He had planned a good deal of refitting for the house, although not so
much as to deprive it of any of those characteristics which made it dear
old Cobhurst. And there were endless things to do on the farm, the most
important of which, in his eyes, was the breaking of the pair of colts,
which task he intended to take into his own hands. Mrs. Browning and the
gig were very well in their places, but something more would be needed
when the green leaves came.
Seraphina, Mike's sister, now ruled in the kitchen, but Ralph's thoughts
had acquired such a habit of leaving the subject on which he was engaged
and flying southward, that even when he took a meal with the Tolbridges,
which happened not infrequently, he scarcely noticed the difference
between their table and his own. Nothing stronger than this could be said
regarding his present power of abstracting his mind from surrounding
circumstances.
His income was a limited one, although it had been a good deal helped by
the products of his farm, and he had to do a great deal of calculating
with his pencil before he dared to order work which would oblige him to
draw a check with his pen.
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