nlight of the open for the comparative gloom of two long lines
of maples, which flanked a narrow board walk from the street to the
college. There was a prophecy of winter in the red and yellow leaves
that dropped slowly downward one by one, or descended in rustling
showers as a sudden gust of wind seized the thin branches and shook
them against the sky.

And now, as if to personify the spirit of the place, he saw the figure
of a young woman enter the walk from the other end, apparently from the
college building. As they approached each other, he noted the fact
that she was without hat or gloves, like a lady walking at ease through
her own estate, and he guessed that she had some peculiar proprietary
right in the premises. For one moment, in passing, he was startled to
encounter a cool and observant gaze; then her eyes dropped to the
collection of leaves which she held in her hands, as if she resumed an
interrupted study of their harmonious shades.

He divined, after he had passed her by, that she had seen him from the
moment they entered the opposite ends of the walk; and though he could
not recall distinctly a feature of her face, he carried with him an
impression of charm and colour singularly in unison with the season of
the year. Moreover, her gaze, though momentary, was cumulative in its
remembered effect, so that he presently turned and looked curiously
after her retreating figure.

She had now emerged from the shadow of the trees into the sunlight of
the open street beyond, where she stood looking westward, as if minded
to continue her walk into the country. Even from that distance he
could see how the unobstructed wind struggled with her slender figure,
so that she leaned against it in resistance. As if persuaded by its
force to change her plan, she turned slowly, released the leaves with a
gesture of surrender, gathered her skirts in one hand, and with the
other raised to her loosened hair she began to descend the hill.

The young man stood still until she had disappeared, smitten by an
inexplicable sense of the fatality of that meeting. Verging upon the
sixth lustrum of his age, he had passed through that vernal period when
the face of every woman of more than ordinary charm suggested
possibilities of the heart's adventure. With him the main business of
life was no longer the seeking of a mate. All books, all arts, all
accomplishments, had ceased to seem merely the accessories and the
handmaidens