116 BHYOND THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.

This cottage did not in the least resemble Castle Dangerous. It
had a most comfortable, kindly sort of feel—the smell of the wild
flowers and of the roses that nearly covered the outside walls filled
every room. ‘The rooms themselves were ornamented with shells
gathered from the sea-shore, with cases of dry ‘sea-weeds, and with
funny little collections of butterflies and beetles, and different creatures
of the woods. Buttercup, Agnes, and the other children could not
sufficiently admire the large and brilliant butterflies and gorgeous
beetles. But Primrose turned away from them with a sort of horror,
for each of those creatures had a pin stuck through the centre of its
back, and she could not help feeling that Convolvulus was like a great .
spider, and that these were some of her prey.

She felt sorry when this thought came into her head, fer no one
could be kinder than this lovely graceful lady, and it would have been
almost impossible to find a sweeter face than hers. She loaded the
table with cream, honey, milk, cakes, and fruit, and then invited the
children to sit down and eat heartily.

They were only too anxious to obey her. Buttercup took his sister’s
hand, and seated himself near a pile of frosted cakes, which he began
to gobble up very fast and greedily.

“Oh, I am so hungry!” he exclaimed. “ Aren’t you awfully
hungry, Rose?”

Poor Primrose felt quite faint for want of food, but she remembered .
the advice of the blind lady, and was determined that, come what
might, she would not allow bite or sup to pass her lips.

“Don’t notice me, Buttercup,” she whispered to the little fellow.
“ If you must eat, do, but don’t say anything about me.”

Buttercup turned to gaze at his sister—he saw that her eyes
were full of tears—and he immediately nestled up to her in his sweet
confiding way to whisper in her ear—

“ Darling Rose, I love you. If you are not hungry now, [ll try
and smuggle one of these cakes into my pocket to give you by-and-by.”

Convolvulus was standing at the other end of the table. Unlike
the sisters at Castle Dangerous, she did not attempt to force any
of the children to eat. After making the remark—