"Then don't think of it. Come on, climb up, Tina; and dad is going to let me drive part of the way; and won't I drive at a thundering pace!"
Aunt Rachael came out with plenty of wraps, which she tucked round Christina.
"What would your old nurse say to your spending a whole day out of doors at this time of year?" she said with a smile.
Christina looked grave.
"I hope I'm not forgetting Nurse," she said. "I told her I never would, but I don't think of her quite so often as I ought!"
"Oh, you little Puritan with your 'oughts!'" said Mr. O'Flagherty. "Leave them alone to-day. We won't take one of them with us. We're going to be as free as the air, and do as we please!"
He got into the trap as he spoke, and they drove off, Christina wedged in between Dawn and his father and feeling very light-hearted.
It was a bright sunny morning, and wonderfully soft and mild for a December day.
Through the village, up and down rather muddy lanes, and at last they came upon a long stretch of pine woods by the side of a grey rushing river.
This was their goal. Mr. O'Flagherty wanted to complete a picture of his which he had painted from the interior of these woods, with just a glimpse of hills and farmsteads between the tall slender pines.