"But I don't understand Greek," she
replied.

"A little," I said, pressing the charge.

"Not a word. I know the books and the
authors' names, like a parrot. I have read
most of the books of history and some of the
old divines; but I have so often searched for
interesting reading that I know where to find
any book in the library."

"I own I thought you a great blue stocking,"
I said.

"Oh no, I hope not; the world is so prejudiced
against them. However, if you will
keep my secret, I will own that I know a
little Latin."

She looked, to me, so interesting as she
said this, slightly colouring, that I fell straightway
in love with her. I saw her afterwards
frequently and chatted with her, till my
attachment to her became confirmed. This
was a serious obstacle to my studies. I found
that I could read whole pages, word by word,
without attaching any meaning to them. I
was continually tempted to rise from my seat
and watch the house opposite. I ceased to be
an early riser; I delayed lighting my lamp
when it was getting dusk, to sit and watch
the glowing cinders on the fire. It was winter
time; and one day when the rain was falling,
making pools in the smoky little garden opposite,
and the drops kept gathering on ledges
and window-sills, and falling with a continual
plash, I stood a long time at the window and
felt as lonely as I had felt in the old times.
But at last I made a solemn resolution to
avoid the place, and apply myself wholly to
my studies; not thinking thus, to come to
love her less, but choosing this as the best
means of winning her one day. For as yet I
felt that I could not even speak to her of my
affection. I had nothing. Even if I won this
scholarship, which I felt now I must do, my
future was still uncertain. The growing
kindness of her father towards me was another
reason for my silence. I felt that to have
spoken to her in secret of my feelings towards
her would be a wrong done to him, and once
when I saw her coming down the street I
turned aside as if I had not seen her. Her
father invited me to his house several times,
but I excused myself each time, and he ceased
at last to invite me.

The examination-day arrived at last; and
I presented myself, and was one of the two
chosen among four competitors. I was to
start for the college in a few days. It seemed
to me very hard to leave her for three years,
trusting to the hope that she would form no
attachment in all that time; but my mind
was made up. " She will love me the better
perhaps," thought I, "when she knows of
this;" and I felt almost a superstitious conviction
that all would turn" out well one day. But,
meeting her father in the library, the day
before I started, the kindness of his words
touched me so deeply, that I was tempted
to open my heart to him, I delayed long,
searching many pretexts for waiting a
moment longer, till I saw he was about to leave
me; and then I told him boldly of my affection,
and how and why I had said nothing so long.

"It must not be yet," he said. " I am not
one to make a money question of such things.
You are both young, Kate is younger than
you. You must make no engagement yet.
Let me see, in two years' time, what progress
you have made."

Two anxious years! but a strong hope
sustained me. My patron received me, when
I returned, with the affection of a father.
"I have told Kate all about it long ago," he
said; " and she loves you, and is as proud of
your honors as if they were her own." My
measure of happiness was full that night.
Kate told me her first impressions of me, and
other little secrets, with the simplicity of a
child; and I related my own old hopes and
doubts. My time was not yet completed. In
a few days I started for Scotland again; but
this time I had nothing to fear. Kate had
promised me to write continually, and had
pledged me her word not to forget me a day
in my absence.

That day twelvemonth, I returned to London
again. I came a little before the time
I had mentioned, thinking to surprise them.
It was on an afternoon in November, just as
it was growing dark, that I turned again
into the old street. There was no one passing
through it, but myself; I looked up at the
window where I had sat at my studies, and
saw that it was dark; but at the library there
was a strong light upon the blinds, on the
ground floor—a light so unsteady, that I
knew it came from a blazing fire—and I
could hear voices; though I tried in vain to
distinguish Kate's... Lingering, with that
strange irresolution with which we delay
sometimes to seize a pleasure within reach,
I even shrank into a door-way opposite, when
I saw the great door open. I could see that
it was Mr. Thaine who stood on the threshold.
He waited there a moment, and held
out his hand; for a fine snow was beginning
to fall: and then went in again, and shut the
door. I crossed the road quickly; but as I
passed the iron railing, I noticed some one in
the enclosure. It was a man, and he stood
quite near to the window of a little room at
the side of the house, almost on a level with
the ground. I had never seen any one in this
enclosure; and to find a man there, at dark,
in the winter-time, excited my curiosity. I
heard him tap upon the glass; and a moment
after, the window was opened cautiously,
then I could hear voices whispering
indistinctly; till at last, they grew louder and I
could catch the words. It was Kate's voice
I heard first: I knew it too well to have any
doubts.

"I dare not stay here any longer, Henry,"
she said. " My father would never forgive
me for not telling him of this, if he knew
my secret."