At "The Drovers' Arms"MOLLY PIGGOTT sang as she washed up the glasses in the back kitchen of "The Drovers' Arms." She was alone in the house, for as soon as the bar had shut at two o'clock, Ted Allen, the landlord, and his wife Bessie had driven off to Lulling, in their twenty-year-old Baby Austin, to do the week-end shopping."We'll be back in an hour or so, love," fat, rosy Bessie had called from the car, "in time to let you get away real early, as it's fair day. Keep your eyes open for the laundry van. He's supposed to be calling about three—but you know what he is!"They had rattled off, leaving Molly to enjoy the peaceful kitchen on her own. She was glad of her own company for she was in a state of great excitement.Molly had been born at the little cottage on Thrush Green, and, for her, May the first had always been the highlight of the year. The traveling fair had become associated for Molly with the most bewitching time of the country year, when hope, warmth and color flooded fields and gardens, and the hearts of men could not fail to be quickened by the glory around them.
