An active nature, romantic, without being dreamy and book-loving, is not too prone to the attacks of love; such a one is likely to survive unscathed to a maturer age.

But Nedda had seduced him, partly by the appeal of her touchingly manifest love and admiration, and chiefly by her eyes, through which he seemed to see such a loyal, and loving little soul looking.

She had that indefinable something which lovers know that they can never throw away.

And he had at once made of her, secretly, the crown of his active romanticism--the lady waiting for the spoils of his lance.

Queer is the heart of a boy--strange its blending of reality and idealism! Climbing at a great pace, he reached Malvern Beacon just as it came dawn, and stood there on the top, watching.