Mrs. Heard was taking a nap in the car, which stood in the shade by the roadside; the older girls were clearing up after the lunch. Neale and Sammy had gone in the opposite direction, across the road, where there was a pond and the promise of a bath, and Tom Jonah had gone with them.
So nobody gave the little girls much attention when they crept through the fence and out of sight of the camping place.
Tess and Dot did not intend to go far. There were plenty of flowers in sight of the place where they entered the pasture.
But you know how it is. The patches of blossoms at a distance appeared much more inviting than those close to the fence. The little girls ran from one to another patch, calling each other, delighted to find such a wealth of lovely, brilliant blossoms.
“I never did see such a lot of flowers in all my life, Dot Kenway!” cried Tess.
“Maybe this is the place where all the flowers started from,” suggested the philosophical younger sister.
“Where all the flowers started from?” repeated Tess. “What do you mean, Dot Kenway?”
“Why, didn’t the flowers have to start somewhere—like everything else? Our teacher says everything has had a beginning—like the first horses, and the first cow, and—and Adam and Eve, I s’pose.”
“Humph!” said the less orthodox Tess, “who told you there had to be a first flower, anyway? Nonsense!”
“How did they come, then, if they didn’t spread—oh! all around—from some place like this?” demanded Dot, quite excited.