Then they went to the hotel for dinner, so that the girls would not have to prepare it, and then in a double carriage Robert had secured for the occasion, they drove to Bates Corners and as Kate said, "Viewed the landscape o'er." Those eight pieces of land, none under two hundred acres, some slightly over, all in the very highest state of cultivation, with modern houses, barns, outbuildings, and fine stock grazing in the pastures, made an impressive picture.

It was probably the first time that any of the Bates girls had seen it all at once, and looked on it merely as a spectacle.

They stopped at Adam's last, and while Robert was busy with the team and John had alighted to help him, Nancy Ellen, revealing tight lips and unnaturally red cheeks, leaned back to Kate.
"This is about as mean a trick, and as big a shame as I've ever seen," she said, hotly.

"You know I was brought up with this, and I never looked at it with the eyes of a stranger before.

If ever I get my fingers on those deeds, I'll make short work of them!" "And a good job, too!" assented Kate, instantly.