ng
particular--that she must honor the occasion; and while she roamed
about, wondering what she could do, the occasion usually came to an end.
To-day she wondered more than ever. At last she took down a book; there
was no library in the house, but there were books in all the rooms. None
of them were forbidden books, and Gertrude had not stopped at home for
the sake of a chance to climb to the inaccessible shelves. She possessed
herself of a very obvious volume--one of the series of the Arabian
Nights--and she brought it out into the portico and sat down with it in
her lap. There, for a quarter of an hour, she read the history of the
loves of the Prince Camaralzaman and the Princess Badoura. At last,
looking up, she beheld, as it seemed to her, the Prince Camaralzaman
standing before her. A beautiful young man was making her a very low
bow--a magnificent bow, such as she had never seen before. He appeared
to have dropped from the clouds; he was wonderfully handsome; he
smiled--smiled as if he were smiling on purpose. Extreme surprise, for a
moment, kept Gertrude sitting still; then she rose, without even keeping
her finger in her book. The young man, with his hat in his hand, still
looked at her, smiling and smiling. It was very strange.

"Will you kindly tell me," said the mysterious visitor, at last,
"whether I have the honor of speaking to Miss Went-worth?"

"My name is Gertrude Wentworth," murmured the young woman.

"Then--then--I have the honor--the pleasure--of being your cousin."

The young man had so much the character of an apparition that this
announcement seemed to complete his unreality. "What cousin? Who are
you?" said Gertrude.

He stepped back a few paces and looked up at the house; then glanced
round him at the garden and the distant view. After this he burst out
laughing. "I see it must seem to you very strange," he said. There was,
after all, something substantial in his laughter. Gertrude looked at him
from head to foot. Yes, he was remarkably handsome; but his smile was
almost a grimace. "It is very still," he went on, coming nearer again.
And as she only looked at him, for reply, he added, "Are you all alone?"

"Every one has gone to church," said Gertrude.

"I was afraid of that!" the young man exclaimed. "But I hope you are not
afraid of me."

"You ought to tell me who you are," Gertrude answered.

"I am afraid of you!" said the young man. "I had a different plan. I
expected the servant w