h much
advanced in that direction since her residence in Canada, wished to
return, and go round; but four miles lost was too serious a
consideration; so she shut her eyes, clutched her husband, and prayed
audibly, as the driver, with a screech of encouragement to his cattle,
after a few struggles and flounders, landed the waggon on the opposite
side.

But Miss Prosody declared that the wheel of the buggy would certainly be
torn off in the attempt, and, losing her usual prudery in terror, whipped
off her stockings, and proceeded to wade, to the exposure of a very
attenuated pair of calves.

Freddy and Lola hung upon Cecil, powerless with laughter, comparing her
to the thin-legged aquatic birds in the Zoo; but the Colonel, with rather
a suspicious guffaw, rushed to her aid, relieving her from her hose, and,
as she afterwards recollected in deep confusion, a pair of knitted
garters.

The buggy bumped over somehow, and they got _en route_ again, the road
winding through woods golden in the setting sun. Occasionally a raccoon,
playing about the trunks of trees, beguiled the loneliness of the way; or
a strange bird, with harsh note, but gay plumage, flashed across their
track. Colonel Rolleston, however, was not so much entranced as his
children at discovering that the road stopped at the hotel on the lake,
not coming within half-a-mile of his new property, and that they must
embark and cross over in boats to Lyndon's Landing, as it was called,
after the former occupants.

The evening was calm, and the sunset dyed their sail redly as it
floated the barque lazily across the slumbering lake to their port at
the bottom of a sloping lawn. The path, winding up hill, led them to a
sylvan-looking lodge, where, instead of a bell, hung a hunting-horn.

Cecil executed a sonorous blast, but dropped it hastily, it being
answered almost simultaneously by an ancient menial left in charge. Their
own servants were coming on by coach, and they were much comforted by
perceiving that this provident person had prepared a substantial repast,
combining supper and tea, in a small, snug room.

The young people rushed about on a tour of inspection, and found plenty
to satisfy their curiosity. The hall, to begin with was filled with
trophies of the chase--antlers of moose, stuffed aquatic birds, Indian
spears, and strange carving. A long, low, narrow room opened on it, in
which were chairs of the weirdest description, fashioned out of boughs of