up I
felt as if a tremendous weight had been lifted from my shoulders, and
was quite happy again; probably at having acted the Good Samaritan to a
man who, like the one in the Bible, was not of the same country or creed
as myself.

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CHAPTER XI.

CLIMATE IN WINTER--VISION OF MY FATHER--A WARNING
VOICE--SUPERNATURAL MANIFESTATIONS--THE FALLING ROCK--MY LIFE SAVED
BY MY DOG.

Winter was now come, but a very different atmosphere prevailed to what I
had been used to in my Norfolk home. There I was accustomed to see the
broads and rivers frozen over, and the means of communication by boat
between the various rivers completely stopped. There we dreaded the
marrow-piercing north-east wind which, coming straight across the cold
North Sea from icebound Norway and the frozen Baltic, caused everything,
animal and vegetable, to be cut and chilled, so that frequently both man
and plant succumbed to its penetrating rigour; but here the north or
east wind is not nearly such a dreaded visitor, and it is only on
exceptional days that its biting power is felt.

There nothing seemed to grow during the winter, all vegetation
slumbered, sometimes never to awaken; here in mid winter the primrose
and violet were in full bloom, and on New Year's Day I gathered quite a
posy of garden flowers, including roses and other fragrant flowers.

Snow fell on two or three occasions, but the bright sun dissipated it
very quickly, and the frosts were not at all severe; in fact, were only
of occasional occurrence. These frosts are only severe enough to hurt
one class of persons, and that is the gardeners, who dread a frost
coming after the blossoms are set on the trees. The climate being so
mild the blossom buds burst at a very early period, so that a late frost
coming nips them, then good-bye to the fruit.

Frequently potatoes are here being eaten before the green tops are above
ground in England, which is another proof of the mildness of the
climate. No doubt this mildness and equability of temperature is due in
a great measure to the influence of the Gulf Stream, which keeps the
surrounding sea at an even temperature; the sea in turn tempering the
wind, keeps the thermometer very level.

There is usually a very mild fortnight towards the end of October, which
the natives call "La petite ete;" it appears like a return of summer,
and is greatly