To see the very person whom one has left civilisation to avoid is always more or less surprising, and to make the meeting less likely, Buffington is even farther from Oxenbridge than Barbury Green.  The creature was well mounted (ominous, when he came to override my caprice!) and he looked bigger, and, yes, handsomer, though that doesn’t signify, and still more determined than when I saw him last; although goodness knows that timidity and feebleness of purpose were not in striking evidence on that memorable occasion.  I had drawn up under the shade of a tree ostensibly to eat some cherries, thinking that if I turned my face away I might pass unrecognised.  It was a stupid plan, for if I had whipped up the mare and driven on, he of course, would have had to follow, and he has too much dignity and self-respect to shriek recriminations into a woman’s ear from a distance.

He approached with deliberation, reined in his horse, and lifted his hat ceremoniously.  He has an extremely shapely head, but I did not show that the sight of it melted in the least the ice of my resolve; whereupon we talked, not very freely at first,—­men are so stiff when they consider themselves injured.  However, silence is even more embarrassing than conversation, so at length I begin:—­

Bailiff’s Daughter.—­“It is a lovely day.”

True Love.—­“Yes, but the drought is getting rather oppressive, don’t you think?”

Bailiff’s Daughter.—­“The crops certainly need rain, and the feed is becoming scarce.”

True Love.—­“Are you a farmer’s wife?”

Bailiff’s Daughter.—­“Oh no! that is a promotion to look forward to; I am now only a Goose Girl.”

True Love.—­“Indeed!  If I wished to be severe I might remark:  that I am sure you have found at last your true vocation!”

Bailiff’s Daughter.—­“It was certainly through no desire to please you that I chose it.”

True Love.—­“I am quite sure of that!  Are you staying in this part?”

Bailiff’s Daughter.—­“Oh no!  I live many miles distant, over an extremely rough road.  And you?”

True Love.—­“I am still at the Hydropathic; or at least my luggage is there.”

Bailiff’s Daughter.—­“It must be very pleasant to attract you so long.”

True Love.—­“Not so pleasant as it was.”

Bailiff’s Daughter.—­“No?  A new proprietor, I suppose.”

True Love.—­“No; same proprietor; but the house is empty.”

Bailiff’s Daughter (yawning purposely).—­“That is strange; the hotels are usually so full at this season.  Why did so many leave?”

True Love.—­“As a matter of fact, only one left.  ‘Full’ and ‘empty’ are purely relative terms.  I call a hotel full when it has you in it, empty when it hasn’t.”

Bailiff’s Daughter (dying to laugh, but concealing her feelings).—­“I trust my bulk does not make the same impression on the general public!  Well, I won’t detain you longer; good afternoon; I must go home to my evening work.”