At the end of an hour, when he had at last reached Hill Street, there had settled upon the city a thick mist in which black particles were suspended. He found Number 34 without difficulty and stood waiting until the rapid beating of his heart should subside. Ellen's face and figure were before him; he longed for their reality as a lover longs for a sight of his mistress. She was young and strong and she was a woman. Old as he was Grandfather missed that complementary association of which he had long been deprived. But he would not have accepted this analysis of his feelings; he was a shepherd and Ellen was his lost sheep; it was in that spirit that he sought her.
Mrs. Lebber's house still hung over the hill, it still sheltered a sad spirit, and it still exuded when its door was opened the same heavy odor. Mrs. Lebber appearing, blinked at Grandfather as though she were not sure whether he was real or whether he was a thickening of the mist into a human shape. But the shape gave forth human speech.
"Is my granddaughter, Ellen Levis, here?" he asked in his thin old voice.
Mrs. Lebber looked blankly upon the patriarchal figure. Nothing would ever happen to her; she was as stationary as her house and as gray as the mist, and the stories of other lives furnished her only entertainment. She now scented mystery.
"You'd better come in, then we can talk," she invited.
Thus assured, Grandfather walked into the small parlor and sat down upon the first chair. He did not perceive the dreariness of the room; he perceived only the pleasant odor of food.
"What time does my granddaughter come from her work?"
"She's not here, she's gone this long time," announced Mrs. Lebber. "First Manda went to get married. She is trying it for the third time, but I don't believe she will have luck. She--"
"Well"--Mrs. Lebber folded her hands and began to rock slowly. "One Sunday Ellen she said she would go for a walk, and she didn't come and didn't come, and after dark she came driving in an automobile, and I didn't know what to make of it. She was down along the river where the rich ones live and she got in front of an automobile, another automobile, that is. It's very dangerous down there. Then I know a woman that lives down there and she got a place for Ellen." Mrs. Lebber gave the impression that she had been the chief agency in Ellen's finding a place and thus unintentionally counteracted the mysterious insinuations of the first part of her speech. "It's on Front Street, a very grand place."