betokens health."

They had ridden but a little way, when she heard Moodie call to her,
and reining in her horse, she let him come up alongside of her. He
evidently wished to speak to her in private, for he kept silence until
L'Isle and Mrs. Shortridge were out of hearing, and looked cautiously
round to see that the servants were not too near.

"My lady," said he, in a solemn manner, "I have been looking at you,
wondering if you are the same girl I have seen for years growing up
under my eye."

"Another, yet the same," said she. "I have not yet quite lost my
personal identity."

"And how many months is it since we left Scotland?"

"Weeks you mean, Moodie, it is scarcely yet time to count by months."

"Weeks, then, have made a wondrous change in you."

"I suspect that often happens in the progress of life," said Lady
Mabel. "We seem to stand still for a while at a monotonous stage of
our existence; a sudden change of condition comes, and we leap forward
toward maturity. So, too, we may for years continue young in heart and
health; some heavy trouble or deep grief overtakes us, and we at once
are old."

"It is not a leap forward in life that you have made, but a leap
aside, out of your own character. It amazes me to see you galloping