But, after the bustle of the first day, he had so many opportunities. He walked with her, sat with her while she worked, and hung over her, entranced, while she sung. He produced the book from Vizard Court without warning, and she screamed with delight at sight of it, and caught his hand in both hers and kissed it. She reveled in those sweet strains which had comforted her in affliction: and oh, the eyes she turned on him after singing any song in this particular book! Those tender glances thrilled him to the very marrow. To tell the honest truth, his arrival was a godsend to Ina Klosking. When she first came home to her native place, and laid her head on her mother's bosom, she was in Elysium. The house, the wood fires, the cooing doves, the bleating calves, the primitive life, the recollections of childhood--all were balm to her, and she felt like ending her days there. But, as the days rolled on, came a sense of monotony and excessive tranquillity. She was on the verge of _ennui_ when Vizard broke in upon her. From that moment there was no stagnation. He made life very pleasant to her; only her delicacy took the alarm at his open declarations; she thought them so premature. At last he said to her, one day, “I begin to fear you will never love me as I love you.” “Who knows?” said she. “Time works wonders.” “I wonder,” said he, “whether you will ever marry any other man?” Ina was shocked at that. “Oh, my friend, how could I--unless,” said she, with a sly side-glance, “you consented.” “Consent? I'd massacre him.” Ina turned toward him. “You asked my hand at a time when you thought me--I don't know what you thought--that is a thing no woman could forget. And now you have come all this way for me. I am yours, if you can wait for me.” He caught her in his arms. She disengaged herself, gently, and her hand rested an unnecessary moment on his shoulder. “Is that how you understand 'waiting?'” said she, with a blush, but an indulgent smile. “What is the use waiting?” “It is a matter of propriety.” “How long are we to wait?” “Only a few months. My friend, it is like a boy to be too impatient. Alas! would you marry me in my widow's cap?” “Of course I would. Now, Ina, love, a widow who has been two years separated from her husband!” “Certainly, that makes a difference--in one's own mind. But one must respect the opinion of the world. Dear friend, it is of you I think, though I speak of myself.” “You are an angel. Take your own time. After all, what does it matter? I don't leave Zutzig without you.” Ina's pink tint and sparkling eyes betrayed anything but horror at that insane resolution. However, she felt it her duty to say that it was unfortunate she should always be the person to distract him from his home duties. “Oh, never mind them,” said this single-hearted lover. “I have appointed Miss Gale viceroy.”