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VI

"GOD'S CABBAGES"

Sam was as good as his word. Before a week was out a minute board was erected by the children's heap of stones.

Big white letters confronted any passerby—

"BETHEL.
TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED."

And Jill made a point of visiting the spot at least once a day, to be sure that it was left unmolested.

"I'm coming to tea with you, Sam, soon," she announced one afternoon, as she sat on a gate swinging herself to and fro and watching the carpenter repairing a fence.

Sam lived alone with his old father, in a rose-covered cottage, at the corner of the village.