p in
clover. Oh, how I loved the old irregularly built house, with here and
there a patch of its low iron roof peeping out of a mass of greenery,
flowers, and fruit--the place where I was born--home! Save for the murmur
of the creek, the evening was wrapped in silence--sweet-breathed,
balmy-browed, summer quietude. I stretched out my hand and stained my
fingers, next my lips and teeth, with the sweet dark fruit of a
mulberry-tree beside me. The shadows deepened; I picked up my saddle,
and, carrying it housewards, put it in its place in the harness-room
among the fig- and apricot-trees--laden to breaking point with ripe and
ripening fruit. The two servant girls had departed on their Christmas
holiday that morning, so grannie and auntie were the only members of the
family at home. I could not see or hear them anywhere, so, presuming they
were out walking, I washed my hands, lit a lamp, and sat down to my tea,
where it had been left for me on the dining-table. I remembered--wonderful
aberration from my usual thoughtlessness--that the book I had left in the
hammock had a beautiful cover which the dew would spoil, so I left my tea
to bring it in. Two little white squares struck my eye in the gathering
dusk. I picked them up also, and, bringing them to the light, opened the
one addressed to me, and read:

No doubt what I have to write will not be very palatable to you; but it
is time you gave up pleasuring and began to meet the responsibilities of
life. Your father is lazier if anything, and drinks more than ever. He
has got himself into great debt and difficulties, and would have been
sold off again but for Peter M'Swat. You will remember Peter M'Swat? Well,
he has been good enough to lend your father 500 pounds at 4 per cent,
which means 20 pounds per year interest. Your father would have no more
idea of meeting this amount than a cat would have. But now I am coming
to the part of the matter which concerns you. Out of friendship to your
father, Mr M'Swat is good enough to accept your services as governess to
his children, in lieu of interest on the money. I have told him you will
be in Yarnung In Friday the 8th of January 1897, where he will meet you.
Be careful to remember the date. I am sorry I could not give you more
notice; but he wants his children to commence school as soon as possible,
and he deserves every consideration in the matter. Perhaps you will not
find it as pleasant as Caddagat; but he has been very good,