is waiting on some ladies upstairs.'

"'What a nuisance!' said she. 'But you'll do. I want to give him an
order. Stay; come indoors and I'll write it down.'

"She disappeared, and I sat on, wondering how I was to get a sight of
Mary. At last, in weariness, I went indoors to the smoking room. It
looked out to the back and was a dreary little room; but I lit my cigar
and began on a three days' old copy of the Times. Thus I spent a
tedious hour. Then my friend the head waiter appeared, looking more
roguish than ever. I dived into my pocket, he produced a note, I
seized it.

"'Why have you been so long?' (Charmingly unreasonable! what could I
have done?) 'Directly you get this, come to the wood behind the hotel.
Take the path to the right and go straight till you find me. I have
thrown the SPY [poor old Dibbs!] off the scent.--M.'

"I caught up my hat and rushed into the hall. I cannoned into a young
man who had just got out of a carriage and was standing in the veranda.
With a hasty apology I dashed on. Beyond doubt she loved me! And she
was honest enough not to conceal it. I hate mock modesty. I longed to
show her how truly I returned her love, and I rejoiced that there need
be no tedious preliminaries.

Mary and I understood one another. A kiss would be the seal of our
love--and the most suitable beginning of our conversation.

"In five minutes I was in the wood. Just before I disappeared among
its trees I heard someone calling 'Monsieur, monsieur!' It sounded like
the voice of the head waiter, but I wouldn't have stopped for fifty
head waiters. I took the path Mary had indicated and ran along it at
the top of my speed. Suddenly, to my joy, I caught sight of the figure
of a girl; she was seated on a mound of grass, and, though her face was
from me, I made no doubt it was Mary. She wore the most charming blue
cloak (it was a chilly morning) which completely enveloped her. I
determined not to shilly-shally. She loved me--I loved her. I ran
forward, plumped down on my knees behind her, took her head between my
hands dodged round, and kissed her cheek.

"'At last, my darling!' I cried in passionate tones.

"By Jupiter, it was the other girl, though!

"I sprang back in horror. The girl looked at me for a moment. Then she
blushed; then she frowned; then--why, then she began to laugh
consumedly. I was amazed.

"'"At last," you call it,' she gasped. 'I call it "at first"'; and she
laughed me