d. Not that he was troubled by uncertainty,
for he felt sure from the first that she would go away from the farm.
And it was best she should. From outward ill-treatment he could have
defended her: he was strong in the arm, but with his tongue he was
weaker than a child. Many a time he had sat in silence when hard or
unkind speeches had been cast at her, but none the less he had felt it
sorely. After the concert, when she had sung as pretty as a bird, how
they had flouted her. It was a hard thing surely, and it was best she
should go away to folks as would value her better. But he felt also
that he must tell her he was sorry. That was a trial and a difficulty.
How should he frame it? Though he could talk more easily to Lilac than
anyone else in the world, speech was still terribly hard, and when he
suddenly came upon her this evening his first instinct was to turn and
go back. Sober, however, pricked his ears and ran forward when he saw a
friend, and this example encouraged Peter.

"As like as not," he said to himself, "I shall say summat quite
different the minute I begin, but I'll have a try at it;" so he went on.

There was a touch of frost in the air, and the few remaining leaves, so
few that you could count them, were falling every minute or so gently
from the trees. A scarlet one from the cherry tree overhead had dropped
into Lilac's lap, and lay there, a bright red spot on her white
pinafore. As Peter's eye fell on it it occurred to him to say gruffly:
"The leaves is nearly all gone."

"Pretty nigh," said Lilac, looking up into the bare branches of the
cherry tree. "We'll soon have winter now."

There was silence. Peter took off his hat and rubbed his forehead with
his coat sleeve.

"There's lots will be sorry when you go," he burst out suddenly. "The
beasts'll miss you above a bit."

Lilac did not answer. She saw that he wanted to say something more, and
knew that it was best not to confuse his mind by remarks.

"Not but what," he went on, "you're in the right. Why should you work
for nothing here and get no thanks? You're worth your wages, and there
you'll get 'em. There's justice in that. Only--the farm'll be
different."

"There's only the dairy," said Lilac. "Someone else'll have to do that
if I go. And I should miss the beasts too."

She put her hand on Sober's rough head as he sat by her.

"It's a queer thing," said Peter after another pause, "what a lot I get
in my head some