apart into one of the deep window
recesses, and I was left for the first time alone beside Miss Bellew.
There was something of awkwardness in the situation; for as neither
of us could allude to the past without evoking recollections we both
shunned to touch on, we knew not well of what to speak. The window lay
open to the ground, displaying before us a garden in all the richness of
fruit and blossom; the clustering honeysuckle and the dog-rose hung in
masses of flower across the casement, and the graceful hyacinth and the
deep carnation were bending to the night-air, scented with the odour of
many a flower. I looked wistfully without. Miss Bellew caught my glance;
a slight hesitation followed, and then, as if assuming more courage, she
said--

'Are you fond of a garden? Would you like a walk?'

The haste with which I caught at the proposal half disconcerted her;
but, with a slight smile, she stepped out into the walk.

How I do like a large, old-fashioned garden with its venerable
fruit-trees, its shady alleys, its overgrown and tangled beds, in which
the very luxuriance sets all effort of art at defiance, and where rank
growth speaks of wild-ness rather than culture! I like those grassy
walks, where the footstep falls unheard; those shady thickets of
nut-trees, which the blackbird haunts in security, and where the thrush
sings undisturbed. What a sense of quiet home-happiness there breathes
in the leafy darkness of the spot, and how meet for reverie and
reflection does it seem!

As I sauntered along beside my companion, these thoughts crowded on me.
Neither spoke; but her arm was in mine, our footsteps moved in unison,
our eyes followed the same objects, and I felt as though our hearts beat
responsively. On turning from one of the darker walks we suddenly came
upon an elevated spot, from which, through an opening in the wood, the
coast came into view, broken into many a rocky promontory, and dotted
with small islands. The sea was calm and waveless, and stretched away
towards the horizon in one mass of unbroken blue, where it blended with
the sky. An exclamation of 'How beautiful!' broke from me at once; and
as I turned towards Louisa, I perceived that her eyes sparkled with
pleasure, and a half blush was mantling her cheek.

'You are not, then, disappointed with the west?' said she, with
animation.

'No, no! I did not look for anything like this; nor,' added I, in a
lower tone, while the words trembled on my li