When James VI., accustomed to old Edinburgh within its 'Flodden Wall,' was so startled with the size of the petty London of his time that, in his famous speech in the Star Chamber, in 1616, he declared that its size made it a nuisance to the nation, that he would have all new edifices pulled down, and the builders committed to prison, he could little foresee the London of the days of steam!
And, often as she sat there under the stately trees, Alison loved to ponder over the days when the old Court suburb was remote from London, for in 1750, where now we find busy Westbourne Grove, stood a solitary house, called Western Green, three miles distant from Hyde Park; and so lately as 1830, on the Bayswater side of the Gardens, were Kensington Gravel Pits, facing the Broad Walk, stretching away to what is now called Bayswater, which was formerly renowned for the springs and conduits for which the city was then indebted for pure water. It was famous then for its tea gardens, there called the Flora, extending the whole length of Lancaster Gate.
So, book in hand, while the children played near her on the grass, Alison would sit in Kensington Gardens for hours lost in reverie, while the bees hummed in the hot air at the flower-beds near the Serpentine, and the sun blazed without mercy on the sheet of shining water that stretched away towards the Albert Gate; but, when certain thoughts of the past occurred to her, there would seem no beauty in that summer scene, nor warmth even in the sunshine, for there was a dull, weary, and aching crave at her heart, with the ever-recurring question—Where was Bevil, and why did he not make an effort to seek her out?
She knew not that the only person who could enlighten him as to her movements—the vicar of Chilcote—had steadily refused to do so.
On such occasions old Archie was generally hovering about for a sight of her; and, if he could exchange a word with her, would steal away to his dingy lodgings 'as happy as a king,' to use his own phrase; and muttering—'The Lord will watch owre her—the Lord will watch owre her—like ilka blade o' grass that keps its ain drap o' dew.'
One day she extended her walk beyond the boundary of the Gardens, and, crossing the bridge near the powder magazine, watched with feverish eagerness the crowds of fashionables who were gathering in their thousands there; for it was the 17th of May, when there was to be a muster of the Four-in-Hand Club, and she had a strange presentiment that she should see Bevil Goring—one of those presentiments which come unbidden to the mind, perhaps more often to the Scottish mind than any other—why or how, we know not—but which seem to speak of that which is to come as powerfully as ever did those oracles of old that whispered through the mist of Delphi, or by the black doves of Dodona; and she was not doomed to be—in one sense at least—disappointed.
Amid the fast gathering crowds and the general excitement of the scene she was careful not to lose sight of her little charges, whose tiny hands she clasped in her own, and kept them close by her side.
She saw Cadbury ride past, accompanied by Gaskins his groom; and, while the sight gave her a kind of shock, she shrank behind a tree lest he should perceive her, and some minutes elapsed ere she ventured from her hiding place.
Natheless his peerage, aware of his plebeian descent and certainly not distinguished appearance, instead of appearing fashionably attired like a London park rider, Cadbury affected the style of a country gentleman; and on this day—though a most indifferent horseman—he wore Bedford cord breeches, and black polished boots, an ordinary cut-away coat buttoned over the chest, a hat rather low in the crown, and carried a light hunting whip, affecting the air of one who flew over his fences 'like a bird' though not unfrequently he was landed on one side, while his horse remained on the other; and he rode over the hounds and committed many similar unpardonable faults in the field.
At this narrowly escaped rencontre she felt her colour come and go—come and go—quickly. The man's appearance brought brought back with a rush, and vividly, a host of painful and annoying memories; and then there was the thousand pounds cheque sent anonymously and the marble cross so mysteriously erected at her father's grave.