casement. This same window was within a couple of feet of my bed,
and between me and it was neither curtain nor shelter of any sort.
Of a winter's evening I have often been obliged to wrap myself up in
a big Scotch maud, as I sat, dressed in a high linsey gown, by a
blazing fire, so hard was the frost outside; but by ten o'clock next
morning I would be loitering about the verandah, basking in the
sunshine, and watching the light flecks of cloud-wreaths and veils
floating against an Italian-blue sky. Yet such is the inherent
discontent of the human heart, that instead of rejoicing in this
lovely mid-day sunshine, we actually mourned over the vanished ice
which at daylight had been found, by a much-envied early riser,
strong enough to slide on for half an hour. It seemed almost
impossible to believe that any one had been sliding that morning
within a few feet of where I sat working in a blaze of sunshine,
with my pretty grey and pink Australian parrot pluming itself on the
branch of a silver wattle close by, and "Joey," the tiny monkey from
Panama, sitting on the skirt of my gown, with a piece of its folds
arranged by himself shawl-wise over his glossy black shoulders. If
either of these tropical pets had been left out after four o'clock
that sunny day, they, would have been frozen to death before our
supper time.

It was just on such a day as this, and in just such a bright mid-day
hour, that a distant neighbour of ours rode up to the garden gate,
leading a pack horse. Outside the saddle-bags, with which this
animal was somewhat heavily laden, could be plainly seen a beautiful
new pair of Oxford skates, glinting in the sunshine; and it must
have been the sight of these beloved implements which called forth
the half-envious remark from one of the gentlemen, "I suppose you
have lots of skating up at your place?"