Jessamine lifted and clasped her hands in rapture. "Oh, how lovely!"
"Do you know where we're going?" said Mr. Bell delightedly. "Out to my farm at Pine Pastures. My aunt keeps house for me, and she'll be real glad to see you. You're just going to have a real good time this afternoon."
They had a delightful drive to begin with, and presently Mr. Bell turned into a wide lane.
"This is Cloverside Farm. I'm proud of it, I'll admit. There isn't a finer place in the county. What do you think of it?"
"Oh, it is lovely—it is like home. Look at those great fields. I'd like to go and lie down in that clover."
Mr. Bell lifted her from the wagon and marched her up a flowery garden path. "You shall do it, and everything else you want to. Here, Aunt, this is the young lady I spoke of. Make her at home while I tend to the horses."
Miss Bell was a pleasant-faced woman with silver hair and kind blue eyes. She took Jessamine's hand in a friendly fashion.
"Come in, dear. You're welcome as a June rose."
When Mr. Bell returned, he found Jessamine standing on the porch with her hands full of honeysuckle and her cheeks pink with excitement.
"I declare, you've got roses already," he exclaimed. "If they'd only stay now, and not bleach out again. What's first now?"