"Shall we waive ceremony and call at Woodlawn?" asked the lady of her husband.
"Just as you say," answered the gentleman smiling.
"Well, Bertie, if you think your mamma is not too much engaged, we will call for a few moments. You may drive Whitefoot on, and we will follow."
"Oh, mamma! Mr. Carpenter didn't tell half the beauties of the scenery," exclaimed Emma, gazing from the carriage window; "and we thought that he exaggerated. Only look at the water glistening through the trees; and then the reflection of that weeping willow in the lake is so perfect."
Bertie drove quickly to the front door, and lifting Winnie from her seat, ran into the house to announce the visitors.
It was a pleasant call, though a short one, the only seats being the stairs. Then Bertie persuaded his sister to stay with Nancy, who was washing windows; and he took mamma in his donkey carriage and accompanied their new friends over the nicely gravelled road to the lake.
There were a pair of swans, now, which had grown so tame that they would sail up close to the shore and pick up the crumbs the children threw to them.
