flooded. Mr McAllister's principal hay-field was a
pond--every ditch was a rivulet; "the burn" was a destructive cataract;
the white torrents that raged down the mountains everywhere, far and
near, looked like veins of quartz, and the river had become a lake with
a strong current in the middle of it. There was no sunshine now in the
Highlands,--not a gleam!

Nevertheless there was sunshine in the hearts of some who sojourned
there. Mr Sudberry had found out that he could fish just as well in
wet weather as in dry, and that the fish were more eager to be caught.
That was sunshine enough for him! Lucy found a new and engrossing
amusement, of a semi-scientific kind, in laying down and pressing her
botanical specimens, and writing Latin names under the same, being
advised thereto and superintended by Hector Macdonald. That was
sunshine enough for her, and for him too apparently, for he came every
day to help her, (and she declared she could not get on without help),
and it was quite wonderful to observe how very slowly the laying-down
progressed, although both of the semi-philosophers were intensely
interested in their work. Flora was so sunny by nature that she
lightened up the place around her wherever she went; she was thus in
some measure independent of the sun. George was heard to say more than
once that her face was as good as a sunbeam any day! Mrs Sudberry,
poor woman, was so rampantly triumphant in the total discomfiture of her
husband touching the weather, that she resigned herself to Highland
miseries in a species of happy contentment, and thus lived in what may
be likened to a species of mild moonshine of her own. Tilly, poor,
delicate, unobtrusive Tilly, was at all times satisfied to bask in the
moonlight of her mother's countenance. As for Jacky--that arch-imp
discovered that wet weather usually brought his victims within doors,
and therefore kept them constantly within reach of his dreadful
influence. He was supremely happy--"darling child." Fred finished up
his sketches--need we say that that was sunshine to him? The servants
too shared in the general felicity. Indeed, they may, in a sense, be
said to have been happier than those they served, for, having been
transported to that region to _work_, they found the little bits of fun
and amusement that fell to their lot all the more pleasant and
enjoyable, that they were unexpected, and formed a piquant contrast to
the monotonous routine of daily d