which Mr. Gascoyne had bought for firewood, and some of these were
admirable for the purpose. With considerable toil they dragged out
half a dozen, dug holes in the ground, and planted them as posts to
make a framework. Smaller boughs were nailed across and across, and
then bunches of heather were tucked and tied securely into all the
interstices. The roof was at first a terrible problem, till Winnie
conceived the brilliant idea of using an old worn-out gate that lay in
the orchard. It was heavy to lift, but with the aid of Father,
Beatrice, and Nellie the maid, they managed to heave it up so that it
rested securely upon the six posts. Then they thatched it neatly with
heather and fir boughs.

"I don't suppose for a moment that it will be watertight," said
Winnie; "but we shan't use it in wet weather. What I want is a nice
shady place to sit in at the end of the tennis lawn. It will be
perfectly lovely to have tea here. I believe I can make seats with
some of those stumps."

"I'd back you to do anything in the joinering line," laughed Dick, who
still came for lessons on Saturday mornings, and generally stayed to
chat and help the gardeners, though he was yet debarred from any very
violent exertions, greatly to his indignation. "You ought to be a
Colonial. I believe you'd be equal to running up a shanty on your own
and making the furniture out of old boxes."

"Perhaps I'll emigrate some day," nodded Winnie. "It would be more in
my line than teaching. I'll leave University honours to Gwen, and try
my luck in another hemisphere. Women are wanted in Canada if they're
domesticated--and I flatter myself I'm that."

"Don't know that I won't join you when I've got my degree!" declared
Gwen. "I've yearned to go to Canada ever since I saw those ripping
pictures on the kinematograph--only Father'd have to promise to come
and see me every fortnight."

"How particularly possible! Gwen, you're a rotter!" chirped Dick,
throwing a piece of stick at her. "I thought your last idea was to
study medicine and go to College with me."

"Perhaps I shan't be able to do either: scholarships don't grow on
every bush like blackberries. Probably I'll just have to stay at home
and 'wash dishes and feed the swine'. By the by, we haven't shown you
our eleven little pigs! They're absolute darlings, as sweet as the
Duchess's baby in _Alice in Wonderland_. Come along this instant, and
I'll catch one for you to nurse. We've never had a pet pig be