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minutes, Mrs. Morelle was inclined to set out on the return. But Florence and the others urged her to go on. They asked her if she was tired. She said she was not yet tired, but she was afraid that she should be, if she went a great deal farther and then had to come back over the whole length of the road again. But they said that they could ride back, if they chose, in an omnibus, for omnibuses were going and coming along the road all the time. Mrs. Morelle yielded to this argument, and so they all went on.

When at length they reached St. Aubin, they found it a very silent and solitary place. The omnibus office was at the entrance to the village, where a road turned off into the interior of the island, toward a populous district lying in that direction. The party, however, did not stop here, but went on through the village. The tide had now begun to go down, and the water had almost left the harbor. Nothing was to be seen within the piers but a few lonesome-looking fishing vessels settled in the mud.

The party went on to the end of the village and there found a place, in a small green field, where there were square blocks of building-stone lying upon the ground. They sat down upon these stones to rest, looking out over the water at the same time.

While they were there a venerable-looking man, dressed in a somewhat seafaring style, but with a certain expression in his countenance and demeanor that denoted a gentleman, came to them and addressed Mrs. Morelle in a respectful manner, saying—

"I suppose, madam, you are not sitting here to rest in the open air from preference. I have a house, such as it is, near here. If you will accept such hospitality as myself and my wife can offer we should be happy to have you come in."

Mrs. Morelle was at first at a loss how she ought to receive this invitation; but after a moment's hesitation she concluded to accept it, and so they all went together to the house. It proved to be a house of a very humble character, but the party were received very kindly in it, both by the old gentleman himself and by his wife and daughter. He said he had in former times served in the British navy; but now for many years he had lived in Jersey. He had fought against the French, and when Cherbourg happened to be mentioned in the conversation, he said that was the place where the French got their last shot at him.

The old gentleman had a mother cat and a mother dog, each with four young ones, all eight

exactly of a size. The children were very much amused, while they stayed, at seeing these little things, which were so fat that they could scarcely toddle about, playing together under the chairs and before the fire, tumbling over each other and biting each other's ears.

The lady of the house seemed much pleased to receive the visit of the party, and she brought out some bread and butter, and some apples, and a kind of sweet drink which she made for them.

After remaining for about half an hour at this house, the party ascended a winding road, which led up to the top of the promontory beyond the town, where they obtained a very wide and commanding view. They could see the coast of France extending all along the eastern horizon for many miles. They could see groups of rocky islands rising here and there out of the sea in various directions. The bay they looked down upon as upon a map; and the town of St. Helier, with its long lines of piers, and castle walls, and ranges of buildings, shone in the sun in a very resplendent manner.

After remaining for some time on the promontory they came down to the town again, and proceeded to the omnibus office; and there, after waiting ten minutes for an omnibus to

come, they took their places, Mrs. Morelle and Florence inside, and Grimkie and John upon the top, and in half an hour were landed at the corner of the street where they lived, in town.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE CASTLE OF MONT ORGUEIL.

THE next morning after the expedition to St. Aubin, Florence and Grimkie proposed to Mrs. Morelle that they should make another expedition in the same manner, and Grimkie said that the best thing they could do would be to go and see the Castle of Mont Orgueil.

But Mrs. Morelle said that it fatigued her too much to go on excursions too often, and that she would rather remain at home that day; but that if they could plan any walk that they would like to take themselves, without her, she had no objection.

Grimkie then proposed at once that they themselves should go to Mont Orgueil.

Mont Orgueil is one of the most remarkable objects of interest in Jersey. It is a very picturesque old castle, standing on the top of a rocky hill, which juts out into the sea about the middle of the eastern side of the island. The town of St. Helier is near the middle of the southern

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