I looked back over the road we had come, and as I looked some electric lights suddenly flashed on, making the market road as beautiful as a dream.
On one side of us was the lake, on the other the narrow frontages of the cottages and a cute little country store with a veranda to it. It was some distance behind us, but I could see men sitting tipped back on chairs on the veranda, and someone was playing on a concertina.
Tall Lombardy poplars that I found out afterward were the pride of Mr. Talker's life, lined the road, and their leaves glistened like silver in the bright light that evidently came from Mr. Devering's power house.
I thought I would go and look in the windows, to see what Miss Cassowary was doing, so I stepped softly up a path in the grass.
The girl was on the hearthrug standing quite still, and listening to the brown-faced boy on the lounge. He was talking in a very lively manner, and made frequent gestures with his hands. His poor legs were quite still under a rug. He had gone away to the war, and having lost his own feet had now artificial ones that often hurt him very much. However, his face was nice and brown, showing that he was out in the sunshine a good deal.
His parents' eyes were glued to his face. He was the joy of their life, and they were so thankful not to have had him killed that they did not seem to mind his lameness.
He minded it, though, and many a time later on when he thought no one was looking, I saw him passing his hand over his eyes as if he wanted to shut out the sight of other young people dashing about on their own strong feet.
Mr. Talker looked quite gentlemanly in dark house clothes, for he had shed his working suit. I soon discovered that he was a clergyman, and the reason he hadn't talked to my young master in coming in from the Lake of Bays was on account of his always choosing the time of long drives for the composition of his sermons.
Just now he was holding a skein of wool for his wife to wind, but they were getting it all tangled because their eyes were on their boy.
Suddenly Cassowary began to speak, and I heard through the open window some nice praise about myself.