Shafto thought jealously and sulkily that she was in great haste to be gone; but more sulky would he have been had he seen, or known that when once an angle of the glen was reached where the road dipped out of sight, the ponies were permitted to go at their own pace, which ere long dwindled into a walk, till they passed the vast ruined castle of Fettercairn. Finella and Hammersley were, however, if very happy, very silent, though both enjoyed the drive in the bright sunshine amid such beautiful scenery, and he quite forgot his petty misfortune in contemplating the delicate profile and long drooping eyelashes of the girl who sat beside him, and who, with a fluttering heart, was perhaps expecting the avowal that trembled on his lips, especially when he placed his hand on hers, in pretence of guiding the ponies, which broke into a rapid trot as the lodge gates were passed; and glorious as the opportunity accorded him had been, Hammersley's heart, while burning with passionate ardour, seemed to have lost all courage, for he had a sincere dread of Lady Fettercairn, and suspected that her interests were naturally centred in Shafto. At seven-and-twenty a man, who has knocked about the world, with a regiment especially, for some nine years or so, does not fall over head and ears in love like a rash boy, or without calculating his chances of general success; and poor Hammersley, though he did not doubt achieving it with Finella herself, saw deadly rocks and breakers ahead with her family, and his spirit was a proud one. To make a declaration was to ruin or lose everything, for if the family were averse to his suit he must, he knew, quit their roof for ever, and Finella would be lost to him, for heiresses seldom elope now, save in novels; and he knew that in her circle the motives for marriage are more various and questionable than with other and untitled ranks of life. Rank and money were the chief incentives of such people as the Melforts of Fettercairn. 'Venal unions,' says an essayist, 'no doubt occur in the humbler classes, but love is more frequently the incentive, while with princes and patricians the conjugal alliance is, in nine instances out of ten, a mere matter of _expedience_.' Craigengowan was reached, and not a word of the great secret that filled his heart had escaped him, for which he cursed his own folly and timidity when the drive ended, and a groom took the ponies' heads. Yet the day was not over, nor was a fresh opportunity wanting. Lady Fettercairn and all her female quests had driven to a flower-show at the nearest town--even Mrs. Prim was gone, and the house was empty!