In time there came to exist a tacit agreement between Richard and
Warren that Mrs. Willis was not to be "worried" and in the effort to
spare her they assumed, unconsciously, a brotherly guardianship over
the three girls for which their mother was silently grateful. It was
obvious that she could not tramp the fields with them and equally
apparent that they would go wherever their healthy young active
curiosity might lead. Richard and Warren took upon themselves the
duties of friendly counselors--and had their hands full from the start.

"Country life may be healthy," said Winnie one Saturday when Doctor
Hugh was spending the week-end at Rainbow Hill, "but I don't know as
I'd call it exactly beautifying. Rosemary has a crop of freckles on
her nose that will probably last all winter and Sarah is about as black
as the automobile curtains. As for Shirley, between the briar
scratches and the bruises on her hands and arms, she looks more like a
strawberry plant, than a natural, human child."

Winnie was genuinely grieved at the girls' indifference to their looks,
especially Rosemary of whom she was very proud, but Doctor Hugh
declared that he liked to see folk look as though they lived outdoors.

"They live outdoors all right," Winnie informed him, a trifle tartly,
"in fact I don't see why you didn't lug up a couple of tents and turn
'em loose inside. Rosemary is going to be blown out of the window some
fine night and, to my way of thinking, it's better to start sleeping on
the ground than to land there sudden like, right in a sound sleep."

Rosemary laughed. She was sitting on the arm of her brother's chair
and, despite the freckles across her nose, presented a charming picture
of a pretty girl in a dull rose frock.

"Fresh air is good for you, isn't it, Hugh?" she demanded. "Winnie is
always saying I ought to sleep in the 'Cave of the Winds.'"

"I wouldn't say a word, if you'd be reasonable," said Winnie, setting
the table as she talked. "But it can rain or blow great guns and you
never as much rise up to put the window down; you might think it was
nailed up. Last night the rain poured in and soaked through to the
hall ceiling and what Mrs. Hammond is going to say when she sees that,
I don't know."

"We must have it repapered for her," said the doctor lazily. "Shirley
lamb, there seems to be something wrong with your dress--what is that
oozing out of your pocket?"

Winnie glanced at the discomfited Shirley.