That would be a jest indeed ! '' More he thought not about the matter ; for now the door was opened , and an elderly woman appeared on the threshold , peering into the dusk to discover who it might be that had intruded on her premises , and was standing in the shadow of her tree . It was Ralph Cranfield 's mother . Pass we over their greeting , and leave the one to her joy and the other to his rest , -- if quiet rest he found . But when morning broke , he arose with a troubled brow ; for his sleep and his wakefulness had alike been full of dreams . All the fervor was rekindled with which he had burned of yore to unravel the threefold mystery of his fate . The crowd of his early visions seemed to have awaited him beneath his mother 's roof , and thronged riotously around to welcome his return . In the well-remembered chamber -- on the pillow where his infancy had slumbered -- he had passed a wilder night than ever in an Arab tent , or when he had reposed his head in the ghastly shades of a haunted forest . A shadowy maid had stolen to his bedside , and laid her finger on the scintillating heart ; a hand of flame had glowed amid the darkness , pointing downward to a mystery within the earth ; a hoary sage had waved his prophetic wand , and beckoned the dreamer onward to a chair of state . The same phantoms , though fainter in the daylight , still flitted about the cottage , and mingled among the crowd of familiar faces that were drawn thither by the news of Ralph Cranfield 's return , to bid him welcome for his mother 's sake . There they found him , a tall , dark , stately man , of foreign aspect , courteous in demeanor and mild of speech , yet with an abstracted eye , which seemed often to snatch a glance at the invisible . Meantime the Widow Cranfield went bustling about the house full of joy that she again had somebody to love , and be careful of , and for whom she might vex and tease herself with the petty troubles of daily life . It was nearly noon , when she looked forth from the door , and descried three personages of note coming along the street , through the hot sunshine and the masses of elm-tree shade . At length they reached her gate , and undid the latch . `` See , Ralph ! '' exclaimed she , with maternal pride , `` here is Squire Hawkwood and the two other selectmen coming on purpose to see you ! Now do tell them a good long story about what you have seen in foreign parts . '' The foremost of the three visitors , Squire Hawkwood , was a very pompous , but excellent old gentleman , the head and prime mover in all the affairs of the village , and universally acknowledged to be one of the sagest men on earth . He wore , according to a fashion , even then becoming antiquated , a three-cornered hat , and carried a silver-headed cane , the use of which seemed to be rather for flourishing in the air than for assisting the progress of his legs . His two companions were elderly and respectable yeomen , who , retaining an ante-revolutionary reverence for rank and hereditary wealth , kept a little in the Squire 's rear .
As they approached along the pathway , Ralph Cranfield sat in an oaken elbow-chair , half unconsciously gazing at the three visitors , and enveloping their homely figures XXXXX the misty romance that pervaded his mental world .
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