a deeper tint, and lined, as
it were, with a rich and changeful purple!--Don't you see them?' pursued
my dear young friend, who is a delightful piece of life and sunshine,
and was half inclined to scold me for the calmness with which, amused by
her enthusiasm, I stood listening to her ardent exclamations--'Don't you
see them? Oh how beautiful! and in what quantity! what profusion!
See how the dark shade of the holly sets off the light and delicate
colouring of the flower!--And see that other bed of them springing from
the rich moss in the roots of that old beech-tree! Pray, let us gather
some. Here are baskets.' So, quickly and carefully we began gathering,
leaves, blossoms, roots and all, for the plant is so fragile that
it will not brook separation;--quickly and carefully we gathered,
encountering divers petty misfortunes in spite of all our care, now
caught by the veil in a holly bush, now hitching our shawls in a
bramble, still gathering on, in spite of scratched fingers, till we had
nearly filled our baskets and began to talk of our departure:--

'But where is May? May! May! No going home without her. May! Here she
comes galloping, the beauty!'--(Ellen is almost as fond of May as I
am.)--'What has she got in her mouth? that rough, round, brown substance
which she touches so tenderly? What can it be? A bird's nest? Naughty
May!'

'No! as I live, a hedgehog! Look, Ellen, how it has coiled itself into a
thorny ball! Off with it, May! Don't bring it to me!'--And May, somewhat
reluctant to part with her prickly prize, however troublesome of
carriage, whose change of shape seemed to me to have puzzled her
sagacity more than any event I ever witnessed, for in general she has
perfectly the air of understanding all that is going forward--May
at last dropt the hedgehog; continuing, however, to pat it with her
delicate cat-like paw, cautiously and daintily applied, and caught back
suddenly and rapidly after every touch, as if her poor captive had been
a red-hot coal. Finding that these pats entirely failed in solving the
riddle (for the hedgehog shammed dead, like the lamb the other day, and
appeared entirely motionless), she gave him so spirited a nudge with
her pretty black nose, that she not only turned him over, but sent him
rolling some little way along the turfy path,--an operation which that
sagacious quadruped endured with the most perfect passiveness, the most
admirable non-resistance. No wonder that May's discernme