They had not been unused to such fare
during their father's lifetime; and it was settled between them that she
should come down from the bilberry-plain early in the afternoon to make a
feast of the leveret by the time of Stephen's return from the pit.
All day long Stephen found himself treated with marked distinction and
favour by Black Thompson and his comrades, to some of whom he heard him
say, in a loud whisper, that 'Stephen 'ud show himself a chip of the old
block yet.' At dinner they invited him to sit within their circle, where
he laughed and talked with the best of them, and was listened to as if he
were already a man. How different to his usually hurried meal beside the
horses, that worked like himself in the dark, close passages, but did
not, like him, ascend each evening to the grassy fields and the pure air
of the upper earth! Stephen had a true tenderness in his nature towards
these dumb fellow-labourers, and they loved the sound of his voice, and
the kindly patting of his hand; but somehow he felt as if they knew how
he had left his faithful old Snip unburied on the open hillside, where
Black Thompson had found him in his passion the evening before.
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