Of course she did, and she told him so, and smiled fondly upon the
bright, handsome boy, knowing that in what he said of himself there was
neither conceit nor vanity, but a frankness and openness which she liked
to see in him.

"And now for grandpa," he suddenly exclaimed, "he will think I am never
coming."

And before she could stop him he had entered the low, dark room, where,
on the bed, pushed close to the side-wall near the woodshed, and just
where it had stood for thirty years, the old man lay, or rather sat, for
he was bolstered upright, with chair and pillows behind him, his long
white hair parted in the middle and combed behind his ears, and his arms
folded across his bosom.

At Grey's abrupt entrance he started, and his face flushed for a moment,
but when he saw who it was, the look of fear gave way to one of joy, and
his pale face lighted up with gladness as he welcomed the eager boy, who
told him first how sorry he was to find him so sick, and then what a
grand time he had in Europe.

"I have been to the top of Rigi, and old Pilatus and Vesuvius, and
Flegere, and crossed the Mer-de-Glace and Tete Noir, and the Simplon,
and they are all here on my Alpenstock; look, see! but no, you cannot,
it is so dark! I'll raise the curtain."

And Grey hastened to the window, while his grandfather cried out in
alarm:

"Stop, Grey, stop. I'll call your Aunt Hannah! Hannah, come here!"