it, and saw in the distance nothing but its high green banks, with the
brown sails of boats showing above, and looking as if they were a good
deal higher than the carriage road. They passed small fields,
subdivided into yet smaller patches, and all very highly cultivated.
And small black and white houses, and small black and white cows, and
black and white goats, and dogs, and even cats of the same combination
of colour. Everything was rather small, but everywhere very tidy;
nothing out of its place or wasted, and nobody hurrying or idling; all
were busy, with a small bustling business, as unlike aggressive
English idleness as it was unlike the deceptive, leisurely power of
English work.

Denah and Anna looked out of either side of the carriage, and pointed
out things to Julia and the two little girls. Here it was what they
called a country seat, a sort of castellated variety of overgrown
chalêt, surrounded by a wonderful garden of blazing flower-beds and
emerald lawns, all set round with rows and rows of plants in bright
red pots. Or there it was a cemetery, where the peaceful aspect made
Denah sentimental, and the beauty of the trees drew Anna's praise. The
two elder ladies paid less attention to what they passed; they
contented themselves with leaning back and saying how beautiful the
air was, and how refreshing the country. The girls said that as well;
they all agreed six times within the hour that it was a delightful
expedition, and they enjoying it much.

In time they came to the wood. An unpaved road ran through it of
soft, deep sand, which deadened every sound; on either hand the trees
rose, pines and larch and beech principally, with a few large-leafed
shivering poplars here and there. There was no undergrowth, and few
bird songs, only the dim wood aisles stretching away, quiet and green.