To have her so frank and unconsciously coquettish with me was a daily torment; to be looked upon and treated as a child was bitter almonds; but the thought of losing her altogether was distraction.
The summer was at an end.

The days were perceptibly shorter, and now and then came an evening when it was chilly enough to have a wood-fire in our sitting-room.

The leaves were beginning to take hectic tints, and the wind was practising the minor pathetic notes of its autumnal dirge.

Nature and myself appeared to be approaching our dissolution simultaneously-- One evening, the evening previous to the day set for Nelly's departure--how well I remember it--I found her sitting alone by the wide chimney-piece looking musingly at the crackling back log.

There were no candles in the room.