OUT OF TOWN.

Dudley — did indeed look as if they wanted a sea-breeze to blow the roses
back into their pale cheeks.

Their mother’s news was received with outcries of disappointment; and
Lily, who had been packing her doll’s trunk, sat down on the floor and began
to cry.

‘““We must make the best of it for a little longer,” said Mrs. Maynard,
lifting the little girl into her lap. Mary, the fresh, countrified-looking nursery
maid, seemed almost as downcast as the children.

‘Tf ] may take the liberty of speaking, ma’am,” she said after a minutes’
silence, ‘‘ would the country do as well as the seaside ?”

‘““Why, yes, I suppose it would. Why do you ask?”

“Because, ma’am, there is a sort of cousin of mine, a well-to-do farmer,
who lives close to the friend of yours who recommended me to you, and is
well known to Mrs. Temple. He and his wife often take boarders in the
summer, for they have a large comfortable house, and no children — that is to
say, there is only our Jem, ma’am; but he’s grown up, and so does not count.
I'm sure Mrs. Holt would
make the children comfort-
able and happy, and we
- Should be quite safe there.” bl

“Well, really, it does not «,
wn] seem a bad idea. I will talk
to Mr. Maynard about it,” said Mrs. Maynard, as she left the room.

The matter was quickly settled; and on the third day afterwards Mr. May-
nard himself put Mary and the children into the train at Waterloo, and early
in the afternoon they found themselves at tea in the parlor of the big rambling
farmhouse — a pleasant-looking young man, who was hailed by Mary as ‘“‘ Our
Jem,” having met them with a double wagon at the pretty little village station.
Such a tea as that was, — new-laid eggs, brown bread, yellow butter, golden

    

honey, and a huge seed-cake !

‘The poor dears do look peaky, as if they were half-starved, and kept in
the dark,” said cheery Mrs. Holt to Mary.

“It was the hotness,” remarked Lily: “ the ground was hot, and the sky
was hot, and we could not play, it made us feel langid, you see — father said

”

so.”
‘“Langid, indeed,” laughed Mrs. Holt; “bless their little hearts. Well,