"The air is milder to-day," he said as he arranged his muffler about his throat.
"Oh, it is spring at last," I said joyfully; "I have found a daffodil in bloom."
"Ah!" he said vacantly, and I saw that a golden daffodil was no more to him than a yellow primrose was to Peter Bell.
I bade them good-morning and turned homeward, for I could see that the Vicar was in a fidget to be off. As I went up the lane the phaeton overtook me. Jack lifted his cap and cried rashly, "I'll bring you one, I promise you, Nan."
Jack usually lunched in town and got home some time in the afternoon. When I started about half-past three for the rendezvous, auntie told me to be sure to bring him in to take tea with us.
"There will be no one looking for him at home," she said.
Not till then did it strike me that Jack was perhaps walking back on purpose to gratify us, and that, if I had not asked him to call for our letters, he would have awaited in Chelmsford his father's return by the six o'clock train. It was just like Jack to give himself that trouble on our behalf, for he was the most good-natured fellow in the world; but I was vexed that I had not thought to tell him that the letters were of no consequence, and that very likely there would be none. When I remarked this to aunt, all she said was:
"Oh, the walk will do him good, and you too, Nan, if you do not go too far."
It was a lovely afternoon for a walk. The fresh breeze was most exhilarating, though it blew almost too strongly for me as I crossed the common. A little beyond this the road dipped suddenly, and to the left a wood bordered it for about a hundred yards. The old, gnarled trees which overhung the road were known as the "Wood End Oaks." A stile gave access to the wood, and a path running through it and across two meadows beyond was a short cut, which for pedestrians considerably shortened the way from Chelmsford.
I was not ill-pleased to find that I had reached the stile before Jack, for I was glad to seat myself upon it. I had not sat there many minutes when I saw Jack coming towards me through the wood. He gave a shout as he caught sight of me, and waved on high a letter.