cipice behind it, looking out
upon the ocean, and return home at dusk or by moonlight, as caprice
might determine. Mr. Rhodes and Miss Jemima were to be included, and
some of the colored servants were forwarded early in the morning to
superintend the arrangements.

The dew was hanging thick and bright on the lawn when Mr. Rhodes and his
daughter rode up to the Piney Cove mansion. A group of horses were
gathered in front of the veranda, and a little crowd of ladies, in long
sweeping dresses, gauntlet gloves and pretty hats, stood chatting around
the door.

Mr. Rhodes preferred to sit on his handsome bay horse, and wait for the
party to arrange itself, for it was rather inconvenient for him to mount
and dismount the high-stepping beast oftener than was absolutely
necessary. As for Jemima, she rode a long-limbed, slender-bodied horse,
and sat him in grim dignity, as the dames of old occupied their
high-backed chairs. Her beaver hat towered high, and the stiff tuft of
feathers that rose from it in front gave a dash of the military to her
usually defiant aspect, grimly imposing.

She drew her horse up to the front steps, and sat viciously regarding
the city widow, as that lady shook out the folds of her riding-skirt,
pulled the gauntlets to a tighter fit on her shapely hands, and kept her
cornelian-headed riding-whip in a constant state of vibration, for the
benefit of that evidently too admiring widower on the great bay horse.

The party mounted at last, and cantered in a gay cavalcade across the
lawn, leaving the mansion behind them almost in solitude. It was a
lovely day, bright with sunshine, and freshened by a cool breeze from
the ocean. Mrs. Mellen that day seemed among the most joyous of the
party. Whatever care had hitherto possessed her she evidently threw off;
her sweet voice rang out pleasantly, and her face grow beautiful in the
animation of the moment.

For a while the party moved on at random; but when the road branched off
into a long tract of the woodland the equestrians naturally broke up
into pairs, and, either by chance or design, Mr. North joined Elizabeth,
who was riding a little in advance. It was almost the first time that he
had seemed to prefer her society during his whole visit, and this
movement naturally created a little observation. Elsie looked after the
splendid pair as they rode under the overhanging trees, with an
expression of subdued wonder in her blue eyes, which amounted almost to
d