那时，年轻的查尔斯王子几乎看都没看那个睡在童床里的小不点儿。毕竟，十二岁的孩子怎么会对婴儿感兴趣呢？
然而，这位王子最终就是对这个婴孩产生了强烈的兴趣—只不过那是后来的事了。
实际上，查尔斯王子与黛安娜？斯宾塞女士再次相遇已是十六年后了。那次邂逅是在1977年11月的一次乡村狩猎会途中。
那是一个阴雨绵绵，寒风刺骨的下午，十六岁的黛安娜，身穿借来的一件过大的毛皮风雪大衣，足登长靴，下身是一件蓝色牛仔裤。她正经过这片狩猎场朝着这位英国王位继承人走来。
接近黄昏时分，二人在诺布托树木附近迎面相遇。
当黛安娜第一眼看到王子时，心里想：“一个多么忧郁的人。”尽管黛安娜对于他五英尺十英寸的身高并不心为然，觉得要是她穿着高跟鞋肯定会高过他，但这位未来的王妃还是期盼与英国最令人中意的单身汉见面。可是黛安娜后来说她很羡慕王子那双迷人的蓝色眼睛。
虽然黛安娜自己认为“他根本没注意过我”，但王子后来说道，他觉得黛安娜是个“快乐而迷人的”姑娘，“很有趣。”
人们后来发现，黛安娜第一次引起皇室的注意是在那年四月她姐姐简的婚礼上，当时她是伴娘。这是她成年后参加的第一个大型社交活动，许多皇室成员对这个当初还是个粗笨难看的丫头，现如今却出落成如此成熟美丽的女人颇感惊讶。
就连查尔斯王子的祖母王后陛下都注意到了黛安娜的美丽、端庄和迷人。她称赞伯爵对黛安娜的精心培养。
不久之后，查尔斯王子派随从亲手送给她一张正式的请柬，邀请黛安娜当晚陪伴他去看歌剧并出席午夜的宫廷晚宴。
尽管黛安娜感到局促不安，且请柬来得太匆忙，可她还是接受了。她与她的室友卡洛琳？巴赛洛缪，匆匆忙忙地梳洗打扮并为黛安娜做好了去赴这个重大约会的准备。当晚非常尽兴，不久邀请她参加皇家游艇聚会的请柬又接踵而至……..
虽然黛安娜对于拜尔马洛的众王族感到有些害怕，可她十分明智没有前往城堡。她提出请求，并得到批准，邀请她住在姐姐简和简的年轻丈夫在拜尔马洛的别墅中。
王子每天都去那里拜访她，要么提出陪她参加户外烤肉宴，要么邀请她去树林中进行长时间散步。
当查尔斯去瑞士作滑雪旅行时，黛安娜对他朝思暮想。查尔斯到那里一两天后就打电话给她，告诉黛安娜他回英格兰后，要问她一些重要的事情。
1981年2月3日他回来了。三天后，他安排在温莎堡见黛安娜。那天晚上，当查尔斯王子陪黛安娜参观育婴室的时候，他向她求婚。
令王子惊讶的是，黛安娜把他的求婚当作了一个玩笑。她咯咯地笑起来。但不久后她看得出查尔斯王子是认真的。尽管她的脑海中一直有个声音告诫她不要想着去当王妃，可她还是接受了王子的请求。
黛安娜一遍又一遍地对王子说她爱他。
“爱就是一切，”王子答道。
A Walk In The Woods
林中漫步
I was puzzled！ Why was this old woman making such a fuss about an old copse which was of no use to anybody？ She had written letters to the local paper， even to a national， protesting about a projected by-pass to her village， and， looking at a map， the route was nowhere near where she lived and it wasn"t as if the area was attractive. I was more than puzzled， I was intrigued.
The enquiry into the route of the new by-pass to the village was due to take place shortly， and I wanted to know what it was that motivated her. So it was that I found myself knocking on a cottage door， being received by Mary Smith and then being taken for a walk to the woods.
"I"ve always loved this place"， she said， "it has a lot of memories for me， and for others. We all used it. They called it "Lovers lane". It"s not much of a lane， and it doesn"t go anywhere important， but that"s why we all came here. To be away from people， to be by ourselves " she added.
It was indeed pleasant that day and the songs of many birds could be heard. Squirrels gazed from the branches， quite bold in their movements， obviously few people passed this way and they had nothing to fear. I could imagine the noise of vehicles passing through these peaceful woods when the by-pass was built， so I felt that she probably had something there but as I hold strong opinions about the needs of the community over-riding the opinions of private individuals， I said nothing. The village was quite a dangerous place because of the traffic especially for old people and children， their safety was more important to me than an old woman"s whims.
"Take this tree"， she said pausing after a short while. "To you it is just that， a tree. Not unlike many others here". She gently touched the bark. "Look here， under this branch， what can you see？"
"It looks as if someone has done a bit of carving with a knife" I said after a cursory inspection.
"Yes， that"s what it is！" she said softly. "There are letters and a lover"s heart".
I looked again， this time more carefully. The heart was still there and there was a suggestion of an arrow through it. The letters on one side were indistinct， but on the other an "R" was clearly visible with what looked like an "I" after it. "Some budding romance？" I asked， "did you know who they were？"
"Oh yes， I knew them"， said Mary Smith， "it says RH loves MS".
I realised that I could be getting out of my depth， and longed to be in my office， away from here and this old lady， snug， and with a mug of tea in my hand.
She went on …"He had a penknife with a spike for getting stones from a horse"s hoof， and I helped him to carve my initials. We were very much in love， but he was going away， and could not tell me what he was involved in the army. I had guessed of course. It was the last evening we ever spent together，because he went away the next day， back to his Unit. "
Mary Smith was quiet for a while， then she sobbed. "His mother showed me the telegram. "Sergeant R Holmes ….. Killed in action in the 9）invasion of France"".
""I had hoped that you and Robin would one day get married" she said， "He was my only child， and I would have loved to be a Granny， they would have been such lovely babies"- she was like that！ "
"Two years later she too was dead. "Pneumonia， following a chill on the chest" was what the doctor said， but I think it was an old fashioned broken heart. A child would have helped both of us."
There was a further pause. Mary Smith gently caressed the wounded tree， just as she would have caressed him. "And now they want to take our tree away from me." Another quiet sob， then she turned to me. "I was young and pretty then， I could have had anybody， I wasn"t always the old woman you see here now. I had everything I wanted in life， a lovely man， health and a future to look forwards to".
She paused again and looked around. The breeze gently moved through the leaves with a sighing sound. "There were others， of course， but not a patch on my Robin！" she said strongly. "And now I have nothing - except the memories this tree holds. If only I could get my hands on that awful man who writes in the paper about the value of the road they are going to build where we are standing now， I would tell him. Has he never loved， has he never lived， does he not know anything about memories？ We were not the only ones， you know， I still meet some who came here as Robin and I did. Yes， I would tell him！"
I turned away， sick at heart.
我实在不明白！为什么这个年老女士会对一片毫无用处的老灌木林如此紧张呢？她给当地报纸写了信，甚至给全国性的报纸也写了信，对拟将在她们村子里修建小路的方案表示抗议。但从地图上看，这条拟建的小路离她家并不近，那一带也并非风景优美。这不仅使我感到迷惑，还激起了我的好奇心。
很快就要进行对新小路的调查了，我想了解一下她反对的原因。于是我敲响了小屋的门，一位叫玛丽？史密斯的女士接待了我，然后她带我去树林中走走。
“我一直深爱这个地方，”她说，“这里珍藏了我和其他许多人的回忆。我们都曾在这个地方呆过。人们称它为‘情人路’。它其实并不能算是什么路，也不通往什么重要的地方，但这正是我们来这里的原因。远离他人，只有我们自己。”她补充说道。
那天林间实在迷人，小鸟唱着歌，松鼠在树枝间张望，很自在地活动，显然这里人迹罕至，它们一点都不害怕。我能想象得出，在小路修好后，汽车通过这片宁静的树林将会是怎样的喧闹，因此我猜这对她来说可能意味着些什么。但我坚持认为社区的需要重于个人的意见，所以我没说什么。村里目前的交通，特别是对于老人和小孩来说，尤其危险，所以对我来说他们的安全比这个老年女士的怪念头更重要。
“拿这棵树来说吧，”她停了一会儿说，“对你来说它只是一棵普通的树，与这里其它的树没什么区别。”她轻轻地摸着这棵树的树皮说：“看这，在这个枝条下面，你看见了什么？”
“好像有人用小刀在这里刻过什么东西。”我略略看了一下后说。
“是的，正是这样！”她轻轻地说，“是一些字母和一颗爱人的心。”
