CHAPTER VI. Quale i fioretti, dal notturno gelo Chinati e chiusi, poi che 'l Sol gl' imbianca, DANTE. MARY and Edward met the following day, with a strong determination on each side to seem perfectly unembarrassed, and to resume the fraternal footing upon which they had formerly been. It may easily be imagined how little they succeeded in maintaining this wise resolution. Edward was too much excited by the pleasure of finding himself with Mary, and too much ashamed of the want of firmness which allowed him to enjoy that pleasure, to be quite at his ease. Mary, by her reflections upon their interview in the garden, had become too conscious of what his feelings were, and had discovered too much of what her own were likely to become, to be quite herself. They tried to converse upon indifferent subjects, but every word seemed to have some deeper meaning—every remark to bear some allusion to what both their minds were full of. They felt that they were on the verge of betraying themselves now by speaking too much, now by avoiding each other in too marked a manner, and yet the ride was passed in an alternation of the two extremes. Storrcliffe was a most picturesque spot; the building, which had been a tower of some pretensions to strength, stood upon the brink of a cliff, overhanging a clear and rapid stream; it was closed in on three sides by wild hills, totally uncultivated, but clothed at their base with thick woods of oak, alder, and birch. The trees were not of any VOL. I. F size it is true, but their age and the rough nature of the ground, strewed with loose fragments of rock, among which grew fern and heather, and the blue harebell, gave the scene a character and a beauty of its own. "Let me explain to you all my plans, Miss Hardy," said Captain Rutherford, eagerly, leading her to the front of the house: "I can make this place beautiful;-here must be a terrace, or rather a sort of rampart in character with the building. the building. From this corner there will be a view of that sunny knoll, of the turn in the river, and of the cultivated valley beyond; while from the other end I shall look up to that frowning mass of rock, and the rugged hills which cluster round as if to shelter and protect me. Just look now at the gleam of light upon the grey stones of the tower-what beautiful colouring! and how it is brought out by the sober brown hill behind, which makes the bright green of the ivy on the wall brighter than ever." Mary was surprised to find Captain Rutherford such an enthusiast for natural beauty; it was one of those tastes which he would have been the first to laugh at, and which he only betrayed accidentally. She listened and admired to his heart's content, and he was soon asking her advice upon all his plans. “Here,” he said, "I must have steps and a path leading to the pretty rapid we observed as we came by; and then, what do you advise about a flower garden? there must be one; and yet, my first object is to preserve the wild character of the placeto have nothing out of keeping." Everybody was ready with some suggestion, which Captain Rutherford accepted or rejected, with infinite good humour, and a display of more good taste than he was before suspected of. 66 My vocation has been entirely mistaken," he said, in answer to the compliments he received." Nature certainly intended me for an architect or a landscape gardener, not at all for a soldier." "That is all very well, Captain Rutherford," said Miss Jane; "but you will want a wife to help you, you may depend upon it." "Not for the world," he replied: "I must make everything perfect first. I shall not have time to wish for a wife until this amusement is over, and when it is over I shall, probably, have no money to spare upon so expensive a luxury, in spite of my father's liberal carte blanche." Miss Jane nodded her head, with an expression of superior wisdom. "You doubt me?" said Captain Ruther 66 ford; you will see how wrong you are; and, at least, you will allow that this is not quite a fit drawing-room for one's lady-love in its present state." So saying he led the way into a room, large and well proportioned, but in the most dilapidated and dirty condition sacks of coals and potatoes covering the floor, while |