I felt like rubbing my eyes. We must have lost our way. It could not be our house.
But just then Minerva and James came around the corner of the house, hand in hand. As soon as they saw us they let go of hands, and she went back to the kitchen with a guffaw that merely indicated light heartedness.
James looked up at the vine and said,
“Looks pretty nice, don’t it?”
We overwhelmed him with compliments, and found out that he had bought a large potted plant in full bloom and had sunk pot and all in the earth. I had never heard of such a thing being done before, and I looked to see the roses all wither, but they did nothing of the kind. Our place looked a hundred per cent. better than it had done before, and when, a day or so later, I received a bill from a florist at Egerton, I paid it without a murmur. There is nothing like initiative, and it is worth paying for.
As I say, the days went by unheeded. We were too far from any church to attend one, but we tried to be as good on Sunday as we were on week days.
And this, by the way, is a most excellent rule for anyone to follow.
One morning I heard what sounded like pistol shots in the distance, many times repeated, and while we were at breakfast one or two teams passed us headed for Egerton.
“I wonder if haying is over as soon as this?” said Ethel. “I thought that horses were all at work in the fields.”
“Not this morning, evidently,” said I as another team, a two-horse one this time, went by, loaded with children.