e
emotion. Yet even this obvious proof of sympathy failed to encourage
the timid and ever-doubting Florian. Persuaded that he had nothing but
his sincerity to recommend him, he dreaded a repulse; and, pressing with
gentle fervour her proffered hand, he hastily quitted the apartment
without daring to take another look.

After having secured a place in the diligence for the following morning,
he called upon the few acquaintances he had in D., and late in the
afternoon repaired with eager haste to the grove behind the abode of
Angelique. He had determined that his favourite elm, hitherto the only
witness of his love, should become the medium of a more palpable
declaration of his feelings than he had hitherto dared to convey.
Intending to carve in the bark the initial letters of his own and his
fair one's names within the outline of a heart, he drew from his pocket
the ivory clasp-knife of Bartholdy, which, after seven years of faithful
custody, he had begun to consider as his own; and, kneeling on the bank
of turf, he was enabled, by the sharpness of the point, to cut in deep
and firm characters the initials of the name so dear to him. Laying down
the knife upon the seat, he gazed, with folded arms, upon the beloved
cipher, and fell into one of his accustomed reveries. An hour had thus
elapsed, when suddenly he was roused from his dream of bliss by tones of
loud and vehement contention at no great distance from the elm.
Prompted by his natural aversion for scenes of violence, he concealed
himself behind the tree, from whence he was enabled to discern his two
military rivals, out of uniform, approaching the elm, and indicating, by
furious tones and gestures, feelings of mutual and deadly animosity.
Florian, whose sense of the awkwardness of his situation was increased
by his timidity, fancied that he should be accused of listening to their
conversation, and, retreating unobserved into the wood, he had gained
the high-road before he recollected that he had left his knife on the
seat of turf. Ashamed of his cowardice, he determined to return and
claim it, in the event of its having been discovered and taken by one of
the contending parties. He was solicitous, also, to complete the
intended cipher on the bark of the elm, while there was light enough for
his purpose; and concluding that his angry rivals had walked on in
another direction, he hastily retraced his steps. Looking over some tall
evergreen shrubs, which were separat