were to be with us to-night; but I know your rule. I go for my
ride. Sultan has had no exercise for five days; and he looked at me
quite reproachfully when we met this morning. Au revoir, Harold. We
shall meet at dinner!'

When she had gone Harold came back from the door, and stood in the window
looking east. The Silver Lady came and stood beside him. She did not
seem to notice his face, but in the mysterious way of women she watched
him keenly. She wished to satisfy her own mind before she undertook her
self-appointed task.

Her eyes were turned towards the headland towards which Stephen on her
white Arab was galloping at breakneck speed. He was too good a horseman
himself, and he knew her prowess on horseback too well to have any
anxiety regarding such a rider at Stephen. It was not fear, then, that
made his face so white, and his eyes to have such an illimitable sadness.

The Silver Lady made up her mind. All her instincts were to trust him.
She recognised a noble nature, with which truth would be her surest
force.

'Come,' she said, 'sit here, friend; where another friend has often sat
with me. From this you can see all the coastline, and all that thou
wilt!' Harold put a chair beside the one she pointed out; and when she
was seated he sat also. She began at once with a desperate courage:

'I have wanted much to see thee. I have heard much of thee, before thy
coming.' There was something in the tone of her voice which arrested his
attention, and he looked keenly at her. Here, in the full light, her
face looked sadly white and he noticed that her lips trembled. He said
with all the kindliness of his nature, for from the first moment he had
seen her he had taken to her, her purity and earnestness and sweetness
appealing to some aspiration within him:

'You are pale! I fear you are not well! May I call your maid? Can I do
anything for you?' She waved her hand gently:

'Nay! It is nothing. It is but the result of a sleepless night and much
thought.'

'Oh! I wish I had known! I could have put off my visit; and I could
have come any other time to suit you.' She smiled gently:

'I fear that would have availed but little. It was of thy coming that I
was concerned.' Seeing his look of amazement, she went on quickly, her
voice becoming more steady as she lost sight of herself in her task:

'Be patient a little with me. I am an old woman; and until recently it
has been many and many ye