h set off admirably the
beauty of her mouth and chin.

"Hermione," he said after a time, in his softest voice.

The girl blushed a little, without knowing why, but did not answer. He
hesitated, as though he could get no further than her name. As the blush
faded from her cheek, his cousin glanced timidly at him, not at all as
she generally looked. Perhaps she felt the magic of the place. She was
not used to be timid with him, and she experienced a new sensation.
There was generally something light and gay in his way of speaking to
her which admitted of a laughing answer; but just now he had spoken her
name so seriously, so gently, that she felt for the first time that he
was in earnest. Instinctively she put her horse to a brisker pace,
before he had said anything more. He kept close at her side.

"Hermione," he said again, and his voice sounded in her ear like the
voice of an unknown spell, weaving charms about her under the shade of
the enchanted forest. "Hermione, my beloved,--do not laugh at me any
more. It is earnest, dear,--it is my whole life."

Still she said nothing, but the blush rose again to her face and died
away, leaving her very pale. She shortened the reins in her hands,
keeping the Arab at a regular, even trot.

"It is earnest, darling," continued her cousin, in low, clear tones. "I
never knew how much I loved you until to-day. No, do not laugh again.
Tell me you know it is so, as I know it."

The lane grew narrower and the branches lower, but she would not slacken
speed, though now and then she had to bend her head to avoid the leafy
twigs as she passed. But this time she answered, not laughing, but very
gravely.

"You must not talk like that any more," she said. "I do not like to hear
it."

"Is it so bitter to be told that you are loved--as I love? Is it so
hard to hear? But you have heard once--twice, twenty times; you will not
always think it bad to hear; your ears will grow used to it. All,
Hermione, if you could guess how sweet it is to love as I love, you
would understand!"

"I do not know--- I cannot guess--I would not if I could," answered the
young girl desperately. "Hush, Alexander! Do not talk in that way. You
must not. It is not right."

"Not right?" echoed the young man, with a soft laugh. "I will make it
right; you shall guess what it is to love, dear,--to love me as I love
you."

He bent in his saddle as he rode beside her, and laid his left hand on
hers, but she shook his