But, Boxer,
who was in advance some quarter of a mile or so,
had already passed the outposts of the town, and
gained the corner of the street where Caleb and his
daughter lived; and long before they had reached the
door, he and the Blind Girl were on the pavement
waiting to receive them.
Boxer, by the way, made certain delicate distinc-
tions of his own, in his communication with Bertha
which persuade me fully that he knew her to be blind.
He never sought to attract her attention by looking
at her, as he often did with other people, but touched
her invariably. What experience he could ever have
had of blind people or blind dogs, I don't know
He had never lived with a blind master; nor had Mr.
Boxer the elder, nor Mrs. Boxer, nor any of his re-
spectable family on either side, ever been visited with
blindness, that I am aware of. He may have found
it out for himself, perhaps, but he had got hold of it
somehow; and therefore he had hold of Bertha too,
by the skirt, and kept hold, until Mrs. Peerybingle
and the Baby, and Miss Slowboy, and the basket,
were all got safely within doors.
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