“When I think of Cobhurst,” she wrote to her brother, “I smell marigolds, and think of rather poor blackberries that you pick from bushes.  Please do not put in your letters anything that you know about it, for I would rather see everything for myself.”

CHAPTER IV

THE HOME

It was late in the afternoon when Ralph and Miriam Haverley alighted at the station at Thorbury.  Miss Dora Bannister, who had come down to see a friend off, noticed the two standing on the platform.  She did not know who they were, but she thought the one to be a very handsome young man, and the other a nice-looking girl who seemed to be all eyes.

“What a queer-looking colored man!” said Miriam.  “He looks mashed on top.”

The person alluded to was getting down from a wagon drawn by a mournful horse, and now approached the platform.

“Is you Mr. Hav’ley, sir?” he said, touching his hat.  “Thought so; I’m the man in charge o’ yer place.  Got any baggage, sir?”

On being informed that the travellers had brought three trunks with them, and that some boxes would be expected on the morrow, Mike, who with his worn felt hat pressed flat upon his head, might give one the idea of a bottle with the cork driven in, stood for a moment in thought.

“I can take one trunk,” he said, “the one ye will want the most tonight, and ye’d better have the others hauled over tomorrow with the boxes.  Ye can both go in the wagon, if ye like.  The seat can be pushed back, and I can sit on the trunk myself, or ye can hire a kerridge.”

“Of course we will take a cab,” said Ralph.  “How far is it to Cobhurst?”

“Well, some says three miles, and some says four.  It depends a good deal on the roads.  They’re pretty good today.”

Having engaged the services of a country cabman, who declared that he had known Cobhurst ever since he was born, and having arranged for the transfer of their goods the next day, the Haverleys rattled out of the town.

“Now,” said Miriam, “we are truly going home, and I do not remember ever doing that before.  And, Ralph,” she continued, after gazing right and left from the cab windows, “one of the first things we ought to do is to get a new man to take charge of the place.  That person isn’t fit.  I never saw such slouchy clothes.”

Ralph laughed.  “I am the man who is to have charge of the place,” he said.  “What do you think of my clothes?”

Miriam gave a little pull at his hair for reply.  “And there is another thing,” she continued.  “If that is our horse and wagon, don’t you really think that we ought to sell them?  They are awful.”

“Don’t be in a hurry,” said Ralph.  “We shall soon find out whether we own the horse or not.  He may belong to the man.  He’s not a bad one, either.  See, he is passing us now with that big trunk in the wagon.”

“Passing us!” exclaimed Miriam.  “Almost any horse could do that.  Did you ever see such an old poke as we have, and such a bouncy, jolting rattletrap of a carriage?  It squeaks all over.”