t as the one man of them all?--he said
to me: 'We shall have our chance now, d'Avranche.' And we shall. I have
wanted it till to-day for my own selfish ambition--now I want it for
you. When I landed on this islet a half-hour ago, I hated it, I hated my
ship, I hated my duty, I hated everything, because I wanted to go where
you were, to be with you. It was Destiny that brought us both to this
place at one moment. You can't escape Destiny. It was to be that I
should love you, Guida."

He reached out to take her hands, but she put them behind her against
the stones, and drew back. The lizard suddenly shot out from a hole and
crossed over her fingers. She started, shivered at the cold touch, and
caught the hand away. A sense of foreboding awaked in her, and her eyes
followed the lizard's swift travel with a strange fascination. But she
lifted them to Philip's, and the fear and premonition passed.

"Oh, my brain is in a whirl!" she said. "I do not understand. I know
so little. No one has ever spoken to me as you have done. You would
not dare"--she leaned forward a little, looking into his face with
that unwavering gaze which was the best sign of her straight-forward
mind--"you would not dare to deceive--you would not dare. I have--no
mother," she added with simple pathos.

The moisture came into his eyes. He must have been stone not to be
touched by the appealing, by the tender inquisition, of that look.

"Guida," he said impetuously, "if I deceive you, may every fruit of life
turn to dust and ashes in my mouth! If ever I deceive you, may I die a
black, dishonourable death, abandoned and alone! I should deserve that
if I deceived you, Guida."

For the first time since he had spoken she smiled, yet her eyes filled
with tears too.

"You will let me tell you that I love you, Guida--it is all I ask now:
that you will listen to me?"

She sighed, but did not answer. She kept looking at him, looking as
though she would read his inmost soul. Her face was very young, though
the eyes were so wise in their simplicity.

"You will give me my chance--you will listen to me, Guida, and try to
understand--and be glad?" he asked, leaning closer to her and holding
out his hands.

She drew herself up slightly as with an air of relief and resolve. She
put a hand in his.

"I will try to understand--and be glad," she answered.

"Won't you call me Philip?" he said.

The same slight, mischievous smile crossed her lips now as eleven ye