‘GENTLE SIR,--If my fancy has painted you in genuine colours, you will on the receipt of this, incontinently follow the bearer where she will lead you. ‘INAMORATA.’ ‘The deuce I will!’ exclaimed I. ‘But soft!’ And I reperused this singular document, turned over the billet in my fingers, and examined the handwriting, which was femininely delicate, and I could have sworn was a woman’s. Is it possible, thought I, that the days of romance are revived? No, ‘The days of chivalry are over!’ says Burke. As I made this reflection, I looked up, and beheld the same figure which had handed me this questionable missive, beckoning me forward. I started toward her; but, as I approached, she receded from me, and fled swiftly along the margin of the river at a pace, which, encumbered as I was with my heavy cloak and boots, I was unable to follow; and which filled me with sundry misgivings as to the nature of the being who could travel with such amazing celerity. At last, perfectly breathless, I fell into a walk; which my mysterious fugitive perceiving, she likewise lessened her pace, so as to keep herself still in sight, although at too great a distance to permit me to address her. Having recovered from my fatigue, and regained my breath, I loosened the clasp of my cloak, and inwardly resolving that I would come at the bottom of the mystery, I desperately flung the mantle from my shoulders, and dashing my beaver to the ground, gave chase in good earnest to the tantalising stranger. No sooner did I from my extravagant actions announce my intention to overtake her, than with a light laugh of derision, she sprang forward at a rate, which in attempting to outstrip, soon left me far in the rear, heartily disconcerted and crestfallen, and inly cursing the _ignis fatuus_ that danced so provokingly before me. At length, like everyone else, learning wisdom from experience, I thought my policy lay in silently following the footsteps of my eccentric guide, and quietly waiting the _dénouement_ of this extraordinary adventure. So soon as I relaxed my speed, and gave evidence of having renounced my more summary mode of procedure, the stranger, regulating her movements by mine, proceeded at a pace which preserved between us a uniform distance, ever and anon looking back like a wary general to see if I were again inclined to try the mettle of her limbs.