It took nearly an hour's fun before they were able to reach the centre and get out again, Clarence being rather crestfallen that the girls had beaten him out.
"Oh, we are warm," said Edith, as they ran up to Miss Green, panting and fanning their faces with their hats.
"Indeed you are. Come, and we will rest and cool off in the park. The chestnut-trees look lovely with their spikes of white flowers."
Under the great trees, groups of children were playing about, or having picnic lunches, or amusing themselves with the deer, which live in the park, and are so used to visitors that they are very tame, and will even eat out of one's hand.
"I should like to come here next Sunday; it will be 'Chestnut Sunday'" said Clarence, as they threw themselves on the soft grass.
"Oh," said Edith, "that is always one of the first Sundays in May."
"Yes," continued Clarence, "the first Sunday after the chestnut-trees come in full blossom."
Thousands of people come here from London and the surrounding country on that day, that they may drive through this long avenue that leads directly through the park to the palace and admire the display of blossoms on the great trees that line the avenue on both sides.
Clarence grew enthusiastic. "It's a jolly sight, I can tell you, to see vehicles of all kinds, from bicycles and coster's carts to big four-in-hand coaches and automobiles. There is such a jam on the avenue that they can only creep along; it's like a big picnic."
"Is it not nearly tea-time? We are so thirsty, Miss Green," said Eleanor, as the sun began to drop behind the trees. The little girls had amused themselves by making endless daisy chains, and decorating their hats with the "may" as they call the hawthorn-bloom, while Miss Green read to them from a story-book.