This was now her view of the matter. Perhaps it was not quite correct, but there was a great deal of truth in it.
Tom Soher was not to die this time. The crisis passed. He rallied almost as rapidly as he had lost strength.
Mr. Rougeant visited him daily. His daughter listened to the news of Tom's recovery, with attention. The farmer was pleased. "She takes more interest in him than she cares to show;" he said to himself.
One fine afternoon, in summer, Adèle, whose spirits were as bright as the weather, was sitting in a chair--thinking. Her thoughts flew hither and thither. They were full of bright hope. She sat where she was for nearly one hour, her head full of vague thoughts, aspirations after perfect womanhood.
As her thoughts rambled, she recalled to mind a flower and fruit show that was to take place that afternoon in the Vegetable Markets.
"I think I shall go," she said to herself.
She spoke to her father about it. He answered her not unkindly: "I believe you would travel twenty miles to see a flower; if you wish to go, you may."
She dressed herself in a dainty costume, set out, and arrived in St. Peter-Port just as the clock of the Town Church struck five. Going to the market, she paid the entrance fee, and proceeded leisurely to examine the flowers.
While she was doing so, Frank Mathers entered the exhibition, utterly unconscious of her being there. He was walking about in the crowd, which, as evening approached, was getting thicker and thicker, when he perceived Adèle intently bent upon examining the cut flowers.
He was quite upset. When he had recovered sufficiently to think; "She is alone, why is not her lover with her," he mused. He could not unravel this mystery.
Hope sprang within him; he shook it off. "He will be back presently," he said to himself; "she is waiting for him while pretending to examine the flowers."
He gazed upon her with admiration, unheeding the throng that continually jostled him.
Suddenly, he was startled by a burst of laughter behind him. He turned round to ascertain its cause.
Two burly fellows who were watching him, were having a merry time of it at his expense.
He moved from his place and walked away, passing quite close to Adèle, who did not notice him. He stopped a few paces from her, watching her narrowly all the time.