kindly, and took him back to the stable. After this the groom took care to see that the door was safely bolted at night, but for all that, Rory got out several times, and was always found at Auntie's mounting-place. The groom thought it must be one of the boys who let Rory out, for the fun of the thing, and so he made up his mind to watch, He got up very early one morning, and crept quietly to a spot where he could see the stable door, and you can think how surprised the man was when he saw Rory with his mouth push back the bolt. The door also was soon opened by the clever horse, and out he walked, with slow step, to the old place, where he hoped to find his dear friend.

"It was not thought well to take any

means to prevent the horse going to the stone, and he continued to do so until Auntie got better. At first she was not able to go to the stable, so Rory was taken round to pay her a visit under her window. From the day he saw Auntie, he left off going to the mounting-stone, for no doubt he understood then the reason she could not ride, and knew also she would not forget her dear horse Rory, who had such a true and faithful love for her."

LILY'S ROBIN LETTER.

"You know, dearest Mamma," wrote Lily, "how we have longed to see a Robin Red-breast. We get any number of sparrows in London, but not even when it was very cold and hard weather has a Robin ever come to get any crumbs at our windows. Auntie told Blake, the gardener, if he found a nest of Robins to let us know, and so one morning he came and asked us to go and look at one, built in a thick creeper against a wall.

"Blake fixed a ladder quite safe for me, and although I was a little afraid, never having been on one before, I went