98 THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 



ows of the farm. So we sauntered out. Once under the 

 sun, the same delicious thought occurred to each that, 

 certain prudences having been seen to, we were for the 

 time without responsibilities, and the fact made us laugh 

 for the very freedom of it and pull one another hither 

 and thither like a couple of children. 



Meanwhile the word knoll had not been uttered, but 

 our feet were at once drawn in its direction by an ir- 

 resistible force, and presently we found ourselves stand- 

 ing at the lower end of the ridge and looking up the 

 slope ! 



"I wish we had a picture of it as it must have been 

 before the land was cleared, it would be a great help 

 in replanting," I said; "it needs something dense and 

 bold for a background to the rocks." 



"The skeleton of the old barn on the other side spoils 

 it; it ought to come down," was Bart's rejoinder. "It 

 seems as if everything we wish to do hinges on some 

 other thing." 



This barn had been set back against the knoll so that 

 from the house the hayloft window seemed like a part of 

 a low shed. Certainly our forbears knew the ways of 

 the New England wind very thoroughly, judging by the 

 way they huddled their houses and outbuildings in 

 hollows or under hillsides to avoid its stress. And 



