She had been, if the truth were told, a good deal fidgeted and frightened, as young mothers are very apt to be, when the baby does not come home at the usual hour. She had suffered a good deal of uneasiness, and felt half inclined to be angry. A great many people with whom I am acquainted, would have burst out into a somewhat petulant scold, when the cause for anxiety was at an end, and baby and her party, all safe, appeared quietly walking up the road as if nothing in the world were amiss. The very quiet and tranquillity which proved that they were quite unconscious of having done any thing wrong would have irritated some people more than all the rest. I thought it was very nice of Catherine to be good-humored and content as soon as she saw all was safe, after the irritating anxiety she had just been going through. She, however, ran eagerly down the steps, and her eyes sparkling with impatience caught her little one in her arms and kissed it very fast and hard. That being the only sign of an impatient spirit which she showed, and, except crying out, "Oh! I am glad to see you safe back, all of you. Do you know, Lettice, I began to wonder what had become of you?"--not a syllable approaching to reproof passed her lips. "Dear Mrs. D'Arcy! Dear Catherine! I am afraid we are late. We went too far--we partly lost ourselves. We got into a long, but oh! such a lovely lane--where I never was before, and then, we have had a little wee bit of an adventure." "Adventure! Oh goodness! I _am_ glad of that. Adventures are so excessively rare in this country. I never met with one in my life, but happening upon Edgar, as the people say, when he was coming from hunting; and the wind had blown off my hat. A wind that blew somebody good, that ... dear, beloved, Lettice, I wish to goodness, that I do--an adventure of the like of that, might have happened to you." Lettice colored a little. "Gracious!" cried Catherine, laughing merrily, and peeping at her under her bonnet--"I declare--you're blushing Lettice. Your adventure is something akin to my adventure. Have you stumbled upon an unparalleled youth--by mere accident as I did? and did he--did he pick up your hat?" "If he had," said Lettice, "I am afraid my face with my hair all blown about it would not have looked quite so enchanting as yours must have done. No, I did not lose my bonnet." "Any thing else? Your heart, perhaps?" "Dear Catherine! How can you be so silly." "Oh! it was such a blessed day when I lost mine," said Mrs. D'Arcy, gayly. "Such a gain of a loss! that I wish just the same misfortune to befall every one I love--and I love you dearly, Lettice." "There must be more than one heart lost I fancy, to make adventures turn out as well as yours did, Catherine." "Oh! that's a matter of course in such sort of things. There is always an exchange, where there is love at first sight. But now do tell me, that's a dear girl, what your adventure was."