The Serpent's Tooth by B.M. Croker

One lovely September afternoon, when the _Schiller_ touched at the pier at Mitzau, among the passengers who boarded her, were Cara, her mother, and Fritz. The boat was crowded with trippers and tourists, and when Letty had with difficulty arrived on the first-class upper deck, there was not a seat to be found. As she glanced about her vaguely, a tall, bronzed Englishman in grey tweed, got up and offered her his place. When she looked round to thank him and discovered no stranger's face, but that of Lancelot Lumley, her amazement was such, that for a moment she felt dizzy; for his part, it was fully half a minute before Major Lumley realised, that this remarkably pretty girl in a summer gown and shady hat, was his lost love, Letty Blagdon! -- Letty, who had befooled him, made him the prey of her indecision, and the laughing-stock of his acquaintance.

How often in camp and cantonment, had he sworn to himself to put her out of his head and his heart; he had even embarked on other love affairs; many ladies had smiled on Major Lumley, who was handsome, popular, and likely to have a distinguished career. But somehow his flirtations had never advanced; at the back of his mind, his heart, his vision, rose the figure of Letty. Now here she stood before him in real life, and as she looked up with her earnest Irish eyes, he knew that her hold upon him was stronger than ever. How young she seemed! like the sister of the tall girl, who had joined her.