"Just as well as you would handle a sheep with pip. What are they, anyhow?"
"Diseases which have always been happily obscure to me," he said, "Now we'll have to study them."
"We'll study them together, then," said his wife; "then, if they appear we can turn on them our united batteries of knowledge. There must be lots of other diseases, Tom. Is it hens that get glanders?"
"Very probably: it always seemed to me that hens have nasty habits," said he. "Of course, I've only looked at them with a kind of semi-detached eye, but then, I never felt any inclination for close acquaintance with a live fowl. My soul was as a star, and dwelt apart!"
"I think one of the first things you had better do would be to uproot any graceful notions about your soul," said his wife. "We shan't need encumbrances like that for some time. Stout bodies and strong muscles are likely to be more in our line; don't be surprised or shocked if you find me writhing in odd corners, because it will be only Swedish drill, to develop me—also in odd corners!"
"It will be awfully interesting," he said, laughing. "Couldn't you start it now? I believe there's one lovely exercise that you do at meal-times. Strangers are apt to run to your assistance, thinking you're strangling, but it's only neck-drill, to give you a long, slender throat!"
"I've always faintly hoped mine pleased you," rejoined his wife. "However, it's too late now—it won't matter in the Bush if one has a throat or not. My energies are going to enable me to develop strength enough to throw a bag of wheat over my shoulder, and go whistling down the lea!"
"Why not bring it home? I don't see why you want to throw good wheat about, after I shall probably have had grave trouble in growing it. And what is a lea, anyhow?"
"It's something the lowing herd winds slowly o'er," she said. "You ought to know that."
"I did, but I don't know what it looks like. And I suppose I'll have to know." The laughter died out of his eyes, and he looked at her in silence for a moment. "Aileen—it's all very well to play the fool, but we're two horribly ignorant people. I wonder if we'll do any good at all?"