n6 RIVERSIDE LETTERS xv 



looked at this recording stone, in hot summer 

 weather, with extreme incredulity, but there 

 is no doubt, I feel sure now, as to its truthful- 

 ness. 



The water did not, I am happy to say, 

 come into our house anywhere, except in the 

 cellar, beneath the kitchen, where a barrel of 

 beer was lifted off its stand and carried away 

 to some remote corner from whence it has 

 not yet been recovered. 



The width of the gravel path was all 

 that was between the rising waters and the 

 doors of our house, on the evening of the 

 1 5th, when the flood was at its highest ; but 

 there was a rise of another foot and a half 

 above the path before the level of our floors 

 could be reached, so I felt tolerably comfort- 

 able in my mind, such a further rise being 

 almost impossible to imagine. My studio, in 

 the cottage next door, was in greater danger, 

 as the floor there was only six inches above 

 the water level, and I was hard at work all 

 Thursday morning putting such things away 



