"Perhaps they think it's a pork-pie," said Mr. Thorn, walking on at a quicker pace; but he soon stopped, for he came to a deep poolfull of sea-anemones and little hermit-crabs. He had never seen such before. He put down his hammer and chisel, and, after fastening the coffee-bag to his stick, he used it as a ladle for fishing them out of the water. Thinking that they might be good to eat, he filled one of his coat-tail pockets with them, and then went on again. It was nearly eleven o'clock when he came to the rock.

"I may as well eat the sandwiches now," thought he, "and then I shall have my pockets empty for the fossils, for the coffee-bag will only hold the smaller ones."

"What a mistake!" he exclaimed, as he found he had put the hermit-crabs into the same pocket with the sandwiches. Of course they were not fit to eat, so he threw both them and the hermit-crabs away. Mr. Thorn thought he heard some one laughing; so he jumped up, and looked behind him, when he saw a tall, ugly old woman standing almost close to him. She wore a ragged and very short blue petticoat, a faded red shawl over her shoulders, and a large straw hat tied down over her face; she had a small empty fish-hamper on her back' and a few sticks in her hands.

She seized the sandwiches that Mr. Thorn had thrown away, and ate them without even knocking off the sand which had stuck to them. Mr. Thorn looked at her in utter astonishment. Deborah looked at him for some time, as if she had seen him before; at last she said, with great coolness

What brought you

How old are you? bere?" Mr. Thorn felt sure she was mad, and, without answering her, he began to climb the rock as quickly as he could.

"I know," shouted the old woman: "you are just twenty-seven years old; and your name is Pickles. Come down!"

"Who are you?" asked Mr. Thorn, coming down the rock; but not quite so fast as he had gone up.

"I'm Deborah Broom, at your service; but I thought you were drowned!"

:

"It was my brother who was drowned," said Mr. Thorn he was younger than me." "Your brother was drowned, was he?" said Deborah. "Who told you so?"

"I don't remember: I was only a little boy at the time."

Mr. Thorn began to climb up the rock again, for he was rather afraid of the old woman, particularly when she rolled her eyes about in a wild way. "Those mad women are not safe," thought he; "she might take a fancy to my hammer, as she did to those sandwichesshe's a sandwitch herself, I think."

But Mr. Thorn wished he had asked her how she got to know his name, and so much about him. He soon, however, forgot all about it;

among these was a fine ammonite, which he was hammering out of the rock, when the stone on which he was standing gave way, and he would have fallen to the bottom if his chin had not been caught by the edge of a long, thin stone, which projected out of the rock, and if he had not also been able with one hand to catch hold of a stone. Here he had been suspended for about three minutes, with his hair flying about in the wind (for his hat had fallen when the stone gave way), when somone shouted to him—

"Hold on a minute longer, and I'll bring a ladder."

It was Mr. Merton, who had by chance come that way, for a walk with his sister-in-law, Miss Rose Mary Magnus. Fortunately Mr. Thorn was near enough to the ground to be able to reach the short ladder, which Mr. Merton had borrowed of Deborah Broom.

"Well, and how do you feel?" said Mr. Merton, when Mr. Thorn had landed in safety; you made rather a comical figure, hanging by your chin. This is my sister-in-law, Miss Magnus. Miss Magnus was very merry, and good-tempered; she appeared to be about sixand twenty; her hair was very light and wavy, her face was very much freckled, but she was not bad-looking, and had very bright blue eyes. "How d'you do, Mr. Thorn ?" said she.

"I scarcely know," said Mr. Thorn, picking up his hammer, "but I think I shan't fossilize any more to-day."

"What d'you call this?" said Mr. Merton, taking up the coffee-bag.

"Mrs. Lester lent it to me, to put my fossils in," replied Mr. Thorn; "she told me that necessity was the mother of wiseheads. She is very fond of old adages, as she calls them.

Very fond of cold cabbage did you say?" asked Miss Magnus, who was rather deaf. "But that reminds me that the new gardener came to me very gravely this morning, and wanted to know if the last gardener was insane, as all the cabbages had been planted with their heads in the ground."

Mr. Thorn looked very much astonished. 'They couldn't be growing?" said he.

"No; they were in Magenta's and Solferino's gardens."

Mr. Merton invited Mr. Thorn to dinner. Mrs. Worsel, the cook, was in a great fuss, for she could not get any salmon, when Deborah Broom walked into the kitchen, with her fishbasket on her arm.

"Have you got any fresh salmon ?" said the cook.

"Fresh this morning, Mrs. Worsel, the biggest salmon I've seen this year; it weighs twenty-five pounds, but I shall want a good price for it."

"Last time you were here, you said you knew a grand secret; now you shall have a very good price for that salmon if you'll tell it to me." Jane Dilwater is going to be married." "That's no secret," said the cook, con.

"Helping the cook to gather gooseberries," said Solferino.

"What has become of the China doll I gave you this morning, Magenta ?"

Magenta pulled it out of her pocket, in a most dilapidated state.

"It looks as if it had gone to pot," said Hector.

Hector was Mr. Merton's brother; he was a tall, good-looking fellow, and a lieutenant in the Worselby rifle corps.

"Well, how went the cricket-match, Hector?" said Mr. Merton.

"Oh, we won it," said Hector. "The Merrydale men never played so badly before."

"It was very hot," said Mrs. Merton. "We met a Mr. Pickles, and a very agreeable man he

"Is he any relation of yours, Thorn?" said Mr. Merton.

"I believe he is a half-cousin," said Mr. Thorn.

Please 'm, Miss French Merino has broken a wine-glass, with trying to balance it on the end of her finger," said the nurse, opening the door. "I never saw anything like those children,' said Mrs. Merton, rushing out of the room, with a big music-book in her hand, intending to give Magenta a rap with it. She came back in a little time, saying Magenta was lost, and they'd looked all over the house, and couldn't find her.

"She surely can't have gone to the cliffs, and fallen over!" said Mr. Merton, jumping up and putting his hat on.

Mr. Thorn and Hector set off in different directions to look for her, stopping every one they met, to ask if they had seen a little girl without bonnet, with a torn pink frock. They had looked for her for inore than half-an-hour, when Hector suddenly remembered that she had once before been found at the railway station.

1

"Have you seen anything of a little girl in pink frock, without bonnet?" said Hector, to the first porter he met.

“Yes, I did, sir, just before the Merrydale train left," said the porter: "she has perhaps got into it."

"You're sure she's not in the station?" "No, sir, unless she's in one of those empty coal-trucks,"

"I'll go and look," said Hector; and in the first coal-truck he found Magenta, coolly sitting on the top of a large coal, eating some squashed gooseberries, which she had found in her pocket. As soon as she saw Hector she screamed.

"How in the world did you get into that hole, Treacle?" said Hector, hardly able to keep from laughing.

I gave a boy a few gooseberries to lift me in," said she, with great dignity.

"Were they squashed ones, out of your pocket?

"Of course not." Hector lifted her out.

"What did you come here for, Treacle?' said he.

"Don't Treacle me, if you please,” said Magenta; "I came here to please myself.”

"You're not going to have any more gooseberries for a week to come," said Hector, who rather liked teazing her.

"I don't want any; I'm quite sick of them, I'm sure."

"I don't wonder," said Hector.

They had got nearly to the house, when the nurse met them; for Mrs. Merton had seen them from the drawing-room window.

"You are going to have a good flogging, Miss Magnesia," said she, as she carried her into the house.

"I don't care."

Mr. Thorn was very fond of geology, and the Worselby rocks wer every full of fossils. He had found two or three on the sands, which had fallen from the cliffs; but, as they were broken, Mr. Thorn thought he would take his hammer, and climb one of the rocks, in the hope of getting some perfect fossils.

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"I shan't be home to dinner to-day, Mrs. Lester," ," said he, one morning, as she was clearing away the breakfast things. "I'm going to a large rock, half-way between here and Cockleby."

"Indeed!" said Mrs. Lester: "then you'll probably see Deborah Broom."

Deborah Broom was a fisherman's daughter, and she had lived for fifty years in a little thatched cottage, just above the rock to which Mr. Thorn was going; she was very eccentric, and sometimes walked to Worselby (which was quite three miles from her cottage) in the middle of the night, with bare feet and without a bonnet she supported herself by selling fish.

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Can you lend me a bag, do you think?" asked Mr. Thorn.

"What for?" said Mrs. Lester. To put fossils into."

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"Are they some kind of fish ?"

and Mrs. Lester provided him with a goodMr. Thorn explained to her what fossils were; sized coffee-bag; the only bag she had, except her work-bag.

"You'd better take something to eat, sir," said she, as he set off with the coffee-bag slung on the end of his stick in one hand, and a hammer and chisel in the other, and Mrs. Lester stuffed two great sandwiches into his pocket.

"I wonder if any one ever carried fossils in a coffee-bag before?" said Mr. Thorn.

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Necessity is the mother of wiseheads, you know, as the good old adage says," replied Mrs.

Lester.

It was a very hot day, and Mr. Thorn walked slowly, going by the sea-shore, for it was lowwater; but he intended coming back by the fields. There were a great many people walking on the sands: Magenta and Solferino were just going to bathe. It was the first time Mr. Thorn had seen them since Magenta had been found in the coal-truck.

"Your hat is covered with flies, Mr. Thorn,"

"Perhaps they think it's a pork-pie," said Mr. Thorn, walking on at a quicker pace; but he soon stopped, for he came to a deep poolfull of sea-anemones and little hermit-crabs. He had never seen such before. He put down his hammer and chisel, and, after fastening the coffee-bag to his stick, he used it as a ladle for fishing them out of the water. Thinking that they might be good to eat, he filled one of his coat-tail pockets with them, and then went on again. It was nearly eleven o'clock when he came to the rock.

"I may as well eat the sandwiches now," thought he, "and then I shall have my pockets empty for the fossils, for the coffee-bag will only hold the smaller ones."

"What a mistake!" he exclaimed, as he found he had put the hermit-crabs into the same pocket with the sandwiches. Of course they were not fit to eat, so he threw both them and the hermit-crabs away. Mr. Thorn thought he heard some one laughing; so he jumped up, and looked behind him, when he saw a tall, ugly old woman standing almost close to him. She wore a ragged and very short blue petticoat, a faded red shawl over her shoulders, and a large straw hat tied down over her face; she had a small empty fish-hamper on her back' and a few sticks in her hands.

She seized the sandwiches that Mr. Thorn had thrown away, and ate them without even knocking off the sand which had stuck to them. Mr. Thorn looked at her in utter astonishment. Deborah looked at him for some time, as if she had seen him before; at last she said, with great coolness

"How old are you? What brought you here?"

Mr. Thorn felt sure she was mad, and, without answering her, he began to climb the rock as quickly as he could.

"I know," shouted the old woman: "you are just twenty-seven years old; and your name is Pickles. Come down!"

"Who are you?" asked Mr. Thorn, coming down the rock; but not quite so fast as he had gone up.

"I'm Deborah Broom, at your service; but I thought you were drowned!"

"It was my brother who was drowned," said Mr. Thorn: he was younger than me." "Your brother was drowned, was he?" said Deborah. "Who told you so?"

"I don't remember: I was only a little boy at the time."

Mr. Thorn began to climb up the rock again, for he was rather afraid of the old woman, particularly when she rolled her eyes about in a wild way. "Those mad women are not safe," thought he; "she might take a fancy to my hammer, as she did to those sandwichesshe's a sandwitch berself, I think."

But Mr. Thorn wished he had asked her how she got to know his name, and so much about him. He soon, however, forgot all about it;

among these was a fine ammonite, which he was hammering out of the rock, when the stone on which he was standing gave way, and he would have fallen to the bottom if his chin had not been caught by the edge of a long, thin stone, which projected out of the rock, and if he had not also been able with one hand to catch hold of a stone. Here he had been suspended for about three minutes, with his hair flying about in the wind (for his hat had fallen when the stone gave way), when somone shouted to him

"Hold on a minute longer, and I'll bring a ladder."

It was Mr. Merton, who had by chance come that way, for a walk with his sister-in-law, Miss Rose Mary Magnus. Fortunately Mr. Thorn was near enough to the ground to be able to reach the short ladder, which Mr. Merton had borrowed of Deborah Broom.

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"Well, and how do you feel?" said Mr. Merton, when Mr. Thorn had landed in safety; you made rather a comical figure, hanging by your chin. This is my sister-in-law, Miss Magnus. Miss Magnus was very merry, and good-tempered; she appeared to be about sixand twenty; her hair was very light and wavy, her face was very much freckled, but she was not bad-looking, and had very bright blue eyes. "How d'you do, Mr. Thorn?" said she.

"I scarcely know," said Mr. Thorn, picking up his hammer, "but I think I shan't fossilize any more to-day."

"What d'you call this?" said Mr. Merton, taking up the coffee-bag.

"Mrs. Lester lent it to me, to put my fossils in," replied Mr. Thorn; "she told me that necessity was the mother of wiseheads. She is very fond of old adages, as she calls them.

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Very fond of cold cabbage did you say?" asked Miss Magnus, who was rather deaf. "But that reminds me that the new gardener came to me very gravely this morning, and wanted to know if the last gardener was insane, as all the cabbages had been planted with their heads in the ground."

Mr. Thorn looked very much astonished. 'They couldn't be growing?" said he.

"No; they were in Magenta's and Solferino's gardens."

Mr. Merton invited Mr. Thorn to dinner. Mrs. Worsel, the cook, was in a great fuss, for she could not get any salmon, when Deborah Broom walked into the kitchen, with her fishbasket on her arm.

"Have you got any fresh salmon ?" said the cook.

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Fresh this morning, Mrs. Worsel, the biggest salmon I've seen this year; it weighs twenty-five pounds, but I shall want a good price for it."

"Last time you were here, you said you knew a grand secret; now you shall have a very good price for that salmon if you'll tell it to me." "Jane Dilwater is going to be married." "That's no secret," said the cook, con

Perhaps I do, and perhaps I don't; but I must really be going now," said she, as the cook paid her for the fish.

"You've never been introduced to Major Deal, Thorn," said Mr. Merton, at dinner-time; "he's a very nice fellow. Let us get up a picnic, and ask him and his daughter."

"Capital!" said Hector; we were thinking of a pic-nic to Cockleby, and it would be a great deal nicer if you asked them."

"You mustn't talk in that way when he's here, Hector," said Mr. Merton, " or else you'll have to cut before you deal."

"A deal I should care," replied Hector. "Is he that ugly man we met this morning, with a scar on his cheek?" asked Miss Magnus. "The same," said Mrs. Merton; "that scar was caused by a wild cat flying at him, when he was near Delhi; but he never likes it mentioning."

"I suppose it's a delicate subject," said Hector, who was an inveterate punster. When dinner was over, they all went into the garden-Magenta and Solferino too.

"Oh dear!" said Miss Magnus, as they were admiring a bunch of scarlet sweetwilliams, “I've lost a little cornelian heart off my bracelet."

Mr. Thorn immediately stooped down to look for it, and in so doing he nettled his hands, for the garden was full of all kinds of weeds.

"What's the matter?" said Mrs. Merton. "Only Aunt Mag. has lost her heart among the sweetwilliams," said Solferino, sticking his hands into his pockets.

Miss Magnus went very red, and felt very much inclined to pinch him.

"I've nettled myself," said Mr. Thorn, rubbing his fingers.

"Rub it with dock" said Magenta. "That's the best doctor for nettles."

"I've found it at last!" exclaimed Mr. Thorn, holding up the cornelian heart. "Thank you," said Miss Magnus, “I am exceedingly obliged to you."

Mr. Thorn spent so pleasant an evening at the Mertons', that he had no idea how the time was going; and he kept Mrs. Lester up till nearly twelve o'clock,waiting for him; and very cross she was.

CHAP. II.

"May we have a donkey-ride with Aunt Mag., mamma?" asked Magenta, next morning. "Have you eaten any green apricots lately?" "No," said Magenta.

"Very well; then, you may."

Magenta put on her hat, and ran into the garden to find Miss Magnus; but before she had crossed the onion-bed, Tonkins, the new gardener, stopped her.

"Hallo! Miss Treacle," said he, sticking his spade into the earth; "is it you, or Master Brimstone, that has put all these cockleshells on the top of my wegitable marrers? it really is past everything. I wish your ma would give you a good blowing up."

Tomkins was very much given to grumbling, and he was in a particularly bad temper this morning, because Solferino had planted a row of nettles on the top of the late-sown peas, because he said Miss Magnus had never tasted nettleporridge, and he wished her to have some. Magenta did not like Tomkins at all; for, besides being always grumbling, he had dug up her garden one night after she had gone to bed, and, though he said it was a mistake, he did not give her the chance of having another.

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'Let me pass, Tomkins," said Magenta; "I'm in a hurry!"

And, before Tomkins could stop her, she had got over the hedge and into the flower-garden, at the upper end of which there was a summerhouse, with a door at the back opening into a little plantation. Miss Magnus was sitting in this summer-house, crocheting an orange-andblack purse, when Magenta ran to her. Aunt Mag.," said she, mamma says we may have a donkey-ride this morning: come, go!"

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Miss Magnus yielded very willingly. On their way to the sands they met Mr. Thorn, who offered to hire the donkeys, and get one for himself at the same time. Miss Magnus's donkey was very lively; Mr. Thorn's would scarcely go on at all. He patted it, beat it, shouted at it; but it was all unavailing; the donkey would not move a step.

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Can you get another?" said Miss Magnus? "No," replied Mr. Thorn; "there is no other. "I don't know what to do."

"Tie them both together, and then beat the fast one," said Solferino.

"Don't talk nonsense, Sulfa," said Miss Magnus.

Mr. Thorn's donkey, whose name was Neptune, suddenly turned round, and set off at a gallop after a pony that had just passed them. The other donkeys of course followed, and they had a regular gallop-the contrary way to that which they intended.

"Ho! get out of the way!" shouted Thorn, nearly riding over a wheelbarrow, which he thought was a great fat pig!

"Dear me! I've lost my hat!" said Miss Magnus, reining up her donkey with such a sudden jerk that the bridle broke, and she nearly fell off the donkey. "The bridle is quite worthless," exclaimed she, seizing the donkey's mane. This the donkey did not admire at all, and began to kick. "Mr. Thorn, do stop!" she shouted; "I believe the saddle is slipping round!"

"Yes, sir; but I think, 'Behind time go without dinner' is better."

As they had now reached Mrs. Lester's lodgings, he said good-bye to Miss Magnus, and went in.

"Well, I declare !" exclaimed Mrs. Lester, when she got into the kitchen-"I just left the house while I went to look for you, and someone has stolen the dinner!"

"I'll go and look after them," said Mr. Thorn, putting his hat on again.

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fender to keep warm, and the dog has got it. Stay!" said Mrs. Lester; "I left it on the 'It's an ill wind that blows butter into a dog's throat.'!"

"I'll go and see if I can get a crab, or something," said Mr. Thorn.

Rushing hastily out of the house he ran against Parsley, Mr. Merton's butler. Their hats both fell off, and they would have fallen themselves if it had not been for the iron railing front of the house.

"That is a friend of Mr. Pickles," said Magenta to Mr. Thorn.

But Mr. Thorn paid no attention, for he caught sight of Miss Magnus, who was trying to get off the kicking donkey. The next moment he jumped off Neptune, and helped her off the donkey, and then went for her hat, which had fallen into a pool of water, floating at the top.

"Your donkey has run away!" said Solferino; "so what shall we do?"

"I think," said Miss Magnus, "we'd better go back, and send the boy to fetch it."

As they were going back, Mr. Thorn said, "I have had a note from Mr. Pickles this morn ing to ask me to a dinner-party next weekMay I ask if you're going, Miss Magnus ?" 'Yes, I think so. 'You will go also, I sup

pose?""

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Oh yes, I intend to do so." They were coming along very slowly when Mrs. Lester metthem. Poor, anxious woman! she had been looking all over the village for Mr. Thorn, for it was more than an hour after his usual dinner-time.

"I'm very sorry I'm late, Mrs. Lester; but I forgot my watch. I hope you'll agree with me, that, 'Better late than never' is a good old adage ?"

"I beg pardon, sir," said Parsley, rubbing his nose; "I brought a note from Mrs. Merton."

Mr. Thorn tore the note open; it was to ask him to luncheon, and to help them to make hay afterwards.

Mr. Thorn told Parsley he should be very glad to come. Mr. Merton was obliged to go to Merrydale on business, and left directly after luncheon.

"When will you be back, Richard?" said Mrs. Merton. "Are you going to walk?"

"Yes: it's only three miles. You may expect me back about nine."

Magenta and Solferino were in a great hurry Magnus to put on her hat and go with them. to begin haymaking, and at last persuaded Miss

"Will you join us, Mr. Thorn?" said Mrs. Merton, tying on a very large white hat, with blue rosettes at the ears.

"With the greatest pleasure," said Mr. Thorn. "I came for that purpose."

And they set off.