s formidable
aunt--was another consideration altogether.

"Miss Elizabeth, you're prettier than ever!"

Somehow the expression rankled. What right had he to tell her such
things?--and in a summer-house, too;--the insufferable audacity of the
fellow!

A pipe being indispensable to the occasion, I took out my matchbox,
only to find that it contained but a solitary vesta.

The afternoon had been hot and still hitherto, with never so much as a
breath of wind stirring; but no sooner did I prepare to strike that
match than from somewhere--Heaven knows where--there came a sudden flaw
of wind that ruffled the glassy waters of the river and set every leaf
whispering. Waiting until what I took to be a favourable opportunity,
with infinite precaution I struck a light. It flickered in a sickly
fashion for a moment between my sheltering palms, and immediately
expired.

This is but one example of that "Spirit of the Perverse" pervading all
things mundane, which we poor mortals are called upon to bear as best
we may. Therefore I tossed aside the charred match, and having
searched fruitlessly through my pockets for another, waited
philosophically for some "good Samaritan" to come along. The bank I
have mentioned sloped away gently on my left, thus affording an
uninterrupted view of the path.

Now as my eyes followed this winding path I beheld an individual some
distance away who crawled upon his hands and knees, evidently searching
for something. As I watched, he succeeded in raking a Panama hat from
beneath a bush, and having dusted it carefully with his handkerchief,
replaced it upon his head and continued his advance.

With some faint hope that there might be a loose match hiding away in
some corner of my pockets, I went through them again more carefully,
but alas! with no better success; whereupon I gave it up and turned to
glance at the approaching figure. My astonishment may be readily
imagined when I beheld him in precisely the same attitude as
before--that is to say, upon his hands and knees.

I was yet puzzling over this phenomenon when he again raked out the
Panama on the end of the hunting-crop he carried, dusted it as before,
looking about him the while with a bewildered air, and setting it
firmly upon his head, came down the path. He was a tall young fellow,
scrupulously neat and well groomed from the polish of his brown riding
boots to his small, sleek moustache, which was parted with elaborate
care and