green
grass and studded with flowers and trees. A few hundred yards away
billowed the white tops of an apple-orchard in full bloom. Southward,
half seen through boughs and leaves, rose an anomalous structure of
brick, glass, and stone, which could only be the famous house on whose
design and decoration old Hiero Glyphic had spent years and fortunes.

The tract was like an oasis in a forbidding land. The soil had none
of the sandy and clayey consistency peculiar to New Jersey, but was
deep and rich as an English valley. The sunshine rested more warmly
and mellowly here than elsewhere. The southern breeze acquired a
tropical flavor in loitering across it. The hoopoe had seemed out of
place on the hither side the wall, but now looked as much at home as
though the Hudson had been the Nile indeed.

"My uncle," said Balder to himself, as he swayed among the branches of
his birch-tree, "has really succeeded very well in transporting a
piece of Egypt to America. Were I on the other side of the wall, no
doubt I might appreciate it also!"

The hoopoe responded encouragingly, the tree cracked, and Balder felt
with dismay that it was tottering beneath him. There was no time to
climb down again. With a dismal croak, the faithless birch leaned
slowly through the air. There was nothing to be done but to go with
it; and Balder, even as he descended, was able to imagine how absurd
he must appear. The tree fell, but was intercepted at half its height
by the top of the wall. The upper half of the stem, with its human
fruit still attached to it, bent bow-like towards the earth, the trunk
not being quite separated from the root.

Helwyse had thus far managed to keep his presence of mind, and now,
glancing downwards, he saw the ground not eight feet below. He loosed
his hold, and the next instant stood in the soft grass. The birch had
been his broomstick. Meanwhile the hoopoe, with a triumphant note,
flew off towards the house to tell the news.

XVI.

LEGEND AND CHRONICLE.

Hiero Glyphic's house came not into the world complete at a birth, but
was the result of an irregular growth, progressing through many years.
Originally a single-gabled edifice, its only peculiarity had been that
it was brick instead of wooden. Here, red and unornamented as the
house itself, the future Egyptologist was born. The parallel between
him and his dwelling was maintained more or less closely to the end.

He was the first pledge of affection bet