`` He sold the farm after Hester died and went back to Boston . Mr. Jabez Sloane bought the farm and hauled the little house out to the road . Jordan died about ten years after and he was brought home and buried beside Hester . '' `` I ca n't understand how she could have wanted to live back here , away from everything , '' said Jane . `` Oh , I can easily understand THAT , '' said Anne thoughtfully . `` I would n't want it myself for a steady thing , because , although I love the fields and woods , I love people too . But I can understand it in Hester . She was tired to death of the noise of the big city and the crowds of people always coming and going and caring nothing for her . She just wanted to escape from it all to some still , green , friendly place where she could rest . And she got just what she wanted , which is something very few people do , I believe . She had four beautiful years before she died ... four years of perfect happiness , so I think she was to be envied more than pitied . And then to shut your eyes and fall asleep among roses , with the one you loved best on earth smiling down at you ... oh , I think it was beautiful ! '' `` She set out those cherry trees over there , '' said Diana . `` She told mother she 'd never live to eat their fruit , but she wanted to think that something she had planted would go on living and helping to make the world beautiful after she was dead . '' `` I 'm so glad we came this way , '' said Anne , the shining-eyed . `` This is my adopted birthday , you know , and this garden and its story is the birthday gift it has given me . Did your mother ever tell you what Hester Gray looked like , Diana ? '' `` No ... only just that she was pretty . '' `` I 'm rather glad of that , because I can imagine what she looked like , without being hampered by facts . I think she was very slight and small , with softly curling dark hair and big , sweet , timid brown eyes , and a little wistful , pale face . ''
The girls left their baskets in Hester 's garden and spent the rest of the afternoon rambling XXXXX the woods and fields surrounding it , discovering many pretty nooks and lanes .
at because before beside in like of over so to