"I wish," said Monica at last, "that we had kept the field."
"I am sure I wish we had," answered her sister.
----
CHAPTER II.
BREAKING THE ICE.
The cottage from the window of which the Misses Williams had looked out
stands, and has stood for many a year, in that pleasant suburban
district which lies between Norwood, Anerley, and Forest Hill. Long
before there had been a thought of a township there, when the Metropolis
was still quite a distant thing, old Mr. Williams had inhabited "The
Brambles," as the little house was called, and had owned all the fields
about it. Six or eight such cottages scattered over a rolling country-
side were all the houses to be found there in the days when the century
was young. From afar, when the breeze came from the north, the dull,
low roar of the great city might be heard, like the breaking of the tide
of life, while along the horizon might be seen the dim curtain of smoke,
the grim spray which that tide threw up. Gradually, however, as the
years passed, the City had thrown out a long brick-feeler here and
there, curving, extending, and coalescing, until at last the little
cottages had been gripped round by these red tentacles, and had been
absorbed to make room for the modern villa.
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