There was a portrait of Dr. Leslie's grandfather
opposite the fire-place; a good-humored looking old gentleman who had
been the most famous of the Oldfields ministers. The study-table was
wide and long, but it was well covered with a miscellaneous array of
its owner's smaller possessions, and the quick-eyed visitor smiled as
he caught sight of Nan's new copy of Miss Edgeworth's "Parent's
Assistant" lying open and face downward on the top of an instrument
case.
Marilla did not hear the doctor and his guest tramp up to bed until
very late at night, and though she had tried to keep awake she had
been obliged to take a nap first and then wake up again to get the
benefit of such an aggravating occasion. "I'm not going to fret myself
trying to make one of my baked omelets in the morning," she assured
herself, "they'll keep breakfast waiting three quarters of an hour,
and it would fall flat sure's the world, and the doctor's got to ride
to all p'ints of the compass to-morrow, too."
X
ACROSS THE STREET
It would be difficult to say why the village of Oldfields should have
been placed in the least attractive part of the township, if one were
not somewhat familiar with the law of growth of country communities.
The first settlers, being pious kindred of the Pilgrims, were mindful
of the necessity of a meeting-house, and the place for it was chosen
with reference to the convenience of most of the worshipers. Then the
parson was given a parsonage and a tract of glebe land somewhere in
the vicinity of his pulpit, and since this was the centre of social
attraction, the blacksmith built his shop at the nearest cross-road.
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