f
debt; I'll talk him over when we go home. Hunt is as fine a fellow as I
ever saw, and as steady as old time.'

CHAPTER 16

And oft when in my heart I heard
Thy timely mandate, I deferred
The task, in smoother paths to stray,
But thee I now would serve more strictly, if I may.

--Ode to Duty--WORDSWORTH

Lassonthwaite lost none of its charms on closer acquaintance. Mr. Hunt's
farm stood on the slope of a hill, commanding a view of the mountains,
rising like purple clouds above the moorland, richly carpeted with the
varied colours of heath, fern, and furze, and scattered with flocks
of the white bleached mountain sheep, and herds of sturdy little black
cattle; while the valley, nearer at hand, was fringed with woods,
sheltering verdant pasture land, watered by the same clear frolicsome
stream that danced through the garden--Olivia's garden--brilliant with
roses and other beauties, such as the great Harrison himself would
hardly have disdained.

Lord St. Erme might well call it a farm of the poets, so well
did everything accord with the hearty yeoman, and his pretty,
shepherdess-looking wife. The house was of the fine old order, large and
lofty, full of wonders in the way of gables, porches, and oriels, carved
doors and panels, in preservation that did them honour due, and the
furniture betokening that best of taste which perceives the fitness of
things. All had the free homely air of plenty and hospitality--the
open doors, the numerous well-fed men and maids, the hosts of live
creatures--horses, cows, dogs, pigs, poultry, each looking like a prize
animal boasting of its own size and beauty--and a dreadful terror to
Johnnie. He, poor little boy, was the only person to whom Lassonthwayte
was not a paradise. Helen and Annie had no fears, and were wild with
glee, embracing the dogs, climbing into dangerous places, and watching
the meals of every creature in the yard; but poor Johnnie imagined each
cow that looked at him to be a mad bull, trembled at each prancing dog,
and was miserable at the neighbourhood of the turkey-cock; while Mr.
Hunt's attempts to force manliness on him only increased his distress
to such a degree as to make it haunt him at night. However, even this
became a source of pleasant feeling; Arthur, once so rough with him, now
understood the secret of his delicacy of nerves, and reverenced him too
much to allow him to be tormented. Even in the worst of Johnnie's pa