'Young says in his "Night Thoughts:" '"Wishing of all employment is the worst!" and Young was right, perhaps.' CHAPTER XII. GIRLS' CONFIDENCES. It was a sweet and mild spring morning, and Finella and Dulcie, each with a shawl over her pretty head, were again promenading on the terrace before the mansion. Lady Fettercairn was not yet down, and the breakfast-bell had not yet been rung. The trees were already making a show of greenery, with half-developed foliage; the oak was putting out its red buds; the laburnums were clothed in green and gold, and the voice of the cuckoo could be heard in the woods of Craigengowan. 'The cuckoo--listen!' said Dulcie, pausing in her walk. 'His note is, I believe, a call to love,' said Finella softly. 'The male only uses it; and see, yonder he sits on a bare bough.' 'You can wish: one can do so when they hear the cuckoo.' 'And wish, as I often do, in vain,' said Dulcie, with a tone of sadness unconsciously. 'For what?' 'To hear from one who is far--far away from me; the only friend I have in the world.' 'He of whom you spoke some time ago--a brother.' 'I have no brother, nor a relation on this side of the grave, Miss Melfort.' 'Call me Finella,' said the latter, again struck by Dulcie's desolate tone. 'Who is it--a lover?' she added, becoming, of course, deeply interested. 'A lover--yes,' replied Dulcie, with a fond smile. 'The dearest and sweetest fellow in the world!' 'Yet he left you because your papa died and you became penniless?' 'Oh!--no, no; do not say that. Do not think so hardly of Florian!' 'Florian!--what a funny, delightful name; just like one in a novel!' exclaimed Finella. 'So he is called Florian?' 'He, too, was poor. He could not marry me, and probably never can do so.' 'How sad!' said Finella, with genuine sympathy, though from her own experience she could not quite understand poverty. 'Florian--my poor Florian!' said Dulcie, quite borne away by this new sympathy, as she covered her face with her white and tremulous hands, and tried to force back her tears, while Finella kissed, caressed, and tried most sweetly to console her. 'See!' said Dulcie, after a pause, opening her silver locket. 'Oh, what a handsome young fellow!' exclaimed Finella. 'Are you engaged?' 'Hopelessly so.' 'Hopelessly?' 'I have said we are too poor to marry.' 'I don't understand this,' said Finella, greatly perplexed: 'won't he become rich in time?' 'Never: he is a soldier, fighting in Africa.' 'A soldier!' said Finella, becoming more deeply interested; 'not an officer?' 'His father or uncle was,' replied Dulcie confusedly. 'Poverty drove him into the ranks.' 'Of what regiment?' 'The 24th Warwickshire.' Finella changed colour, and her breath seemed to be taken from her, when she heard the name of Hammersley's corps; and thus, after a time, a great gush of confidence took possession of both girls.