One day, Lady Amabel was slightly indisposed; I carried my work-frame to her morning-room. The General and all his staff had ridden to Cape Town to meet some foreign official. She begged me to take my walk in the grounds, and I left her. It was one of those dreamy days, such as we have lately had here. The birds and insects dropped their wings in the boughs. I hastened through the pathways, glowing with the sun, and sought the "Grove of Egeria." I went, singing to myself that pretty bit of Handel, "Where'er you walk, cool gales shall fan the glade; Trees where you sit shall crowd into a shade." It was in harmony with the scene--all was calm--the glare of the heavens could not penetrate there--and I sauntered leisurely on, enjoying the solitude, and sat down beneath the branches of a noble plane-tree. Suddenly I heard a sound of horses' feet; I thought it was some one passing along the high road hidden by the plantations; the sound drew nearer; I looked through a long green vista--it was Clarence Fairfax, followed by his groom; he looked up as he approached. I was standing in a natural arch, with the light streaming down through an opening above. I never thought of drawing back, as I ought to have done, for Lady Amabel would have objected to our meeting in this retired spot. Clarence saw me, waved his forage-cap, and, springing from his horse, threw the reins to the groom. He was in the grove in an instant, and at my feet, as I reclined, trembling with emotion, under the plane-tree boughs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ah! Major Frankfort, had you heard his gentle words, his expressions of pleasure at meeting me alone--the contrasts he drew between other girls and me; had you seen his smile, as he held my hand in his, and looked upon me!--you would not have doubted that he loved me. But he terrified me by desiring--ah! he was very imperative--that I would say nothing to Lady Amabel of this meeting. I would have retreated from the grove, but he seized me by the hand, and entreated me to listen to his reasons for _delay_. Woe is me! I did listen to this once--_only this once_. One might write volumes on such a text; but I was firm in not consenting to another meeting. I had been brought up in the few of doing wrong. I trembled when I met Lady Amabel in the hall; she was tying on her bonnet, and coming to meet me. "Did you see Clarence?" she asked; "his horses have just gone round to the stable." Before I could reply, I heard the tread of a spurred and booted heel upon the threshold of the hall-door; Lady Amabel took it for granted Clarence had just dismounted, for she inquired if the General and Captain Walton were following him. No; Clarence had left them "up to their knees in foolscap" in a government office. I escaped to my room, shut the door, and began to think. ------------------------------------------------------------------------