If Grandpa Edwards had been very infirm, he might not have cared
greatly; but, as I have said, at sixty-seven he was still hale and,
except for a little rheumatism, apparently well.
Tom came home from the Corners that night without having learned
anything of Grandpa Edwards's whereabouts. In the course of the evening
his disappearance became known throughout the vicinity. The first
conjectures were that he had set off on a visit somewhere and would soon
return. Paying visits was not much after his manner of life; yet his
family half believed that he had gone off to cheer himself up a bit.
Jotham and his wife, and Catherine, too, now remembered that he had been
unusually silent for a week. A search of the room he occupied showed
that he had gone away wearing his every-day clothes. I remember that the
old Squire and grandmother Ruth looked grave but said very little.
Grandpa Edwards was not the kind of man to get lost. Of course he might
have had a fall while tramping about and injured himself seriously or
even fatally; but neither was that likely.
For several days, therefore, his family and his neighbors waited for him
to return of his own accord.
Pages:
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194