I seem to
have thrown a sort of fascination over the old fellow that may lead him
any lengths."

Meanwhile there was extending over himself another web of fascination
not the less complete that he never perceived it His first waking
thought was of Lizzy. As he came down to breakfast, his dress showed how
studiously he cultivated appearance. The breakfast over, he sat down
to his German lesson beside her with a patient perseverance that amazed
him. There he was, with addled head and delighted heart, conjugating
"Ich liebe," and longing for the day when he should reach the imperative
mood; and then they walked long country walks into the dark beech woods,
along grassy alleys where no footfall sounded, or they strayed beside
some river's bank, half fancying that none had ever strolled over the
same sward before. And how odd it was to see the Honorable Annesley
Beecher, the great lion of the Guards' Club, the once celebrity of the
Coventry, carrying a little basket on his arm, like a stage peasant in
a comic opera, with the luncheon, or, mayhap, bearing a massive stone
in his arms to bridge a stream for Lizzy to cross. Poor fellow! he did
these things with a good will, and even in his awkwardness there was
that air of "gentleman" which never left him; and then he would laugh
so heartily at his own inaptitude, and join in' Lizzy's mirth at the
mischances that befell him. And was it not delightful, through all these
charming scenes, on the high mountain-aide, in the deep heather, or deep
in some tangled glen, with dog-roses and honeysuckle around them, he
could still talk of himself, and she could listen?

For the life of him he could not explain how it was that the time
slipped over so pleasantly. As he himself said, "there was not much to
see, and nothing to do," and yet, somehow, the day was always too short
for either. He wanted to write to his brother, to his sister-in-law,
to Dunn, to his man of business,--meaning the Jew who raised money for
him,--but never could find time. He was so puzzled by the problem that
he actually asked Lizzy to explain it; but she only laughed.

Now and then, when he chanced to be all alone, a sudden thought would
strike him that he was leading a life of inglorious idleness. He would
count up how many weeks it was since he had seen a "Bell's Life," and
try to calculate what races were coming off that very same day; then he
would draw a mind-picture of Tattersall's on a settling day, and
wo