Clara had been over two hours at the cottage, and had been aware when she reached it that he had not as yet gone out.

It appeared now that he had not ridden at all, and, as she remembered to have seen his horse led before the window, it at once occurred to her that he had remained at home with the view of catching her as she went away.

He came up to her just as she was passing through the gate, and offered her his right hand as he raised his hat with his left.

It sometimes happens to all of us in life that we become acquainted with persons intimately,--that is, with an assumed intimacy,--whom in truth we do not know at all.

We meet such persons frequently, often eating and drinking in their company, being familiar with their appearance, and well-informed generally as to their concerns; but we never find ourselves holding special conversations with them, or in any way fitting the modes of our life to the modes of their life.