Year: 1870




know what prevented me calling to her
but l did not, allowed her to pass on
whilst | stood watching her in silent won
der. And then a sudden impulse seized me
whether impelled by some fate or only ac-
tuated by the suspicious which had been
so constantly sounded in my ears, l do not
know; but instead of returning to the
house, passed out of the rose-garden, and
ran quickly down to that part of the
grounds where each of us girls were al
lowed to cultivate a piece of garden as she
chose.


1t was long strip Of ground, at the top
of high bank, at the bottom of which ran
a small but tolerably deep river. not the
safest perhaps that could have been selec-
ted for our gardening operations; but Mrs.
Furnival was fanciful about her grounds.
and superintended their cultivation herself
with almost artistic TASTE


Down this walk, lighted by the clear
summer stars, fastened till l came to
Myra's garden.


1t was easily distinguishable from the
rest by the profuson of lilies of all sorts
which grew there. They were her favorite
flower; indeed, she had almost a passion for
them, and would tend them with devo-
ton that made all of us laugh.


I looked eagerly round; what could have
taken Myra to her garden at that hours
And then / stopped down and examined
it carefully. But nothing remarkable ap-
peared, nothing; and was just about to
give it up and go away, when it struck
me some of the lily-roots locke more faded
than others. l examined them, and only
dimly in that light could / see that here
and there one or two of them had apparent
ly been freshly planted.


This looked strange, for it was not the
time of year for transplanting, and then, as
l touched one l found could remove il
easily, for it was only laid on the earth to
look as if it was still growing.


Removing my white glove, I began dig
ging up the soft mould with my hand, and
then, not more than few inches beneath
the surface l came against what I had ex
pected. Yes, there in little heap lay the
golden sovereigns robbed from Mrs. Fnr
nival's private drawer


shall never forget the shock of tha,
moment | got up in horror, as if l had
come upon some poisonous serpent, and
exclaimed-"O o heaven! o Myra, Myrar'
in almost agony; and then, without giving
myself time for reflection, hastily covered
the sovereigns again, replaced the roots
and walked slowly back.
What should do?


was sorely perplexed; and as I walked
back that short distance to the house, my
imagination conjured up all sorts of hor-
rors in the way of Imprisonment and pun
ishment this knowledge of mine would
bring on my beautiful friend.
| / went slowly back to the ballroom, but
everything seemed changed; and when
saw Myra's form flying through the dance
l could scarcely believe but that was Ia
boring under some horrible dream.


Mrs. Furnival came up to me, as entered
"What a time you have been, my dear,
Miss Myra has re appeared long ago.


81 know: met her in the garden" 1 an
swered feebly.


&C In the garden! She did not tell me
that. Who was she withP"


"No one.''


"She certainly is more extraordinarily
and Mrs. Furnival again looked curiously
round after Myra's beautiful face, and
turned away.


"No,"I thought, "I can't tell yeti
can't in this scene; and there may be some
thing" d


But was very glad when that long even
ing was over. Never was I more thankful
to see the guests depart one after the other
and at length to stand saying goodnight
to my school-fellows.


i They would remain talking over the