Robin Hood's Barn 



gone wrong not from any pushing wish for self- 

 advancement, but from a desire to please. Surely 

 if I worked with it and showed it, insinuated here 

 and prodded there, it would make response. 



How cleverly it would catch on, how far it 

 would outdistance me, my condescension did not 

 let me guess! 



My first proposal it acceded to with little 

 hesitation. If, in truth, we had hved too much 

 alone and were in need of company, there was 

 an easy remedy. It was in a position to spread 

 out. Not much — ^we could not splurge. But we 

 might manage a small guest room. And while 

 we were about it, why not a maid's room. No 

 doubt my affection had turned critical from the 

 strain of doing my own work. 



And reticence, on which I had so evidently set 

 my heart ! That, too, was something which might 

 be easily acquired. • From its own stolid point of 

 view there seemed small need for hurry. Before 

 we shut out prying eyes, we should have some- 

 thing worthy to enclose. Still once I had made 

 selection of materials, it did the manual labor. 

 It built the underpinning firm with privet and 



[70] 



