"I have learned the same lesson from you," responded the earl, with a sigh. "You talk about solitude. I had not been at Rosorton ten days before a party of four, all friends of mine, proposed to visit me. I could not refuse. They left the day after you came."
"I did not see them," said Lord Arleigh.
"No, I did not ask them to prolong their stay, fearing that after all those hours on the moors, you might have a serious illness; but now, Lord Arleigh, you will promise me that we shall be friends."
"Yes," he replied, "we will be friends."
So it was agreed that they should be strangers no longer--that they should visit and exchange neighborly courtesies and civilities.
Chapter XXXIII.
The Earl of Mountdean and Lord Arleigh were walking up a steep hill one day together, when the former feeling tired, they both sat down among the heather to rest. There was a warm sun shining, a pleasant wind blowing, and the purple heather seemed literally to dance around them. They remained for some time in silence; it was the earl who broke it by saying:
"How beautiful the heather is! And here indeed on this hill-top is solitude! We might fancy ourselves quite alone in the world. By the way, you have never told me, Arleigh, what it is that makes you so fond of solitude."
"I have had a great trouble," he replied, briefly.
"A trouble! But one suffers a great deal before losing all interest in life. You are so young, you cannot have suffered much."