Freake's. She makes a good marchioness, too, for she always
had sense, and has developed dignity.
But most of our time we spend at the Hanyards, which I have made into a
fine house by careful changes. Master Joe Braggs and Mistress Jane Braggs
are our loyal, willing servants and our friends, and are as happy as
sandboys together. They have now quite a large family.
To-day we are all together again for a long stay at the Hanyards. The
Archdeacon of Lichfield, once our beloved vicar, is with us, simple,
fatherly, and learned as of old. I can see his white head when I lift mine
up from my writing. He is sunning himself in the garden and talking with
mother, who turns her eyes now and again to look at the road, for Kate and
Jack are coming in from Stafford with their children.
All these are familiar names, but it is fit that the record should be
given before I go back to Margaret's sniff at Aristotle. For while I was
busying myself with her hair, who should come in sight, walking through
the orchard from the river, but the Colonel and Master Freake. They
stopped to join mother and the Archdeacon in their talk, and we, looking
at them, were proud and happy in the knowledge of their love for us.
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