And what a delightful wood it was! To enter it was like stepping into one of Grimm's fairy tales.

An avenue of splendid pines reared their dark boughs against a russet background of beeches; everywhere the leaves seemed to have donned their brightest and gayest tints, as if bidding a last good-by before they fell from the trees.

The undergrowth was gorgeous: bramble, elder, honeysuckle, briony, rowan, and alder vied with one another in the vividness of their crimson and orange, while the bracken was a sea of pale gold.

There were all sorts of delightful things to be found--acorns lay so plentifully in the pathway that the girls could not help scrunching them underfoot.

A few were already sending out tiny shoots in anticipation of spring, and these were carefully saved to take home and grow in bottles.