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CHAPTER XVI. 



ON THE MOUNTAIN. 



WE were up and ready long before dawn, and Nanny 

 with her accustomed kindness had prepared my break- 

 fast, and stood by and chatted with me while I drank 

 the excellent coffee which was her making, well pleased 

 that I found all so good. It always caused me plea- 

 sure to see her bright intelligent face, and the patois 

 in which she spoke gave, to me at least, an additional 

 charm to her lively, sensible talk*. 



" Joseph is going with you today," she said, " he 

 will like to accompany you if you have no objection/' 



" Of course not ; I shall be very glad to have him. 

 Who would not like to have a Solacher with him on 

 the mountain ?" And so she thought too in her heart, 

 I know ; for though the last part of her sentence was 

 added for politeness, she no doubt deemed and was 

 quite right in doing so that the gain and the honour 



* " A sort of Doric dialect," as Humphrey Clinker says of the 

 Scotch, " which gives an idea of amiable simplicity." 



