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The day after their arrival there was a heavy fall of rain, and

in the night the water came through in the corridor and in the

nursery, so that the beds had to be carried into the

drawing-room. There was no kitchen maid to be found; of the nine

cows, it appeared from the words of the cowherd-woman that some

were about to calve, others had just calved, others were old, and

others again hard-uddered; there was not butter nor milk enough

even for the children. There were no eggs. They could get no

fowls; old, purplish, stringy cocks were all they had for

roasting and boiling. Impossible to get women to scrub the

floors-all were potato-hoeing. Driving was out of the question,

because one of the horses was restive, and bolted in the shafts.