12 A YEAR WITH NELLIE.

tripped along the lane with her basket on her
arm, and saw the sun rise over the distant hills.
“But I might as well have told mother where
I was going. I should have said I was going
to look for Miss Rayner’s cat, and if I didn’t
go early some of the others might find it first.”

After some time Nellie turned into a field,
and followed for a little way a path that ran
by the side of a hedge, until she came to a gate
that was securely fastened to its post and pad-
locked. Along the top a bush of prickly wood
was placed, to prevent anyone climbing over.

But the little. girl was thin enough to be
able to squeeze through between two bars,
though her hat came off in the process, and she
had hard work to reach it without creeping
back again.

She was now standing in the very prettiest
of woods, where it was still twilight, owing to
the thick leaves overhead, and the twining
branches of the young trees. Her way she
knew very well. Down this path until she
came to one that crossed it, a turn to the right,
before long another to the left, and she had
found what she wanted.

There it was before her—the beautiful white