THE SPIRIT OF SECRET VALLEY 31 



Country people scrape Its young shoots and boil 

 them to eat, as the cook does asparagus. They 

 also call it Cowslip, which is not the right name 

 for it, because that belongs to a flower which 

 grows in England. Shakespeare's name for It 

 was Mary-bud, the prettiest one of all. 



I feel sorry not to have seen Marsh Marigold, 

 although I think I shall know It when I do, from 

 what Tommy has said. 



The curious way he has acted since coming 

 back from Secret Valley is still puzzling. He 

 surely saw something there besides the Spice Bush 

 and Marsh Marigold. He has been very solemn 

 and whenever he speaks It is to say that girls are 

 " great muffs." Once he said they were very bold. 

 I think on Sunday, when there isn't much to do, 

 that he may tell us what has changed him so much. 

 I know already that Philip Todd told him there 

 was a nest of white crows In Secret Valley. 



Philip sits In the next pew to Grandmother and 

 me at church, and he Is in Tommy's class at 

 school. They are great friends. But Philip does 

 not care much about wild flowers. He likes ani- 

 mals better, and has a great many pigeons and pets. 

 AH his books are about animals. Sometimes he 

 and Tommy have long arguments together. Now 

 Tommy never tells anything about wild flowers 

 that Is not really true. He never makes them out 

 one bit more wonderful than they are — he doesn't 

 have to. But Philip tells some stories about ani- 



