the children, who arrived in the
course of an hour, heated and dusty--but declaring they had never a
more delightful walk.

"Lord bless you, Miss," exclaimed Mrs. Barton, "you've heated yourself
to that degree, that the blood seems ready to burst from your cheeks. I
shall never forgive myself if you get sick by it."

"Oh never fear," replied Julia, "I did not feel the heat at all."

"But there is such a thick sickly feeling in the air to-day."

"Sickly feeling," exclaimed Edward, "I am sure I thought the air was
never fresher and sweeter."

"You can now understand," said Mrs. Sackville, speaking in a low voice
to her children, "the charm of the ring in the Fairy tale, bestowed by
the benevolent Genius; which whenever worn, produced a clear sky, a
smooth path and fragrant air. There is a happiness, my dear children,
in the simplest act of genuine kindness, which is much more than a
compensation for the loss of any gratification of taste. The relief of
this poor woman, and the sweet sleep into which her child has been
lulled by the motion of the carriage, have quite reconciled me to the
delay of the sight of the Falls; for which I confess I began to feel a
little but here comes your uncle, full of concern about something."

Mr. Morris entered the room in great perturbation. "Here is a pretty
spot of work," said he. "I believe in my soul, Mrs. Barton, that that
scamp Tristy has gone off with your bundle."

"Gone off with it!--God forbid!" exclaimed the poor woman,--"my money
was all in it."

"Oh uncle," said Edward, "he has not gone off with it;--he laid himself
down under a tree in the wood just back, and said he would follow on as
soon as he had rested him."

"Rested him! a mere pretence to get rid of you--you should have had more
discretion than to have trusted him, Ned;--but when was ever discretion
found in a boy?"

"But what reason, brother, have you to think he has gone off?" asked
Mrs. Sackville.

Mr. Morris said there had a man just come over the road, of whom he had
inquired if he had seen him:--he had not, but he was certain he should
have observed him if he had been by the road side. Mr. Morris had
despatched a servant on horseback in pursuit of him, and he begged
Mrs. Barton to calm herself till his return.

The poor woman's agitation could not be allayed as easily as it had
been excited:--she said nothing; but she became as pale as death, and
trembled so excessively, that Mrs. Sackville took he