she quickly leaped into her seat, and arranged it to suit herself.

I saw that all were mounted and ready as I advised. I took my seat in the saddle, and although my horse was tired, he was too courteous to refuse to carry a lady besides myself. The driver led the way, and progressed as fast as his lamed horse would permit. I followed next. And then came the complaining gentleman. The two dogs paced by my side, in their pantomimic expressions of satisfaction and pleasure. Throughout all the changes, I had not thought to inquire what relation the travellers bore to each other? whether the gentleman was father, uncle, or friend only of the lady? for I should judge he was too old and crusty for a lover. But it is me exactly; for I never hesitate to act when those who I think should, are slow in doing their duty. I did not see the face of the lady with whom I was riding; for in the fast-falling snow, and the darkness stealing on, and drawing evening to a close, it was obscured. But I could observe by her gay manner, and her indifference to the peculiar situation in which she was placed, that she was a genuine woman, a true heroine.

As we proceeded, I would inquire of her if she did not feel cold and uncomfortable, but she invariably replied in a pleasant, evasive way. She would laugh at her companion, who complained of every mode of travelling, and stage coaches in particular. She would tell him it was very agreeable; and that, indeed, all things were pleasant, if we would only imagine them so; that the imagination was the seat of all pain, and that it merely required a little determination to make it succumb not only to reason, but to our aggravated sensibilities. She asked him how it was possible for him to appreciate the

comforts and the blessings of home, of quiet, of ease, and of an undisturbed mind, if he had not experienced the reverse; and by contrast-seeing how really happy and blest he was— she said, that we should have a temperate mind, and be prepared for anything; and as for herself, she liked an adventure, since the excitement of a few hours was productive of more enjoyment than a lifetime of monotony, immovability, and soberness; and that she left those unexcitable feelings of her nature to the drooping, jagged, inactivity of old age; that she appropriated to youth its due share of exertion and energy, lest she might, when old age came on, look back with sorrow on a lifeless and unenjoyed youth. She told me she feared she rendered me uncomfortable. I replied that she was mistaken. I had never felt myself so fortunate; for fortune had but rarely smiled on me, during my past life, as at this time. That trial, if this little adventure could be so called by any one save the gentleman, gave me pleasure, it so varied the ordinary routine of life; and under the present circumstances, to me it were more than pleasure.

After much that was pleasant and sometimes amusing had happened, we were safely arrived at the door of a small country house-small, it appeared, even for the number of dwellers there, all of whom stood startled and surprised before us, brushing the snow flakes from their eyes to see if what they saw really was what they saw. The driver jumped from his horse against one of the gazers, and by knocking him down convinced him the others became satisfied by means less harsh. Two apartments and a servant's room, were all of the house, for the old lady, the two men and a domestic. We had dismounted, for my companion, far from frozen or out of temper, scarce allow

ed me to be down, before she sprang from the saddle, and said she wondered if we adventurers could be accommodated-" if not," said she, "then we will adventure again, for I feel as though we had but just commenced our travel." However, we were invited in, and in their homely way welcomed by the men and the woman. Soon the sturdy mountaineers plied logs to the fire,—we sat where and on what we might. Our horses were stabled, and everything was about to settle down for the evening, when after the relation of the mishap, on the part of the gentleman traveller-the two men proposed seeking out the stage, and transporting the baggage to their cabin that night, for," said they, "to-morrow will make quite a difference, since the snow drifts very much in the valleys and the open places—as the road, and for some days, neither baggage or stage might be found, or being found, the baggage might be injured by a thaw;" at these words the gentleman took fire, and said his baggage must be procured that night. Enoughfresh horses were gotten in a short time, the two men, the driver of the stage and the gentleman himself, despite his aversion to the weather, and his fear of danger were gone, leaving the lady and myself in the room they had left; for I had judged it folly that more than the two men should go.

The servant and her mistress were preparing a supper, and singular to say, the lady who rode with me had been sitting in the corner by the fire the whole time, and not looked round, neither had she removed her cloak, or uncovered her head, therefore I had not seen her face, although I knew she had seen mine. Presently she rose, and with her back to me, removed her cloak and bonnet-she turned round, as I made some remark, and in an instant I beheld in my heroine

the lady I had seen at the theatre sometime before. She had doubtless recognized me, and retained her cloak and bonnet on account of it. Very strange it was, that till that very moment I had not dreamed of that which now appeared to me.

She looking beautiful, her blue, transparent, soft, yet roguish eye-the rich color given to her face by the storm beating into it-and that, contrasting with the purity of the skin, and those flaxen curls-for I am like Titian in preferring the light, to the dark hair in a woman. So naïvely, yet so apparently artfully did those curls lie on either side of the face, that I was again, as at the theatre, enraptured: I thought some spirit must have led me through all these scenes, and had now, under the semblance of this rude cabin, placed me in an enchanted castle. I was almost ready to exclaim: whence art thou, my angel!

We prefaced our conversation by speaking of our recent adventure, and contrasting the desire for excitement, so natural in some, with the reverse in others; and the pleasure induced in the mind by any such revulsions in the feelings, as the monotony of most lives does not admit; gradually and cautiously I introduced the subject of the theatre, when she could not deny that she had seen me there, and more, that she recollected my actions; I told her of the effect she had produced on me; strange it was, for I had never experienced it before, I received the kindest, though the most singular-yet they are the best, invitations to proceed. In my conversation, I mingled incidents of my life that were remarkable, and presently I could get her, sweet woman, to recite some of those in her history. We were soon fairly acquainted, for I had given the curb neither to my tongue or my feelings. She soon perceived I loved her, if she knew it not before. I unfolded it to her, in the impulsiveness

of my nature, and in the strength and directness of my lan

guage.

She was not cold-she refused not my love, she was not a coquette, nor possessed any artful feeling-she sighed, I read its language with joy, and was silent for a time.

We talked together in this manner till those who had gone away were returned. The house-wife had spread the traveller's evening meal,—the two lovers, whom I have the vanity to believe should come first, were silent, for when the heart is full we are as mutes. The male traveller consumed the conversation, in resuming his abuse of the various modes of travelling; he spoke so long and so much on the subject that he had almost forgotten to thank the two honest mountaineers, who sat opposite him, and who had done him excellent service. I will not forget the house-wife—all town house-wives are alike, but in the country it is different-though plain in language, as in dress and manners, yet she is shrewd and sensible—she thinks a deal of the wants of others, and every house-wife there, is a character.

Supper over-storm and adventure conned to perfection—as well as to the satisfaction of all-the house-wife conducts the lady to her chamber, and we men lie down and sleep where we may about the room. There is a roaring fire on the hearth, and every inducement to slumber. But, with me, was little sleep, strange as it might seem, but it only proves that there is an excitement, superior to the effect-that a storm incessantly driving into one's face, violent exertion, and a blazing fire possesses. My thoughts were on her from whom I had just been parted. However, sweet thoughts, as they will, lulled me to sleep before the midnight was very long past.