shrunk from, I was hourly doing. I resolved to set this right beyond all doubt; — if such a barrier were between us, to break it down at once with a determined hand.

It was — what lasting reason have I to remember it! — a cold, harsh, winter day. There had been snow, some hours before; and it lay, not deep, but hard-frozen on the ground. Out at sea, beyond my window, the wind blew ruggedly from the north.

I had been thinking of it, sweeping over those mountain wastes of snow in Switzerland, then inaccessible to any human foot; and had been speculating which was the lonelier, those solitary regions, or a deserted ocean.

‘Riding today, Trot?’ said my aunt, putting her head in at the door.