The gardener and two helpers were already in the potato field at the end of the grounds.

The ladies knelt down and began fumbling in the mold with their beringed fingers, shouting gaily whenever they discovered a potato of exceptional size.

It struck them as so amusing! But Tatan Nene was in a state of triumph! So many were the potatoes she had gathered in her youth that she forgot herself entirely and gave the others much good advice, treating them like geese the while.

The gentlemen toiled less strenuously.

Mignon looked every inch the good citizen and father and made his stay in the country an occasion for completing his boys' education.