delightful little adventure."

"Do you love adventures?"

"Love them?" replied Katie, with the drollest look in the world.
"Why, I positively dote on them!"

Her smile was so sweet, and her face so bewitching, that Harry
thought he never saw any face so lovely.

"You see," continued Katie, "I mope and mope, and keep moping so; and
things grow so tiresome, that I fairly ache for an adventure."

"Well, but suppose that you were in an awful hurry to meet some one,
and were stopped in this fashion?"

At this Katie's whole expression changed. She looked at Harry with a
face full of sympathy, behind which there was visible the most
intense curiosity.

"Oh, Mr. Rivers," said she, "I'm so sorry! And are you in an awful
hurry to meet some one?"

"Awful!" said Harry.

"Oh, Mr. Rivers, I'm so sorry!" said Katie again. "And won't you tell
me all about it, please?"

Now Harry was by nature inclined to make the world his confidant; and
how much more was he ready to confide in such a one as Katie, who
invited his confidence with such tender sympathy! Besides, he already
felt, as has been said, quite like an old acquaintance. Ashby's
relations to Katie made her seem nearer to him. She was his friend's
betrothed. And then, too, he had been chatting with her all day long.

"You see," said he, "I'm on the lookout for a friend."

At this Katie smiled with indescribable comicality.

"Won't I do?" she asked.

Harry stared at her for a moment, and then burst into a laugh, in
which Katie joined merrily.

"I dare say now, Mr. Rivers," said she, "you think I'm too slight an
acquaintance to be trusted; but you know, in Spain, when one meets
with a fellow-countryman who can speak English, why, you know, one
can't help feeling quite like an old friend, and that sort of thing;
and, mind you, when one has been taken prisoner by the Carlists, one
feels much more so, you know. But all the same, I hope you'll excuse
me; I didn't mean any harm."

At this Harry laughed still more.

"You're not mad?" said Katie, with a droll assumption of anxiety.

"Will you really be my friend?" asked Harry.

"Of course. Didn't I say as much?" said Katie.

"Then let's shake hands over it," said Harry, "and swear an eternal
friendship."

Saying this, he held out his baud, and Katie held out hers. Harry
pressed it warmly and tenderly.

"Well," said Harry, after a pause, "I'll tell you all about it, for I
want your--your sympathy, you know, and