luxuriant with rosy blossom—fragile and delicate flowers, heralds most unsuited to the bitter fruit. The almond was now just formed in its green shell, and of these Henrietta gathered a quantity, and bore them into the library in the skirt of her dress. She then sat down by the fire, and carefully separated the stone from the pulp, which she burnt; and her next task was to extract the kernel, which she did by means of a heavy pestle and the hearth. The kernels were next crushed together, and placed to simmer over the furnace.
From her childhood she had been accustomed to watch, and often to aid, in her uncle's chemical experiments; she was, therefore, not at a loss, as a complete novice in the science would have been. More than once she referred to the huge volume that lay unclasped before her; and, at a certain point, she approached a curiously wrought old cabinet; from one of its recesses she took a glass mask, and some strongly aromatic vinegar. With a steady hand she fixed the mask on her face, and again
