"I thought you were still in bed and asleep, my dear child," said Mrs. Tiddy, her voice expressing the surprise she felt.
"I woke up, and I was afraid I was late for breakfast, so I dressed as quickly as I could and came down," Peggy explained, as she returned Mrs. Tiddy's kiss and took the chair by her side.
"How clever of you to find your way alone!"
"Clever!" laughed Peggy. "You forget I had my supper in this room last night, and I heard your voices as I came downstairs. What a lovely morning, isn't it? I smelt violets and hyacinths when I opened my bedroom window, and I heard the sea."
"The sea is very calm to-day, almost as still as a mill-pond," remarked Mr. Tiddy somewhat dubiously. "You must have very sharp ears, if you heard it."
"Oh, but I did," persisted Peggy. "The waves were whispering ever so softly, but I heard them. I was never at the seaside but once before, when we all went to Bournemouth for a week, nearly two years ago."
The little girl was looking very bright this morning, and she did full justice to the fried bacon and chopped potatoes to which Mr. Tiddy helped her, remarking, as he did so, that he hoped she could enjoy country fare. And at the conclusion of the meal, he suggested that she should put on her hat and jacket and go for a stroll with him about the farm, whilst his wife attended to her domestic duties in the house.
Accordingly, Peggy accompanied her host out into the brilliant spring sunshine, and asked him numerous questions about his flowers. He explained all about their cultivation, and watched her with keenly interested eyes as she felt the various blooms with her sensitive fingers.
"I shall remember all you have told me," she declared. "This is a 'Princess Mary,' is it not? And this is the daffodil you said the country people call 'butter and eggs'?"
"Yes!" he exclaimed in astonishment. "But how can you possibly tell?"