INSULAR LIFE. 93 



and pierced to the surface of the water, which shone in 

 spots through the gloom like the fragments of a broken 

 mirror : these lucid touches caught my childish fancy ; 

 but my favourite spot was not yet attained. Not until 

 I had rounded the rib of the promontory on which 

 stood the grey castle, and came to another face of it, 

 did I obtain the object of my ramble. At this turn of 

 the stream I found myself in a small lonely meadow 

 sprinkled with cowslips, upon which opened two 

 wooded valleys, each watered by a small stream, which 

 at their junction washed out a deep hole; and at the 

 foot of the hole a small gravel heap was thrown up, 

 upon which grew the yellow iris, and some other 

 vegetation. In Lilliput it would have been termed an 

 island : so in truthitwas. I know nothow it happened, — 

 unless, indeed, that I was strictly enjoined not to go near 

 the water, — but I had a decided propensity to establish 

 my little person on this insular spot. For some time I 

 was either very good, or very much afraid — it matters 

 not which, — and the achievement was dubious. At 

 length the demon of temptation appeared in the form 

 of a dragon-fly, which, glancing from some branches 

 that extended across the stream a little above, danced 

 up and down in the air in all its gaudy trim, and at 

 length settled on an iris in this enchanted island. I 

 stood enraptured on the bank with my arms out- 

 stretched, and my longing eyes fixed upon the beauty. 

 It was irresistible — I could hold out no longer. So 

 mustering up my naughty courage, and letting myself 

 gently down the bank, I paddled through a little 

 shallow water, till I actually set foot safely on the 



