e
of a rock, which I call my fish-trap. Might not one say that the sea
knew that it was Grace's feast day?"

"I have only some shrimps," said William; "but they are very fine
ones, I hope. I took them, with a net at the end of the little
creek."

"Imprudent boy!" said their mother; "your father has told you a
hundred times not to venture to fish on that side of the island; the
rock is too steep, and the water is more than a hundred fathoms
deep."

"Yes, but, in a turning, there is a little platform which I have
shown to my father, and he has consented to my going there at low
water. Then I know the rock, and the sea knows me; neither of them
wish to hurt me. You have more reason for scolding Jenny; she is not
afraid of any thing; she climbs like a cat all along the crevices to
collect sea weed, which she burns in order to enrich the hole which
she calls her garden, and to cultivate--what? nothing that one can
eat--some good-for-nothing flowers, which grow only in consequence
of shelter and great care."

"And you count it for nothing to be able to present to Grace a rose
like that?" said Jenny, who just then came in bringing a rose of a
dull white, surrounded by vigorous leaves of a dark green. "What a
pleasure to have been able to keep it till now, even here, and to
see it blossom so exactly at the right time. I do not regret the
pains I have taken with it, I assure you."

"And you are right," replied her mother; "for Grace will know well
how to appreciate the pains you must have taken to give her such a
pleasure; and I, too, approve of the forethought you have
discovered, which will make you one day a good housewife. Let your
brothers fish and hunt; let it be your care to plant and ornament
our solitude with your little smiling, blooming nook of earth."

"But where is Grace?" asked John; "why is she not assisting you as
usual, Mother?"

"Because I refused to let her do so. She knows well that this day
will be her festival, and I have sent her up stairs to her father,
whilst we are here together preparing for her."

"James and the two little ones are missing," said William.

"Only James," replied his mother. "The two little ones are with
Grace, who is giving them a lesson in reading. I do not see why
James stays away so long; it is nightfall, and his father has always
desired him to take care not to be overtaken by a fog far from the
house."

"Suppose I go after him," said William.

"There he comes, the