the train for a shady
lane leading to a park, the kind owner of which had placed it at their
disposal for the day! Now ought not Bessie to have begun at last to
enjoy herself? No; foolish Bessie had seen a carriage at the station,
and envied the ladies who got into it: "_If_ I had a carriage and
horses, how much pleasanter it would be driving up this lane, instead
of walking as I am obliged to do now!" And so she went along at such a
slow, sulky pace that she was far behind when the lodge gates were
reached, and was almost shut out when the children and teachers were
admitted into the park. And as they had shouted for joy at sight of
the shady lanes, how much more did they shout when they saw the
beautiful spot in which for a whole long day they were to amuse
themselves! There were meadows covered with hay--not such hay as is
seen in stables, brown and hard and stiff, but soft, green and
grassy-looking, smelling sweetly, and just the thing to roll about in
and cover one another up with; then there was a nice level
cricket-ground, and all ready for the boys to begin a game; there were
shady trees under which to sit and listen to the birds' songs, and
woody dells and valleys full of ferns and wild flowers; ponds on which
swans swam about and came on swiftly and silently through the water in
hopes of food, and little streams trickling along with a murmuring
noise between the rushes and yellow flags which grew on their banks.
Certainly this was a delightful spot to be in; and when in the midst
of the beautiful park they saw the house and gardens--a house so large
that it seemed a palace in the eyes of the children, while the gardens
were filled with flowers of every color--they shouted again, all
except Bessie, who of course began again to envy: "Oh, what a splendid
house! _If_ I could only live there, I am sure I should never be
unhappy again; _if_ I could stay here and not go back to London;
_if_--"

But at this point her grumbling came to a sudden stop, for at a given
signal all the children, who had been racing over the grass, formed
into line and marched straight up to the house to make their bows and
curtseys to the kind lady and gentleman who lived there, and who had
come out into the porch with her own little girls and boys to welcome
the visitors. Of course Bessie found something fresh to be
discontented at: "_If_ I were one of that lady's little girls, I
should be dressed as nicely as she is, and then, _if_ I li