valued his knowledge of what
the Court was doing, had done, or was about to do; and she was not
without a feeling of pride that he had chosen her when he might have
exercised a more ambitious choice.

But he did not come; and the spring developed. His letters were regular
though formal; and it is not to be wondered that the uncertainty of her
position, linked with the fact that there was not much passion in her
thoughts of Humphrey, bred an indescribable dreariness in the heart of
Phyllis Grove. The spring was soon summer, and the summer brought the
King; but still no Humphrey Gould. All this while the engagement by
letter was maintained intact.

At this point of time a golden radiance flashed in upon the lives of
people here, and charged all youthful thought with emotional interest.
This radiance was the aforesaid York Hussars.

CHAPTER II

The present generation has probably but a very dim notion of the
celebrated York Hussars of ninety years ago. They were one of the
regiments of the King's German Legion, and (though they somewhat
degenerated later on) their brilliant uniform, their splendid horses, and
above all, their foreign air and mustachios (rare appendages then), drew
crowds of admirers of both sexes wherever they went. These with other
regiments had come to encamp on the downs and pastures, because of the
presence of the King in the neighbouring town.

The spot was high and airy, and the view extensive, commanding the Isle
of Portland in front, and reaching to St. Aldhelm's Head eastward, and
almost to the Start on the west.

Phyllis, though not precisely a girl of the village, was as interested as
any of them in this military investment. Her father's home stood
somewhat apart, and on the highest point of ground to which the lane
ascended, so that it was almost level with the top of the church tower in
the lower part of the parish. Immediately from the outside of the garden-
wall the grass spread away to a great distance, and it was crossed by a
path which came close to the wall. Ever since her childhood it had been
Phyllis's pleasure to clamber up this fence and sit on the top--a feat
not so difficult as it may seem, the walls in this district being built
of rubble, without mortar, so that there were plenty of crevices for
small toes.

She was sitting up here one day, listlessly surveying the pasture
without, when her attention was arrested by a solitary figure walking
along the path.