Madge would have stopped
this horrible din, which indeed scared away the birds to right
and left, but Madelon only laughed and said she liked it.
Graham, coming across the fields in another direction, saw the
little procession advancing towards him, and waited on the
other side of a stile till it should come up. The children
tumbled joyfully over into Uncle Horace's arms, and were at
once ready with a hundred plans for profiting by the unwonted
pleasure of having him for a companion in their walk; but he
distinctly declined all their propositions, and sending them
on in front with Madge, walked along at Madelon's side.
"Why do you plague yourself with all these children," he said,
"instead of taking a peaceable walk in peaceable society?"
"I like the children," she answered, "and I should have found
no society but my own this afternoon, for Mrs. Vavasour was
going to pay visits, she said, and Maria went out directly
after lunch."
"And you think your own society would have been less peaceable
than that of these noisy little ruffians?"
"I don't know," she answered; "I like walking by myself very
much sometimes, but I like the children, too, and Madge and I
are great friends.
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