just in the blush of spring, the woods were
bursting into tender leaf, plum blossom made fairy lace-work in wayside
orchards, and wallflowers and cowslips bloomed in cottage gardens.
Giles, who drove the car, had planned out their tour carefully. He was
determined to see rural England to best advantage, and, instead of
keeping always to the main roads, he intended to take by-ways, so as to
pass through typical country villages. Once free from the suburbs of
Liverpool, they avoided large towns as far as possible, as they made
their way through Cheshire to the Midlands. Their first object was that
Mecca of all American pilgrims--the Shakespeare country.

"In five days we haven't time to look at everything as we go along, so I
guess we'd better just sprint till we get to Kenilworth, and start our
sight-seeing there," decreed Giles.

He made an excellent chauffeur, and fortunately encountered no police
traps, though he certainly exceeded the speed limit when he saw a clear
road ahead. A lunch-basket with thermos flasks was packed in the car,
and the party picnicked for their mid-day meal in a wood where primroses
were opening their little pale-yellow flowers, and king-cups blazed in a
marshy ditch. The air was fresh with spring, and cuckoos were calling
from the fields by a river.

"When I was a small girl," said Loveday, "I thought there was only one
cuckoo in the world. People used to say: 'Oh, have you heard the cuckoo
yet?' so, of course, I thought there was only one. Nobody said: 'Have
you seen the swallow yet?' when swallows returned. I was fearfully
puzzled one day when I heard _two_ cuckoos both cuckooing at once."

They reached Kenilworth just at sunset, when a crimson sky was flaming
behind the old castle, and glowing on the windows of the picturesque
cottages that faced the ancient ruin from the other side of the village
green. Its grey walls, magnificent even in their decay, seemed teeming
with historic memories, and, in the glamour of the sunset, they could
almost, in imagination, restore the half-legendary splendour of its
later days, and picture Queen Elizabeth arriving there on her famous
visit to the Earl of Leicester. It was too late to do any exploring that
evening, so, after a halt to admire the beauty of the scene, they went
on to their hotel, promising themselves to make it the first object of
their sight-seeing to-morrow.

"It seems so extraordinary," said Mr. Hewlitt at dinner, "that every
littl