2,S Hark Away, 



tiful form and lovely features of the Lady Mary 

 Blank — a graceful, elegant, and accomplished horse- 

 woman, of whom, at a most respectful distance, I 

 was a humble, though not faint-hearted, admirer? 

 It is said that everything comes to him who waits ; 

 and the truth of the proverb was not belied in this 

 instance — for it happened all these years ago that, 

 on a lovely summer's afternoon, when the Park was 

 crowded to excess, in the very acme of the season, 

 a little cloud,, at first no bigger than a man's hand, 

 gathered by degrees, and suddenly burst on the 

 heads of the astonished multitude. Then ensued a 

 scene of wild disorder and dismay. The hoods of 

 carriages were hastily closed, and parasols put up 

 in vain ; for down came the rain in torrents, with the 

 accompaniment of vivid flashes of lightning and loud 

 and terrific peals of thunder. Sauve qui pent was 

 the order of the day, and a veritable stampede 

 ensued. 



Having been one of the first to take flight, I was 

 rapidly making my way in the direction of Park 

 Lane, when my attention was arrested by the sound 

 of a horse galloping at full speed ; whilst, through 

 the blinding rain and hurly-burly of the storm, I 

 beheld the object of my distant adoration at the 

 mercy of her terrified steed, which she was utterly 

 powerless to control. At the moment the excited 

 animal overtook me, a more than usually vivid flash 

 of lightning caused him to pause for an instant in 

 his wild career, and laying a firm hold of the reins, 

 I was enabled to rescue the ladye faire from her 

 perilous position, and convey her in safety to the 

 friendly shelter of the adjacent lodge. 



