well."

I drew my sculls through the water at that last word, and pulled as
if I were fleeing from those times which I understood so well; and we
were soon going up the once sorely be-cockneyed reaches of the river
about Maidenhead, which now looked as pleasant and enjoyable as the
up-river reaches.

The morning was now getting on, the morning of a jewel of a summer
day; one of those days which, if they were commoner in these islands,
would make our climate the best of all climates, without dispute. A
light wind blew from the west; the little clouds that had arisen at
about our breakfast time had seemed to get higher and higher in the
heavens; and in spite of the burning sun we no more longed for rain
than we feared it. Burning as the sun was, there was a fresh feeling
in the air that almost set us a-longing for the rest of the hot
afternoon, and the stretch of blossoming wheat seen from the shadow
of the boughs. No one unburdened with very heavy anxieties could
have felt otherwise than happy that morning: and it must be said
that whatever anxieties might lie beneath the surface of things, we
didn't seem to come across any of them.

We passed by several fields where haymaking was going on, but Dick,
and especially Clara, were so jealous of our up-river festival that
they would not allow me to have much to say to them. I could only
notice that the people in the fields looked strong and handsome, both
men and women, and that so far from there being any appearance of
sordidness about their attire, they seemed to be dressed specially
for the occasion,--lightly, of course, but gaily and with plenty of
adornment.