The
thorn-trees were all in bloom, and the banks were covered with the white
stitchwort and blue speedwell. The birds were in full song, and the
mornings and evenings were especially delicious.
I was to attend the Creamery for three months, so as to become
proficient in dairymaid work, and then I thought I could do some good
among our own people who could not afford to send a girl to the Creamery
to learn her business. Or it might be where there was no girl, and the
vanithee-that is to say, the good woman--did her work in her own way,
not half pressing the water out of the butter, so that it became rancid
after a few hours, or letting the cream become rancid before she churned
it. I had hopes that I could persuade even the most obstinate of them to
mend their ways; and that perhaps was an indication of my youth.
CHAPTER IV
RICHARD DAWSON
I used to go to Araglin every day, wet or dry. It is about three miles
from the Abbey as one goes to it through our own park, and by Daly's
Wood, which is a little wood, barely more than a coppice; the entrance
to it faces a gate in our park wall, and when you have traversed its
short length you have cut off a mile of the distance to Araglin if you
went by road.
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