The first few weeks of the Sudberrys' residence in their Highland home were of an April cast--alternate sunshine and shower. Sometimes they had a day of beaming light from morning till night; at other times they had a day of unmitigated rain, or, as Mr Sudberry called it, "a day of cats and dogs;" and occasionally they had a day which embraced within its own circuit both conditions of weather--glorious bursts of sunshine alternating with sudden plumps of rain. Thus far the weather justified and strengthened the diverse opinions of both husband and wife. "Did I not tell you, my love, that the climate was charming?" was Mr Sudberry's triumphant remark when a dazzling blaze of light would roll over flood and fell, and chase the clouds away. "There, didn't I say so?" was the withering rejoinder of Mrs Sudberry, when a black cloud rolled over the sky and darkened the landscape as with a wipe of ink. Hitherto victory leaned decidedly to neither side, the smile of triumph and the humbled aspect of defeat rested alternate on either countenance, so that both faces taken together formed a sort of contradictory human barometer, which was not a bad one--at all events it was infinitely superior to that instrument of the banjo type, which Mr Sudberry was perpetually tapping in order to ascertain whether or not its tendencies were dropsical. When father was up at "set fair," mother was certain to be depressed, inclining to much rain; yet, strangely enough, it was on such occasions _very dry_! When mother was "fair," (barometrically speaking, of course), father was naturally down at "changeable"! Yet there was wonderful contradiction in the readings of this barometer; for, when mother's countenance indicated "much rain," father sometimes went down to "stormy," and the tails of his coat became altogether unmanageable. But, towards the middle of the holidays, father gained a decided victory. For three weeks together they had not a drop of rain--scarcely a cloud in the sky; and mother, although fairly beaten and obliged to confess that it was indeed splendid weather, met her discomfiture with a good grace, and enjoyed herself extremely, in a quiet way.