I was wandering in the park, and he, on seeing me there as he rode
past, made bold to enter and approach me, dismounting and leaving his
horse at the gate. This was the first time he had ventured to come
within its inclosure since I had been left alone, without the sanction of
his mother's or sister's company, or at least the excuse of a message
from them. But he managed to appear so calm and easy, so respectful and
self-possessed in his friendliness, that, though a little surprised, I
was neither alarmed nor offended at the unusual liberty, and he walked
with me under the ash-trees and by the water-side, and talked, with
considerable animation, good taste, and intelligence, on many subjects,
before I began to think about getting rid of him. Then, after a pause,
during which we both stood gazing on the calm, blue water--I revolving in
my mind the best means of politely dismissing my companion, he, no doubt,
pondering other matters equally alien to the sweet sights and sounds that
alone were present to his senses,--he suddenly electrified me by
beginning, in a peculiar tone, low, soft, but perfectly distinct, to pour
forth the most unequivocal expressions of earnest and passionate love;
pleading his cause with all the bold yet artful eloquence he could summon
to his aid. But I cut short his appeal, and repulsed him so
determinately, so decidedly, and with such a mixture of scornful
indignation, tempered with cool, dispassionate sorrow and pity for his
benighted mind, that he withdrew, astonished, mortified, and
discomforted; and, a few days after, I heard that he had departed for
London. He returned, however, in eight or nine weeks, and did not
entirely keep aloof from me, but comported himself in so remarkable a
manner that his quick-sighted sister could not fail to notice the change.

'What have you done to Walter, Mrs. Huntingdon?' said she one morning,
when I had called at the Grove, and he had just left the room after
exchanging a few words of the coldest civility. 'He has been so
extremely ceremonious and stately of late, I can't imagine what it is all
about, unless you have desperately offended him. Tell me what it is,
that I may be your mediator, and make you friends again.'

'I have done nothing willingly to offend him,' said I. 'If he is
offended, he can best tell you himself what it is about.'

'I'll ask him,' cried the giddy girl, springing up and putting her head
out of the window: 'he's only in th