280 I GO A- FISHING. 



determined to know, once for all, if she would love me 

 or no. 



" If not, I would go, I cared not where ; the world was 

 broad enough, and it should be to some place where I 

 should never see her face again, never hear her voice 

 again, never bow down and worship her magnificent beau- 

 ty again. I would go to Russia and offer myself to the 

 Czar, or to Syria and join the Druses, or to India, China, 

 any where to fight. All my notions were military, I re- 

 member, and all my ideas were of war and death on the 

 field. 



" I rode by her side, and looked up at her occasionally, 

 and thought she was looking splendidly. I had never 

 seen her more so. Every attitude was grace, every look 

 was life and spirit. 



" Tom clung close to her. One would have thought 

 he was watching the very opportunity I was after myself. 

 Now he rode a few paces forward, and as I was catching 

 my breath to say ' Sarah,' he would rein up and fall back 

 to his place, and I would make some flat remark that 

 made me seem like a fool to myself, if not to her. 



"'What's the matter with you, Jerry?' said she, at 

 length. 



" ' Jerry's in love,' said Tom. 



" I could have thrashed him on the spot. 



" ' In love ! Jerry in love !' and she turned her large 

 brown eyes toward me. 



" In vain I sought to fathom them, and arrive at some 

 conclusion whether or no the subject interested her with 

 special force. 



" The eyes remained fixed, till I blundered out the old 

 saw — 'Tom judges others by himself.' 



" Then the e3'es turned to Tom, and he pleaded guilty 



