THE BOWER. 101

wards a large black walnut tree, which might be
seen from a distance over-topping the wood.
Though it was only a few yards from the path,
and Mr. Lovett did not undertake to make a very
clear or wide road to it at first, he was nearly an
hour in reaching it, so thick were the tangled
boughs and underbrush which opposed his progress;
but when he reached it he felt quite repaid for his
work by a sight of the beauty around him. The
tree grew on a small hillock. Its large roots and
dense shade seemed to have banished from its im-
mediate neighbourhood all growth larger than the
blue harebell and yellow dandelion, whieh sprung
up in patches here and there, insinuating them-
selves even into the crevices of the roots. This
tree seemed to bound Mr. Nye’s wood on the west;
for beyond it, on that side, the ground sloped
suddenly down for some feet to a sort of dingle,
through which ran a clear, sparkling spring, sing-
ing as it passed over the pebbly surface. On the
farther side of this spring was another thick wood,
surrounded by a rude fence. The ground con-
tinued to sink beyond the fence for such a distance
that from the little hillock you might catch