If she moved her head no more than an inch to the left, she could see through the long lean scythes of grass right down to the river to where the punt was usually tied up. But for some reason or other the punt wasn't there. And when she came to think about it a little longer, she realised that the jetty also wasn't there. It worried her, until it occurred to her that perhaps the place where she was lying was either too far up- or down-river for her to see where the punt and the jetty should have been. But no; when she turned round to look over her shoulder, the roof of the house was exactly where she expected it, peering at her over the orchard of almond and apple trees which, despite their age, were again green and swelling with fruit this summer.

She turned back to the river again, the sun seeping luxuriously through the back of her dress. Where could the punt and jetty have got to? Had Father decided after all to build a new jetty, and while the old one was demolished the punt was up in the boat-house? That must be the explanation. And yet, if this were so, she should have heard about it. Surely her sisters, even Flora, could not have kept so important a project secret from her? When she would go back up to the house, later on in this glorious day when the sun's warmth would be gone, she'd have it out with them, mark her words that she would. They couldn't put everything over Maisie Jane Matthews, no matter how smart they all thought they were, all five of them, especially Flora, even Elsie; hateful, they were at times, like when they said in sing-song voices:

'Maisie's the baby, you can tell by her dimple,

And also because she's a teeny bit simple!'

Simple? Simple? What did they mean by it? But whatever they meant, they couldn't deny that not one of them was as happy as she herself was. Father always said so, Father was always right; so it must be so. Which meant that she in turn could be sorry for her sisters, poor miserable wretches who, no matter how good their eyesight might be, could never any of them see all the joyous things in life.