eeks for a girl to fall in
love and make her whole life different.

It was Saturday evening, and Richard was expected; Richard and Kilian
and Mr. Eugene Whitney. Ah, Richard was coming just three weeks
too late.

We were all waiting on the piazza for them, in pretty toilettes and
excellent tempers. It was a lovely evening; the sunset was filling the
sky with splendor, and Charlotte and Henrietta had gone to the corner of
the piazza whence the river could be seen, and were murmuring fragments
of verses to each other. They were not so much absorbed, however, but
that they heard the first sound of the wheels inside the gate, and
hurried back to join us by the steps.

Mary Leighton looked absolutely lovely. The blue organdie had seen the
day at last, and she was in such a flutter of delight at the coming of
the gentlemen that she could scarcely be recognized as the pale, flimsy
young person who had moped so unblushingly all the week.

"They are all three there," she exclaimed with suppressed rapture, as
the carriage turned the angle of the road that brought them into sight.
Mrs. Hollenbeck, quite beaming with pleasure, ran down the steps (for
Richard had been away almost two months), and Mary Leighton was at her
side, of course. Charlotte Benson and Henrietta went half-way down the
steps, and I stood on the piazza by the pillar near the door.

I was a little excited by their coming, too, but not nearly as much so
as I might have been three weeks ago. A subject of much greater interest
occupied my mind that very moment, and related to the chances of the
tutor's getting home in time for tea, from one of those long walks that
were so tiresome. I felt as if I hardly needed Richard now. Still, dear
old Richard! It was very nice to see him once again.

The gentlemen all sprang out of the carriage, and a Babel of welcomes
and questions and exclamations arose. Richard kissed his sister, and
answered some of her many questions, then shook hands with the young
ladies, but I could see that his eye was searching for me. I can't tell
why, certainly not because I felt at all shy, I had stepped back, a
little behind the pillar and the vines. In an instant he saw me, and
came quickly up the steps, and stood by me and grasped my hand, and
looked exactly as if he meant to kiss me. I hoped that nobody saw his
look, and I drew back, a little frightened. Of course, I know that he
had not the least intention of kissing me, but his look was