was a dear little house, just exactly what we had wished
for. It had a good many creepers over the walls, roses and honeysuckle
and clematis, and the garden was beautifully neat. And inside there was
a tiny dining-room and a rather bigger drawing-room, and upstairs three
or four very neat bedrooms, besides those for the servants. Persis and I
had two little white rooms side by side. There were white curtains to
the beds and to the windows, and the furniture was light-coloured wood,
so they really looked white all over.

That first evening we thought most of the dining-room, or rather of the
tea that was spread out for us there. For we were so very hungry, and
the things to eat were so very good, and quite a change from London.
There were such very nice home-made bread, and tea-cakes, and
honey--honey is never so good as in moor country, you know, it has quite
a different taste.

And when we had eaten, if not quite as much as we _could_, any way quite
as much as was good for us, we went a little turn round the garden
while Eliza was getting our trunks open, and then we said good-night to
papa and mamma and went to bed as happy, or almost as happy, as we could
be. There was just one thought in both our minds that prevented our
being _quite_ happy, but we had fixed not to speak about it.

The next day and the days that followed were delightful. The weather
kept fine and the walks were endless. Papa enjoyed it as much as we did.
He took us out himself, and when it was not to be a very, very long
walk, mamma came too. Once or twice we carried our dinner with us and
didn't come home till evening, and several times we had tea on the moor
near our house.

After about a week papa told us one evening that he had to go to London
the next day to stay one night. He had ordered a carriage to come to
take him to the station early, and he said if it was fine Persis and I
and Eliza might drive with him and walk back across the moor, if we
didn't think we'd be tired. Of course we didn't, and though we were
sorry for him to go, we liked the idea of the drive. And as the morning
did turn out fine, it all happened as he had planned. We saw him off,
and then we started for our walk back. We had never been at this side
of the moor since the day we arrived, and papa told us we might vary the
walk by going down a lane that skirted it for some way.

"There is a farmhouse there," he said, "where I daresay they would give
you some milk if yo