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Updated: May 18, 2025
The old man shook his head, though not with understanding, and he laid a hand on the young man's shoulder, and whispered: "Once it was always snow, but now it is green, the land. I have seen it I have seen it once." His shaggy eyebrows gathered over, his eyes searched, searched the face of John Bickersteth. "Once, so long ago I cannot think," he added, helplessly.
"Dear old man," Bickersteth said gently, knowing he would not wholly comprehend, "I am going to ask her Alice to marry me, and if she does, she will help look after you, too. Neither of us would have been here without the other, dear old man, and we shall not be separated. Whoever you are, you are a gentleman, and you might have been my father or hers or hers." He stopped suddenly.
The church was full, and there were people in the porch; but these made way for the two strangers; and, as Bickersteth was recognized by two or three present, place was found for them. Inside, the old man stared round him in a confused and troubled way, but his motions were quiet and abstracted, and he looked like some old viking, his workaday life done, come to pray ere he went hence forever.
"I'll do anything I can for you, of course, Bicky, old man." "Then, if I might make the suggestion, sir, you might lend Mr. Bickersteth " "No, by Jove!" said Bicky firmly. "I never have touched you, Bertie, and I'm not going to start now. I may be a chump, but it's my boast that I don't owe a penny to a single soul not counting tradesmen, of course."
"Dear old man," Bickersteth said, gently, knowing he would not wholly comprehend, "I am going to ask her Alice to marry me, and if she does, she will help look after you, too. Neither of us would have been here without the other, dear old man, and we shall not be separated. Whoever you are, you are a gentleman, and you might have been my father or hers or hers." He stopped suddenly.
Now, in June, two years and a month since Bickersteth had gone into the wilds, they looked down upon the goal of one at least of the younger man who had triumphed in his quest up in these wilds abandoned centuries ago.
The old man shook his head though not with understanding, and he laid a hand on the young man's shoulder, and whispered: "Once it was always snow, but now it is green, the land. I have seen it I have seen it once." His shaggy eyebrows gathered over, his eyes searched, searched the face of John Bickersteth. "Once, so long ago I cannot think," he added helplessly.
With the joyous thought in his heart that he had discovered anew one of the greatest gold-fields of the world, that a journey unparalleled had been accomplished, he turned toward his ancient companion, and a feeling of pity and human love enlarged within him. He, John Bickersteth, was going into a world again where as he believed a happy fate awaited him; but what of this old man?
For a moment an awful confusion had the mastery, and then suddenly a clear light broke into his eyes, his face flushed healthily and shone, his arms went up, and there rang in his ears the words: "Then I think with bitter pain, Shall we ever meet again? When the swallows homeward fly " "Alice Alice!" he called, and tottered forward up the aisle, followed by John Bickersteth.
Once or twice the old man had taken his hands in both of his own, and gazed with painful eagerness into his face, as though trying to remember or to comprehend something that eluded him. Upon these occasions the old man's eyes dropped tears in an apathetic quiet, which tortured Bickersteth beyond bearing.
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