with one strong arm so that she could not slip off.

"Now, then," he said "we 'll take a little ride down the hill and by
the path that runs beside the wood."

So he gave the rein to his mare and they rode along, chatting merrily
together, till they came to the wood. Then said the Squire,

"Take a look within that nook
And tell me what is there."

And Mary exclaimed,

"A dingle-bell, and truth to tell
In full bloom, I declare!"

The Squire now clucked to his nag, and as they rode away he said,

"Now come with me and you shall see
A field with cowslips bright
And not a garden in the land
Can show so fair a sight."

And so it was, for as they rode through the pastures the cowslips
bloomed on every hand, and Mary's eyes grew bigger and bigger as she
thought of her poor garden with its dead flowers.

And then the Squire took her toward the little brook that wandered
through the meadows, flowing over the pebbles with a soft, gurgling
sound that was very nearly as sweet as music; and when they reached it