4 History of Gutta-Percha Wiltie.

 

it, Willie first knew that they were cold by the
sweet warmth of the kind hands that chafed them:
he had not thought of it’before. Climbing amongst
the ruins of the Priory, or playing with Farmer
Thomson’s boys and girls about the ricks in his
yard, in the thin clear saffron twilight which came
so early after noon, when, to some people, every
breath seemed full of needle-points, so sharp was
the cold, he was as comfortable and happy as if he
had been a creature of the winter only, and found
himself quite at home in it.

For there were ruins, and pretty large ruins ioe,
which they called the Priory. It was not: often
that monks chose such a poor country to settle in,
but I suppose they had their reasons. And I dare-
say they were not monks at all, but begging friars,
who founded it when they wanted to reprove the
luxury and greed of the monks; and perhaps by
the time they had grown as bad themselves, the
place was nearly finished, and they could not well
move it. They had, however, as I have indicated,
chosen the one pretty spot, around which, for a
short distance on every side, the land was tolerably
good, and grew excellent oats if poor wheat, while
the gardens were equal to apples and a few pears,
besides abundance of gooseberries, currants, and
strawberries.

The ruins of the Priory lay behind Mr Mac-
michael’s cottage—indeed, in the very garden—of