anor Farm garden, they felt sure they were the very first
guests, and walked slowly towards the house, expecting to meet Becky at
every turn; for after a whole week at the farm, she surely ought to be
running about as if there were nothing the matter with her!

But there was no Becky, nor any one else to be seen in the garden. The
flowers and the bees had it all to themselves, and were blooming and
buzzing away as happily as possible, with no one to notice them. After
the rain, all the blossoms looked as bright and fresh as though they had
just put on new clothes to do honour to Mrs Solace's party; and, indeed,
they always seemed to enjoy their lives, and to bloom more abundantly
here than anywhere else.

Aunt Katharine was proud of her garden, and took a great deal of pains
to make her flowers do well; but with all her best efforts, they did not
flourish like these, and yet there was so little trouble taken about
them. They grew very much how they would and where they would. When
they got too thick, they were weeded out; and when one sort died, it was
renewed in exactly the same place year after year. Some which were left
entirely to their own way, like the snapdragons, seemed to thrive best
of all. These thrust themselves into the crevices of the old wall,
waved in triumph along the top of it, and had sown themselves
industriously at the sides of the garden paths, reaching out their
velvety, glowing mouths from the most unexpected places, for the
dusty-legged humble bees to dive into.

Certainly the bees had a fine time of it in the Manor garden, and plenty
of sweetness to choose from, amongst the herbs, roses, and pinks which
were mixed up together with the vegetables. These were separated by a
wall from the lawn and flower-garden, and when the farmhouse came in
view, the children saw that they were not the first visitors after all,
for there were figures moving about under the deep veranda, and soon
they were able to make out Becky sitting in a big wicker-chair with a
cushion at her back.

"And she's got on my pink sun-bonnet that Aunt Katharine sent her," said
Maisie.

All the way along they had been talking of Becky, and felt that they had
a great deal to ask her about her journey, and what she thought of the
Manor Farm; but now that they were here, and had shaken hands with her,
a sudden silence fell on them all. Somehow Becky in her new
surroundings struck them as a sort of stranger, and they stood