My heart throbbed beneath the lovely head that rested so placidly above it; and the arm that supported her graceful form, trembled violently. The glorious ideal of my youthful fancy had assumed a tangible form, had become a bright reality; and as I looked down upon that calm, gentle face, I felt that I loved for the first time. A new spirit had passed into me, I was only alive to the delicious rapture that thrilled through me. First passion is instantaneous--electrical. It cannot be described, and can only be communicated through the same mysterious medium. People may rave as they like about the absurdity of love at first sight; but the young and sensitive always love at first sight, and the love of after-years, however better and more wisely bestowed, is never able to obliterate from the heart the memory of those sudden and vivid impressions made upon it by the first electrical shocks of love. How eagerly I watched the unclosing of those blue eyes; yet, how timidly I shrunk from their first mild rays. Blushing, she disengaged herself from my arms, and shaking the long, sunny ringlets from her face, thanked me with gentle reserve for the service I had rendered. "But for your prompt assistance, I must have lost my life, or at the very least been seriously injured. My poor thanks will never convey to you the deep gratitude I feel." She gave me her hand with a charming frankness, and I touched the white slender fingers with as much reverence as if she had been a saint. At this moment, we were joined by a handsome elderly lady, who ran into the shop, exclaiming in hurried tones: "Where is she?--where is my child? Is she safe?" "Yes, dear aunt, thanks to this gentleman's timely aid, who risked his own life to save mine." "How shall we thank you--how shall we thank you, Sir?" exclaimed the elderly lady, seizing my hand, and all but embracing me in an ecstacy of gratitude. "You have rendered me a great service--a great service indeed. Without that dear girl, life would be a blank to me. My Kate, my Kate!" she cried, clasping the young lady in her arms, and bursting into tears, "you don't know how dreadfully I felt when I saw you under the hoofs of those horses. My child! my child I--I can hardly yet believe that you are safe." The charming Kate tenderly kissed her weeping relative, and assured her that she could realize it all--that she must not fret, for she was quite herself again--not even hurt; only frightened a little. And then she turned her lovely face to me, on which a tear rested, like a dew-drop upon the heart of a rose, with such a sweet, arch smile, as she said, "My aunt is very nervous, and is so fond of me that her fears for my safety have quite upset her. The sooner we get her home the better. Will you be so kind, Sir, as to tell me if a carriage is at the door. Ours is blue, with white horses."