The professor cleared his throat.
“You said the ground sloped slightly, did you not?”
“Yes, just a gradual slope to a little brook at the bottom of the hill. The water seems to cool the air in summer. It never goes dry and there is a little basin in one place we used to call ‘the birds’ bath tub.’ Such birds you never imagined! They are attracted by the apples, I suppose. But there are hundreds of them. They sing from morning to night.”
“You paint a very attractive picture, Miss Brown. It must have been hard to give up this charming property.”
“But you see we haven’t given it up exactly. It’s there right against us. We can still look at it and even walk under the trees. No one minds. And see what I have for it! Nothing could ever take the place of college—not even an apple orchard.”
A sharp voice broke in on this pleasant conversation.
“Cousin Edwin, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
Judith Blount appeared hastening down the walk.
The professor watched the advancing figure calmly.
“Well, now you have found me, what do you want?” he asked.