"I never, never see'd such darlin's! Oh, Peggy, you've come to a place at last that is worth gettin' through those bulls to see! Oh, the pretty little dears! Why, 'tis like bein' in a picture-book to be with 'em!"
A lark rose up singing before her. There seemed no end to the joys of this afternoon. Long she lingered in that sunny meadow; but the next field held a new joy, and only one or two horses at the farther end were the disturbing elements. In a sunny hedge were clusters of primroses. With a shriek of delight Peggy made a rush at them, and when she gathered the first handful and inhaled their sweet scent, she hugged and kissed them in ecstasy.
"I've never see'd 'em a-growin' wild. Oh! If only Mrs. Creak and Mrs. Jones and h'Arthur were here! Now this is somethin' like bein' in the country!"
She picked a large bunch, then renewed her way. Albert Edward had turned up his nose at the primroses, but he was delighted to poke it into the hedge, where he sniffed for rabbits, if not for the flowers that grew there.
Peggy came to one more halt before she reached Mallow Farm, and this was at a tiny cottage at the corner of a field. As she was passing by, she heard some one calling. Curiosity made her put her head inside the door, and there sat an old man cowering over a few lighted logs on a wide open hearth.
"Do you want anybody, mister?"
The old man turned and looked at her.
"'Tis Bill I wants," he said peevishly. "Bill who works to the farm. He said he'd be here to cook my taties, and 'tis gone four. I didn't have none for dinner and wants some wi' my tea, and I've a-been and upset the pot a-tryin' to put him on the fire, and the taties are burnt up. Oh, dearie me! I'm a poor lone man who can't do nothink for himself!"
Peggy's quick eyes saw the overturned pot. She went forward and picked it up.
"I'll peel a few taties in a minute and pop 'em on for you," she said cheerfully. "You sit still, mister. I see the taties. They're on the dresser there. Oh my! What a muck your things are in! Who cleans your room for you?"