"I never slept—that way—before."
"It seems to suit you," said Ann briskly, "for you have never left your room till now."
Then it dawned on her suddenly.
"Why, I am well!" she said.
"Very nearly, I think," Hester answered her. "Will you have your breakfast under the tree, while sister picks the berries?"
To this she agreed gladly and found herself, still wondering at the new strength that filled her, under a pear-tree, in a pleasant patch of shadow, eating with relish from Hester's morning tray. Ann knelt not far from her in the sun, not too hot at this hour for a hardy worker, and soon her low humming rose like a bee's note from under her broad hat.
"The wash is all ready for you, sister, on the landing," she called. "Tell mother her new towels bleached to a marvel: they are on the currant-bushes now. I'll wet them down and iron them off while the syrup is cooking, I think—I know she's anxious to handle them."
"Are you always busy, Miss Ann?" her guest inquired, for Ann's fingers never stopped even while she looked toward the house-door.
"Always in the morning, of course," she answered, directly. "Every one must be, if things are to get done."
"But in the afternoon you are ironing, and Miss Hester tells me you do a great deal in the garden. When do you rest?"