"There, there, we'll say it is settled and let it rest a few days, so that we may grow used to the thought before making our plans in detail." * * * * * After dinner I missed Frances, and when I asked Sarah where she had gone, I received answer in one word: "Walking." "Alone ?" I asked.

Sarah smiled.
In a moment I said, "I think I, too, shall go walking." "The Bourne Path is pretty," suggested Sarah.
"Will you come with me ?" I asked.
Again Sarah smiled, shaking her head for answer, and I set off, taking my way down the path which wound beside a rocky bourne, a distance of several miles in the direction of Hamilton House, one of the country places of Count Hamilton.
When I reached a point perhaps half a league from Sundridge, I saw a lady and gentleman walking leisurely ahead of me.

Her hand was on his arm, and his head was bent toward her, evidently in earnest conversation.

Her head drooped prettily, indicating a listening mood, and the two seemed very much like lovers in the early wooing stage.

At once I recognized the beautiful figure of my cousin Frances.