[CHAPTER IV.]
JULIANA CONINGSBY.
Comfortably lodged, and fatigued by his long journey, Careless slept very soundly, and awoke in better spirits than he had felt since the sad catastrophe in the gorge of the Avon.
On descending from his room he went forth upon the lawn in front of the house, and was admiring the range of magnificent elms by which it was surrounded, when Juliana Coningsby came out of the garden with a little basket of flowers in her hand, and tripped towards him with a light footstep across the smooth greensward.
If Careless had been struck by her beauty overnight, he was far more impressed by it now. Her figure, we have said, was exceedingly light and graceful, and in her very becoming morning costume, with her blonde tresses hanging over her shoulders, and her fair complexion slightly heightened, she looked really charming.
He had persuaded himself that he could never love again, but now that this exquisite creature stood before him, and greeted him with the sweetest smile imaginable, and in accents that sounded melodiously in his ear, he began to think it possible he might do so.
Formal salutations having passed between them, she said:
"Do you know, Major Careless, I have been dreaming all night of the king's romantic adventures, which you related to us. I quite envy Jane Lane the part she took in them. I should consider it the greatest privilege to attend upon his majesty."
"Jane Lane is a person of the highest courage, full of ardour and zeal for the royal cause," replied Careless. "You must excuse my saying that very few of your sex would have gone through what she has done."