Year: 1872

I am going to Bushfeld to set
my house in order. If you will
stay with me until you can go back
to town, you can be made as COM
Portable as you. would be, perhaps,
if out on a picnic that lasted over
night. My house has been shut up
all winter, and [ have no servant
with me-"


Miss Harlem-there is no reason
why her name should be concealed
had so much of the good Samari-
tan in her face as she spoke, that
Flora could not help thanking her
for helping her out of the ditch, as
it were; the lady seemed pleased to
be taken at her word.


" There is nobody to expect me" "
she said, as they stood on the plat
form at the depot for a moment,
while she twisted her veil around
her hat and looked down the lane
like road which ran on and on, ev-
identity toward the dwelling-places
scattered alcng the hillside, $50 we
may as well go at once. "


Flora could not have dropped in
to a greener world or one more still,
for the stiffness was not broken by
the singing of the birds, which filed
the budding trees and made vocal
the wayside fences.


When, laden like two peddlers,
they had gone about mile, indulg-
ing now and then in a bit of speech,
Miss Harlem suddenly turned into
a still narrower lane, and rounding
a curve in the road, they beheld a
small, old house half hidden by the
great apple trees which, blushing in
aged beauty, surrounded it.


" Here we are, all in the month of
May" said the guide. Wait a
minute until I let the daylight in"


So she unlocked the door, went
in, unfastened the tight wooden
shutters, and stepped quickly about
with a song in her heart, which
now and then presented itself at the
door of her mouth. She was evi-
IDENTIFY at home.


While Miss Flora stood in the
rustic porch, looking across the
green grass to the lonely, winding
road, she felt how much she had
yet to learn of real solitude. I wish
[ could disclose to you that old
place, though you are here for quite
another purpose; and, indeed, what
words could give you the subdued
and wonderous coloring of that
August twilight-the wide expanse
of that glorious sky, gorgeous even
with its dying hues-the sound of
the long swaying branches, as they
scarcely moved in the zephyrous
air-the dense shadows in the grass
the chirp of the little disobedient
birds that would sit up late and
talk?


In less than an hour the water was
boiling in the tea-kettIe, and they
were seated at a little tea-table In a
square room, which suggested to Miss
Flora that possibly she might be in
the house of one of Barnum's collec-
tors or manufacturers. Every mi
mute thing that could move on
wings seemed to have flown In there
to be impaled. There was no end
of bufterfies-no end of minor in
sects, and a wilderness of birds.
Glass cages protected all these spec
linens. The room was a library,
but the books were the works of ma
ture. There was no furniture be-
sides, except the table at which they
sat, and the chaifs which supported
them. Dividing the six cages
of stuffed birds and other preserved
creatures, were three windows and
two doors. and through these win
dows, between the gnarled bran ches
of those blooming aPple-trees-oh,
my good reader, would that you and
l might see what Miss Flora's eyes
beheld 4!


The like of this will never hap
pen to me again; I will enjoy it to
the full extent" Miss Flora
thought, reminding herself in good
time that she was a philosopher.


Her hostess perhaps divined her
thoughts. ''Shall you be afraid to
spend the night in this old house ?''
she asked, "I am ancient being,
there's no denying it, but [ am no
witch. These things you see around
are my fossil remains"


"If you DO not repent having
invited me, l congratulate myself,
said Miss Flora.


"I ought not to repent, I have
| pleGty of solitude, but that's what 1
like of all things" answered Miss
Harlem, adding one remark to an
other so quickly and deity, would
that the man worshipping "Auto-
crat of the Breakfast Table" could
have heard her eff l had not
this place to come to once in a while
1 don't know how 1 should fare"


Flora wanted just then to ask
question or two; but, as though per
suaded that she must hear q good
many new and strange things be-
fore she went away, she left the
questions unasked, and not only so,
but before the evening was half
spent found herself enlarging elo-
quently on the difficulties of the
work which she had undertaken,
and looking to her hostess for coun-
Gil in such a way that seemed to i'm
/ Nv tbat sba had csOna tn Rucb6aId