By and by we took another path that led off from this one,
wide enough for two horses to go abreast. The pine trees were
sweet overhead and on each hand, making the light soft and the
air fragrant. Preston and I wandered on in delightful roaming;
leaving the house and all that it contained at an unremembered
distance. Suddenly we came out upon a cleared field. It was
many acres large; in the distance a number of people were at
work. We turned back again.
"Preston," I said, after a silence of a few minutes, — "there
seemed to be no women in those cottages. I did not see any."
"I suppose not," said Preston; "because there were not any to
see."
"But had all those little babies no mothers?"
"Yes, of course, Daisy; but they were in the field."
"The mothers of those little babies?"
"Yes. What about it? Look here — are you getting tired?"
I said no; and he put his arm round me fondly, so as to hold
me up a little; and we wandered gently on, back to the avenue,
then down its smooth course further yet from the house, then
off by another wood path through the pines on the other side.
Pages:
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57