THE grounds round Eversley were unusually large for a suburban house, and there was plenty of room for a good romping game.
First came the garden with the greenhouses and vineries, with a large tennis-green at the side, then two small paddocks almost large enough to be honoured by the name of fields, with a walk all round bordered by a row of fruit-trees. These were separated from the Heath by a double fence, enclosing a tangled hedge which in summer was a mass of wild-roses and honeysuckle, but which now lay bare and dead under its covering of snow.
At the far corner of one of the paddocks, quite hidden from the house, was a little summer-house, where in summer the children kept their gardening tools and played on rainy days, and behind it stood a fine old oak-tree, with low spreading branches, along which any one might creep, and drop down on the other side of the hedge on to the Heath.
Altogether it was a delightful place for a game of hide-and-seek, and the children found it so, as they chased each other round and round the paddock, or dodged out and in among the narrow paths which separated the vineries and potting-houses from the stables.
The game was at its height when Isobel and Vivian, hot and breathless, found a convenient hiding-place between the summer-house and the trunk of the old oak, and were resting, safe from pursuit, while Ronald and Claude were searching for them in all directions round by the stables and the kitchen-garden—Ralph, who had been taken, watching them from the shelter of the ‘home.’
‘This is a lovely place to hide in, and no one knows of it but myself,’ said Isobel, brushing the snow from her skirts, ‘and it is even better in summer, when the leaves are on the trees. When I crawl in here no one can see a trace of me, no matter how close they come. If Ralph had been on our track he might have thought of coming round the summer-house, and he might have seen our footprints, but I don’t think Claude ever will.’
‘Yes, it is a jolly place for hiding, and that looks a jolly tree to climb,’ answered Vivian, looking with longing eyes at the low spreading branches. ‘Suppose we crawl along one of those branches and drop over on to the Heath, and then get “home” by the gate, wouldn’t Claude look astonished? He would think we had fallen from the clouds.’
‘Yes, do let us,’ said Isobel, always ready for any deed of daring, and, quick as thought she was up the tree and crawling carefully along one of the wide branches.
Vivian watched her with admiring eyes.