be agitated at meeting me, unless she took a special interest in
me--unless, indeed, she felt as I felt! At any rate, it were heaven to
think so. We had been talking I should think ten minutes, when Tom
Temple came towards us.

"Say, Justin, my boy," he said, "what do you say to a gallop of four?"

"Who are the four?" I asked.

"Miss Forrest, Miss Edith Gray, Justin Blake, and--myself," was the
reply.

"I shall be more than delighted if Miss Forrest will--" I did not finish
the sentence. At that moment I felt gripped by an unseen power, and I
was irresistibly drawn towards the door. I muttered something about
forgetting, and then, like a man in a sleep, I put on my hat and coat
and went out, I know not where.

I cannot remember much about the walk. It was very cold, and my feet
crunched the frozen snow; but I thought little of it--I was drawn on and
on by some secret power. I was painfully aware that Miss Forrest must
think I was acting strangely and discourteously, and once or twice I
essayed to go back to her, but I could not I was drawn on and on, always
away from the house.

At length I entered a fir wood, and I began to feel more my real self. I
saw the dark pines, from whose prickly foliage the snow crystals were
falling; I realized a stern beauty in the scene; but I had not time to
think about it. I felt I was near the end of my journey, and I began to
wonder at my condition. I had not gone far into the wood before I