oint of
asking her then and there to marry me. Well, fate interfered in the
guise of a small brother, so I said goodbye and left, mentally
comparing her to my idea of Miss Augusta Ashley, much to the latter's
disadvantage.

When I stepped from the train at a sleepy country station next day I
was promptly waylaid by a black-eyed urchin who informed me that Mrs.
Ashley had sent him with an express wagon for my luggage, and that
"Miss Gussie" was waiting with the carriage at the store, pointing
down to a small building before whose door a girl was trying to soothe
her frightened horse.

As I went down the slope towards her I noticed she was tall--quite too
tall for my taste. I dislike women who can look into my eyes on a
level--but I had to admit that her form was remarkably symmetrical and
graceful. She put out her hand--it was ungloved and large, but white
and firm, with a cool, pleasant touch--and said, with a composure akin
to indifference, "Mr. Carslake, I presume. Mother could not come to
meet you, so she sent me. Will you be kind enough to hold my horse for
a few minutes? I want to get something in the store." Whereupon she
calmly transferred the reins to me and disappeared.

At the time she certainly did not impress me as pretty, yet neither
could I call her plain. Taken separately, her features were good. Her
nose was large and straight, the mouth also a trifle large but firm
and red, the brow wide and white, shadowed by a straying dash of brown
curl or two. She had a certain cool, statuesque paleness, accentuated
by straight, fine, black brows, and her eyes were a bluish grey; but
the pupils, as I afterward found out, had a trick of dilating into
wells of blackness which, added to a long fringe of very dark lashes,
made her eyes quite the most striking feature of her face. Her
expression was open and frank, and her voice clear and musical without
being sweet. She looked about twenty-two.

At the time I did not fancy her appearance and made a mental note to
the effect that I would never like Miss Ashley. I had no use for cool,
businesslike women--women should have no concern with business. Nellie
would never have troubled her dear, curly head over it.

Miss Ashley came out with her arms full of packages, stowed them away
in the carriage, got in, told me which road to take, and did not again
speak till we were out of the village and driving along a pretty
country lane, arched over with crimson maples and gold