Accordingly she sallied forth, with a basket on her arm, and accompanied by the faithful Snip. First she went to a confectioner's, where she purchased some chocolate creams, then left the town by a side street, and a quarter of an hour later found her in a pretty wood, carpeted with masses of wild blue hyacinths. She filled her basket with the fragrant flowers, after which she sat down on the moss-covered trunk of a fallen tree, and ate her chocolates, sharing them with Snip.
"There!" she cried, as she popped the last chocolate into her mouth, and rose. "Now we'll go to Lang's pond—we've as much right there as anyone, eh, Snip? Still, I think I'd better lead you. Bob can't complain if I do that."
Nevertheless Bob was not altogether pleased when, ten minutes later, standing by the side of Tim Shuttleworth, on the edge of Lang's pond, his eyes fixed on the float of his fishing rod, he heard a shout and recognised his sister's voice.
"It's Kitty," Tim informed him. "She's brought Snip with her, but she has him on the leash."
"Well, boys, what sport?" Kitty questioned, as she joined them. "The fish are biting well, I suppose, after the rain? Let me see what you've caught!"
She opened a fishing-basket which lay on the ground, and gave a little laugh as she viewed its contents.
"Three dace, two roach, and an eel!" she cried. "The dace are the smallest I ever saw. You ought to have put them back into the water again, they aren't worth cooking. The roach are not so bad, but—"
"I daresay you think you could catch bigger ones!" Bob broke in, sarcastically. He was disappointed that they had not had better sport, and his sister's candid comments had vexed him.
"Richards is not here, I see," observed Kitty, after a few minutes' silence.
"No, he has not turned up," Tim answered. "He did not promise to come—only said that he might. What lovely hyacinths you have there!"