On the evening of the last day of their journey, Harry and Lucy looked out anxiously at every house they saw; and many times they hoped that cottages, which at a distance peeping between trees looked charming, would be theirs, till, on a nearer view, they were as often contented to let them pass. One with a honeysuckle porch, and another with a trellis, and another with a pomegranate in full flower. Lucy, however, looked back with regret, fearing that theirs could never be so pretty. Theirs was to be on the sea shore, but as yet they did not seem to be near the sea. Presently they turned into a lane, which led down a VOL. III. B On the evening of the last day of their journey, Harry and Lucy looked out anxiously at every house they saw; and many times they hoped that cottages, which at a distance peeping between trees looked charming, would be theirs, till, on a nearer view, they were as often contented to let them pass. One with a honeysuckle porch, and another with a trellis, and another with a pomegranate in full flower. Lucy, however, looked back with regret, fearing that theirs could never be so pretty. Theirs was to be on the sea shore, but as yet they did not seem to be near the sea. Presently they turned into a lane, which led down a VOL. III. B steep hill, with hedges so high on each side, that nothing could be seen, but the narrow road before them. At the bottom of this lane, to the right, there was a gate, and a road leading through a wood. Harry's father stopped the carriage, and asked an old woman who came to the gate, "Is this the road to Rupert's cottage?" "Yes, sir." "I am glad of it," thought Harry. "We are sure of a wood, that is one good thing." The gate opened, and they drove in. "Now we shall see what sort of a place it is," said Lucy. Rupert's cottage was at the foot of a high hill covered with trees, which sheltered it at the back. In front was a very small green lawn, surrounded with evergreens. The cottage had a honeysuckle porch, and a bow-window, and a trellis. was all that Lucy desired within it was an odd kind The outside and within of house, with one long matted passage, and steps up here and down there, and rooms that had. been enlarged, with jutting windows, and niches, and nooks, in curious ways; and Lucy liked it all the better for not being a regular house. The rooms in which she and Harry were to sleep, if rooms they could be called, were "very, very small," as even Lucy observed; there was but just space for a little bed, and a little table, and a little chair, and for a little person to turn about in. No chest of drawers, or any such luxury, only a press in the corner cut in the wall. But the more difficulties, the more inconveniences the better, there would be more work for ingenuity in contriving how to settle themselves and their goods. Lucy wanted to have the trunks brought in, and to go to the unpacking and arranging directly; but Harry had other thoughts in his head. Lucy," said he, "I am disappointed in one thing, and a great thing." What, my dear Harry?" said Lucy, opening her eyes wide. "The sea," said Harry, looking out of the window. "No view of the sea any |