Page:The Lark - E Nesbit, 1922.djvu/168

169 remember the other thing she always used to write in our albums:

The work that's nearest us is making Cedar Court into a paying concern. And whatever else it turns out to be, it won't be dull. Cheer up, my lovely Lucy. We have two houses—four if we count the cottages, and five if you count the summer-house. We have youth, health, strength, good looks—oh yes, we have—nearly four hundred pounds in the bank, a really excellent rabbit, and the handsomest gardener in Europe."

"And kind Mr. Rochester always at hand to help us with his advice. Jane, do you think you could ever marry a thoroughly bad-tempered man?"

Jane got up and looked at herself in the glass over the sideboard.

"We are good-looking," she said, as one ending an argument. "You're very good-looking—and I'm not half bad in my foxy, sharp-faced way. What was that you said about marrying? No, never mind. We mustn't think about marrying, or young men, or love, or any of that nonsense till we've succeeded in business."

"We seem to be surrounding ourselves with young men," said Lucilla. "Even Simmons is young. We must think of them."

"But not like that," said Jane firmly. "Mr. Dix is a gardener. Mr. Rochester is . . . By the way, I'm not going to call him Mr. Rochester any more. Why should he be set up on pedestals? If Uncle James is good enough for our aged benefactor, Nephew John is good enough for our young paint-remover. Nephew John! I shall call him that for the future." "To his face?"

"Of course," said Jane ironically, "every time. Come