e much further. He therefore with a heavy heart
resolved to turn his horse's head in the direction of the camp. As he
advanced on a few steps slowly, deliberating sadly on this, he came to a
sharp bend in the road, and a few hundred yards before him, observed the
blue smoke of a little farm-house that stood in the clearing of the
wood. Before the house there was a group of men, women and children
standing around a saddled horse. To say that Cary was surprised would be
using a very mild term indeed. He was so astounded that he did not
venture to proceed another step. His presence excited a tumult among the
people. The children ran into the house, the women retreated to the
door, but a lady in riding-habit pacified them with a laughing gesture,
and immediately mounted her horse. Addressing them a few words of
farewell, she turned into the road and, a moment later, stood at the
side of the young officer.

"Is it possible, mademoiselle?" was all that Cary could whisper, his
agitation being so great that he had to hold on to his pommel for
support. It would be falsehood to say that the lady was not similarly
agitated, but she had that magnificent secret of disguise which places
women far above men in many of the most critical passes of life.

Her answer was a delicious smile of recognition, and the offer of her
gauntleted right hand.

"I never expected to meet you on this lonely road," said Cary, after
recovering a little, in saying which he uttered a most palpable but
unconscious falsehood. Else why had he ridden so far? Why had he
suffered the torments of doubt and expectation the live-long afternoon?
The lady was more direct and simple. The frankness of her reply almost
startled Cary from his saddle.

"I expected to meet you, sir," she said, and broke out in one of her
merriest laughs.

Explanations followed fast. The lady avowed that she had recognized Cary
from the head of the avenue, had purposely avoided going down to meet
him at the gate, had taken the bridle-path through her father's grounds
instead, with the certainty that he would follow her. She only half
intimated the reasons why she acted thus, but her partial reticence was
the most charming portion of her revelations, and as he listened Cary
was in a very ecstacy of delight. She knew that he would follow her!
What adorable feminine ingenuousness in the confession! What
consciousness of superiority and power!

The conversation, started from this point, d