condition than the boundary monuments of the outlying fields--
bespoke protection and exclusiveness. Half-way up the lane the
rider checked his speed, and, dismounting, tied his horse to a
wayside sapling. This done, he went cautiously forward toward the
end of the lane, and a farm-house from whose gable window a light
twinkled through the deepening night. Suddenly he stopped,
hesitated, and uttered an impatient ejaculation. The light had
disappeared. He turned sharply on his heel, and retraced his steps
until opposite a farm-shed that stood a few paces from the wall.
Hard by, a large elm cast the gaunt shadow of its leafless limbs on
the wall and surrounding snow. The stranger stepped into this
shadow, and at once seemed to become a part of its trembling
intricacies.

At the present moment it was certainly a bleak place for a tryst.
There was snow yet clinging to the trunk of the tree, and a film of
ice on its bark; the adjacent wall was slippery with frost, and
fringed with icicles. Yet in all there was a ludicrous suggestion
of some sentiment past and unseasonable: several dislodged stones
of the wall were so disposed as to form a bench and seats, and
under the elm-tree's film of ice could still be seen carved on its
bark the effigy of a heart, divers initials, and the legend, "Thine
Forever."

The stranger, however, kept his eyes fixed only on the farm-shed
and the open field beside it. Five minutes passed in fruitless
expectancy. Ten minutes! And then the rising moon slowly lifted
herself over the black range of the Orange hills, and looked at
him, blushing a little, as if the appointment were her own.