e was before her, walking on the footpath, almost
within reach of her whip.

He did not recognise her, but as he passed on he did recognise Mr
Onesiphorus Dunn, and stopped to speak to him. Or it might have
been that Crosbie's friend Fowler Pratt stopped with this special
object,--for Siph Dunn was an intimate friend of Fowler Pratt's.
Crosbie and Siph were also acquainted, but in those days Crosbie did
not care much for stopping his friends in the Park or elsewhere. He
had become moody and discontented, and was generally seen going about
the world alone. On this special occasion he was having a little
special conversation about money with his very old friend Fowler
Pratt.

"What, Siph, is this you? You're always on horseback now," said
Fowler Pratt.

"Well, yes; I have gone in a good deal for cavalry work this last
month. I've been lucky enough to have a young lady to ride with me."
This he said in a whisper, which the distance of Lily justified. "How
d'ye do, Crosbie? One doesn't often see you on horseback, or on foot
either."

"I've something to do besides going to look or to be looked at,"
said Crosbie. Then he raised his eyes and saw Lily's side-face, and
recognised her. Had he seen her before he had been stopped on his way
I think he would have passed on, endeavouring to escape observation.
But as it was, his feet had been arrested before he knew of her close
vicinity, and now it would seem that he was afraid of her, and was
flying from her, were he at once to walk off, leaving his friend
behind him. And he knew that she had seen him, and had recognised
him, and was now suffering from his presence. He could not but
perceive that it was so from the fixedness of her face, and from the
constrained manner in which she gazed before her. His friend Fowler
Pratt had never seen Miss Dale, though he knew very much of her
history. Siph Dunn knew nothing of the history of Crosbie and his
love, and was unaware that he and Lily had ever seen each other.
There was thus no help near her to extricate her from her difficulty.

"When a man has any work to do in the world," said Siph, "he always
boasts of it to his acquaintance, and curses his luck to himself. I
have nothing to do and can go about to see and be seen;--and I must
own that I like it."

Crosbie was still looking at Lily. He could not help himself. He
could not take his eyes from off her. He could see that she was as
pretty as ever, that she was but very little