hty sincerity: but though that day, and the next, and the next, were
passed in the most anxious and unremitting vigilance, Clarence only
once caught a glimpse of Lady Flora, and then she was one amidst a large
party; and Clarence, fearful of a premature and untimely discovery, was
forced to retire into the thicknesses of the park, and lose the solitary
reward of his watches almost as soon as he had won it.

Wearied and racked by his suspense, and despairing of obtaining any
favourable opportunity for an interview without such a request, Clarence
at last resolved to write to Lady Flora, entreating her assent to a
meeting, in which he pledged himself to clear up all that had hitherto
seemed doubtful in his conduct or mysterious in his character. Though
respectful, urgent, and bearing the impress of truth and feeling, the
tone of the letter was certainly that of a man who conceived he had a
right to a little resentment for the past and a little confidence for
the future. It was what might well be written by one who imagined his
affection had once been returned, but would as certainly have been
deemed very presumptuous by a lady who thought that the affection itself
was a liberty.

Having penned this epistle, the next care was how to convey it. After
much deliberation it was at last committed to the care of a little
girl, the daughter of the lodge-keeper, whom Lady Flora thrice a
week personally instructed in the mysteries of spelling, reading, and
calligraphy. With many injunctions to deliver the letter only to the
hands of the beautiful teacher, Clarence trusted his despatches to the
little scholar, and, with a trembling frame and wistful eye, watched
Susan take her road, with her green satchel and her shining cheeks, to
the great house.

One hour, two hours, three hours, passed, and the messenger had not
returned. Restless and impatient, Clarence walked back to his inn, and
had not been there many minutes before a servant, in the Westborough
livery, appeared at the door of the humble hostelry, and left the
following letter for his perusal and gratification:--

WESTBOROUGH PASS.

Sir,--The letter intended for my daughter has just been given to me by
Lady Westborough. I know not what gave rise to the language, or the very
extraordinary request for a clandestine meeting, which you have thought
proper to address to Lady Flora Ardenne; but you will allow me to
observe that, if you intend to confer upon my daughter the ho