other side of which we saw a young woman sitting as it were in a
personated sullenness, just over a transparent fountain. Opposite to her
stood Mr. _William_, Sir ROGER's master of the game. The Knight
whispered me, 'Hist! these are lovers.' The huntsman looking earnestly
at the shadow of the young maiden in the stream, 'Oh thou dear picture,
if thou couldst remain there in the absence of that fair creature whom
you represent in the water, how willingly could I stand here satisfied
for ever, without troubling my dear _Betty_ herself with any
mention of her unfortunate _William_, whom she is angry with: But
alas! when she pleases to be gone, thou wilt also vanish--yet let me
talk to thee while thou dost stay. Tell my dearest _Betty_ thou
dost not more depend upon her, than does her _William_: Her absence
will make away with me as well as thee. If she offers to remove thee, I
will jump into these waves to lay hold on thee; herself, her own dear
person, I must never embrace again.--Still do you hear me without one
smile--It is too much to bear--' He had no sooner spoke these words, but
he made an offer of throwing himself into the water: At which his
mistress started up, and at the next instant he jumped across the
fountain and met her in an embrace. She, half recovering from her
fright, said, in the most charming voice imaginable, and with a tone of
complaint, 'I thought how well you would drown yourself. No, no, you
won't drown yourself till you have taken your leave of _Susan
Holiday_.' The huntsman, with a tenderness that spoke the most
passionate love, and with his cheek close to hers, whispered the softest
vows of fidelity in her ear, and cried, 'Don't, my dear, believe a word
_Kate Willow_ says; she is spiteful, and makes stories because she
loves to hear me talk to herself for your sake.' 'Look you there,' quoth
Sir ROGER, 'do you see there, all mischief comes from confidents! But
let us not interrupt them; the maid is honest, and the man dares not be
otherwise, for he knows I loved her father: I will interpose in this