directions to her little maid, Susan, who was called immediately; for as this was Saturday, and they were to set out on Monday, there was no time to be. lost. Susan was almost as much delighted as her little mistress with the task; and both felt of extraordinary importance when they found themselves alone with the open portmanteau before them, and close to the wardrobe from which it was to be filled. Both Susan and her young mistress were, however, soon very much puzzled to know what to decide on. Agnes at first had looked out nearly all the clothes she had, but it was soon found that the pretty little black portmanteau would not hold half the things that had been laid out. A fresh selection was therefore necessary, and several of the pretty frocks were put back into the drawer.

"Oh, I must have that, Susan," said Agnes, stretching out her hands after her favourite blue, which was being taken away.

"Very well, miss," said Susan. "Then suppose you take that, and leave this," laying down the blue, and taking up an equally favourite pale pink.

"Oh no," cried Agnes; "I must have that, it is so prettily made."

"Suppose you take all your coloured frocks," said Susan, "and leave white ones?"

your

“But, mamma says she always likes me best in white," said Agnes.

66

Well, then, we will take the whites," said Susan, "and leave the coloured ones."

Agnes sighed deeply. "Oh dear," cried she, after a short pause; “I wish mamma were here to decide for me. I thought it would be so delightful to have everything my own way, but now the time is come I do not like it at all. I see it saves a great deal of trouble to have some one to direct, and to tell one what to do. I am sure I wish mamma would come and tell me, for I am quite tired of being my own mistress ;" and as she spoke Mrs. Merton entered the room; for she had been in an adjoining apartment, and, overhearing the wishes of her little daughter, had come to her assistance. Under Mrs. Merton's directions the box was soon packed, and Agnes was astonished to see how soon her difficulties had vanished.

"I cannot think how it is mamma," "said she, "that you have been able to arrange in a moment what gave me so much trouble and vexation. You

have done everything just as I wished, and as I would have done it myself, if I could have made up my mind; and yet my governess often tells me that I am self-willed, and like to have my own way; now, it appears to me that I actually did not know what my own way was, till you came and showed me."

"The reason you had so much difficulty in deciding," said Mrs. Merton, "was that your judgment required to be guided by experience, a quality in which young people are necessarily deficient. When you are as old as I am, and have travelled as much, you will be able to decide as rapidly as I did in this matter; as you will know by experience what things are likely to be most useful.”

8

CHAPTER I.

Terminus of the Southampton Railroad at Vauxhall.—Truth and Falsehood.-Reaping flint in straw. The river Mole.-The Wey.-Canals and Locks.-Poppies and Opium.- Limestone and Chalk.-Gleaners.-Ruins at Basingstoke.-Southampton. Bar-Sir Bevis and the Giant Ascabart.

ON Monday morning Agnes did not fail to awake in time, and after an early breakfast the party proceeded to the railroad. It was a very long ride from Bayswater to the station at Nine Elms, and Agnes thought it longer than it really was. At length, however, they arrived, and Agnes watched with considerable anxiety her black leather portmanteau taken off the carriage with the rest of the luggage. She was once going to tell the porter to take particular care of it, but observing that her mother did not speak she also remained silent, and followed Mrs. Merton into a large room, in which a man stood behind a kind of counter, receiving money and giving

out tickets. When it was Mrs. Merton's turn, the man fixed his eyes on Agnes, and said abruptly, “How old are you?"

"I was ten last October," replied Agnes, very much surprised at this question. Mrs. Merton then laid three sovereigns on the counter, which the man took up, giving her three tickets in return, with which she walked away in silence, and joining Mr. Merton they both walked to the railway carriages followed by Agnes, who could not at all understand the meaning of what had taken place. She did not like to ask any questions, as she had promised not to be troublesome, but she could not help thinking of the man's strange behaviour; and when her mamma, who saw her puzzled look, asked what she was thinking about, she ventured to enquire what the man meant by speaking to her only, and why he took any interest in knowing her age. "I suppose," said she, "he must have some little girls of his own, and that he wanted to know if I were the same age; but I wonder whether he thought me short or tall." Mrs. Merton smiled, and replied that she really believed the man had never thought about it.