sterious unknown. But the secret was now, at any
rate, to be divulged; and a few hours would put her into possession of
the key to unlock this curious cabinet. So thought Alice, and her own
secret chambers of imagery were strangely distempered thereby. Was she
beloved by one of a higher order of beings, a denizen of the invisible
world, who tracked her every footstep, and hovered about her unseen?
She had heard that such things were, and that they held intercourse
with some favoured mortals--unlimited duration, and a nature more
exalted, subject to no change, being vouchsafed to the chosen ones.
The exploits at Stubley seemed to favour this hypothesis, and Alice
fell into a delicious reverie, as we have seen, well prepared for the
belief and reception of any stray marvels that might fall out by the
way.

Looking upon the moat which lay stagnant and unruffled beneath the
quiet gaze of the moon, she thought that a living form emerged from
the bushes on the opposite bank;--she could not be mistaken, it was
her unknown lover. Breathless she awaited the result; but the shadows
again closed around him, and she saw him not again. Bewildered,
agitated, and alarmed, the day was springing faintly in the dim east
when her eyelids lay heavy in the dew of their repose.

Morning was high and far risen in the clear blue atmosphere, but its
first and balmy freshness was passed when Alice left her chamber. She
looked paler and more languid than she was wont, and her brother
rallied her playfully on the consequences of last night's dissipation;
but her thoughts were otherwise engrossed, and she replied carelessly
and with an air of abstraction far different from her usual playful
and unrestrained spirit. The mind was absorbed, restricted to one sole
avenue of thought: all other impressions ceased to communicate their
impulse. Her brother departed soon afterwards to his morning
avocations; but Alice sat in the porch. She looked out on the hills
with a vacant, but not unwistful eye. Their slopes were dotted with
many a fair white dwelling, but the rigour of cultivation had not
extended so far up their barren heathery sides as now; yet many a
bright paddock, green amid the dark waste, and the little homestead,
the nucleus of some subsequent and valuable inheritance, proclaimed
the unceasing toil, the primeval curse, and the sweat of the brow,
that was here also.

To enjoy the warmth and freshness of the morning, Alice had removed
her sp