Part 12 (2/2)

”Oh, don't go,” said Diana, looking very much worried. ”Christopher was only teasing her.”

This was true, but Peggy was not sure of it. She thought Diana wanted to make peace.

”Peggy doesn't really mean it,” Alice said. ”Sometimes she gets angry, but she doesn't stay angry. Please, Christopher,”--and she looked at him beseechingly,--”I would like Lady Janet.”

”She is my kitten,” said Christopher, and Alice's face clouded, ”but I will give her to you,” he added.

CHAPTER X

THE WILD GARDEN

Meanwhile, as the kittens were growing, the garden was growing, too.

Peggy thought it was strange that small furry things and plants and vegetables should change so much in a few weeks, while children did not seem to change at all.

The garden had been a delight from the very first, for they had found it so interesting to follow old Michael about with the horses, as he ploughed the field at the back of the house and got it ready for planting. It was still more exciting to watch their mother and the old gardener, as they planned where the different crops were to be. Mrs.

Owen had made one of her blue frocks, which she wore, and Peggy had on one of hers, and Alice felt sorry not to be in uniform, but she made a nice bit of color in the landscape in a pink frock.

Next came the planting. They helped about this. It was such fun to pat the earth down after the seed had been put in. There were rows and rows of peas, and rows and rows of string-beans and sh.e.l.l-beans, and some corn and turnips and carrots, and, also, a great many tomato plants.

Mrs. Owen was going to put up all the peas and beans and tomatoes that Mrs. Horton needed, as well as her jams and jellies. And she was going to put up vegetables, fruit, and berries for Mrs. Carter, also, as she had been too busy getting settled to have any time to start a garden this year. May was a joyous month. The planting was all done, and some bits of green were poking their heads above the ground.

In June Clara came back, and they had her to play with. They saw a great deal of Diana, too, for they made frequent trips to see how Lady Janet was getting on. One day Clara went with them, and she decided she must have Topsy just as soon as she was big enough to leave home. This would leave only two kittens for three children, but Diana said if Lady Jane was to be hers she would let Christopher have Gretchen.

If Peggy and Alice took pleasure in the garden behind the house, this was nothing compared with their delight in what they called the wild garden, on the hill. The strawberries were the first of the berries to be picked. There were not a great many of them, but as Mrs. Horton and Mrs. Carter both wanted wild strawberry preserves, Mrs. Owen thought it best to get what she could from her own land. So one glorious June day she and the children started for the hill, with their luncheon, and pails to pick the berries in. Alice picked as carefully as her mother did, although not so fast; but Peggy put soft berries in with the good ones, and some bits of leaves somehow got in with her berries.

”Peggy, look what you are doing,” said her mother. ”Those berries are over-ripe.”

”I don't see what difference it makes, mother, so long as you are going to make strawberry jam. Oh, mother, look at that squirrel, he gave a skip from one branch to another. See what a bushy tail he has.”

”Peggy, do attend to your work.”

”Mother, you can't expect me to work all the time on such a suns.h.i.+ny day. It is just as important to watch squirrels and birds.”

”Well, perhaps it is for you, but not for me. I can't put up squirrels for my neighbors by the cold-pack process.”

When it came to the preserving of the strawberries, Peggy and Alice were so interested that they went out into the kitchen so as to watch the whole process.

”Children, you mustn't eat any more of the strawberries,” said their mother. ”Remember, I am putting them up for other people.”

”But, mother, you've got lots and lots of them,” said Peggy. ”I didn't know we picked so many.”

”I had to buy a great many more to fill my orders,” said Mrs. Owen, ”and even now I shan't have as much wild strawberry preserve as Mrs. Horton and Mrs. Carter wanted; remember the strawberries represent just so much money.”

”But, mother,” said Peggy, ”I think it would be so much nicer to keep the strawberry preserve for ourselves than to have the money. We can't eat that.”

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