Ujednesday, pebtruat^y 14th, 1894. 33 



love. And a very pleasant ride it proves to be. 

 The subject of our discourse I leave my readers to 

 guess. Suffice it to say I return home so full of 

 happiness, that I cannot refrain from giving William 

 a hint as to the cause of it. And just before dinner, 

 when on my way to the cellar, I overhear William 

 say, " Cook, do you know the meaning of a new 

 departure ? According to master's account it means 

 a mort of things from port wine and thin sandwiches 

 to matrimony." 



Dinner ended, my easy-chair receives me, a 

 happier and more fortunate man than on the 

 previous evening. I try to realize my bliss, and to 

 assure myself that it is not all a dream. How much 

 it would have added to my father's happiness during 

 his last days, had he known what was to be the 

 result of this afternoon's ride. He was a great 

 admirer of my chosen one, and so charmed with her 

 loveliness of person and mind, that I feel sure he 

 had set his heart on her becoming my wife. He 

 had seen her almost daily during her stay in the 

 Riviera, as her brother and his invalid wife with 

 whom she lived had taken a house close to ours. I 

 used to drive and ride about the country with them, 

 and sometimes wander with her alone through the 

 sweet-scented orange groves, and along the bright 

 shores of the Mediterranean. 



What a blissful time was mine, while those happy 

 c 



