"He only plays when there is a moon," said Richard, his merry face sobering. "Seems like he can't rest on a moonlight night. Sometimes he walks up and down the road for hours and sometimes he sits out in his yard and plays; but they say he never goes to bed and he never lays his violin down till morning."
"He's a good fiddler," said Mr. Hildreth.
"His music was wonderful," glowed Rosemary. "Mother and I couldn't go to bed as long as he played. I'd give anything if I could play like that!"
"You play the piano just as nice!" chirped Shirley loyally.
"Say, there is a piano in the house, isn't there!" Richard almost dropped the wire. "Can you play?"
"Not as well as my mother," said Rosemary, "but I've studied several years."
"Can you play 'Old Black Joe'?" demanded Richard. "That's a song I always liked."
The contrast between his cheerful, open face and his melancholy taste in music was so great that Rosemary could not help laughing. But she said she could play "Old Black Joe" and promised to play it for him at the first opportunity.
Those early days at Rainbow Hill were not long enough. That was the general complaint. Mrs. Willis and Winnie, busy in the house, said evening came before the delightful tasks were half started or the more prosaic duties completed. There was the garden to be visited, the flower vases to be filled, the porch made cool and clean and comfortable, every morning; Winnie reveled in her kitchen, hung over the great pans of milk in the speckless pantry and gloated as she skimmed the heavy cream. Sarah said she saved all the cream till Hugh was expected and then served it up to him, whipped stiff in the largest bowl she could find, with fresh, hot gingerbread, the doctor's favorite dessert.
The girls roamed the place from one end to the other and knew every inch of the farm as well as the Hildreths did, in a week's time. They came in only to sleep, Winnie declared, but Mrs. Willis insisted, with a gentle firmness that was effective even with the determined Sarah, that the most strenuous day should end at five o'clock. Then, freshly bathed and dressed, they rested quietly till dinner and spent the short evening on the porch or in the pleasant living-room.