and ordered a carriage to Crown Anstey.

I can recall even now my ecstasy of bewilderment at the splendid woods,
the beautiful park, the pleasure gardens. How long was it since I had
felt tears rush warm to my eyes at the scent of the violets? Here were
lime trees and lindens, grand old oaks, splendid poplars, beech trees,
cedars, magnolias with luscious blossom, hawthorn, white and pink
larches budding, and all were mine--mine. Then from between the
luxuriant foliage I saw the tall, gray towers of a stately mansion, and
my whole heart went out to it as my future home.

The birds were singing, the sun shining; all nature was so beautiful and
bright that my very soul was enraptured.

Then I caught a glimpse of gold from the laburnums, of purple from the
lilacs, of white from the sweet acacia trees.

The carriage drove up a long grove of chestnut trees, and then for the
first time I saw Crown Anstey. The western sunbeams fell upon it. I
thought of that line of Mrs. Hemans:

"Bathed in light like floating gold."

They showed so clearly the dainty, delicate tracing, the large, arched
windows. The house itself was built in the old Elizabethan style. I
found afterward that it was called Crown Anstey because it had belonged
in former years to one of the queens of England. The Queen's Chamber was
the largest and best room in it. Report said that a royal head had often
lain there; that the queen to whom the house had belonged had spent many
of her sorrowful and happy hours there. The Queen's Terrace run all