buried in mud, the horses labouring and straining, and every now and then shaking the slime indignantly from their fetlocks, and probably thinking none but amphibious animals should be abroad in such weather.
“Oh! it is such an ugly, ugly day!” said Estelle, “I do wish it were over.”
“You should not find fault with the weather,” replied Emma; “mother says it is wicked, for God sends us what weather seemeth good to him. For my part, I have had a very happy day reading and sewing.”
“And I too,” said Bessy, “but I begin to be tired now, and I wish I could see some of those beautiful crimson clouds, tinged with gold, that wait upon sunset.”
“Bessy has such a romantic mode of expression,” cried Edmund, laughing and laying down his book; “I think she will make a poet one of these days. Even now, I see upon her lips ‘a prophetess’s fire.’”
Bessy’s blue eyes peeped at her brother through her golden curls, and something in them seemed to say, “that is not such a ridiculous prophecy as you imagine.”
“This is a dreadful day for a traveller,” said Mrs. Worth, with a sigh, and the children all thought of their father, exposed to the inclemency of the atmosphere, and they echoed their mother’s sigh. They all looked very sad, till the entrance of another member of the family turned their thoughts into a new channel. This was no other than Estelle’s kitten, which had been perambulating in the mire and rain, till she looked the most forlorn object in the world. Her sides were hollow and dripping, and her tail clung to her back in a most abject manner. There was a simultaneous exclamation at her dishevelled appearance, but Miss Kitty walked on as demurely as if nothing particular had happened to her, and jumping on her little mistress’s shoulder, curled her wet tail round her ears, and began to mew and purr, opening and shutting her green eyes between every purr. Much as Estelle loved her favourite, she was not at all pleased at her present proximity, and called out energetically for deliverance. All laughed long and heartily at the
