y whistle shrilling through the silent air. Then all the
ducks and fowls about the place were inquiring, in noisy cackle, how
long it would be before breakfast was ready, whilst "Helen's" whinneying
made me turn my head to see her, with a mob of horses at her heels,
coming over the nearest ridge on the chance of a stray carrot or two
going begging. All the chained-up dogs were pulling at the staples of
their fastenings, and entreating by short, joyous barks, to be allowed
just one good frisk and roll in the sparkling dewy grass around. But
even I, universal spoiler of animals that I am, was obliged to harden my
heart against their noisy appeals; for quite close to the stable, on the
nearest hill-side, an immense mob of sheep and young lambs were feeding.
That steep incline had been burnt six weeks before, and was now as green
as the clover field at its base, affording a delicious pasturage to
these nursing mothers and their frisky infants. I think I see and hear
it all now. The moving white patches on the hill-side, the incessant
calling and answering, the racing and chasing among the curly little
merino lambs, and above all the fair earth the clear vault of an almost
cloudless sky bent itself in a deep blue dome. Just over the eastern
hills the first long lances of the sun lay in bright shafts of silver
sheen on the dew-laden tussocks, and that peculiar morning fragrance
rose up from the moist ground, which is as much the reward of the early
riser as the early worm is of the bird.

Was it a morning for low spirits or sobs and sighs? Surely not; and
yet as I turned the handle of the kitchen door those melancholy sounds
struck my ear. I had intended to make my entrance with a propitiatory
smile, suitable to such a glorious morning, proceed to pay my damsels a
graceful compliment on their somewhat unusual early rising, and wind up
with a request for a cup of tea. But all these friendly purposes went
out of my head when I beheld Euphemia seated on the rude wooden settle,
with its chopped tussock mattrass, which had been covered with a bright
cotton damask, and was now called respectfully, "the kitchen sofa." Her
arm was round Lois's waist, and she had drawn that young lady's shock
head of red curls down on her capacious bosom. Both were crying as if
their hearts would break, and startled as I felt to see these floods of
tears, it struck me how incongruous their attitude looked against
the background of the large window thro