it. She looked like a picture of
summer as she walked through the green, shady lane, a red rose in her
hair and one in her breast, a cluster of woodbine in her hand. She saw
nothing of Lord Chandos, yet she thought of nothing else; every tree,
every field, every lane she passed she expected to see him; but of
course he was not there; and her heart beat fast as she saw him--he was
crossing what people called the Brook Meadow--and she met him face to
face.

They had met for the first time on a moonlight night; they met for the
second time on a sultry summer afternoon, when the whole world seemed
full of love. The birds were singing of love in the trees, the
butterflies were making love to the flowers, the wind was whispering of
love to the trees, the sun was kissing the earth that lay silent in its
embrace.

"Leone," he cried; and then he flushed crimson. "I beg your pardon," he
said, "but I ought to say Miss Noel; but I have been thinking of you all
night as Leone. I did not think of it before I spoke."

She laughed at the long apology.

"Say it all over again," she said. "Begin at 'Good-afternoon, Miss
Noel.'"

He repeated it after her, then added:

"I think my kind and good fortune sent me this way. I was longing for
some one to speak to--and of all happiness to meet you; but perhaps you
are busy."

"No; I have done all that I had to do. I am never busy," she added, with
regal calm.

He smiled again.

"No; I could not fancy you busy," he said, "any more than I could fancy
the goddess Juno in a hurry. To some fair women there belongs by
birthright a calm that is almost divine."

"My calm covers a storm," she replied. "My life has been brief and dull;
neither my heart nor my soul has really lived; but I feel in myself a
capability of power that sometimes frightens me."

He did not doubt it as he looked at the beautiful, passionate face; it
was even more lovely in the gleam of the sunlight than in the soft,
sweet light of the moon.

"You cannot stand in the sunshine," he said. "If you are not busy will
you go with me through Leigh Woods? I shall remember the way this time."

She hesitated one half minute, and he saw it; he raised his hat and
stood bare-headed, waiting for her answer.

"Yes, I will go," she said at length. "Why should I not?"

They went together to Leigh Woods, where the great oak-trees made a
pleasant shade, and the ground was a mass of wild flowers; great streams
of bluebells that s