This piece of good luck was denied me, however.

When I looked out of my window I could only see dripping laurels and great pools in the gravel walks.
The gray sky had not a break in it.

I was glad when I was ready to go down to my parlour, for the fire and breakfast-table would look cheerful by comparison; and afterwards I would set to work so busily that I should not have time to notice the rain.
And so it proved; for until my early dinner--or rather luncheon--was served, I was employed in unpacking and arranging my books and ornaments.
On my journeys to and fro I often paused at the low staircase window to reconnoitre the weather.

There was no garden behind the cottage; a small gravelled yard, where Mrs.Barton kept her poultry and some rabbits belonging to Nathaniel, opened by a gate into a field.

There was a cow-house there, and a white cow was standing rather disconsolately under some trees.