252 FLOWERS THAT HAVE ESCAPED 



This made both Philip and Tommy laugh, but 

 Kate was quite serious, and told us Miss Amelia's 

 maid had tried it before she came from Ireland 

 to this country, and that she was a very pretty 

 girl. 



" It might take my freckles away," Tommy said. 



We all laughed then, for there's hardly a place 

 on his face that hasn't a freckle. 



" I'm thinking," Tommy said, when we had 

 stopped laughing, " that perhaps long ago there's 

 been a house here. Tansy likes to live near people, 

 and Bouncing Betty and these Blackberry vines 

 are ' escapes.' 



A little way from the trees then we saw stones 

 that both Tommy and Philip thought had once 

 been the foundation of a house, and when we saw 

 three currant bushes farther along, I asked if we 

 had come to where the haunted house had been. 



" Indeed," Philip said, " that house was a long 

 way the other side of Warley Towers. It's too 

 far away even for us to walk, which is a pity, al- 

 though we might not find any ' escapes ' there. It's 

 likely they have the sense to move away from 

 haunted places." 



" Perhaps the house burned down that once was 

 here," Tommy said; " for if it had been haunted, 

 or deserted, there would have been more of it left 

 than just these stones. They wouldn't mean much 

 though, if it weren't for the flowers about here 

 being the kind that like to live near people." 



