However, things grew better after a time. The road broke away from the fields, and free winds blew over it. On either side swelled a soft common, not like Boarzell, but green and watery. It was grown with bracken, and Reuben laughed to see the big buck rabbits loppetting about, with a sudden scuttle and bob when he clapped his hands. Then a nice grinning dog ran with him a mile of the way, suddenly going off on a hunt near Starvecrow. Reuben came to Odiam aching with nothing worse than hunger. Odiam Farm was on the northern slope of Boarzell--sixty acres, mostly grass, with a sprinkling of hops and grain. There was a fine plum orchard, full of old gnarled trees, their branches trailing with the weight of continued crops. The house itself was red and weather-stung as an August pippin, with strange curves in its gable-ends, which had once been kilns. It was one of those squat, thick, warm-tinted houses of Sussex which have stood so long as to acquire a kind of naturalisation into the vegetable kingdom--it was difficult to imagine it had ever been built, it seemed so obviously a growth, one would think it had roots in the soil like an oak or an apple tree. Reuben opened the door, and the welcome, longed-for smell stole out to him--smothering the rivalry of a clump of chrysanthemums, rotting in dew. "Sossiges," he whispered, and ran down the passage to the kitchen. Here the sound of voices reminded him that he might have difficulties with his family, but Reuben's attitude towards his family, unless it forced itself directly into his life, was always a little aloof. "Well, lad," said his father, "so you're back at last." "You knew where I wur?" "Lucky we dud--or we'd have bin in tedious heart about you, away all night." Reuben pulled up his chair to the table. His father sat at one end, and at the other sat Mrs. Backfield; Harry was opposite Reuben. "If only you wud be a good boy lik Harry," said his mother. Reuben looked at Harry with detachment. He was not in the least jealous of his position as favourite son, he had always accepted it as normal and inevitable. His parents did not openly flaunt their preference, and they were always very kind to Reuben--witness the gentleness with which he was received to-day after his escapade--but one could not help seeing that their attitude towards the elder boy was very different from what they felt for the younger.