1 76 ARDENMOHR. 



u This is quite nice and piquant ,^ eh, Miss 

 Clive?" said Mrs. Peyton. "Why, hardly an hour 

 since, when coming through that wild glen, Annie 

 was just speculating if you might not be troubled 

 in receiving ladies, and, lo ! here is a castle with 

 all sorts of graceful appliances." 



" All at your command, Mrs. Peyton ; but we 

 can give you merely the fruits indigenous to the 

 soil," the Major remarked. 



" A land of Goshen," said Miss Peyton ; " and 

 tell me, Hope, you who know the country, do these 

 odd-shaped bottles grow on trees here ? Your dogs, 

 of course, find truffles, as in France." 



All this was said quite gravely, and created some 

 mirth. 



" I begin to suspect you young men," Mrs. 

 Peyton remarked. " You write us such pitiful 

 letters about your hardships when living en gar$on 

 or in Highland quarters ; and when (as Hope would 

 say) you are unearthed, some such heart-breaking 

 scene as this is the result." 



" Don't be uncharitable, mother dear," Annie 

 said ; " but look closely to find the sad truth. 

 Perhaps no library or cigar- shop within fifty miles, 

 not to mention the awful possibility of the house 



