It was certainly cold when first they started; the air was fresh and biting, with a touch of frost in it, and the sun had not yet come out.  Anna shivered beneath her fur-lined cloak, and Tony, thrusting his hands deep down in his pockets, snuggled down between Kitty and Anna, and felt very glad for once that he was not allowed an outside seat.

But by degrees the sun shone through the misty grayness, bathing the road before them, and lighting up the bare hedges on either side until it really seemed that spring had come, that the fresh morning air was certainly full of the scent of primroses and violets, and the sweet earthy smell of moss.  The birds evidently thought so too, for they came fluttering and flying from all manner of cosy hiding-places, and, undaunted by the sight of the brown branches and the leafless twigs, boldly perched themselves on telegraph wires and trees to survey the scene while they made their summer plans.

What more could one want than brown branches if the sun was on them!  And how could one hurry or worry, or do anything but revel quietly in the beauty that lay all about one, and tell oneself there were no gray days to come!

Mokus, for one, evidently felt that this was no occasion for haste, and Kitty did not contradict him.  She herself felt that she wanted to linger over every moment, and get the fullest enjoyment out of it all.

Dan, however, had other views, and when, at the foot of Tremellen Hill, they found him and Betty perched on a low bridge awaiting them, he upbraided them plaintively for their waste of time.

“But no girl ever could drive, even a donkey,” he said loftily.  “He will find out now that he has met his master.  Get up, Betty.  Do be quick.  I want to reach Helbarrow to-day, and it must be lunch-time already.”  At which Tony, who was scrambling down from the cart, reached back for his basket.

“I fink I’d better take it wiv me,” he said gravely.  “If they are going so fast, p’r’aps we shan’t see them any more till we get there.”

“I think we needn’t be afraid of that,” said Anna sarcastically, “if we don’t walk too fast.”

Oh what a day it was! and what a donkey! and what a journey!  And oh the time it took! and how they did enjoy it all!  When they had walked for about a mile or more, the three sat down to rest and await the carriage folk, of whom they had not caught a glimpse since they walked away and left them.  Then by degrees Tony’s luncheon basket assumed a prominent position in their thoughts and before their eyes.  Morning air, particularly in January, is hungry air; and to wait, with the food under your very nose, and not be free to eat it, is not easy.

“I really must go back a little way to see if they are anywhere near,” said Kitty at last, growing impatient and hungry.  Anna and Tony were hungry too, but they were too comfortable and lazy to move, so they leaned luxuriously amongst the dry twigs and leaves and dead grass in the hedge, and watched Kitty as she walked eagerly back again along the level road they had just travelled.  When she reached the brow of the hill she stopped, and the next moment a peal of laughter announced the fact that she had caught sight of the laggards.