eady to
take death when it should come. I have at least had one blessed time
with Winifred on the sands--Winifred the beloved and beautiful
girl--one night, as the crown to the happy days that have been mine
with Winifred the beloved and beautiful child. And that night, as we
were walking by the sea, it seemed to me that such happiness as was
ours can come but once--that never again could there be a night equal
to that.'

Smiles broke through her tears as she listened to me. I had struck
the right chord.

'And _I_ thought so too,' she said. 'It was indeed a night of bliss.
Indeed, indeed God has been good to us, Henry,' and she fell into my
arms again.

'And now, Winnie,' I said, 'we must kiss and part--part for ever.'

Yes, I had struck the right chord. As she lay in my arms I felt her
soft bosom moving with a little hysterical laugh of derision when I
said we must part. And then she rose and sat beside me upon the
boulder, looking calm and fearless at the tide as it got nearer and
nearer to Needle Point.

'Yes, dear,' I said, looking in the same direction, 'you must be
going; see how the waves are surrounding the Point. You must run,
Winnie--you must run, and leave me.'

'Yes,' said she, still gazing across to the Point, 'as you say, I
must run, but not yet, dear; plenty of time yet,' and she smiled to
herself as she used to do in the old days, when as a child she had
made up her mind to do something.

Then without another word she took her shawl from her shoulders, and
pulled it out to see its length. And soon I felt her fingers stealing
my penknife from my waistcoat-pocket, and saw her deftly cut up the
shawl, strip after strip, and weave it and knot it into a rope, and
tie the rope around her waist, and then she stooped to tie it around
me.

It was when I felt her warm breath about my neck as she stooped over
me to tie that rope, that love was really revealed to me; it was
then, and not till then, that all my previous love for Winifred
seemed as the flicker of a rushlight to Salaman's cloak of fire; and
a feeling of bliss unutterable came upon me, and the night air seemed
full of music, and the sky above seemed opening, as she whispered,
'Henry, Henry, Henry, in a few minutes you will be mine.' But the
very confidence with which she spoke these simple words startled me
as from a dream. 'Suppose,' I thought, 'suppose my last drop of bliss
with Winnie were being tasted now!' In a moment I felt like a cowa