"It will be all very charming in dry weather; but suppose it should rain, what will then become of us?"

"Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof?" said George. "At present, Jim Stubbs says it will bear a good deal of rain, and it is only a tempest that we have to dread. Depend on it we shall always find a remedy for all our troubles, if we exert our wits and our bodies also."

"That makes me think of seats," observed Adela; "for if it should rain, the ground will certainly not be a fit place for us to sit upon. I think we must begin by making a friend of the gardener; he is very good to us, and willing even to put himself out of the way for our sakes. No one else will want them this summer, therefore let us ask him to lend us the stools belonging to the root-house, or some which were made for the garden."

"I know," said George, "where there are some of our old school boxes, and these would be very useful, if we could but get at them without cook's knowledge, for the room in which they have been put is close to hers, and she is always up there when she is not in the kitchen."

"I hate to do anything underhand," said Adela; "but considering how cross she is, I do not see any harm in getting them away, while, for instance, she is asleep in her great chair after her dinner, or is gossiping about the village."

"Besides which," added George, "Jim Stubbs says she often prowls about in Church Lane."

"You and Jim Stubbs seem to have had a great deal of conversation together," said Ernest.

"It was all while we worked yesterday," replied George; "but if I had been willing to listen, I might have heard the history of the whole village."

Supper ended, the exercises for Mr. Montray were finished, that they might have the whole of the following day for their excursion, and for the arrangement of their house. They retired to bed full of happy schemes for the morrow, and the next morning they requested they might dine at one, instead of two, as they intended to go to Dullbury; "and, in fact," said Adela, "I shall be obliged to you, cook, if you will always let us dine at one o'clock in future, as it will divide our day better for

They carried to Faggot-House all that they could then find which they thought would be desirable there; and when they arrived, they saw the head gardener surveying the premises. He touched his hat, and said

"I beg your pardon, but I thought I might help to make you comfortable up here. I saw Master George and Stubbs at work yesterday at this place, and he told me what you intended to do. I can bring you some seats from the garden, for they are now standing under a shed; and as you did not order me to do so, I hardly thought it worth while to dress up the garden, master and mistress not coming. You can have the large table out of the root-house, miss, if you like."

The children joyfully accepted his offer, at once con

sulted him about their difficulties, and confided their feelings about cook.

"You see," said Ernest, "we want to do everything for ourselves, as much as possible, or else it is of no use our having such a place; and we don't want to have old cook meddling with everything, and scolding, and grumbling; so, gardener, please not to talk about what we do here."

"I won't mention it, I promise you, sir; I'll only slip in the things which are too heavy for you to carry; but wouldn't you like a bit of a garden? I wouldn't offer to make it for you; but I don't think it would be too late to sow some mignionette; if you dig a bit of ground up it near you, just to smell sweet, and put a few grains of the canary-bird creeper, and convolvuluses, which grow so fast. If you like, sir, I can give you the seeds?"

for

The offer was joyfully accepted; and then the difficulty about the milk was submitted to him, which he removed by saying, that as his master allowed him to have as much milk as he liked, he had only to ask for a pint more, and one of his children should take it every afternoon to one of the summer-houses in the garden, and leave it there, and they could take it as they passed up to the Park. I would do anything to please you, gentlemen, and Miss Adela," said he, respectfully touching his cap; "but, begging your pardon, I would do much more to circumvent that cantankerous old woman at the Hall, who delights in tormenting everybody."

CHAPTER IV.

VISIT TO DULLBURY.-THE FIRST FIRE LIGHTED. THE FIRST TEA. THE ELM AND CURRANT BUSH.-SPOONS, ETC., MISSING.-ANTS-BLACK-BEETLES.

-OILS.-FROGS.-MICE.-KITTEN.

THE poney-carriage drew up to the door by two o'clock, and, ordering a basket to be put in for holding their purchases, the trio started in high spirits, George sitting behind and Ernest driving. Their first care was to bait the poney, for they had come very fast, and it was a warm day, while Adela proceeded to the crockery-shop, where her brothers soon joined her with the carriage. There she saw several things which reminded them of wants which they had forgotten, such as jugs, sugar-basin, and a salt-cellar.

When they had finished at the porcelain shop, they went to the ironmonger's, and there the boys were sadly tempted to lay out their money, but Adela restrained them. They however procured a tea-kettle, a tin can for holding water, and one or two tin plates and dishes, and two large tin cases with lock and key, in which they might keep sugar, biscuits, and other stores which they might happen to have. The party did not return till after five o'clock, and they were then too tired to find their way to Faggot-House that evening.

With cook's usual grumbling at the alteration, the dinner was served next day at one, and this was kept up