"And why did you not go?"
"Because," answered Betty, "I have been making preserves the livelong day. Up at six this morning, for Dame Martha told me that, owing to my putting it off so long, the fruit was beginning to rot, so there was no time to lose."
"I leave preserving to my woman," said Mary. "The hanging over the fire is ruin to the finest skin."
"Yes, my face is scorched and heated," answered Betty, turning a cheek like a peach to her friend. "But after all, to so weather-beaten a maid as myself, up and out in all seasons, a scorched cheek, more or less, signifies not; and Dame Martha works hard."
"And had your father any news from Wancote?"
"Yes, news indeed—Belton has been taken!"
"Taken?"
"Hired or purchased by a gentleman of the name of Johnstone, whose arrival is expected hourly."
"This is news indeed! None but a rich man could have paid the price asked."
"His horses have arrived," went on Betty. "Only four of them as yet, but each one of the four of surpassing beauty. One of them, Mr. Barnes told my father, looked worth a king's ransom."