"Oh, I hope he is!" interposed Josephine eagerly; "oh, Uncle John, let us hope he is! God may have changed his heart, mayn't He?"
"Certainly, my dear," Mr. Basset answered. "Well, well, time will show—time will show."
[CHAPTER VI]
A JOYFUL SURPRISE
IT was a wet winter in the west of England, that first one during the war, but not a cold one, and March found primroses and white violets peeping through the beautiful fern moss which grew so luxuriously in the lanes around Midbury; so that when, one Saturday afternoon, after a rainy morning, the sky cleared and the sun shone out on a world full of the promise of spring, May, who had been standing at the schoolroom window which she had opened, suddenly turned to Josephine and said—
"Do let us go out! The air is lovely—full of delicious scents! I'm longing for a walk, and I'm sure there must be primroses in Durley Dell."
Josephine, who had been seated at the table, was putting away her writing materials.
"Then do let us try and get some," she answered; "you know, I've never seen a primrose yet."
Ten minutes later, having left word where they were going, the two little girls passed out into the bright sunshine, and were soon walking briskly along the road towards Midbury. Their way took them straight past the blacksmith's and down a lane beyond Vine Cottage; and then Durley Dell was reached. It was a charming spot in summer, but damp and rather cheerless on this early spring day. Only a few primrose buds were discovered, and those were very short-stemmed, and took some while to find.
"I thought we should have found more," remarked May in a disappointed tone; "some one must have been before us, I am sure."