"Please keep it for me till the evening," I said; "I am going for a walk." Which way did I turn my steps?
Men will wonder what possessed me--women will think it a proceeding that did me credit--I took the familiar road which led to the gloomy wood and the guilty river.

The longing in me to see Cristel again, was more than I could resist.

Not because I was in love with her; only because I had left her in distress.
Beyond the spring, and within a short distance of the river, I saw a lady advancing towards me on the path which led from the mill.
Brisk, smiling, tripping along like a young girl, behold the mock-republican, known in our neighborhood as Lady Rachel! She held out both hands to me.

But for her petticoats, I should have thought I had met with a jolly young man.
"I have been wandering in your glorious wood, Mr.Roylake.Anything to escape the respectable classes on Sunday, patronizing piety on the way to afternoon church.

I must positively make a sketch of the cottage by the mill--I mean, of course, the picturesque side of it.