THE SMUGGLER. 73 



"You cannot, you cannot!" cried Zara. "Fancy, Sir 

 Edward, what a picture it made when one day I went over 

 to my uncle's, and found him with a frightful- looking black 

 man, in a turban, whom he brought over from heaven knows 

 where, trying to milk a cow he had just bought, and neither 

 of them able to manage it. My uncle was kneeling upon his 

 cocked hat, amongst the long grass, looking, as he acknow- 

 ledges, like a kangaroo; the cow had got one of her feet in 

 the pail, kicking most violently; and the black man with a 

 white turban round his head, was upon both his knees before 

 her, beseeching her, in some heathen language, to be quiet. 

 It was the finest sight I ever saw, and would have made a 

 beautiful picture of the ' Worship of the Cow,' which is, as I 

 am told, customary in the country where both the gentlemen 

 came from." 



"Zara, my dear; Zara I" cried Mrs. Barbara, who was 

 frightened to death lest her niece should deprive herself of all 

 share in Mr. Croydon's fortune. "You really should not tell 

 such a story of your uncle." 



But the worthy gentleman himself was laughing till the tears 

 ran down his cheeks. "Its quite true; its quite true!" he ex- 

 claimed, "and she did milk the cow, though we couldn't. 

 The ill-tempered devil was as quiet as a lamb with her, though 

 she is so vicious with every male thing, that I have actually 

 been obliged to have a woman in the cottage within a hundred 

 yards of the house, for the express purpose of milking her." 



"That's what you should have done at first/' said Mr. 

 Radford, putting down the fork with which he had been dili- 

 gently devouring a large plateful of fish. "Instead of having 

 nothing but men about you, you should have had none but 

 your coachman and footman, and all the rest women." 



"Ay, and married my cook-maid," replied Mr. Croyland, 

 sarcastically. 



Sir Robert Croyland looked down into his plate with a 

 quivering lip and a heavy brow, as if he did not well know 

 whether to laugh or be angry. The clergyman smiled, Mr. 

 Radford looked furious, but said nothing, and Mrs. Barbara 

 exclaimed, "Oh! brother, you should not say such things; 

 and besides, there are many cook-maids who are very nice, 

 pretty, respectable people." 



" Well, sister, I'll think of it," said Mr. Croyland, drily, 



