Year: 1875

A L0VE-MATCH In A CARPET.


81 have lost my wayp' These words said
suddenly, in low tone, with an accent Of
dismay, interrupted blithe carol ripping
from the lips of Florence Grey.


There could hardly have been prettier
place to lose ones way in. The path ended
abruptly at the margin of a narrow stream.
No more than woodland trail, it had been
thickly beset with tangled underwood and
overhung by gnarled antiques of goodly
forest; but here, as it ended, the woods
ended also. A turfed bank sloped gently
to the waters edge; grassy slopes of the
same undulating character outlined the op-
posite bank of the rivulet; gardens and
villas, and beyond them piles of facade and
roof. smokestack and spire. imaged against
clear June sky, the profile Of town.


'I have lost my way" The speaker was
a girl of perhaps eighteen years of age, but
SO essentially youthful in form and feature
that the girlish element preponderated en-
phatically over the womanish-a girl cos
tuned in white muslin, with bodice blue,
and broad brimmed straw hat trimmed
with blue ribbons, very nearly in the style
of stage shepherdess. For crook she
carried a fresh cat birch rod, and clasped
against it rather deleteriously to their pres
ervation, bunch of wood leaves.


Along the path, stopping here and there
to gather leaf, she had been singing to
herself just those light hearted snatches Of
song that one is apt to hum or carol or
whistle in the woods. Her dainty blonde
face was rosily flushed with exercise and
pleasure, and her ungloved hands were red
dened like her cheeks.


81 have lost my way.'' The second time
that these words we're spoken they were no
longer soliloquy, but complaint to an
auditor. Florence Grey, ripping down the
greensward, had come suddenly upon a
stranger, youth, who, at her first glance,
she pronounced gentle and trustworthy-a
dark complexioned, thoughtful faced young
man, walking by the rivers edge, with
pondering footstep, and reading little book.
"Can you tell me, Sir, the way to Lin
den Grove, opposite the long bridge of N ?"
So spake our shepherdess, not dropping
a courtesy in stage style, but assuming for
the moment languid air of hauteur.
81 can direct you," answered the youth
courteously, ''but not very definitely.
can better show you the way if you will al
low me-"


"Guide me, please" said the maiden,
''and will follow; for if am not at home
| les. have the misfortune to be an only
child. Liberty is sweet" she added, fol-
lowing her guide into the wood, "but it has
to be paid for dearly, We were all in the
woods together, and wandered off alone.
It was SO bewitching! Please tell me, are
we miles away from N-?''
''Hardly less than four miles from the
Long Bridge by the direct route" said her
guide; 'sbut I can show you wood path
| quicker"


| "Show it to me then," said Miss Grey,


"and shall be forever grateful, for my
dear mothers sake She is an invalid; she
worries. :"


| "We are spending the summer at Lin
dengrove," after brief pause, continued
this affable young lady, 'and our chief
pleasure is in the wood. To-day we had a
fete, and crowned June queen. Do you
live in Mp


sI do not call My home, but my
residence is there for the present"


"And you cross the Long Bridge to come
into the forest ?''


"No, my approach is different. cross
the river above the dam. But know each
turn of the path, every inch Of the bank. u


Florence Grey followed her guide through
what seemed trackless wild. He paused
frequently to hold back some branch that
barred the way, and at these moments he
glanced quickly but with keen interest al
her face.


| They kept up easily light hearted tall
that would have been commonplace but fol
its cast of broken light, it's tincture of fra
GRANGE and romance caught from the sum
mer wood.


Out of the thicket they emerged just al
the sun was setting. Every feature of the
scene they entered became afterward signif
icantly memorable.


The bank, curved into low shored cove
was grown thickly to the waters edge will
blue forget-me-nots, now in their full bloom
A contrast of color, perspective Of color