lf an hour he shut himself up with its body, we
could hear him sobbing like a child; he came out with his eyes all red,
and cried: 'I know where to find the brute who drove over him,' and off
he rushed. He had beautiful Italian eyes; a slight figure, not very
tall; dark hair, a little dark moustache; and his lips were always a
trifle parted--it was that, and his walk, and the way he drooped his
eyelids, which gave him a peculiar, soft, proud look. I used to tell him
that he'd never make a soldier! 'Oh!' he'd answer, 'that'll be all right
when the time comes! He believed in a kind of luck that was to do
everything for him, when the time came. One day he came in as I was
giving Eilie her lesson. This was the first time they saw each other.
After that he came more often, and sometimes stayed to dinner with us. I
won't deny, sir, that I was glad to welcome him; I thought it good for
Eilie. Can there be anything more odious," he burst out, "than such a
self-complacent blindness? There are people who say, 'Poor man, he had
such faith!' Faith, sir! Conceit! I was a fool--in this world one pays
for folly....

"The summer came; and one Saturday in early June, Eilie, I, and
Francis--I won't tell you his other name--went riding. The night had
been wet; there was no dust, and presently the sun came out--a glorious
day! We rode a long way. About seven o'clock we started back-slowly,
for it was still hot, and there was all the cool of night before us. It
was nine o'clock when we came to Richmond Park. A grand place, Richmond
Park; and in that half-light wonderful, the deer moving so softly, you
might have thought they were spirits. We were silent too--great trees
have that effect on me....

"Who can say when changes come? Like a shift of the wind, the old
passes, the new is on you. I am telling you now of a change like that.
Without a sign of warning, Eilie put her horse into a gallop. 'What are
you doing?' I shouted. She looked back with a smile, then he dashed past
me too. A hornet might have stung them both: they galloped over fallen
trees, under low hanging branches, up hill and down. I had to watch that
madness! My horse was not so fast. I rode like a demon; but fell far
behind. I am not a man who takes things quietly. When I came up with
them at last, I could not speak for rage. They were riding side by side,
the reins on the horses' necks, looking in each other's faces. 'You
should take care,' I sai