I Forbid the Banns! — page 173: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

CHAPTER XXV. ON A FINE DAY. OW and again, at intervals of some years, it happens that the month of May in England contains a fine day; but even the oldest inhabitant of Brackenhurst, who remem- bered when England had a climate—when the summer, according to the account daily given by the oldest inhabit- ant, consisted of six months of more than tropical heat, and the winter of six months of more than arctic snow and ice —failed to recall a May that opened with such promise as that which greeted Bertha’s arrival in England. When the picturesque little station of Brackenhurst was reached, and the train had rushed on into the distance of cut> tings and tunnels, leaving the girl by the side of Charlton among the scarlet runners and the red geraniums that bor- dered the platform, a blackbird appeared on a thorn bush that was giving an indication of the coming flower, and burst into song. A lark fluttered upward from the meadow beneath, and soared through the whiff of smoke left by the engine, and when a moment of silence came the voice of the cuckoo sounded through the distance. ‘England! England! home! home!”’ cried the girl with her eyes full of tears; ‘‘I know it now. I have always won- dered what it meant—that talk of the newly arrived peo- ple at our station—that talk of the hedgerows, the birds’ songs, the scent of the hawthorn. I know now what it all means. It means home.’’ ‘‘And you will soon be at home, dearest,’ said Julian. ‘‘The dogcart is waiting for us.’’ ~The drive to Brackenhurst village, which was three miles 163 CONNIECLIOOKS (E)