ght dream of
his life. It was but the momentary glance of a sweet face at the upper
window and a single wave of a white hand, but it sent him on with a
fresh heart and courage, and it broke the dull monotony of her dreary
life.

Occasionally, as we have seen, he even managed to find his way into the
interior of this ogre's castle, in which his fair princess was immured.
John Girdlestone put an end to this by ordering that business messages
should never under any circumstances be conveyed to his private
residence. Nothing daunted, however, the lovers soon devised another
means of surmounting the barrier which divided them.

The centre of the square was taken up by a garden, rectangular and
uninviting, fenced round with high forbidding walls which shut out all
intruders and gave the place a resemblance to the exercise ground of a
prison. Within the rails were clumps of bushes, and here and there a
few despondent trees drooped their heads as though mourning over the
uncongenial site in which they had been planted. Among these trees and
bushes there were scattered seats, and the whole estate was at the
disposal of the inhabitants of Eccleston Square, and was dignified by
the name of the Eccleston Gardens. This was the only spot in which Kate
was trusted without the surveillance of a footman, and it was therefore
a favourite haunt of hers, where she would read or work for hours under
the shelter of the scanty foliage.

Hence it came about that one day, as Thomas Dimsdale was making his way
Cityward at a rather earlier hour than was customary with him, he missed
the usual apparition at the window. Looking round blankly in search of
some explanation of this absence, he perceived in the garden a pretty
white bonnet which glinted among the leaves, and on closer inspection a
pair of bright eyes, which surveyed him merrily from underneath it.
The gate was open, and in less time than it takes to tell it the
sacrilegious feet of the young man had invaded the sacred domains
devoted to the sole use and behoof of the Ecclestonians. It may be
imagined that he was somewhat late at the office that morning and on
many subsequent mornings, until the clerks began to think that their new
employer was losing the enthusiasm for business which had possessed him.

Tom frequently begged permission to inform Mr. Girdlestone of his
engagement, but Kate was inflexible upon that point. The fact is, that
she knew her guardian's character ve