THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE. DONATED BY THR VOL. XXXIII. JANUARY TO APRIL, 1842. LONDON: SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET; BELL AND BRADFUTE, EDINBURGH; SMITH AND SON, GLASGOW; THE METROPOLITAN. THE BLUE BELLES OF ENGLAND. BY MRS. TROLLOPE. CHAPTER XXXIV. A SOLITARY RAMBLE-A TRYING QUESTION ANSWERED WITH WOMANLY DISCRETIONA WALK BY MOONLIGHT. THOUGH Constance was in no humour to walk when her friend invited her to do so, she found herself but little disposed to sit still, and had no sooner seated herself vis-à-vis to her grandmother, with her book in her hand, than she felt a sudden incapability of knowing one word from another, till at length, having blundered through half a page in a very absurd manner indeed, she stopped abruptly, rose from her chair, and exclaimed, "Grandmamma!—I have got such a headache that I cannot read another word-I must see what a little fresh air will do for me." 26 Why did not you accept Mrs. Markham's offer, my dear ?" replied the old lady, looking at her with anxiety. "I don't like you should walk by yourself if you are unwell." "I will not walk far," returned Constance, seizing upon the everready bonnet and shawl that lay upon a chair—“I will only stroll as far as the walnut-tree." "I should not mind going as far as that myself, Constance," said Mrs. Ridley kindly. "Shall I go with you, my dear ?" There are moments in the lives of most young ladies when the presence of even the dearest of grandmothers may be dispensed with"and these were of them." Constance became aware of a certain access of impatience, to which she was very rarely subject, and shaking her head in token of declining the offer, she vanished through the glass door without speaking. Whether she directed her steps towards the walnut-tree, or wandered away in some quite contrary direction, she probably did not herself very well know; but an instinct that seemed to serve her as well as her wits could have done, had she not lost them, led her along a shady, out-of-the-way path, that brought her exactly to the spot where, many a time and oft, before her departure for London in the Jan. 1842.-VOL. XXXIII.-NO. CXXIX. B |