“Then you may sit here beside me, sir.... I ha’ been hither dragged into these solitudes by my headstrong Herminia and, on the whole, should like it vastly well were it not for the giant.” “Giant, madam?” “Aye, Blunderbore himself, sir! A fierce, fearsome, great creature in shabbiest clothes and matted wig! An odious, huge person who persistently peers and prys upon me—over the wall yonder. So slinking and sly! A contemptible creeper! And puffs tobacco from a pipe!” “Nay, madam, can you possibly mean my very dear friend, Sir Hector MacLean, a most honourable, worthy gentleman?” “Then why should the person persistently pry and peer on our privacy, pray?” “’Tis, I am sure, with no will to offend. Believe me, he is of nature the most gentle——” “With the looks of an ogre, sir!” “But, indeed, Duchess——” “Hush, Sir John! In Alfriston pray remember I am Mrs. Saunders!” “And I, madam, am John Derwent.” “And pray, John Derwent, what is the part you play here ’mid the rustic wild?” “Madam, I am principal lover to Mrs. Saunders’ niece Rose.” “A difficult rôle, sir!” answered the little Duchess, with her youthful laugh. “Indeed, ’twould seem so,” he answered a little ruefully. “And ’tis thus I am here, humbly seeking your advice, dear Mrs. Saunders.” “Nay, fie, sir! Is not Sir John Dering accounted wholly irresistible, a wild and winning wooer, terribly tempestuous?” “Only by idle gossip, madam. And John Derwent is the reverse of all this—a very patient lover he, full o’ reverent humility.” “Ha!” exclaimed the Duchess, and shelled three peas with rapid dexterity, which done, she glanced at Sir John with her shrewd, pretty eyes, and shook her small head decidedly. “Alas, my poor John, your reverent humility shall never win Herminia!” Now, at this moment, Chance, Instinct or some even finer sense, caused Sir John to glance up at the adjacent wall in time to see the gleam of a white hand among the ivy that surmounted the coping; thus, when he answered, his voice was a thought louder than before: “But, dear Mrs. Saunders, ’tis Rose and Rose only that I do so love for——” “Stay, sir! Pray remember that Rose being Rose is yet always and ever Herminia!” “And yet, madam, how utterly dissimilar, how vastly different! Betwixt the sweet simplicity of my gentle Rose and the cold worldliness of the arrogant Herminia, a great gulf is fixed that none may bridge saving only—Herminia. And so it is I fear.” “For yourself?” “For us both. I fear lest Herminia’s selfish pride bring lasting misery to poor Rose and John.”