THE COOMBE-BOTTOM.

CONCLUSION.
'There is "two-o'clock bush,"' said Cicely, pointing to a large hawthorn; 'the shepherds look from the corner of the entrenchment, and if the sun is over that bush they know it is two o'clock.' She was driving me in the pony-trap over the Downs, and we were going to call on Mrs.Luckett's brother, who had a farm among the hills.

He had not been down to Lucketts' Place for more than twelve months, and Cicely was resolved to make him promise to come.

Though they may be in reality much attached and affectionate, country folk are apt to neglect even their nearest and dearest.

The visit is put off from month to month; then comes the harvest, and nothing else can be thought of; and the longer the lapse the more difficult is the remedy.
The footpath of friendship, says the ancient British triad, if not frequently travelled becomes overgrown with briars.
Those who live by the land forget the passage of the years.