SHADOW BROOK. S|

She was about as tall as you are,” replied Eustace,
“and, as gold is very heavy, she weighed at least two
thousand pounds, and might have been coined into thirty
or forty thousand gold dollars. I wish Primrose were
worth half as much. Come, little people, let us clamber
out of the dell, and look about us.”

They did so. The sun was now an hour or two
beyond its noontide mark, and filled the great hol-
low of the valley with its western radiance, so that it
seemed to be brimming with mellow light, and to spill
it over the surrounding hillsides, like golden wine
out of a bowl. It was such a day that you could
not help saying of it, “There never was such a
day before!” although yesterday was just such a day,
and to-morrow will be just such another. Ah, but
there are very few of them in a twelvemonth’s cir-
cle! It is a remarkable peculiarity of these October
days, that each of them seems to occupy a great deal
of space, although the sun rises rather tardily at that
season of the year, and goes to bed, as little children
ought, at sober six o’clock, or even earlier. We can-
not, therefore, call the days long; but they appear, some-
how or other, to make up for their shortness by their
breadth;- and when the cool night comes, we are con-
scious of having enjoyed a big armful of life, since
morning. |

“Come, children, come!” cried Eustace Bright.
“More nuts, more nuts, more nuts! Full all your bas-
kets; and, at Christmas time, I will crack them for
you, and tell you beautiful stories!”

4 F