THEIR FORTUNATE ESCAPE 113 



should be housed for the night in the small yard back 

 of the stable, where the Infant's cow (a present from 

 my mother) spends her nights under the shed. 



"Did you find any signs of a chicken house on 

 the place when you first came?" asked Maria, in a 

 matter-of-fact tone, as if its location was the only thing 

 now to be considered. 



"Yes, there was one directly in the fence line at the 

 eastern gap where we see the Three Brothers Hills," 

 said Bart, "and I've always intended to plant a flower 

 bed of some sort there both to hide the gap in the wall 

 and that something may be benefited by the hen ma- 

 nure of decades that must have accumulated there!" 



"How would the place do for the new hen-house?" 

 pursued Maria, relentlessly. 



"Not at all!" I snapped very decidedly; "it is di- 

 rectly in the path the cool summer winds take on their 

 way to the dining room, and you know at best fowl houses 

 are not bushes of lemon balm !" 



"Then why not locate your bed of good-smelling 

 things in the gap, and sup on nectar and distilled 

 perfume," said The Man from Everywhere, sooth- 

 ingly. 



"The very thing ! and I will write Mrs. Evan at once 

 for a list of the plants in her 'bed of sweet odours,' 



