CHAPTER XXXI 



THE CHILDREN 



THE house did not progress as fast as Nelson 

 had promised, and it was likely to be well 

 toward Christmas before we could occupy it. 

 As the days shortened, Polly and I found them 

 crowded with interests. Life at Four Oaks was 

 to mean such a radical change that we could not 

 help speculating about its influence upon us and 

 upon the children. Would it be satisfactory to 

 us and to them ? Or should we find after a year 

 or two of experiment that we had been mistaken 

 in believing that we could live happier lives in 

 the country than in town ? A year and a half 

 of outdoor life and freedom from professional 

 responsibilities had wrought a great change in 

 me. I could now eat and sleep like a hired man, 

 and it seemed preposterous to claim that I was 

 going to the country for my health. My medical 

 adviser, however, insisted that I had not gotten 

 far enough away from the cause of my break- 

 down, and that it would be unwise for me to 

 take up work again for at least another year. 

 In my own mind there was a fixed opinion that 

 I should never take it up again. I loved it 



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