; water, 51 deg.. The _Chrysosplenium Oppositiflorium_ in rich
golden bloom within the enclosure.
But the spring has other properties besides its steady temperature. I
was early abroad in my garden last Thursday week, and in the act of
tossing a snail over my box hedge, when I heard some girls' voices
giggling, and caught a glimpse of half-a-dozen sun-bonnets gathered
about the well. Straightening myself up, I saw a group of maids
from the village, and, in the middle, one who bent over the water.
Presently she scrambled to her feet, glanced over her shoulder and
gave a shrill scream.
I, too, looked up the lane and saw, a stone's throw off, the
schoolmaster advancing with long and nervous strides. He was furiously
angry.
"Thomasine Slade," said he, "you are as shameless as you are
ignorant!"
The girl tossed her chin and was silent, with a warm blush on her
cheek and a lurking imp of laughter in her eye. The schoolmaster
frowned still more darkly.
"Shameless as well as ignorant!" he repeated, bringing the ferule of
his umbrella smartly down upon the macadam; "and you, Jane Hewitt, and
you, Lizzie Polkinghorne!"
"Why, what's the matter?" I asked, stepping out into the road.
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