tiny new ones, some so tiny that they barely peeped above the earth.
There were so many that she remembered what Martha had said about the
snowdrops by the thousands, and about bulbs spreading and making new
ones. These had been left to themselves for ten years and perhaps they
had spread, like the snowdrops, into thousands. She wondered how long
it would be before they showed that they were flowers. Sometimes she
stopped digging to look at the garden and try to imagine what it would
be like when it was covered with thousands of lovely things in bloom.
During that week of sunshine, she became more intimate with Ben
Weatherstaff. She surprised him several times by seeming to start up
beside him as if she sprang out of the earth. The truth was that she
was afraid that he would pick up his tools and go away if he saw her
coming, so she always walked toward him as silently as possible. But,
in fact, he did not object to her as strongly as he had at first.
Perhaps he was secretly rather flattered by her evident desire for his
elderly company. Then, also, she was more civil than she had been. He
did not know that when she first saw him she spoke to him as she would
have spoken to a native, and had not known that a cross, sturdy old
Yorkshire man was not accustomed to salaam to his masters, and be
merely commanded by them to do things.
Tha rt like th robin, he said to her one morning when he lifted his
head and saw her standing by him. I never knows when I shall see thee
or which side tha ll come from.
He s friends with me now, said Mary.
That s like him, snapped Ben Weatherstaff. Makin up to th women
folk just for vanity an flightiness. There s nothin he wouldn t do
for th sake o showin off an flirtin his tail-feathers. He s as
full o pride as an egg s full o meat.
He very seldom talked much and sometimes did not even answer Mary s
questions except by a grunt, but this morning he said more than usual.
He stood up and rested one hobnailed boot on the top of his spade while
he looked her over.
How long has tha been here? he jerked out.
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