"Would you like that?"
"Yes, very much,--if you would like it, Mr. Carleton."
"Very well," said he. "So it shall be."
And not a day passed during their short stay that he did not give her one of those rides. He shewed her rough ground, according to his promise, but Fleda still thought it did not look much like the mountains "at home." And indeed unsightly roughnesses had been skilfully covered or removed; and though a large part of the park, which was a very extensive one, was wildly broken and had apparently been left as nature left it, the hand of taste had been there; and many an unsuspected touch instead of hindering had heightened both the wild and the beautiful character. Landscape gardening had long been a great hobby of its owner.
"How far does your ground come, Mr Carleton?" inquired Fleda on one of these rides, when they had travelled a good distance from home.
"Further than you can see, Elfie."
"Further than I can see!--It must be a very large farm!"
"This is not a farm where we are now," said he;--"did you mean that?--this is the park; we are almost at the edge of it on this side."
"What is the difference between a farm and a park?" said Fleda.
"The grounds of a farm are tilled for profit; a park is an uncultivated enclosure kept merely for men and women and deer to take pleasure in."