ns vibrate as they rolled round and round,
east, west, north, and south. The rain kept streaming down so fast that
out of doors seemed one great watery mist that could have been almost
swum through.

All at once, just in the middle of a clap of thunder, Mary, the
housemaid, opened the dining-room door, and hurriedly said something,
but what no one could tell, for her voice was drowned by the rumbling
peal.

"Oh! my poor verbenas," said Mrs Inglis.

"Oh! won't this fill up the carp-pond, jolly!" said Harry.

"Come in, Mary," said Mrs Inglis; "what's the matter? Are all the
upstairs windows shut?"

"Oh! yes, mem," said Mary; "but the drain's stopped in the yard, and
Dick's kennel's floating, and the water's all coming into the kitchen."

"Oh! come and see," said Harry; and away the whole party went, to be
just in time to see the water taking its departure, and Dick's kennel
wrecked, down by the gates where the yard was highest, for Old Sam, in
spite of the pelting rain, was punching away at the sink-hole with the
stump of an old birch broom, and the water was rushing down it like a
little maelstrom; while the bits of straw and twigs that floated near,
represented the unfortunate vessels that get caught in that famous
whirlpool.

And still the rain kept pelting down, although the lightning ceased to
flash, and the thunder grew more and more distant, till it could only be
heard to mutter occasionally afar off. And still the rain kept pouring
down, even after cook had made up a roaring fire and wiped up all the
water, trundling her mop outside the scullery door till it seemed to go
off like a wet firework, as she spun and twisted it upon her great red
arms. And still it kept raining, after cook had smeared mason's dust
all over the stone floor with the wet mop, and when it had dried up and
the floor looked beautiful and white--white like the clean dresser and
table that cook used to scrub with soap and sand as though she meant to
scrub all the top off. And still it kept on raining, till tea was
brought in, and the urn hissed and sputtered upon the table, and at last
it became very plain that there would be no more going out that night,
to the great disappointment of the boys; for though in London Fred
hardly went out at all except for a walk, yet now the liberty of the
morning made him feel like a caged bird, and a melancholy feeling seemed
to come over all three boys as they sat watching the leaden sky, the
dr