“It was a beautiful sunlit county.  I had little to do, plenty of leisure, and he could do as he would with his time.  We had met and had fallen in love with each other.  I did not love him, I idolized him; remember in your judgment that no one had ever loved me.  No one had ever kissed my face and said kind words to me; and I, oh! wretched, miserable me, I was in Heaven.  To be loved for the first time, and by one so handsome, so charming, so fascinating!  A few weeks passed like a dream.  I met him in the early morning, I met him in the gloaming.  He swore a hundred times each day that he would marry me when he came of age.  We must wait until then.  I never dreamed of harm or wrong, I believed in him implicitly, as I loved him.  I believe every word that came from his lips.  May Heaven spare me!  I need tell you no more.  A girl of eighteen madly, passionately in love; a girl as ignorant as any girl could be, and a handsome, experienced man of the world.

“There was no hope, no chance.  I fell; yet almost without knowing how I had fallen.  You will spare me the rest, I know.

“When in my sore anguish and distress, I went to him, I thought he would marry me at once; I thought he would be longing only to make me happy again; to comfort me; to solace me; to make amends for all I had suffered.  I went to him in London with my heart full of longing and love.  I had left my situation, and my stern, cruel grandmother believed that I had found another.  If I lived to be a thousand years old I should never forget my horror and surprise.  He had worshipped me; he had sworn a thousand times over that he would marry me; he had loved me with the tenderest love.

“Now, when after waiting some hours, I saw him last, he frowned at me; there was no kiss, no caress, no welcome.

“‘This is a nice piece of news,’ he said.  ’This comes of country visiting.’

“‘But you love me?—­you love me?’ I cried.

“‘I did, my dear,’ he said, ’but, of course, that died with Summer.  One does not speak of what is dead.’

“‘Do you not mean to marry me?’ I asked.

“’No, certainly not; and you know that I never did.  It was a Summer’s amusement.’

“‘And what is it to me?’ I asked.

“’Oh, you must make the best of it.  Of course, I will not see you want, but you must not annoy me.  And that old grandmother of yours, she must not be let loose upon me.  You must do the best you can.  I will give you a hundred pounds if you will promise not to come near me again.’

“I spoke no word to him; I did not reproach him; I did not utter his name; I did not say good-bye to him; I walked away.  I leave his punishment to Heaven.  Then I crushed the anguish within me and tried to look my life in the face.  I would have killed myself rather than have gone home.  My grandmother had forced me to be saving, and in the postoffice bank I had nearly thirty pounds.  I had a watch and chain worth ten.  I sold them, and I sold with them a small diamond ring that had been my mother’s, and some other jewelry; altogether I realized fifty pounds.  I went to the outskirts of London and took two small rooms.