hey were left alone.

CHAPTER THREE.

THE NEW HOME.

It was not without many tears that the two children bade farewell to the
little, dark room that had been their home so long. True, they had
suffered much in it. Many long, restless days and painful nights had
Archie passed there; but it was associated with the memory of their
mother, and it was like a second parting from her to leave it.

The morning was dark and dull. A heavy mist lay on the town, and for
the first few miles their journey was silent and sad. But, as the sun
rose higher, the clouds parted and the mist rolled away, revealing to
the unaccustomed eyes of the children pleasant glimpses of hill and
valley.

Their way, after they had fairly left the great city and its suburbs
behind them, lay through quiet and unfrequented roads. They crossed a
broad moor, and then for a time passed between low hills covered with
broom or heather. Afterwards they came upon cultivated land lying
around long, low farm-houses. Sometimes these dwellings were close by
the road, and then they caught, with delight, glimpses of barn-door
fowls and garden-flowers; and sometimes there were children playing on
the green slopes around their homes. But oftener the farm-houses were
far away on the hill-sides or in the quiet valleys. In some early
fields they saw the reapers busy with the harvest; but most of the way
was quiet,--even lonely. For miles and miles they saw no living thing
save a grey plover whistling over their heads, or now and then a flock
of sheep among the hills far away.

Much of the way Mrs Blair walked, and sometimes Lilias walked with her;
but she soon became weary. It was a day long to be remembered by the
children,--their first day among the hills. After so long in the close
streets of the town, it seemed as though they could never get enough of
the clear, fresh air and the pleasant country sights and sounds.
Everything seemed beautiful to them, moors, and hills, and golden
harvest-fields. They did not talk much, only now and then one would
point out to the other some new object of interest, a glimpse of blue
water caught between the hills, or a lark upspringing from some grassy
knoll, singing as it soared.

In the middle of the day they stopped near a little village to rest.
The carrier went with his horse to the inn; but they sat down in the
shadow of a tree by the wayside, and ate the simple food they had
brought with them.

It was su