CHAP. XIL] SKETCH BY THE EDITOR 93 



wrap his head in my dress so as to exclude the sound, 

 calling out as if in great trouble. I had no right to have 

 my father's favourite dog destroyed on a suspicion in his 

 temporary absence, and the dog so far was not violent ; it 

 appeared to me that the only reasonable course to adopt 

 was to have him chained securely and led away to an empty 

 stable, where he was fastened to a pole and the door shut. 

 By this course no harm could happen, except in prolonging 

 the poor creature's sufferings. These, however, though 

 increasingly violent, were not endured for very long. By 

 the time my father returned, in about an hour, the dog was 

 tearing the woodwork all around him to pieces. He was 

 at once destroyed, the attack being pronounced, by those 

 better versed in the matter than myself, undoubtedly a case 

 of rabies." 



Miss Ormerod's brother, Dr. E. L. Ormerod, of Brighton, 

 author of " British Social Wasps," testified to the courage 

 and skill with which she assisted him in taking the hanging 

 wasps' nests from trees. The " Ap Adam" oak shown in plate 

 xxi. which she climbed after a hornet's nest by means of the 

 library folding ladder, was one of the very ancient hollow 

 oaks in Sedbury Park, about one-third of a mile from the 

 house. She had a sick headache next day about which her 

 brother John made the sympathetic (?) remark, " If young 

 ladies will play at lamplighters they must take the conse- 

 quences ! " The Hedgehog oak, at the root of which in 

 plate xxi. Miss Ormerod is seen sitting in rather an uncom- 

 fortable position, was another hollow remnant of the primeval 

 forest. She had remarked that she thought she was sitting 

 on a wasps' nest when Waring, her second brother, promptly 

 admonished her in the interests of the safety of the party 

 to " sit tight " ! The two hollow shells of what must have 

 been at one time splendid timber trees, were historically 

 interesting, having been boundary marks of the country 

 referred to in the time of Edward III. Both trees have 

 been cleared away and the ancient oak now known as that 

 of " Ap Adam " stands only a few hundred yards from the 

 original tree, within the moat which formerly surrounded 

 old Badam's Court. There are several other very ancient 

 oaks in the park. Two on the left of the carriage drive, 

 going in the direction of the mansion house, were christened 

 " Darby and Joan " by Miss Ormerod. 



On one occasion the eldest sister, Mary, had the mis- 

 fortune to run a crochet hook through her hand. The 



