ly believed, saved his life by catching hold of him as he
was on the point of being washed away by the sea, Frank had become
deeply attached to Kate; and the more he saw of the true-hearted girl--
her fond affection for her father, her anxious solicitude towards her
little sister, her kind sympathy for everybody--the more his affection
ripened, until at length he thought he could conceal his dawning love no
longer.

Then came the wreck; and, in the trying scenes which subsequently arose,
in which the two were each in their own way actors, the more Frank saw
to admire in his fairy ideal, the prompt courageous woman of action.
Subsequently they were thrown more closely together in the enforced
companionship of the castaway community on the desolate shores of
Kerguelen Land, when every moment increased their intimacy, while it
enabled him to study more closely those salient points of her character
which appeared to develop themselves as circumstances called them
forth--her filial love, her devotion to her sister, her unconquerable
faith, her unbounded hope and cheerfulness in the most despondent
situations--but, above all, her innate sense of religion, a feeling that
seemed to underlie her nature and yet which in no wise detracted from
her superabundant animal spirits, which harmonised themselves to the
moods and weaknesses of all. Seeing all this, and noting what he saw
and reverenced, Frank could not but love Kate Meldrum with all the
warmth and passion of his heart. So loving her, and dying for the want
of some response to the wealth of affection he had so long treasured up
in his breast, he could not refrain from seeking from her a word of
hope.

It was one evening when, save to him and her, it appeared to be the
dreariest of all the dreary ones they had already passed in their
extemporised dwelling--"home" they called it, as people will style any
shelter to which they can retreat from all the trials and exposures of
the outside world, "no matter how homely!"

The seamen had all retired to their dormitory, as had likewise Mr
McCarthy and Adams; while Mr Lathrope was nodding in one corner of the
general room by the fireplace, and Mr Meldrum immersed in thought in
the other.

Florry and Maurice Negus had both gone to sleep long since. Mrs
"Major," and the stewardess had also retreated to their sleeping
chamber; and thus, Frank and Kate were, so to speak, alone. The
opportunity was propitious.

They had been ta