After a long interval of anxious expectation, certain sounds were heard which seemed to indicate the approach of a human being. The soldier sprang eagerly forward, and then as quickly shrunk back again. A slight crackling of dry twigs was followed by a hoarse cough, and the cough was followed by the unwelcome appearance of a red-faced man with a gun upon his shoulder, but fortunately not passing in the direction of the arbour. The lieutenant knew him at once. It was the fiery-faced man whom he had seen at the inn the previous evening. ‘Ah,’ said he to himself, ‘I see it all. Colonel Thorpe’s gamekeeper—sent down last night to play the spy upon me. It is well he has not seen me now.’ Not many minutes afterwards, a young lady burst into the arbour, with a little cry, half of fear and half of pleasure. It could be nothing more nor less than a lovers’ meeting after all. The lovers’ first tender greetings over, they seated themselves side by side in the little arbour, and talked to each other in a low voice. The state of alarm in which she evidently was, sent a brighter flush of colour to her lovely face, and enhanced in her lover’s eyes the graces of her person. * * * * * Some twelve months before the present meeting, Colonel Thorpe made a sudden resolve to spend the winter in London; and fearing to leave this his only daughter out of his sight for any length of time, he determined to take her with him also. The season was a tolerably gay one; but the colonel, an austere man, though much in request at the houses of titled and wealthy friends, cared little for society, and constantly refused invitations both on behalf of himself and his daughter. Such a high pressure of circumspection could not last for ever. Receiving an earnest request from Lady Hardy—a friend of many years’ standing—that they would honour a fashionable entertainment with their presence, Colonel Thorpe somewhat relented, and meeting Amy’s wistful gaze with a smile which he intended to be severely pleasant, he told her to prepare herself to accompany him on the following Thursday. At this intelligence the young lady was naturally delighted; and even her severe parent condescended to relax and bring himself to converse about the forthcoming ball. This agreeable demeanour he sustained until about the middle of the festive evening, when, as if by magic, his spirits suddenly lowered to freezing temperature. He had observed that a well-favoured, handsome young gallant had danced three times with his daughter in the course of the evening. Now, the crusty old colonel did by no means approve of this, and was not aware that his daughter had more than once met the same young gallant since coming to London. In answer to inquiries which he made as to the unknown partner of his daughter, he learned that his name was Ainslie, that he was a subaltern in the Guards, and the only son of a widow lady of title, once wealthy, but now reduced in circumstances.