sight of Mary. At last, in weariness, I went indoors to the
smoking room. It looked out to the back and was a dreary little
room; but I lit my cigar and began on a three days' old copy of
the Times. Thus I spent a tedious hour. Then my friend the
head waiter appeared, looking more roguish than ever. I dived
into my pocket, he produced a note, I seized it.

"`Why have you been so long?' (Charmingly unreasonable! what
could I have done?) `Directly you get this, come to the wood
behind the hotel. Take the path to the right and go straight
till you find me. I have thrown the SPY [poor old Dibbs!] off
the scent.--M.'

"I caught up my hat and rushed into the hall. I cannoned into a
young man who had just got out of a carriage and was standing in
the veranda. With a hasty apology I dashed on. Beyond doubt
she loved me! And she was honest enough not to conceal it. I
hate mock modesty. I longed to show her how truly I returned her
love, and I rejoiced that there need be no tedious preliminaries.

Mary and I understood one another. A kiss would be the seal of
our love--and the most suitable beginning of our conversation.

"In five minutes I was in the wood. Just before I disappeared
among its trees I heard someone calling `Monsieur, monsieur!'
It sounded like the voice of the head waiter, but I wouldn't have
stopped for fifty head waiters. I took the path Mary had
indicated and ran along it at the top of my speed. Suddenly, to
my joy, I caught sight of the figure of a girl; she was seated on
a mound of grass, and, though her face was from me, I made no