A Holiday 



TM HERE was a tang of autumn in the air; the sun shone 

 warm and bright, but from the hills beyond came a 

 sharp, cool nip that made its way into the sunny day, and 

 caught you when you left the sunshine for the shade. Out 

 on the ocean the sunbeams played on water of a blue that only 

 autumn knows a deep, dazzling, sapphire blue. Between the 

 mountains and the sea lay the paddocks green with the fresh- 

 ness of spring, stretching in waving lines to the southward. 

 From the little orchard came the mingled scent of a stray 

 lemon blossom, the first small violets, and a scented verbena 

 the meeting and mixing of two seasons in their perfume. In 

 the lingering purple blossoms of the solarium, which curtained 

 the verandah, a bumble bee buzzed drowsily, pretending it was 

 still summer, and a white butterfly came drifting by, as if there 

 were no such thing as winter in the world. 



" There is only one thing to do to-day," we said, " We will 

 walk across the paddocks till we come to the bath in the rocks, 

 and there we will swim all day." 



When autumn is in the air it is as easy to act as to think, 

 and in a very little while we passed through the white orchard 

 gate, and were out on the road with our faces set south. The 

 old stile, which led into the paddocks, was almost hidden 

 beneath the bracken and bramble, so lush have the wild things 



