CHAPTER II.
THE HEIR PROPOSES TO VISIT HIS COUSINS.
It was full summer at Belton, and the sweet scent of the new hay filled the porch of the old house with fragrance, as Clara sat there alone with her work.

Immediately before the house door, between that and the old tower, there stood one of Farmer Stovey's hay-carts, now empty, with an old horse between the shafts looking as though he were asleep in the sun.

Immediately beyond the tower the men were loading another cart, and the women and children were chattering as they raked the scattered remnants up to the rows.

Under the shadow of the old tower, but in sight of Clara as she sat in the porch, there lay the small beer-barrels of the hay-makers, and three or four rakes were standing erect against the old grey wall.

It was now eleven o'clock, and Clara was waiting for her father, who was not yet out of his room.