"Look along th' twigs an' branches an' if tha' see a bit of a brown lump swelling here an' there, watch it after th' warm rain an' see what happens." He stopped suddenly and looked curiously at her eager face.

"Why does tha' care so much about roses an' such, all of a sudden ?" he demanded.
Mistress Mary felt her face grow red.

She was almost afraid to answer.
"I--I want to play that--that I have a garden of my own," she stammered.

"I--there is nothing for me to do.

I have nothing--and no one." "Well," said Ben Weatherstaff slowly, as he watched her, "that's true.
Tha' hasn't." He said it in such an odd way that Mary wondered if he was actually a little sorry for her.