew from that harsher rebuke which his judgment might yet have
very well disposed him to bestow.
Following the course of the latter in silence, he descended into
the valley, and soon made his way among the sweet little cottages
at its foot. An interchange of courtsies between the travellers and
the villagers whose presence had given occasion to some portion of
the previous dialogue, in which the manner of the younger traveller
was civil, and that of the elder kind; and the two continued on
their journey, though not without being compelled to refuse sundry
invitations, given with true patriarchal hospitality, to remain
among the quiet abodes through which they passed.
As cottage after cottage unfolded itself to their eyes, along the
winding avenue, the proprietors appeared at door and window, and,
with the simple freedoms of rural life, welcomed the strangers with
a smile, a nod, and sometimes, when sufficiently nigh, a friendly
word of salutation, but without having the effect of arresting
their onward progress.
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