JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 131 

 tentious in its architecture, and beau- 

 tifully embowered amid elms and oaks. 

 Several graceful fawns, and a noble 

 elk, were stalking in the shade of the 

 trees, apparently unconscious of the 

 presence of a few dogs, and not caring 

 for the numerous turkeys, geese, and 

 other domestic animals that gabbled 

 and screamed around them. Nor did 

 my own approach startle the wild, 

 beautiful creatures, that seemed as 

 docile as any of their tame compan- 

 ions. 



" 'Is the master at home?' I asked 

 of a pretty maid servant, who answered 

 my tap at the door ; and who, after in- 

 forming me that he was, led me into a 

 room on the left side of the broad hall. 

 It was not, however, a parlour, or an or- 

 dinary reception room that I entered, 

 but evidently a room for work. In one 

 corner stood a painter's easel, with the 

 half-finished sketch of a beaver on 

 the paper ; in the other lay the skin 



