To see the very person whom one has left civilisation to avoid is always more or less surprising, and to make the meeting less likely, Buffington is even farther from Oxenbridge than Barbury Green. The creature was well mounted (ominous, when he came to override my caprice!) and he looked bigger, and, yes, handsomer, though that doesn't signify, and still more determined than when I saw him last; although goodness knows that timidity and feebleness of purpose were not in striking evidence on that memorable occasion. I had drawn up under the shade of a tree ostensibly to eat some cherries, thinking that if I turned my face away I might pass unrecognised. It was a stupid plan, for if I had whipped up the mare and driven on, he of course, would have had to follow, and he has too much dignity and self-respect to shriek recriminations into a woman's ear from a distance. {The creature was well mounted: p109.jpg} He approached with deliberation, reined in his horse, and lifted his hat ceremoniously. He has an extremely shapely head, but I did not show that the sight of it melted in the least the ice of my resolve; whereupon we talked, not very freely at first,--men are so stiff when they consider themselves injured. However, silence is even more embarrassing than conversation, so at length I begin:-- _Bailiff's Daughter_.--"It is a lovely day." _True Love_.--"Yes, but the drought is getting rather oppressive, don't you think?" _Bailiff's Daughter_.--"The crops certainly need rain, and the feed is becoming scarce." _True Love_.--"Are you a farmer's wife?" _Bailiff's Daughter_.--"Oh no! that is a promotion to look forward to; I am now only a Goose Girl." _True Love_.--"Indeed! If I wished to be severe I might remark: that I am sure you have found at last your true vocation!" _Bailiff's Daughter_.--"It was certainly through no desire to please _you_ that I chose it." _True Love_.--"I am quite sure of that! Are you staying in this part?" _Bailiff's Daughter_.--"Oh no! I live many miles distant, over an extremely rough road. And you?" _True Love_.--"I am still at the Hydropathic; or at least my luggage is there." _Bailiff's Daughter_.--"It must be very pleasant to attract you so long." _True Love_.--"Not so pleasant as it was." _Bailiff's Daughter_.--"No? A new proprietor, I suppose." _True Love_.--"No; same proprietor; but the house is empty." _Bailiff's Daughter_ (yawning purposely).--"That is strange; the hotels are usually so full at this season. Why did so many leave?" _True Love_.--"As a matter of fact, only one left. 'Full' and 'empty' are purely relative terms. I call a hotel full when it has you in it, empty when it hasn't." _Bailiff's Daughter_ (dying to laugh, but concealing her feelings).--"I trust my bulk does not make the same impression on the general public! Well, I won't detain you longer; good afternoon; I must go home to my evening work." _True Love_.--"I will accompany you."