Early summer was already upon the land, flowers were blooming, and the reign of sunshine had begun.

The cuckoo haunted the Hall gardens, rabbits basked in the glades, and the woods were alive with singing birds.
A little thing happened which surprised me.

A troop of us were riding one day along the moor, and by the outskirts of the road, I, being foremost, espied two figures at a distance among the trees, and recognizing the girls from the farm, I pressed on and came on them unawares, where they were down on their knees, gathering mosses out of the grass.

Mopsie was on my neck in a moment, but Jane was a little shy.
I had to coax her to be frank.
She thought I must be changed, she said, I stayed away so long.

If I cared for them any more, I would have come to see them.