Milly and Olly by Mrs. Humphry Ward
page 38 of 173 (21%)
page 38 of 173 (21%)
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always say _Naw_ and _Yis_ in this country, instead of saying No and
Yes, like we do?" "Well, most of the people that live here do," said Mrs. Norton. "Their way of talking sounds odd and queer at first, Milly, but when you get used to it you will like it as I do, because it seems like a part of the mountains." All this time they had been climbing up a steep path behind the gardener's house, and now Mr. Norton opened a door in a high wall, and let the children into a beautiful kitchen-garden made on the mountain side, so that when they looked down from the gate they could see the chimneys of Ravensnest just below them. Inside there were all kinds of fruit and vegetables, but gooseberry bushes and the strawberries had nothing but green gooseberries and white strawberries to show, to Olly's great disappointment. "Why aren't the strawberries red, mother?" he asked in a discontented voice, as if it must be somebody's fault that they weren't red. "Ours at home were ripe." "Well, Olly, I suppose the strawberries know best. All I can tell you is, that things always get ripe here later than at Willingham. Their summer begins a little later than ours does, and so everything gets pushed on a little. But there will be plenty by-and-by. And suppose just now, instead of looking at the strawberries, you give just one look at the mountains. Count how many you can see all round." "One, two, three, five," counted Olly. "What great big humps! Should we be able to touch the sky if we got up to the top of that one, mother?" |
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