stretched along, like the barriers of fairyland;
so they seemed to me; only the barrier was open and I was about to
enter. So till their grey and green ramparts were passed, and the
broader reaches of the river beyond, and as evening began to draw in
we came to higher shores and a narrower channel, and were threading
our way among the lights and shadows of opposing headlands and
hilltops. It grew but more fresh and fair as the sun got lower. Then,
in a place where the river seemed to come to an end, the "Pipe of
Peace" drew close in under the western shore, to a landing. Buildings
of grey stone clustered and looked over the bank. Close under the
bank's green fringes a little boat-house and large clean wooden pier
received us; from the landing a road went steeply sloping up. I see it
all now in the colours which clothed it then. I think I entered
fairyland when I touched foot to shore. Even down at the landing,
everything was clean and fresh and in order. The green branches of
that thick fringe which reached to the top of the bank had no dust on
them; the rocks were parti-coloured with lichens; the river was
bright, flowing and rippling past; the "Pipe of Peace" had pushed off
and sped on, and in another minute or two was turning the point, and
then--out of sight. Stillness seemed to fill the woods and the air as
the beat of her paddles was lost. I breathed stillness. New York was
fifty miles away, physically and morally at the antipodes.

I find it hard to write without epithets. As I said I was in
fairyland; and how shall one describe fairyland?

Dr. Sandford broke upon my reverie by putting me into the omnibus. But
the omnibus quite belonged to fairyland too; it did not go rattling
and jolting, but stole quietly up the long hill; letting me enjoy a
view of the river and the hills of the opposite shore, coloured as
they were by the setting sun, and crisp and sharp in the cool June
air. Then a great round-topped building came in place of my view; the
road took a turn behind it.

"What is that?" I asked the doctor.

"I am sorry, Daisy, I don't know. I am quite as ignorant as yourself."

"That's the riding-hall," I heard somebody say.

One omnibus full had gone up before us; and there were only two or
three people in ours besides our own party. I looked round, and saw
that the information had been given by a young man in a sort of
uniform; he was all in grey, with large round gilt buttons on his
coat, and a soldier