"I would not hurt her feelings if I could help it," he said to himself; "but I am pretty sure I have a rival in that young fellow Halliburt. I guessed that when she took his arm and ran off from me. She knows well enough that he is not her brother, though they have been brought up together, and girls are generally apt to admire those big, sturdy-looking chaps who have done them a service, more than well-dressed, gentlemanly young men like myself," and Miles glanced approvingly on his new and fashionable costume. "If she still turns a cold eye upon me that worthy dad of mine must manage to get the young fisherman out of the way--it won't do to have him interfering--and with a clear stage I shall not have insuperable difficulties to overcome, I flatter myself." Still Miles had to remain inactive some days longer. At last he received a note from his father telling him to go, if he pleased, to the fete at Texford, and simply state, if asked, that he was the son of a tenant, saying that he was spending a few days at Hurlston, and had come instead of his father, who was unable to attend. "I find that Dame Halliburt is going, and I have no doubt she will take her daughter, as she calls her, with her," he added. "You will thus have an opportunity of meeting the girl under more favourable circumstances than before, and if you mind your P's and Q's it will be your own fault if you do not work yourself into her good graces." Miles received this communication with intense satisfaction. Having a thoroughly good opinion of himself, he had now little doubt that he should succeed in his enterprise. CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. THE FETE AT TEXFORD. No summer's day could be more bright and lovely than that on which the fete at Texford took place. Visitors of high and low degree--for it was to be a meeting of all classes--were seen at an early hour moving along the roads from every direction towards the park, some in carriages, some on horseback, others in light tilted waggons and carts, and no inconsiderable number on foot. The distance between Hurlston and Texford was upwards of two miles by the road, but the inhabitants of the village could enjoy a pleasanter and much shorter path across the fields.