carefully adjusted, and with a circle of brown damp about
it, which told of attentive watering. A few roundish leaves were the
object of all this regard; in the centre of the knot to-day stood a
little green knob on a short stem.

'Oh, Georgie! papa! come and look at my daisy; it has actually got a
bud.'

Master George, nothing loth to have lessons disturbed by any summons,
ran round from the open window through the open hall door, and his
father followed more slowly to behold the marvel.

'You see, papa, I thought it never would get on, it was such a sickly
little thing; but it must be growing strong, or it could not put out a
bud. How glad I shall be to see a daisy's face again! I would give all
the fragrance of the blue wild iris for one. But, papa, the laurel
cuttings are dead, I fear.'

They looked very like it, though Mr. Wynn would still give them a
chance. He apprehended the extreme dryness of the air might prove too
much for the infant daisy also. But Linda would see nothing except
promise of prosperity as yet.

'Now, papa, when I am done with my melons, and you have finished Georgie's
lessons, I want you to walk down to Daisy Burn with me. I have something
to say to Edith.'

'With pleasure, my dear. But I have always wondered why that name was
given to that farm, except on the principle of _lucus a non_.'

After the mid-day dinner they went. Meeting Andy on the road, trudging
up from the 'Corner' on some message, he informed them that the captain
and his son had gone to a cradling-bee at Benson's, an English settler a
few miles off. 'But as to whether 'tis to make cradles they want, or to
rock 'em, meself doesn't rightly know.'

The fact being that a 'cradle,' in American farming, signifies a machine
for cutting down corn wholesale. It is a scythe, longer and wider than
that used in mowing hay, combined with an apparatus of 'standard,'
'snaith,' and 'fingers,' by means of which a single workman may level
two acres and a half of wheat or oats in one day.

'Captain Armytage is of a very sociable disposition,' remarked Mr. Wynn,
after a few steps. 'A man fresh from the mess table and clubs must
find the bush strangely unsuitable.' He was thinking of certain petty
occurrences at his own bee, which demonstrated the gallant officer's
weaknesses.

'Oh, papa, did you ever see anything like these vines? Grapes will be
as plentiful as blackberries are at home.' For along the concession line
many trees were