ra, and, upon at length retiring to her
pillow, had had a sentimental objection to shutting out the romantic
light of the moon by curtain or shutter, was roused into wakefulness
soon after dawn by a glorious white burst of early sunshine. As a
rule, the excellent soul liked to lie abed till the last available
moment; but that morning she was up with the sun. When dressed she
drew a letter from a secret casket with manifold precautions as though
she were surrounded with prying eyes, and, placing it in her reticule,
hastened forth to seek the little lonely disused churchyard by the
shore. She afterwards remarked that she could never forget in what
agitation of spirits and with what strange presentiment of evil she
was led to this activity at so unwonted an hour. The truth was,
however, that Miss Landale tripped along through the damp wooded path
as gaily as if she were going to visit her living lover instead of his
granite tomb; and that in lieu of evil omens a hundred fantastically
sentimental thoughts floated through her brain, as merrily and
irresponsibly as the motes in the long shafts of brilliancy that
cleaved, sword-like through the mists, upon her from out the east.
Visions of Madeleine's face when she would learn before breakfast that
Sophia had actually been to the churchyard already; visions of whom
she might meet there; rehearsals of a romantic scene upon that
hallowed spot, of her own blushes, her knowing looks, her playful
remonstrances, with touching allusions to one who had loved and lost,
herself, and who thus, &c. &c.

Miss Landale tossed her long faded ringlets quite coquettishly, turned
one slim bony hand with coy gesture before her approving eyes. Then
she patted her reticule and hurried on with fresh zest, enjoying the
tart whisper of the wind against her well bonneted face, the exquisite
virginal beauty of the earth in the early spring of the day and of the
year.

As she stepped out of the shadow of the trees, her heart leaped and
then almost stood still as she perceived in the churchyard lying below
her, beside the great slab of granite which lay over the remains of
her long-departed beloved one, the figure of a man, whose back was
turned towards her, and whose erect outline was darkly silhouetted
against the low, dazzling light.

Then a simper of exceeding archness crept upon Miss Landale's lips;
and with as genteel an amble as the somewhat precipitate nature of the
small piece of ground that