After breakfast next morning Mrs. Norton stopped John as he was going upstairs to unpack his books. ‘Now,’ she said, ‘you must go out for a walk with Kitty Hare, and I hope you will make yourself agreeable. I want you to see the new greenhouse I have put up; she’ll show it to you. And I told the bailiff to meet you in the yard. I thought you would like to see him.’
‘I wish, mother, you would not interfere in my business; had I wanted to see Burns I should have sent for him.’
‘If you don’t want to see him, he wants to see you. There are some cottages on the farm that must be put into repair at once. As for interfering in your business, I don’t know how you can talk like that; were it not for me the whole place would be falling to pieces.’
‘Quite true; I know you save me a great deal of e
