her sake that both dreaded
what was coming. So they went and stood in the bay-window which looked
out upon the river, and talked of things indifferent, and looked
earnestly at each other's faces by the fading light, for it was now
three years since they had met.

Years and events had deepened the contrast between the two brothers; and
Frank smiled with affectionate pride as he looked up in Amyas's face,
and saw that he was no longer merely the rollicking handy sailor-lad,
but the self-confident and stately warrior, showing in every look and
gesture,

"The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill,"

worthy of one whose education had been begun by such men as Drake and
Grenville, and finished by such as Raleigh and Gilbert. His long locks
were now cropped close to the head; but as a set-off, the lips and chin
were covered with rich golden beard; his face was browned by a thousand
suns and storms; a long scar, the trophy of some Irish fight, crossed
his right temple; his huge figure had gained breadth in proportion to
its height; and his hand, as it lay upon the window-sill, was hard and
massive as a smith's. Frank laid his own upon it, and sighed; and Amyas
looked down, and started at the contrast between the two--so slender,
bloodless, all but transparent, were the delicate fingers of the
courtier. Amyas looked anxiously into his brother's face. It was
changed, indeed, since they last met. The brilliant red was still on
either cheek, but the white had become dull and opaque; the lips were
pale, the features sharpened; the eyes glittered with unnatural fire:
and when Frank told Amyas that he looked aged, Amyas could not help
thinking that the remark was far more true of the speaker himself.

Trying to shut his eyes to the palpable truth, he went on with his chat,
asking the names of one building after another.

"And so this is old Father Thames, with his bank of palaces?"

"Yes. His banks are stately enough; yet, you see, he cannot stay to look
at them. He hurries down to the sea; and the sea into the ocean; and the
ocean Westward-ho, forever. All things move Westward-ho. Perhaps we may
move that way ourselves some day, Amyas."

"What do you mean by that strange talk?"

"Only that the ocean follows the primum mobile of the heavens, and flows
forever from east to west. Is there anything so strange in my thinking
of that, when I am just come from a party where we have be