346 LOTKS OF A BACHGtOR. 



tion, hoping to have the pleasure of a short promenade with Rebina, 

 without any third party being present to have their ears regaled 

 with matters which did not at all concern them. I stationed myself 

 beside a cluster of whin-bushes, from which station I could recognize 

 Rebina the moment she came out of the house, immediatelv on which 

 1 was to jump into one of the foot-walks, as if I had been merely on 

 a pleasurable promenade, and was to meet with her as if by the 

 sheerest accident. From the colossal proportions of my person, how- 

 ever, it was necessary, in order to my not being seen from the win- 

 dows of Mr. Clarkson's house, and, at the same time, my seeing its 

 door distinctly, that I should crawl to the end of the whin-bushes in 

 an alUfoui-'s position. Well, what is it that a man really in love will 

 not cheerfully submit to for the unrivalled she ! At this time I could 

 have made any sacrifice for Rebina, and did not consider the trifiing 

 circumstance of making a short journey, H la quadruped, to the ex- 

 tremity of the whin bushes, wortliy|of the name. Twice had I doubled 

 the spot in question in the all-four's position ; and when on a third 

 journey, by means of my hands and feet, to the most eligible termi- 

 nation for my purpose of the aforesaid whin-bushes, my mind, as on 

 the two preceding ones, was so completely absorbed in cogitating on 

 the matchless beauty and amiable qualities of Miss Clarkson, that I 

 never thought of looking for a moment in any other direction than 

 towards the door of her father's house. While thus " progressing" 

 to the spot in question, a large mastiff — O horrible ! — sprung on 

 me ere ever I was aware, seized me by the tails of my coat, and, 

 by one pull, stretched me at my full length on the superficies of 

 the earth. The words " Hold, Tiger, sir !" instantly thereafter broke 

 on my ears ; and the first emotion I experienced, on recovering from 

 the state of stupefaction into which the occurrence had thrown me, 

 was one of fervent gratitude at the circumstance of a deliverer being: 

 apparently at hand. The animal, who no doubt had mistaken me 

 for a brother mastiff, or a robber intent on deeds of mischief, in- 

 stantly let go his hold on the authoritative command of his master 

 for that purpose ; and I was again on my hands and feet, in the act 

 of rising, when, with the suddenness of ghosts, Rebina, with her sister 

 and father and mother, all appeared in one group before me ! So 

 powerfully did their presence, at this most unlucky moment, affect 

 my nerves that I did not for some time afterwards know whether I 

 was dead or alive. On recovering my senses a little, the horrible 

 quadrifid (how can I in this case apply any other adjective to them ?) 

 were still standing in juxta-posilion with me, apparently little less 

 stupified than myself at what they had just witnessed. O ! I would 

 ten thousand times sooner have encountered a leg-ion of demons than 

 have met the Clarksons in such circumstances. It would have been 

 to me at that dread moment a luxury of the highest order had the 

 earth opened and swallowed me up ; nay, had I been inserted in the 

 bowels of V^esuvius or Etna, it would have been to me a perfect 

 paradise compared with what I then endured. Without attempting 

 to sj)eak, or even to take up my hat which was lying hard by, I nn.de 

 as precipitate a retreat as possible ; and from that moment until this 

 I never saw, nor wished to see, one of the C.'s faces — not even that of 



