Joseph assented heartily, smiling to himself at the idea of pushing Diamond. After doing everything that fell to his share, the boy had a wealth of time at his disposal. And a happy, sometimes a merry time it was. Only for two months or so, he neither saw nor heard anything of North Wind. CHAPTER XXXV. I MAKE DIAMOND'S ACQUAINTANCE MR. RAYMOND'S house was called The Mound, because it stood upon a little steep knoll, so smooth and symmetrical that it showed itself at once to be artificial. It had, beyond doubt, been built for Queen Elizabeth as a hunting tower--a place, namely, from the top of which you could see the country for miles on all sides, and so be able to follow with your eyes the flying deer and the pursuing hounds and horsemen. The mound had been cast up to give a good basement-advantage over the neighbouring heights and woods. There was a great quarry-hole not far off, brim-full of water, from which, as the current legend stated, the materials forming the heart of the mound--a kind of stone unfit for building--had been dug. The house itself was of brick, and they said the foundations were first laid in the natural level, and then the stones and earth of the mound were heaped about and between them, so that its great height should be well buttressed. Joseph and his wife lived in a little cottage a short way from the house. It was a real cottage, with a roof of thick thatch, which, in June and July, the wind sprinkled with the red and white petals it shook from the loose topmost sprays of the rose-trees climbing the walls. At first Diamond had a nest under this thatch--a pretty little room with white muslin curtains, but afterwards Mr. and Mrs. Raymond wanted to have him for a page in the house, and his father and mother were quite pleased to have him employed without his leaving them. So he was dressed in a suit of blue, from which his pale face and fair hair came out like the loveliest blossom, and took up his abode in the house. “Would you be afraid to sleep alone, Diamond?” asked his mistress. “I don't know what you mean, ma'am,” said Diamond. “I never was afraid of anything that I can recollect--not much, at least.” “There's a little room at the top of the house--all alone,” she returned; “perhaps you would not mind sleeping there?” “I can sleep anywhere, and I like best to be high up. Should I be able to see out?” “I will show you the place,” she answered; and taking him by the hand, she led him up and up the oval-winding stair in one of the two towers. Near the top they entered a tiny little room, with two windows from which you could see over the whole country. Diamond clapped his hands with delight. “You would like this room, then, Diamond?” said his mistress. “It's the grandest room in the house,” he answered. “I shall be near the stars, and yet not far from the tops of the trees. That's just what I like.”