me, and I did not feel up to the exertion. I hope you had a pleasant
drive?'

'Very,' said Molly, with shy conciseness.

'And now I will take you to your room; I have had you put close to me;
I thought you would like it better, even though it was a smaller room
than the other.'

She rose languidly, and wrapping her light shawl round her yet elegant
figure, led the way upstairs. Molly's bedroom opened out of Mrs.
Hamley's private sitting-room; on the other side of which was her own
bedroom. She showed Molly this easy means of communication, and then,
telling her visitor she would await her in the sitting-room, she closed
the door, and Molly was left at leisure to make acquaintance with her
surroundings.

First of all, she went to the window to see what was to be seen. A
flower-garden right below; a meadow of ripe grass just beyond, changing
colour in long sweeps, as the soft wind blew over it; great old forest-
trees a little on one side; and, beyond them again, to be seen only by
standing very close to the side of the window-sill, or by putting her
head out, if the window was open, the silver shimmer of a mere, about a
quarter of a mile off. On the opposite side to the trees and the mere,
the look-out was bounded by the old walls and high-peaked roofs of the
extensive farm-buildings. The deliciousness of the early summer silence
was only broken by the song of the birds, and the nearer hum of bees.
Listening to these sounds, which enhanced the exquisite sense of
stillness, and puzzling out objects obscured by distance or shadow,
Molly forgot herself, and was suddenly startled into a sense of the