The warm welcome which our heroine received from Mr. and Mrs. Herbert, showed that they cherished a kindly affection for her. She was made to feel indeed how glad they were to receive her as their guest, by the care which they exhibited to make her thoroughly happy and comfortable, In this they were seconded by all the members of their family, among whom the gentle lighthouse-maiden was a decided favourite. "You have come from play to work, Grace," they said, "for we shall begin harvest operations to-morrow." But Grace replied that such work would be as good as play to her. At least they would be carrying on the pleasures which they had begun on the Farne Islands, and in the neighbourhood; for if they could not take excursions, they would all be together, and their work at any rate would be done merrily enough. There was one missing, however; for, on the night of their arrival at Mr. Herbert's, the young student left them for the Highlands of Scotland, where he intended to spend part of his vacation. Grace did not forget him, for he was one of whom she often spoke pleasantly as long as she lived; and such a holiday as they had spent together, though short, had been very delightful, and would be sure to be remembered by one whose life was on the whole very uneventful, until the great event occurred. The harvest fields of the Herberts presented a most lively appearance; for a large number of country girls, and active young men, were engaged in them. They reaped the fields in those days with the sickle; and had not come to our own times, when the work is mostly done by a machine, and all the music, poetry, and pleasure, seem to have gone out of the operation. Harvest-time used to be of all the year the most merry and joyous. Masters and men were then on the best of terms, and worked together in harmony. Friendship seems too often quite left out of the contract now, when people do their work by steam, and have not time, as they seem to think, to cultivate good fellowship. In Grace Darling's time, as we have said, there were merry days in the harvest-field, and she herself very gladly helped. Indeed, all hands had to assist, and it was only by so doing that the harvest could be gathered in time. But the reaping, and binding into sheaves, and carrying home, as well as the gleaning, were done with so much merriment that it was like a pic-nic out of doors. Good bread and cheese, and brown ale, would be served to the labourers, and they would see by many signs that their employers felt a kindly sympathy with them, as well as a personal, and not altogether disinterested solicitude in their work. And so the good harvest was gathered in, and then, when the last sheaf was set up, and the laden waggon went slowly away from the bare fields, the harvest-home was celebrated.