"Gone!"

Oh, the relief, the difference it made to have the man out of the house.
Their very voices were changed as they called to one another; they sounded
warm and loving and as if they shared a secret. Beryl went over to the
table. "Have another cup of tea, mother. It's still hot." She wanted,
somehow, to celebrate the fact that they could do what they liked now.
There was no man to disturb them; the whole perfect day was theirs.

"No, thank you, child," said old Mrs. Fairfield, but the way at that moment
she tossed the boy up and said "a-goos-a-goos-a-ga!" to him meant that she
felt the same. The little girls ran into the paddock like chickens let out
of a coop.

Even Alice, the servant-girl, washing up the dishes in the kitchen, caught
the infection and used the precious tank water in a perfectly reckless
fashion.

"Oh, these men!" said she, and she plunged the teapot into the bowl and
held it under the water even after it had stopped bubbling, as if it too
was a man and drowning was too good for them.


Chapter 1.IV.

"Wait for me, Isa-bel! Kezia, wait for me!"

There was poor little Lottie, left behind again, because she found it so
fearfully hard to get over the stile by herself. When she stood on the