fficult to choose. There were
whitewashed cottages with moss-covered roofs, picturesque barns and
haystacks, patches of gorse against a blazing blue sky, marshy meadows
in a red sunset, or mountain tops tipped with mist. Her efforts might
not have appeared very great to an Academy critic, but the Websters
thought them wonderful. They had no facility for drawing, so their
guest's talent impressed them considerably. Regina would take a book and
sit by quite happily while Lesbia dabbed on her effects, and even
consented to act model, a back-breaking occupation that is generally
judged a trying test of friendship. Lesbia would have sketched all day
long if she had been allowed, but the Websters dragged her away from her
painting and took her for walks. There was a stream, about half a mile
from the cottage, where Regina and Derrick were fond of fishing and
occasionally caught small trout. The younger members of the family loved
to paddle here, and climbed about on the rocks like goats, their bare
feet giving them a grip on the slippery moss. Lesbia, who was not so
accustomed to country life as they were, attempted to follow them, and
slid with a splash into the water, not a dangerous matter, for it was
very shallow, but destructive to her clean white skirt. She used more
caution after this experience, and made the discovery that tennis-shoes
afforded a much firmer foothold than ordinary leather.

The delightful do-as-you-like days were a real rest to everybody. Even
wet weather had its enjoyments. The family would don mackintoshes,
oilskin caps, and rubber boots, and go for rambles in the rain, plunging
among wet bracken and herbage, fording small streams, and generally
behaving like ducks or other aquatic creatures; then would return to the
joy of tea round a log fire, into which they could throw the pine-cones
that they had gathered on dry days in the woods.

One of Regina's great interests at Dolmadoc was the keeping of hens and
ducks. While she was at Kingfield they were looked after by the gardener
and his wife, who acted as caretakers of the cottage, but when she was
in residence she always attended to them herself. She was very proud of
her quacking, clucking, feathered family, several of whom boasted
descent from prize strains. She studied books about poultry and could
talk quite learnedly on such subjects as trap-nests, incubators,
brooders, and egg-testing lamps. She was anxious to exhibit some of her
special fav