The drippings from the
eaves had made a neat row of little regular holes among the crocuses in the
garden. Tall jonquils also bent their heads there, heavy with water, and
the white violets which stood in patches upon either side of the front door
had each a raindrop glimmering within its cup. A japonica splashed one gray
wall with crimson blossoms and young green leaves; but, for the rest, this
house-front was quite bare. Joan saw Mary Chirgwin's neat hand in the snowy
short blinds which crossed the upper windows; and she knew that the
geraniums behind the diamond panes of the parlor were her uncle's care.
They dwelt indoors, winter and summer, and their lanky, straggling limbs
shut out much light.
The visitor did not go to the front door, whither a narrow path, flanked
with handsome masses of "Cornish diamonds," or quartz crystals, directly
led from the wicket, but entered at a larger gate which led into the
farmyard. Here cattle-byres and shippons ranged snugly on three sides of an
open space, their venerable slates yellow with lichens, their thatches
green with moss. In the center of the yard a great manure heap made
comfortable lying for pigs and poultry; while the farmhouse stretched back
upon the fourth side. Another gate opened beyond it, and led to the land
upon the sloping hill and in the valley below. Joan passed a row of cream
pans, shining like frosted silver in the mist, then turned from the bleak
and dripping world.
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