All at once, in the silence which was so full of the whisper of the leaves and the sighs of the wind, that she had not heard any footstep, there came a voice close to her elbow which made Lottie start. “Is it really you, Miss Despard? I had almost given up hopes;--and alone! I thought you were never to be alone again?” said Rollo, with pleasure in his voice. How it startled her! She looked round upon him with so much fright in her eyes that he was half vexed, half angered. Was it possible that Lottie after all was just like the rest, pretending to be astonished by his appearance when she knew as well---- “You surely are not surprised to see me?” he said, with a short laugh. “I did not think of seeing you,” she said quietly, and looked away from him again. Rollo was angry, yet he was touched by something in her tone; and there must be something to cause this sudden change. She had always been so frank and simple in her welcome of him, always with a light of pleasure on her face when he came in sight; but she would not so much as let him see her face now. She looked round with that first start, then turned again and resumed her dreamy gaze into the night. And there was dejection in every line of her figure as she stood dimly outlined against the waning light. Suddenly there came into Rollo’s mind a recollection that he had heard something to account for this, without accusing her of petty pretence or affectation. “Something has happened,” he said, with a sense of relief which surprised himself. “I remember now. I fear you are not happy about it.” “No,” she said, with a sigh. Then Lottie made a little effort to recover herself; perhaps he would not care about her troubles. “It has been a great shock,” she said, “but perhaps it may not be so bad after a while.” “Tell me,” said Rollo; “you know how much interest I take in everything that concerns you. Surely, Miss Despard, after this long time that we have been seeing each other, you know that? Won’t you tell me? I cannot bear to see you so sad, so unlike yourself.” “Perhaps that is the best thing that could happen,” said Lottie, “that I should be unlike myself. I wish I could be like someone with more sense; I have been so foolish! Everybody knows that we are poor; I never concealed it, but I never thought---- Oh! how silly we have been, Law and I! I used to scold him, but I never saw that I was just the same myself. We ought to have learned to do something, if it were only a trade. We are both young and strong, but we are good for nothing, not able to do anything. I used to scold him: but I never thought that I was just as bad myself.” “Don’t say so, don’t say so! You were quite right to scold him; men ought to work. But you” cried Rollo with real agitation, “it is not to be thought of. You! don’t speak of such a thing. What is the world coming to, when you talk of working, while such a fellow as I----”