“I don’t manage,” Leila answered; “he is always thinking of doing kind things to me and every body, and he has told me all about our governess, and made me like having one more than I did at first; I will tell you about it as we go along, for we are to walk, you know, and we must make haste and get ready, that papa and uncle and aunt may not be there long before us.” The walk proved every way delightful. The sky so brightly blue, the sunshine splendid, and the woods, now tinted with the glowing hues of autumn, gave additional beauty to the scene. Here and there a solitary unprotected tree, standing out from the others, might have given warning to more contemplative minds that winter and its storms were approaching; but there was no winter in their young hearts--all was fresh, gay, and green, and withered leaves brought to them no memory of blighted hopes, and of a world of many sorrows. The distance could not be two miles, they all agreed, though Matilda and Alfred did their best to lengthen it, by continuing, during every few yards of their progress, to run up a little bank by the side of the road and down again, assuring the others that it was by far the quickest way of getting on, but Leila greatly preferred walking quietly straight forward with Selina; it was always a particular pleasure to her to have Selina entirely to herself. She now related to her all her papa had told her of Mrs. Roberts, and many were the good resolutions made by both, that they would do all they could to make her situation pleasant to her. As they came in sight of a pretty-looking house, standing in a small garden, Leila stopped. “Look, Selina,” she said, “I think that must be Woodlands, had we not better ask some one if it is?” A countryman came up to them at that moment, walking very quickly, and was about to pass on before. Leila ran forward. “Pray do stop,” she said, “if you are not very busy, and tell us if that is Woodlands?” The man turned back and looked at her with astonishment. “Dear heart, young lady, but you must be a stranger in these parts--that Woodlands, _that_? It would be but a humble post indeed to open the park gates to them good people, a very decent family too, I mean to say nothing disrespectful, but Woodlands, bless your heart, Woodlands is one of the _principalest_ houses in the whole countryside. Do you see that beautiful great house standing on the height there, with the broad terrace and the pleasure-grounds sloping down to the river, and them grand woods on each side, shutting out the summer’s sun and the winter’s blasts?--_that’s_ Woodlands, and it’s not every day you will see its like; but you are pleasant-looking young ladies to my mind, and if you have a fancy to see Woodlands, though it’s not to every one I would say as much, I have no objections to unlock the gates for you, for once and away.” “And are the gates always locked?” Leila timidly inquired; then added, “papa told us to go there.”