"Oh won't that be the nicest thing!" they cried in a breath. "Who can go on the pony?"
"Ethelwyn may ride out, and Beth back," said mother.
"I've always been so thankful to think you weren't born a no and don't mother," said Ethelwyn, hugging her. "Are we going right away?"
"Right away."
Sure enough there was Joe leading Ninkum, their own pony. Mother and Beth were to go in the phaeton.
All the way out they played games with the trees and flowers. Ethelwyn rode alongside the phaeton.
They counted the spots they passed that were purple with thistles, and they were many. Others were pink and white with clover and daisies. Their mother told them the story of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, when they drove down the lane bordered with golden Spanish needles.
But they enjoyed the missing word game the most, because it was new.
"It's your turn to make up a game, mother," said Beth.
"I will give you lines that rhyme, only I will leave off the last word, after the first line," said mother, "and you must guess what that word is."