Eric already knew most of the Lindsay folks by sight ; but at the foot of the hill he met two people , a man and a boy , whom he did not know . They were sitting in a shabby , old-fashioned wagon , and were watering their horse at the brook , which gurgled limpidly under the little plank bridge in the hollow . Eric surveyed them with some curiosity . They did not look in the least like the ordinary run of Lindsay people . The boy , in particular , had a distinctly foreign appearance , in spite of the gingham shirt and homespun trousers , which seemed to be the regulation , work-a-day outfit for the Lindsay farmer lads . He had a lithe , supple body , with sloping shoulders , and a lean , satiny brown throat above his open shirt collar . His head was covered with thick , silky , black curls , and the hand that hung down by the side of the wagon was unusually long and slender . His face was richly , though somewhat heavily featured , olive tinted , save for the cheeks , which had a dusky crimson bloom . His mouth was as red and beguiling as a girl 's , and his eyes were large , bold and black . All in all , he was a strikingly handsome fellow ; but the expression of his face was sullen , and he somehow gave Eric the impression of a sinuous , feline creature basking in lazy grace , but ever ready for an unexpected spring . The other occupant of the wagon was a man between sixty-five and seventy , with iron-gray hair , a long , full , gray beard , a harsh-featured face , and deep-set hazel eyes under bushy , bristling brows . He was evidently tall , with a spare , ungainly figure , and stooping shoulders . His mouth was close-lipped and relentless , and did not look as if it had ever smiled . Indeed , the idea of smiling could not be connected with this man -- it was utterly incongruous . Yet there was nothing repellent about his face ; and there was something in it that compelled Eric 's attention . He rather prided himself on being a student of physiognomy , and he felt quite sure that this man was no ordinary Lindsay farmer of the genial , garrulous type with which he was familiar . Long after the old wagon , with its oddly assorted pair , had gone lumbering up the hill , Eric found himself thinking of the stern , heavy browed man and the black-eyed , red-lipped boy . CHAPTER IV . A TEA TABLE CONVERSATION The Williamson place , where Eric boarded , was on the crest of the succeeding hill . He liked it as well as Larry West had prophesied that he would .
The Williamsons , XXXXX well as the rest of the Lindsay people , took it for granted that he was a poor college student working his way through as Larry West had been doing .
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