around much celebrated for its beauty; particularly one romantic valley, or cleft amongst the neighbouring hills, the frequent resort of visitors who usually took with them provisions for the day; and, dispersed amongst the rocks and hanging woods, or along the banks of a picturesque stream, pursued their different tastes, some preferring to explore the surrounding crags, and others to repose in the soft green valley, listening to the murmur of the brook as it mingled with the song of birds.

Henry was soon lost to the rest of the party, but his disappearance had occasioned little observation, until he came running back with breathless earnestness, to persuade his mother and sister to accompany him along a delightful path which he had found-so delightful, indeed, that nothing else was to be compared with it, nor worth looking at in fact. "So come away," said he, "for I have seen such a view! just what you like, Mamma; far away along the valley, where the stream winds like a serpent, and other valleys branch out, and hills beyond hills—Oh, such a view!"

Mrs. Gray, who was naturally rather enterprising like her son, felt half-tempted to go with him; but looking at her daughter's pale cheeks, and slender frame, she answered" It will be too difficult for Jessy, I am sure, and I should not like to leave her behind."

"Too difficult!" exclaimed Henry. "It is close by”—

for boys can sometimes measure distances according to their wishes.

"And not difficult ?" asked Mrs. Gray.

"Not in the least," replied her son.

Mrs. Gray was just preparing to accompany her son, but again stopped to inquire more earnestly about the way, reminding him that it was not exactly as if they were at home, but that torn dresses and disfigured bonnets, might be a serious inconvenience under present circumstances.

"I do assure you," replied Henry, "there is nothing of the kind to fear."

"And you know the way?" asked his mother.

"Oh! trust me for that;" he replied again, looking rather taller than before, and turning round, and walking on with the air of a person whose guidance might be relied upon all the world over.

For some time there was really no difficulty beyond a gradual ascent, which however proved sufficiently trying to poor Jessy's strength. But soon a considerable height was gained, and then a sheep-track became their path, Henry leading on with unabated self-complacency, sometimes encouraging Jessy by the offer of his hand, and then politely disengaging his mother's scarf from the bushes by their side. And still the way was pleasant, and Henry never doubted its being the same as he had

trod before. At last, however, he stopped suddenly to take a general view, but only, as he said, "to admire the scenery."

"It does not seem to me so very beautiful yet;" said Jessy, panting for breath, and gathering more closely round her the flounces of her muslin frock; "but I suppose the view will burst upon us all at once."

"It seems to me that we are getting deeper and deeper amongst the tangled brushwood," observed Mrs. Gray.

"Wait one moment," said Henry, evidently a little disconcerted, and he scrambled up the side of a steep crag which hung above them. Here he looked around him with considerable anxiety depicted on his countenance, but soon came down again exclaiming, "I see exactly where we are. I have deviated a little from the path, but it is all the same. We are in the right line, only follow me.”

Not knowing what else to do, Mrs. Gray and Jessy went on, though without that perfect satisfaction in their own minds, which is a desirable, if not an absolutely necessary accompaniment to a party of pleasure. At present, however, they had enough to do to keep clear of the briars and bushes on either side, which seemed to grow thicker and thicker, so as almost to obscure the path; and had not Henry manfully made way before them, and resolutely assured them that it was so, they would sometimes have doubted whether there really was a path at all.

"I am very much fatigued, Mamma," said Jessy, after a while, in a more than usually mournful voice.

"And so am I," said Mrs. Gray; "but what is to be done ?"

"We shall soon be out of this entanglement," said Henry, spreading out his arms to make a passage, and breaking off the boughs on either side.

"We are losing sight of the valley;" observed Mrs. Gray.

"Here it is, here it is;" exclaimed Henry; and there, in very truth it was, down a precipitous descent at a great depth below them; but as to path, there was none, only a wilderness of brushwood all around, and trees towering up from the side of the hill, through the tall stems of which they could now and then discover the party they had left far down below.

"You do not mean that we should descend this frightful place!" exclaimed Jessy; and she grew pale at the thought.

"And the view?" asked Mrs. Gray. "I see nothing but this wilderness, with little glimpses of the very spot we were in before."

"Once for all," said Henry, looking rather abashed as he made the confession, "I must own that this is not the path of which I spoke, though I felt sure at the time that I could find it again."

"And I," said his mother, "must not be very angry

with you, since I yielded so readily to your guidance, and yet was old enough to have known better. What is best to do now, becomes the most important question, for I really cannot see the way to return."

And so it was. The little party had completely lost all trace of any path; and, what was very tantalizing, they could frequently see glimpses of their friends enjoying themselves in the quiet security of the little valley, some seated on the rocks, others wandering along the side of the stream, and all looking happy in some way or other.

"I am the most sorry for Jessy," said Mrs. Gray, supporting the faint and trembling girl in her arms, for to her the sight of that precipitous descent had been frightful in the extreme; and under the influence of her fears, all strength seemed to have failed her. She lost even the power to laugh at the little disasters by the way, which had deprived her of many portions of her dress. Indeed, the case was becoming serious even to Henry himself, for after exploring as well as he could the steep hill-side, he was convinced, that though, in monkey fashion, a nimble boy might let himself down by catching at the branches and roots of the trees, to his mother and sister this mode of escape would be quite impracticable. At last, however, he found a safer passage down into the valley, but how to reach it through the thickly-tangled briars, was a difficult and serious question.