th love.'

'But how did you know all this, Molly? You were not here.'

'I was not very far off. I was behind those bushes, watching and
listening. I knew you were in love with Lesbia, and I thought you
despised me, and I was very, very wretched; and I listened afterwards
when you proposed to her there--behind the pine trees--and I hated her
for refusing you, and I am afraid I hated you for proposing to her.'

'When I ought to have been proposing to my Molly, blind fool that I
was,' said Hammond, smiling tenderly at her, smiling, though his eyes
were dim with tears. 'My own sweet love, it was a terrible mistake, a
mistake that might have cost me the happiness of a lifetime. But Fate
was very good to me, and let me have my Mary after all. And now let us
sit down under the old red beech and talk till it is time to go and get
ready for our wedding. I suppose one ought to brush one's hair and wash
one's hands for that kind of thing, even when the function is not on a
ceremonious scale.'

Mary laughed.

'I have a prettier gown than this to be married in, although it isn't a
wedding gown,' she said.

'Oh, by-the-by, I have something for you,' said her lover, 'something in
the way of ornaments, but I don't suppose you'd care to wear them
to-day. I'll run and get them.'

He went back to the house, leaving Mary sitting on the rustic bench
under the fine old copper beech, a tree that had been standing long
before Lady Maulevrier enlarged the old stone house into a stately
villa. He returned in a few minutes, bringing a morocco bag about the
size of those usually carried by lawyers or lawyers' clerks.

'I don't think I have given you anything since we were engaged, Mary,'
he said, as he seated himself by her side.

Mary blushed, remembering how Clara, the maid, had remarked upon this
fact.

'You gave me my ring,' she said, looking down at the massive band of
gold, 'and you have given me ever so many delightful books.'

'Those were very humble gifts, Molly: but to-day I have brought you a
wedding present.'

He opened the bag and took out a red morocco case, and then half-a-dozen
more red morocco cases of various shapes and sizes. The first looked
new, but the others were old-fashioned and passing shabby, as if they
had been knocking about brokers' shops for the last quarter of a
century.

'There is my wedding gift, Mary,' he said, handing her the new case.

It contained an exquisitely painted miniature of a very be