oom causes one to speculate upon
things which, seen in the broad glare of day, have nothing of mystery or
wonder about them; they are but too evident to the eye. A grammar-school
education does not permit of great descriptive flights, or this cavern
would be for me an exquisite theme upon which to write a chapter on
fairyland.

The walls of this vaulted chamber sparkled from the constant dripping of
water, which appeared to ooze from the sides and roof as the tide went
down; but what appeared most noticeable was the pink hue of these walls,
which upon closer inspection appeared to be lined with a kind of coral,
or some such substance, while here and there from roof and walls
depended most lovely fern-like sea-weed, whose long fronds waved
gracefully in the grateful breeze which came in from the south end in
puffs, just enough to stir the glorious pool of water covering the whole
floor of the cave. The chamber is not very wide, probably not more than
from four to five feet, so that the pool on the floor forms a miniature
lake of surpassing beauty, some forty or fifty feet long, and from one
to two feet deep; but the contents and the arrangement of that pool who
shall describe? In this small space may be found animal and vegetable
life of all kinds, anemonae, lovely weeds, zoophytes, curious fish,
sponges, shells, coral, and a hundred other things, all in such
perfection and orderly wildness that no artificial aquarium can ever
hope to present, for they are made by hands, and can never vie with
Nature in the formation of the wild and picturesque aspect of these
rocky pools.

As the sea filled this cave at every tide there was always something new
for me to admire whenever I made a visit, and my only regret was that I
could not take it home with me if I should be spared to see Norfolk
again.

Now to proceed a little further with my narrative.

Christmas was a time which I knew not how to fill up. I wanted to be
jolly and to make some festive difference in the usual routine of my
daily life and fare, but with no companion I found it a very difficult
task, even to make myself believe it really was Christmas time.

I made a plum pudding which had scarcely the consistence to hang
together when I rolled it out of the cloth; but that mattered little, as
a broken pudding required less muscular activity for the jaws. The main
point was the flavour; it was not at all bad. Tinned beef, potatoes,
tomatoes, a cauliflower, a rabb