Royall say one day. He said he brought me down because my father went to
prison."
"And you've never been up there since?"
"Never."
Mr. Miles was silent again, then he said: "I'm glad you're coming with
me now. Perhaps we may find your mother alive, and she may know that you
have come."
They had reached Hamblin, where the snow-flurry had left white patches
in the rough grass on the roadside, and in the angles of the roofs
facing north. It was a poor bleak village under the granite flank of the
Mountain, and as soon as they left it they began to climb. The road was
steep and full of ruts, and the horse settled down to a walk while they
mounted and mounted, the world dropping away below them in great mottled
stretches of forest and field, and stormy dark blue distances.
Charity had often had visions of this ascent of the Mountain but she
had not known it would reveal so wide a country, and the sight of
those strange lands reaching away on every side gave her a new sense of
Harney's remoteness.
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