But it was pure, earnest joyful reality. toms shoes They drove straight to
the door of the chief hotel (which Oliver used to stare up at, with
awe, and think a mighty palace, but which had somehow fallen off
in grandeur and size); and here was Mr. Grimwig all ready to
receive them, kissing the young lady, and the old one too, when
they got out of the coach, as if he were the grandfather of the
whole party, all smiles and kindness, and not offering to eat his
head—no, not once; not even when he contradicted a very old
postboy about the nearest road to London, and maintained he
knew it best, though he had only come that way once, and that
time fast asleep. There was dinner prepared, and there were
bedrooms ready, and everything was arranged as if by magic.
Notwithstanding all this, when the hurry of the first half-hour
was over, the same silence and constraint prevailed that had
marred their journey down. Mr. Brownlow did not join them at
dinner, but remained in a separate room. The two other
gentlemen hurried in and out with anxious faces, and, during the
short intervals when they were present, conversed apart. Once,
Mrs. Maylie was called away, and after being absent for nearly an
hour, returned with eyes swollen with weeping. All these things
made Rose and Oliver, who were not in any new secrets, nervous
and uncomfortable. They sat wondering, in silence; or, if they
exchanged a few words, spoke in whispers, as if they were afraid
to hear the sound of their own voices.