"It is so sad to see them all come down," she declared. "Why the trees will soon be quite bare! Nothing but branches left!"
"What else do you expect?" asked Gowan. "They won't keep green all the winter."
"I suppose not. But in Sicily we have so many evergreens and shrubs that flower all the winter. The oranges and lemons begin to get ripe soon after Christmas, and we have agaves and prickly pears everywhere. I can't imagine a landscape without any leaves!"
"Wait till you see the snow! It's prime then!"
"There's generally snow on Etna, but I haven't been up so high. It doesn't fall where we live."
"Girl alive! Have you never made a snowball?"
"Never."
"Then it's a treat in store for you. I sincerely hope we shall have a hard winter."
"We ought to, by the number of berries in the hedges," put in Bertha. "It's an old saying that they foretell frost.
"'Bushes red with hip and haw,
Weeks of frost without a thaw.'