PART III.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 30, 16 November 1888, Page 27

PART 111.

Rain fell incessantly for fcvuhl days, and, even when it ceased, masses of white vipoui rose up from the neighbouring valleys and blotted out everything. 'I liv vapour had lifted, however, when Fasch and his sister Imd Parted o i their expedition, and Anna, iired of hir wetk s seek sion, set out on a nimble. A Btiange new feeling came over ihe girl as vjjii :>« "-ho lost si^'ht of her aunt's straight figure. She was tr^e, thei' j would be nobody to scold her or 1o make hyr feel nukwtrd ; she \,ui!;i'l wirh deliuh', and with an ease that surpmed her, ovtr the tence that pitted 1 wo meadows , she looked at her Fkut, and she saw v ith ieh< f that the I ad not much frayed it. yet sne knew there w c ie thorns, fur there had bjen an abuLdance ot wi d rosej iv thu hedge. A laik was singing blithely over leid, and the grasshoppers filled thu air with |<jyful chirpirgs. Anna's face beamed with content. " If life could be always like tc-day ," she thought, " oh, how n'ce it would bel" Presently she reache 1 the meadow with the brook running across it, and she gave a cry ci delight. Down in themarsb. into which the brook ran acrobs tLe slopiug field she saw a mass of bright dark blue These were gentian flowers, ojeaing blue and green Llo'-soms to the sunshine, and in fro'>t of them the meadow itself was white with a sprinkling of grass of Parnassus. Anna had a passionate love ot

flowers, and, utterly heedless of all but the joy of sfieiag thim, bus ran down the slops, and only stopped when she fouad herself ankle deep in the marsh below, in wnica the gentian grew. This sobered her excitement. She pulled out oae foot, and waa stocked to find that she had left her shoo behind in the black alimj ; she was conscious, too, that the other foot was sinking deeper and deeper in the treacherous marsh. There waa nothing to hold by ; there was not even aa osier near at band. Behind the gentian rose a thicket of rosy-blossomed willow-herb, and here and there was a creamy tassel of meadowsweet, but even t^ese were some feet beyond her grasp. Anna looked round her in despair. From the next field came a clicking sound, and as she listened she guessed that old Andreaa was busy mowing. He was old, but he was not deaf, and she could easily make him hear a cry for help ; bnt she was afrud ot Andreas. He kept the hotel garden in order, and if he found footmarks on t^e vegetable plots, or if anything went wrong with the plants, he always laid the blame on Anna. He was as neat as he wai captious, and the girl shrank from letting htm see the plight she was in. hhe stooped down and felt for her shoe, and as she recovered it she nearly fell full length into the bog ; the struggle to keep her balance was fatal ; her other foot sank several inches ; it seemed to her that she must soon be sneked down by the horrible black water that spurted up from the marsh with her struggles. Without stopping to think, she cried as loud as she could : " Help me, Andreaa 1 Help ! I am drowning 1" At the cry the top of a straw hat appeared in Bight, and its owner came up bill — a small man with twisted legs, in pale, clay-coloured trousers, a black waistcoat, and brown, linen shirtsleeves. His wrinkled face looked hot, and his hat was pushed to the back of hia head. He took it off and wiped his face with his handkerchief while be looked round him. " Pouf I" He gave a grunt of displeasure. "So you are once more in mischief, are you ? Ah, ah, ah 1 What, then, will the aunt, that ever to be respected Frauelin, say when she hears of this?" He called this out as he came leisurely across the strip of meadow that separated him from Anna She was in an agony of fear lest she should sink still further in before he reached her ; but she knew Andreas far too well to urge him even by a word to greater haste. So she stool shivering and pale with fear while she clasped her bog stained shoe close to her. Andreas had brought a stake with him, and he held this out to Anna but whea she had tried to draw out her siuking foot she shook her head, it seemed to be stack too fast ia the bog. Andreas gave a growl of discontent, and then went slowly up to the plaok bridge. With some effort he raised the smaller of the two phnks and carried it to where Anna stood fixed like a statua among the flowering waterplants. Then he pushed the plank out till it rested on a hillock of rushes, while the other end remained on the meadow. "Ah" — he drew a long breath — "see the trouble you give by your carelessness." He spoke vindictively, as if he would hare liked to give her a good shaking; but Anna smiled at him, she was so thankful at the prospect of release. The mischievous little man kept her waiting some minutes. He pretended to test the safety of the plank by walking up and down it and trying it with his foot. At last, when the girl'd heart had become sick with suspense, he suddenly stretched out both hands and pulled her on to the plank: then he pushed hei along before him till she waa on dry ground once moie. "Oh thank you Andrea?.'" she le^an, but he cut her thanks very short. "Go home at once and dry yours3lf," he said. "You are the plague of my lite, and if I had been a w'se mm I should have leftyou in t v ie marsh. Could not your senses tell you that all that rain meant danger in boggy places / There'll be mischief somewhere besides this ; a land slip or two, more likely. I here, run home, child, or you'll get cold." He turned angiily away from her and went back to his work. Anna hurried to tbe narrowest part of the brook and jumped across it. She could not make herselt in a worse plight than she waa already ; her skirts were dripping with the black and filihy water of the maish. (Concluded in our next.)