The inn, to which the travellers were driven, proved very neat and
comfortable. It was a new edifice, with an accommodating landlord and
landlady, the latter of which personages seemed quite mystified by the
advent of two lorn ladies in search of an unknown lake. In the entry
hung a new map of Ulster county, on which appeared a lake nestling under
the cliffs of Paltz Point, but still without a name. Paltz Point!--that
must be the very jagged pile of rock visible from the Cornwall hills,
and the lake at its foot more than probably the object of the journey.

The landlord was quite positive as to the existence of a house, but
doubted its capacity in regard to sleeping accommodations; he also
corroborated the testimony of the driver respecting the difficulty of
obtaining a vehicle, every horse being engaged haying. The ladies
announced that, as the distance was only six miles, it could be walked,
in case this difficulty proved insuperable. An individual at the tea
table proposed that the travellers should be taken up some time in the
middle of the night, that the horse might return by six o'clock in the
morning; but this suggestion was unanimously frowned down. The chief
reason for requiring a horse and wagon lay in the little trunk, which,
as it contained the painting box of our Elsie, who thought the lake and
vicinity might offer some picturesque studies, could not possibly be
left behind. After tea, a walk was taken, and the vicinage of New Paltz
duly inspected. The Wallkill, here a quiet stream, runs through rich,
green meadows, bordered by the noble range of the Catskills and the
singular, broken ridges of the Shawangunk. The sun set clear, casting
pale gold streams of light over the meadows, and leaving a long,
lingering, rosy twilight. The young art-student drank in beauty with
every breath. The cows were driven home; the ducks came slowly up out of
the stream, and all the winged creatures went to roost. Night came, and
repose was welcome after the pleasures and fatigues of the day's