A call from the duke proclaimed that she had stolen a moment.

She nodded, pointed to the narrow gravel path which led into the shrubbery, and hastily withdrew.

I understood, and strolled carelessly along the path till I reached the shrubbery.

There another little path, running nearly at right angles to that by which I had come, opened before me.

I strolled some little way along, and finding myself entirely hidden from the house by the intervening trees, I sat down on a rude wooden bench to wait patiently till I should be wanted.