w Anna's praise. The
two elder ladies paid less attention to what they passed; they
contented themselves with leaning back and saying how beautiful the
air was, and how refreshing the country. The girls said that as well;
they all agreed six times within the hour that it was a delightful
expedition, and they enjoying it much.

In time they came to the wood. An unpaved road ran through it of
soft, deep sand, which deadened every sound; on either hand the trees
rose, pines and larch and beech principally, with a few large-leafed
shivering poplars here and there. There was no undergrowth, and few
bird songs, only the dim wood aisles stretching away, quiet and green.
Suddenly it seemed to Julia that the world's horizon had been
stretched, the little neatness, the clean, trim brightness, the
bustling, industrious toy world was gone; in its place was the
twilight of the trees, the silence, the repose, the haunting,
indefinable sense of home which is only to be found in these
cathedrals of Nature's making.

"Ah, the wood!" Denah said, with a profound sigh. "The beautiful wood!
Miss Julia, do you not love it?"

Julia did not assent, but Denah went on quite satisfied, "You cannot
love it as I do; I think I am a child of Nature, nothing would please
me more than always to live here."

"You would have to go into the town sometimes," Julia said, "to buy
gloves; the ones you have would not last for ever."

Denah looked a little puzzled by the difficulty; she had not
apparently thought out the details of life in a natural state; but
before she could come to any conclusion one of the little girls cried,
"Music--I hear music!"

All the ladies said "Delicious!" together, and "How beautiful!" and
Denah, content to ignore Nature, added rapturously, "Music in the
wood! Ah, exquisite! two beauties together!"

Julia echoed the remark, though the music was that of a piano-organ.
The horizon had drawn in again, and the prospect narrowed; the silence
was full of noises now, voices and laughter, amidst which the organ
notes did not seem out of place. And near at hand under the trees
there were tables spread and people having tea, enjoying themselves in
a simple-hearted, noisy fashion, in no way suggestive of cathedral
twilight.

The carriage was put up, the tea ordered, and in a little they, too,
were sitting at one of the square tables. Each lady was provided with
a high wooden chair, and a little wooden box footstool. A kettle on a