it}6 ARDENMOHR. 



On arriving at the Lodge, although past six 

 o'clock, everybody was out. By-and-by Mrs. Peyton 

 came in and said she had enjoyed so much a long 

 quiet stroll up the glen; but it was near seven 

 before the girls returned from burn-fishing, pic- 

 tures of health and youthful beauty ; although (as 

 Miss Peyton mirthfully related) her boots were 

 soaked, and all day she had been severely exercised 

 with gadflies, and Miss Clive likewise, to say 

 nothing of having left half her skirt on a thorn- 

 bush; but when by-and-by those young ladies came 

 down to dinner, their appearance would have satis- 

 fied any exigencies of town criticism. ISTor did 

 Mrs. Peyton object to such independent ramblings. 

 So far from it, she observed that being herself 

 country bred, and used to much walking and riding, 

 she attributed her after health greatly to this, and 

 always had pitied girls who were kept too close to 

 the chimney ; and more so, when they showed a 

 languid indifference to wholesome exercise : the 

 same langour was to be looked for in their work 

 and studies she feared. 



The blackcock were exhibited in the evening, 

 the feathers being yet far from perfect. "We pro- 

 mised they should have regal cockades by-and-by. 



