ared that if they were sensitive people, they would
feel very badly at having broken up our plans by their visit, and then
having appropriated our camp to themselves. She thought it would be the
part of magnanimity to say nothing about it.

I could not help seeing a good deal of force in her arguments, although
I wished very much to set the thing straight, and we discussed the
matter again as we walked down to the camp, after breakfast next
morning.

There we found old John sitting on a stump. He said nothing, but handed
me a note written in lead-pencil on a card. It was from our ex-boarder,
and informed me that early that morning he had found that there was a
tug lying in the river, which would soon start for the city. He also
found that he could get passage on her for his party, and as this was
such a splendid chance to go home without the bother of getting up to
the station, he had just bundled his family and his valise on board, and
was very sorry they did not have time to come up and bid us good-bye.
The tent he left in charge of a very respectable man, from whom he had
had supplies.

That morning I had the camp-equipage packed up and expressed to its
owner. We did not care to camp out any more that season, but thought it
would be better to spend the rest of my vacation at the sea-shore.

Our ex-boarder wrote to us that he and his wife were anxious that we
should return their visit during my holidays; but as we did not see
exactly how we could return a visit of the kind, we did not try to do
it.

CHAPTER XII. LORD EDWARD AND THE TREE-MAN.

It was winter at Rudder Grange. The season was the same at other places,
but that fact did not particularly interest Euphemia and myself. It was
winter with us, and we were ready for it. That was the great point,
and it made us proud to think that we had not been taken unawares,
notwithstanding the many things that were to be thought of on a little
farm like ours.

It is true that we had always been prepared for winter, wherever we had
lived; but this was a different case. In other days it did not matter
much whether we were ready or not; but now our house, our cow, our
poultry, and indeed ourselves, might have suffered,--there is no way
of finding out exactly how much,--if we had not made all possible
preparations for the coming of cold weather.

But there was a great deal yet to be thought of and planned out,
although we were ready for winter. The next thing to