ourse that day, being their first, was spent in an excited and
rambling endeavour to master the localities and ascertain the most
interesting points about their new home.

Mrs Sudberry and her daughters examined the interior accommodation of
the White House minutely, and, with the assistance of Mrs Brown, Hobbs,
and the page, disposed their goods and chattels to the best advantage;
while her husband and sons went out to introduce themselves to the
farmer and his family. They lived in a small cottage, or off-shoot, at
the back of the principal dwelling, in close proximity to which were the
byre, stable, and barns.

It would occupy too much space to relate in detail all the things and
sights that called forth the delight and surprise of the excitable Mr
Sudberry. How he found to his amazement that the byre was under the
same roof with the farmer's kitchen, and only separated therefrom by a
wooden partition with a door in it. How he was assailed by the nine
collie dogs the moment he entered the kitchen, with threats of being
torn to pieces, yet was suffered to pass unscathed. How he and his sons
were introduced by Mr McAllister to his mother, a grave, mild old
woman, who puzzled them beyond measure; because, although clad in homely
and unfashionable garments, and dwelling in a hut little better than the
habitation of the cattle, except in point of cleanliness, she conversed
and conducted herself towards them with a degree of unaffected ease and
urbanity that might have graced any lady in the land. How this old lady
astonished them with the amount of general knowledge that leaked out in
the course of a few minutes' talk. How she introduced the dogs by name,
one by one, to Jacky, which delighted him immensely; and how, soon after
that, Jacky attempted to explore out-of-the-way corners of the
farm-yard, and stepped suddenly up to the knees in a mud-hole, out of
which he emerged with a pair of tight-fitting Wellington boots, which
filled him with ecstasy and his father with disgust.

All this and a great deal more might be dilated on largely; but we are
compelled to dismiss it summarily, without further remark.

In the course of that day Mr Sudberry and his boys learned a great deal
about their new home from McAllister, whom they found intelligent,
shrewd, and well-informed on any topic they chose to broach; even
although he was, as Mr Sudberry said in surprise, "quite a common man,
who wore corduroy and wrought in hi