on my right and the other was to be on my left; but I had forgotten which way I was to turn my face to make the right valley lie on the right side. It must be remembered as an excuse for my folly that I was only ten years of age, and was moreover frightened out of my little wits. The two vallies were indeed visible to me in considerable extent from the temple, the one being wild and rocky—the other more dressed and verdant; but how to make out, which was the one which Miss Richards asserted that I should find on my right, and which was the one that I was to reject as lying on my left, was past my comprehension; for as I turned and turned about, sometimes one lay in the direction on my right hand, and sometimes another, and in short I was thoroughly bewildered; and probably I should have rested quietly where I bad seated myself on the steps of the portico, had not a stag with branching horns, come suddenly bounding down the opposite slope, making a stand at the sight of me, and fixing his eyes upon me as if offended at my intrusion into his beautiful haunts. To have a pair of dark eyes set in a brow so richly decorated with branching antlers so stedfastly fixed upon me, was by no means what I could long endure; I sprang up accordingly on my feet, and in my terror threw my gloves towards the enemy, hoping thus to frighten him from his earnest gaze, but with so little success that he began to toss his head and to make some steps in advance-perhaps, supposing that I had thrown him something to eat; but whatever were his reasons for coming forward, I was so dreadfully terrified by his movements, that I turned swiftly round, ran out at the back of the temple, and rushed down the first open

ing which offered itself. This opening happened to be that of the Valley of the Echo. Though I was utterly unconscious of its not being that which Miss Richards had directed me to pursue, I think that even my enemy, the stag, would have found some difficulty to have overtaken me as I ran down the slope: for, such was the celerity which terror gave to my motions, and as in my rapid flight I disturbed several groups of deer who were reposing in the shade of the valley, causing them to run hither and thither in different directions, the various rushing sounds which these parties occasioned kept up my alarm, and I continued my flight, till at length I sank almost exhausted on a bank of moss, near to a dripping spring, in a place of shade as deep and cool and beautiful as the far-famed vale of Tempe itself, but nearly as far as the limits of the park would allow from the place where I desired to be. There I sat awhile, recovering my breath and looking anxiously along the path whereby I had come, expecting every moment to see my horned foe; but as I saw no moving object in that path, and heard no sounds whatever, but those of a gentle rustling among the trees, and the incessant dripping of the little waterfall, together with the various notes of many birds, amongst which that of the black bird was most predominant, the flutterings of my young heart began to subside. I began to think that I had been afraid without a cause, and I was presently enabled to think of my real situation without adding thereunto the dread of being worried to death by a beast.

'What a long way I have run, I thought, and yet I cannot see the pool, and the cottage, and the lawn where we breakfasted; surely the temple was not

so far off that pool as I have run. Oh! I wish I knew where I was! I wish somebody would come by and shew me the way! If somebody does not come to me, I shall be lost! I certainly shall be lost! And I began to cry again. Those ill-natured Miss Sockets, I exclaimed; why did not I stay with Elvira? Why did I go with them? Elvira was always kind to me. Why did I not stay and walk with her? then I should have had a happy day. And now I shall be lost! And night will come, and I shall be lost! Then it struck me, that it would not answer any purpose to sit where I was; so, being refreshed, I got up. And fancying, that if I went a little further, I should see the pool, near which we had breakfasted, I walked on; and following the path which kept winding about among the trees, I discerned a glimpse of water, through the bushes, a little before me on the left. I was much delighted at the sight, and running on I presently reached a spot where a low circular pond, covered with flags and duck-weed, and shaded all round with high trees, presented itself to my view, and as I came up to the edge of it, some great water-fowl arose from the sedges, making a loud and terrifying cry, flapping its heavy wings in the air some yards above my head. There was to be no end of my terrors that day. I ran back from the pool as fast as I had come to it; but not heeding my steps, I got above my ancle in a piece of swampy ground, covering my red morocco shoes and clean stockings with mud. Oh! what will my aunts say? What will my aunts say? I cried aloud, though there was none to hear. My best shoes, and my clean stockings; and then, for the first time, I thought of my

gloves which I had thrown at the deer. However, I made the best of my way out of the swampy ground. Seeing above me a bank which was green and soft, I scrambled up to it; and there I took off my shoes and wiped them as well as I could upon the grass, And when I had put them on again I started afresh, taking a path which led me round the dark pool, and soon came in sight of a cottage which stood in a little garden, and probably belonged to some of the park-keepers. I was delighted to see this cottage. Now, I thought, I shall see a fellow creature; and the people, perhaps, will send somebody with me. to find my aunts;-so I ran on and soon reached the front of the house. It was one of those old fashioned cottages which we now seldom see, being of lath and plaster, white and black thatched, and having small casement windows and a little porch. Into that porch I ran, and knocked at the door; the knock was answered by a hollow sound within, but there was no voice or murmur of inhabitants; yet I thought I heard the low barking of a dog. Again and again I knocked; and how long I might have staid there I know not, if the barking had not become much louder, and if I had not seen a four-legged animal come bounding towards me, down a gentle slope which rose above the house. Away again I ran, the dog barking and yelping after me; till after having plunged again into the woods and crossed a little foot-bridge, I had the pleasure to find that my enemy had retreated. By this time, what with one misfortune or another, I was completely depressed and terrified. I was tired too of running, and I had completely lost all idea of where I was. For a short time longer, I went up one path and down another;

till after having made a considerable ascent I arrived at a kind of circular hut or root-house, formed round a tree, in a part of the wood from whence some little of the distant country might be seen. I sat down, not only to take breath, but to endeavour to ascertain by the distant objects, some of which I might chance to recognize, where in this wide earth I possibly could be? From this my exalted station, what did I see, but blue hills in the horizon, with green fields in the front; and considerably below me, in the foreground, a human habitation spreading itself over a considerable portion of ground; which habitation, although I now saw it a new point of view, I failed not to recognize as that of Mr. Richards. And on the grass plot, in the front of the house, what also should I discern, for my young eyes were very clearsighted, but my three perfidious friends, together with the two Miss Richards's, parading it up and down in the shade of the house, with the brother of the latter, and some other young men. I knew master Richards by a white hat which he usually

wore.

'I was excessively provoked at this sight, and promised myself that I would tell Miss Socket that I had seen the party all together on the very next dancing day; for it occurred to me that Mr. and Mrs. Richards were not at home, and that the young people were making merry in their absence and unknown to them; and this I knew to be wrong. But I am afraid that my anger was greater against the Miss Sockets for their neglect of me, than for the slyness with which they had made up this party.

I had by this time wandered some hours in the woods, and was no nearer finding my friends than I