And she asked him , at last , whether he said his prayers ! and seemed sad when he told her that he knew no prayers to say . Then he asked her where she lived , and she said far away by the sea . And Tom asked her about the sea ; and she told him how it rolled and roared over the rocks in winter nights , and lay still in the bright summer days , for the children to bathe and play in it ; and many a story more , till Tom longed to go and see the sea , and bathe in it likewise . At last , at the bottom of a hill , they came to a spring ; not such a spring as you see here , which soaks up out of a white gravel in the bog , among red fly-catchers , and pink bottle-heath , and sweet white orchis ; nor such a one as you may see , too , here , which bubbles up under the warm sandbank in the hollow lane by the great tuft of lady ferns , and makes the sand dance reels at the bottom , day and night , all the year round ; not such a spring as either of those ; but a real North country limestone fountain , like one of those in Sicily or Greece , where the old heathen fancied the nymphs sat cooling themselves the hot summer 's day , while the shepherds peeped at them from behind the bushes . Out of a low cave of rock , at the foot of a limestone crag , the great fountain rose , quelling , and bubbling , and gurgling , so clear that you could not tell where the water ended and the air began ; and ran away under the road , a stream large enough to turn a mill ; among blue geranium , and golden globe-flower , and wild raspberry , and the bird-cherry with its tassels of snow . And there Grimes stopped , and looked ; and Tom looked too . Tom was wondering whether anything lived in that dark cave , and came out at night to fly in the meadows . But Grimes was not wondering at all . Without a word , he got off his donkey , and clambered over the low road wall , and knelt down , and began dipping his ugly head into the spring -- and very dirty he made it . Tom was picking the flowers as fast as he could . The Irishwoman helped him , and showed him how to tie them up ; and a very pretty nosegay they had made between them . But when he saw Grimes actually wash , he stopped , quite astonished ; and when Grimes had finished , and began shaking his ears to dry them , he said : `` Why , master , I never saw you do that before . '' `` Nor will again , most likely . 'T was n't for cleanliness I did it , but for coolness . I 'd be ashamed to want washing every week or so , like any smutty collier lad . '' `` I wish I might go and dip my head in , '' said poor little Tom . `` It must be as good as putting it under the town-pump ; and there is no beadle here to drive a chap away . '' `` Thou come along , '' said Grimes ; `` what dost want with washing thyself ? Thou did not drink half a gallon of beer last night , like me . ''
`` I do n't care for you , '' said naughty Tom , and ran down XXXXX the stream , and began washing his face .
At about as before between by of over that to