a buggy was a rare
sight.

Andrew suggested that I should go rowing, and glowingly recommended a
little two-man craft named the _Alice_, and as I could row well in my
young days, I determined to test her capacity by going up stream very
gently, as my time was unlimited and my strength painfully the
reverse. It was a crisp day towards the end of April, so I was feeling
brisker than usual, and the _Alice_ was deserving of her good
reputation. The Noonoon was one of the noblest and most beautiful
streams in the State, and above the substantial and unique old bridge
its deep, calm waters stretched for about two miles as straight as a
ribbon, in a reach made historic because it has been the racecourse of
some of the greatest sculling matches the world has known. Orange and
willow-trees were reflected in the clear depths of the rippleless
flow, and lured by its beauty, the responsiveness of my craft, and an
unusual cheerfulness, I foolishly overdid my strength. I was thinking
of Dawn. Her girlish confidence regarding the desire of her hot young
heart had so appealed to me that I was exercised to discover a
suitable knight, for this and not a career I felt was the needful
element to complete her life and anchor her restless girlish energy.
To tell her so, however, would ruin all. Time must be held till the
appearance of the hero of the romance I intended to shape. With this
end in view I thought of recommending her grandma to let her voice be
trained. Two years at the very least would thus be gained, and if
properly floated and advertised in the matrimonial field, what may not
be accomplished in that time by a beautiful and vivacious girl of
eighteen or nineteen? I was recalled from such speculations by finding
that it was beyond me to row another stroke, and I was in a fix. A
slight wind turned the boat, and she drifted on to a fallen tree a
little below the surface, and, though not upsetting, stuck there, and
was too much for me to get off.

At that time of the year, except very occasionally, the river was free
from boaters and the fishers who told of the fish that used to be got
there in other times, so there was nothing to do but wait until my
absence caused anxiety, when some one would surely come after me. Not
a very alarming plight if one were well, but I felt one of my old
cruel attacks was at hand, which was not encouraging. No one was
within sight, but in case there should be a ploughman over a rise
within hearin