and, struck with the unpleasant thought that I was
possibly trespassing, I at once went forward to apologize.

Before I could say a word, the gentleman addressed me.

"May I ask, sir, if I have given you permission to shoot over my
preserves?"

"I beg to express my great regret, sir," I replied, as I lifted my hat
in acknowledgment of the lady's presence, "that I should have trespassed
upon your land. I can only plead, as my excuse, that I fully believed I
was still upon the manor belonging to The Shallows."

"Gentlemen who go out shooting ought to know the limits of their
estates," he answered harshly; "the boundaries of The Shallows are well
defined, nor is the area they contain so very extensive. You have no
right upon this side the stream, sir; oblige me by returning."

I merely bowed, for I was nettled by his tone, and as I turned away I
noticed that the young lady whispered to him.

"One moment, sir," he said, "my daughter suggests the possibility of
your being the new owner of The Shallows. May I ask if this is so?"

It had not occurred to me before, but I understood in a moment to whom I
had been speaking, and I replied:

"Yes, Mr. Maryon--my name is Westcar."

Such was my introduction to Mr. and Miss Maryon. The proprietor of The
Mere appeared to be a gentleman, but his manners were cold and reserved,
and a careful observer might have remarked a perpetual restlessness in
the eyes, as if they were physically incapable of regarding the same
object for more than a moment. He was about sixty years of age,
apparently; and though he now and again made an effort to carry himself
upright, the head and shoulders soon drooped again, as if the weight of
years, and, it might be, the memory of the past, were a heavy load to
carry. Of Miss Maryon it is sufficient to say that she was nineteen or
twenty, and it did not need a second glance to satisfy me that her
beauty was of no ordinary kind.

I must hurry over the records of the next few weeks. I became a frequent
visitor at The Mere. Mr. Maryon's manner never became cordial, but he
did not seem displeased to see me; and as to Agnes,--well, she certainly
was not displeased either.

I think it was on Christmas Day that I suddenly discovered that I was
desperately in love. Miss Maryon had been for two or three days confined
to her room by a bad cold, and I found myself in a great state of
anxiety to see her again. I am sorry to say that my thoughts wandered a
good