Oh, may I hope that she will in truth be mine?
Oh, have I, can I have been too presumptuous in the thought I have not loved in vain ?" "Away with you, and seek the answer from her own lips," said Mr.
Grahame, with more of his former manner than he had yet evinced, for he now entertained not one doubt as to Edward being the chosen one on whom his daughter's young affections had been so firmly fixed.

"Go to her, my boy; she will not fly a second time, so like a startled hare, from your approach; tell her, had she told her father Edward Fortescue was the worthy object of her love, he would not thus have thrown a damp upon her young heart, he would not have condemned him as being incapable of loving her for herself alone.

Tell her, too, the name of Philip Clapperton shall offend her no more.

Away with you, my boy." Edward awaited not a second bidding.

In a very few minutes the whole garden had been searched, and Miss Grahame inquired for all over the house, then he bounded through the lane, and scarcely five minutes after he had quitted Mr.Grahame, he stood by the side of Lilla; the consciousness that she had confessed her love, that he might have overheard it, was still paramount in her modest bosom, and she would have avoided him, but quickly was her design prevented.