He gave a long look at them, at their sun-burnt faces, at their clean, slender grace, Colin in his cricketing flannels, and Anne in her land-girl's white-linen coat, knickerbockers, and grey wideawake.
"Colin doesn't look as if there was much the matter with him. He might have been farming all his life."
"So I have," said Colin; "considering that I haven't lived till now."
And they went back together towards the house.
ii
Colin's and Anne's work was done for the day. The hay in the Broad Pasture was mown and dried. Tomorrow it would be heaped into cocks and carried to the stackyard.
It was the evening of Eliot's first day. He and Anne sat out under the apple trees in the orchard.
"What on earth have you done to Colin?" he said. "I expected to find him a perfect wreck."
"He was pretty bad three months ago. But it's good for him being down here in the place he used to be happy in. He knows he's safe here. It's good for him doing jobs about the farm, too."
"I imagine it's good for him being with you."