in this charming treat
that you have so nobly, and with such real goodness, prepared for the
children. Permit me, also, to contribute something to it!"

From a little basket which hung upon her arm, and which had not been
remarked till now, she took out all sorts of playthings, arranged them
on the table with graceful bustle, brought forward the children,
pointed out to each the present intended for him, and sported so
prettily withal, that nothing could be more delightful. The bookbinder
thought he was in a dream, but the wife laughed roguishly, fancying
that there must be some particular acquaintance between Peregrine and
the stranger.

While now the parents were wondering, and the children were rejoicing,
the lady took her seat upon an old frail sofa, and drew down Mr.
Peregrine, who, in fact, scarcely knew any longer whether he actually
was this same person. She then gently lisped into his ear, "My dear,
dear Peregrine, how happy, how delighted I feel by your side!"--"But,
lady," stammered Peregrine, "honoured lady----" On a sudden, Heaven
knows how, the lips of the stranger came so close to his, that, before
he could think about kissing them, he had really done it. That by this
he lost all power of speech is easily to be imagined.

"My sweet friend," continued the lady, creeping up to Peregrine so
closely, that she almost sate in his lap--"My sweet friend, I know what
troubles you; I know what has so much afflicted your simple heart this
evening. But, take comfort. That which you lost, that which you hardly
hoped to find again,--see, I bring it to you."

With this she took out a little wooden box from her basket, and gave it
into the hands of Peregrine. In it was the hunting-set that he had
missed on the Christmas-eve table. It would be hard to describe the
strange feelings which were now thronging and jostling in his bosom.

The whole appearance of the stranger, in spite of all her grace and
loveliness, had yet something supernatural about it, which those, who
had not Peregrine's awe of woman, would yet have received with a cold
shudder through every vein; of course, therefore, a deep horror seized
the poor Peregrine, already in sufficient alarm, when he found the lady
most narrowly informed of all that he had been doing in the profoundest
solitude. Still, when he looked up, and met the glance of two bright
black eyes flashing from under the silken lids--when he felt the sweet
breath of the lovely being, and