22 THE GARDEN OF A 



used to see hurrying down the station steps of a 

 morning, with unblacked boots and crumby clothes ? " 

 said Evan, sighing. 



"If living in the country and working in town is 

 being a commuter, yes," I said boldly; "but there 

 are several kinds of them : those who do it because 

 they think it is cheaper to live in the country (which 

 usually means that they are where their friends do 

 not see what they go without), and those who love 

 the country for its own sake ; and our home will 

 be in the real country, not in a tailor-made suburb. 

 You shall have your breakfast in time, no bundles 

 to carry, no crumbs on your chin, or egg on your 

 mustache, and I will never talk about servants. 

 Oh, Evan! if you only knew" then the nervous- 

 ness left of my illness mastered me, I broke down, 

 and it was all settled then and there. 



Presently Evan startled me with, "How about 

 Martha Corkle ! I can't lease her with the place, 

 a widow and all that, don't you know ; a good sort, 

 too, only overset and respectful. Couldn't we take 

 her over, now ? Save you a lot of bother, and 

 she could overlook things a regular old reliable." 



I was about to say No emphatically, for I thought 

 that Martha, conventional and rigid, would not be 

 able to overlook in another sense many things in 



