Mark Wilton also took his farewell of her, but now that the light fell full upon her face and he saw her bright eye, her cheek flushed with excitement, and the pure ingenuous expression upon her pretty face, he mentally promised himself that the parting now taking place should not be for long.
“Love at first sight” is an open question. It certainly is subjected in this country to a wholesale doubt, while in the warmer climes of the sunny south it is an every hour occurrence. Here, where we take impressions with a qualification, it is considered almost apocryphal that a man or woman should fall in love with one of the opposite sex the moment they cast eyes upon each other. Yet it is not deemed wonderful that persons seeing an article which, at the first glance, strikes them as being beautiful, should conceive instantly a desire to possess it, and call it their own. Why should there be a difference between the emotions raised by the inanimate and the animate? In nine cases out of ten, love which is clothed with passion springs into existence at the first sight of the object, although other causes may be afterwards attributed, and proofs may be adduced that it was of slow growth, fostered and increased by charms freshly and continuously developed, but the fact of the first impression calling love into existence, we venture to think, remains indisputable.
Mark was, perhaps, unconscious of the effect which Lotte’s expressive and attractive face had really upon him. He saw that she was pretty and that her manner was agreeable; he thought he should like to see her again; he felt almost instantly after he had entertained that thought that he must see her again; and, as he pressed her soft hand and gazed into her clear mild eyes, he resolved that he would see her again; and so they parted, Lotte silently sharing his impressions.
The groom despatched by Lester Vane to follow Charley and Mark, was embarrassed by perceiving the two young men suddenly proceed in opposite directions, while the young ladies took a wholly different course. It was impossible that he should follow them all, so he decided upon following the females. He shrewdly surmised that the females, being alone, would proceed home, and that where the females lived, the young men were likely to visit, and thus, at some future time, if needful, might be tracked to their own abodes.
He followed, unobserved, Lotte and her young companion to the house in which the former resided and watched them in. Then he carefully noted down the name of the street, and the number of the house. But, although he went to butcher, and baker, and publican, he failed to ascertain Lotte’s name. He returned, therefore, to the hotel, where he knew he should find his master, with all the information he could obtain.
And now Lotte was at home in her own little room, her candle lighted, and the door locked.
She was alone with her new acquaintance. She gently forced her to a seat upon the sofa.
“This,” she said, in soft tones, purposely made so that she might give strength and encouragement to the young lady to speak—“this is my home, all my home; for the limits of my property are bounded by these walls. But here I sit the day long, employed at my needle, the song of my little bird ringing joyously in my ears, the bright sky shining beyond my windows, the fresh air coming in among my flowers; and, being so fortunate as to have no lack of employment, I am as happy as the day is long.”
She paused and looked at her companion. Her hand was to her face, her bowed head yet partly concealed by her veil.
Lotte knelt suddenly, but softly, at her feet, and took both her hands in hers.