Aldyth's inheritance

Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.
EGLANTON THORNE
AUTHOR OF THE OLD WORCESTER JUG, IDA NICOLARI, THE MANSE OF GLEN CLUNIE, THE TWO CROWNS, ETC.
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
56, PATERNOSTER ROW; 65, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD AND 164 PICCADILLY
RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BUNGAY.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
ALDYTH'S INHERITANCE.
THE BLAND FAMILY.
MRS. BLAND'S house stood in the High Street of the little town of Woodham. It was an old-fashioned, sedate-looking house, with a bow-window projecting on each side of the front door, and two rows of white-curtained windows above; but there was nothing prim about the garden which lay at the back of the house. This garden, with its wealth of sweet-scented flowers, its fruit trees, its sunflowers and hollyhocks standing out in rich contrast to the mellow red of the old walls, was a delightful place in which to spend a warm September afternoon.
About the middle of the garden, and bordering at its lower end the portion which, though not devoid of beauty, was obviously devoted to utility, was a strip of lawn shaded by trees. Here, on such an afternoon, Hilda Bland was lying, very much at her ease, in a hammock suspended between two sturdy trunks. She had a book in her hand, but reading was impossible, since Kate was on the path close by, chattering fast as she gathered flowers, and Gwen, her younger sister, was displaying great energy in her attempts to shake or knock down some of the ripe greengages that were visible at the top of the tall tree to which one end of the hammock was fastened.