“You will find what they can do in that way when spring comes,—when they are building.”
“And when may we go out upon the heath, and into the fields where the lambs are?”
“We go long walks on Saturday afternoons; but you do not expect to see young lambs in October, do you?”
“O, I forgot I never can remember the seasons for things.”
“That shows you are a Londoner. You will learn all those things here. If you look for hares in our walks, you may chance to see one; or you may start a pheasant; but take care you don’t mention lambs, or goslings, or cowslips, or any spring things; or you will never hear the last of it.”
“Thank you: but what will poor Holt do? He is from India, and he knows very little about our ways.”
“They may laugh at him; but they will not despise him as they might a Londoner. Being an Indian, and being a Londoner, are very different things.”
“And yet how proud the Londoners are over the country! It is very odd.”
“People are proud of their own ways all the world over. You will be proud of being a Crofton boy, by-and-by.”
“Perhaps I am now, a little,” said Hugh, blushing.