ill be
delightful. We have hitherto been like Mrs Marcet's chemistry, all
_whys_ and _becauses_."

The truce was signed, and an hour passed away, composed of sixty minutes
of enjoyment, as if it had all been one second; and I felt that there
was only one woman in the whole world that could ever keep me from being
wretched; and that was a beautiful young girl in a straw bonnet--name,
parentage, and every thing about her, totally unknown.

At the end of the time she took Amy's hand and left me. I did not follow
her--I had promised I would not; but I had exacted a promise in return,
that she would meet me again. And so she did again and again. I never
asked who she was; I did not even care to know. Five weeks passed on,
and I was as irrecoverably in love as if I had known she was a duchess,
with fortune enough to buy back the whole estate.

All this time my father was very kind in his manner; and was constantly
dwelling on the advantages of a wealthy match. My heart bled for him
when I reflected how bitter would be his disappointment when he found
out the dreadful truth, that every woman in existence was hateful to me
except one poor penniless girl; at the best, one of fourteen children,
and perhaps a governess without a _sou_. But I would not destroy his
dreams before there was occasion--and sat silent and unresisting, as he
poured forth his matrimonial schemes for my aggrandizement.

But Lucy at last was unpunctual in her visits to the Wilderness. One day
I had waited from an early hour, and had strained my eyes to catch the
first glimpse of her glorious figure as she tripped among the trees. I
had at last sat down beneath the accustomed oak, and was fancying all
manner of reasons for her not making her appearance, when all of a
sudden I heard a rustle at my side, and, starting up, saw before me the
pragmatical visage of young Mr Jeeks.

"Servant, sir," he squeaked in his shrill unmusical tones, "Oho! this is
the philosophy of it--is it?"

"What do you mean, sir, and what do you want here? Are you aware that
this forms as yet no part of your father's land."

"It will soon, p'r'aps--but I want just to say a few words. I hope not
to lose my temper, as I unfortunately did last time I dropped in to see
you and your governor; for why should gentlemen quarrel? It ain't
philosophic."

"I should think what _gentlemen_ do, whether they quarrel or not, is a
matter in which you can have no personal experience. Say on, sir.