It was but an ordinary evening, with no particular obligations remaining. You had finished with your correspondence, and ordinarily I should have found you reading, or perhaps painting, yet you were nowhere to be seen.

upon inquiring of the servants, I was informed that you had taken a walk to the gardens and had not yet returned. They remarked also that you appeared somewhat unwell, and so I went in search of you at once. At length, I found you seated upon a stone bench beside the lake, your gaze fixed quietly upon the water.

“Are you in want of amusement this evening, my love, or is it solitude that troubles you so?”