There was, however, nothing very terrible in the scene. The hut was safe,
and the sun was shining brightly upon the garden, and little Nan was
standing as usual at the wicket. Only in the oat-field, with their faces
looking across the green, stood two men in close conversation. These men
were both of them old, and rather thin and shrivelled in figure; their
features bore great resemblance to each other, the eyes being small and
sunken, with many wrinkles round them, and both mouths much fallen in.
You would have said at once they were brothers; and if you drew near
enough to hear their conversation, you would have found your guess was
right.
'Brother Thomas,' said the thinnest and sharpest-looking, 'I intend to
enclose as far as we can see from this point. That southern bank will be
a first-rate place for young animals. I shall build a house, with three
rooms above and below, besides a small dairy; and I shall plant a
fir-wood behind it to keep off the east winds. The lime and bricks from
my own works will not cost me much more than the expense of bringing
them up here.'
'And a very pretty little hill-farm you'll make of it, James,' replied
Thomas Wyley admiringly.
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