thousand times more religious-minded than Joan, and sometimes Joe wished
the sober mind of his first love could be transported to the beautiful body
of his second; but he kept this notion to himself, studied to please his
future father-in-law, which he succeeded in doing handsomely, and contented
himself, in so far as his lady was concerned, by reflecting that the
necessary control over her somewhat light mind would be his in due season.

To return from this tedious but necessary glimpse at the position and
belief of these people to Joan and the washing, it is to be noted that she
quickly made up for lost time, and, without further mentioning the
incidents of her morning's excursion, began to work. She pulled up her
sleeves, dragged her dress about her waist, then started to cleanse the
thick flannels her father wore at sea, his long-tailed shirts and woolen
stockings. The Tregenzas were well-to-do folk, and did not need to use the
open spaces of the village for drying of clothes. Joan presently set up a
line among the plum-trees, and dawdled over the hanging out of wet
garments, for it was now noon, sunny, mild, and fresh, with a cool salt
breeze off the sea. The winter repose of the bee-butts had been broken at
last, and the insects were busy with the plum-blossom and among the little
green flowerets on the gooseberry bushes. Beyond, sun-streaked and bright,
extended apple-trees with whitewashed stems and a twinkle of crimson on
their boughs, where buds grew ripe for the blowing.

Joan yawned and blinked up at the sun to see if it was dinner time. Then
she watched a kitten hunting the bees in the gooseberry bushes. Presently
the little creature knocked one to the ground and began to pat it and
pounce upon it. Then the bee, using Nature's weapon to preserve precious
life, stung the kitten; and the kitten hopped into the air much amazed. It
shook its paw, licked it, shook it again. Joan laughed, and two pigs at the
bottom of the garden heard her and grunted and squealed as they thrust