"Why?" she asked, but did not wait for any reply. "What are you going to do?"
"I am going," he said, "out upon the Common to look for a rare flower that grows here, only I have never been able to find it. Will you come and help me?"
"A flower!" said Hester, confounded. "Do Englishmen look for flowers?"
"Englishmen as well as others—when they happen to be botanists. Does that surprise you? I am obliged to get up early, for I have no time in the day."
"What do you do in the day?" the girl asked.
"I am at the bank. Have you never heard of Vernon's Bank? the business from which we all take our importance here. The Vernons are great or they are small, don't you know? according to their connection with the bank."
"Then you are one of the great ones," said Hester with decision. "Do any of the Vernons live in that great white house—that one, do you see?—on the other side of the red roofs?"
"The White House? Oh yes, Harry lives there, another cousin, and his sister."
"Are they in the bank too?"