fairy forest in the air was outlined
with precision. Distant ships were moving, like still pictures, on the
horizon, as if that spell were laid on them which hushed the enchanted
palace. There was just sea enough to roll the bell-buoy gently, and
now and then was rung an idle note of warning. Three fishing-boats lay
anchored off the Spindle, rising and falling, and every now and then a
sea broke on the rock. On the white sand beach, waves were rolling in,
dying softly away along the shore, or heavily breaking, with a long,
flying line of foam.

The sun was fast descending. Delia Prince went out to the corner of the
house and shaded her eyes to look at the sunset. The white clouds turned
to a flaming red, and the reflection dyed to crimson the surface of the
creeks; the sun descended toward the wooded bluff that flanked the
bay, sent a thousand shattered, dazzling rays through the trees, and
disappeared.

The red of the clouds and the red of the water gave place to gray. The
wind died down. The silence was intense,--all the more marked because
of the few sharp sounds that broke it now and then. Across the bay, near
shore, a man was raking oysters; he stood in the stern of his skiff,
and the bow was up in the air. Near by a girl was driving sluggish cows
along the beach, and her shrill cries came over the water; by a cottage
on the bank a boy was chopping brush upon a block, and Delia watched the
silent blows, and heard the sound come after. He smiled as she looked;
for every night she saw the boy's mother stand at the door to call him,
and saw him come reluctant to his task.

There was a sense of friendly companionship in all these homely sights
and sounds. It was different from the old house, shut in close by a
second growth of birch and oak.

The table was standing ready for a late supper. The children had gone
for berries to the Island, and they would soon come home, and David was
due, too, with his money.

She smiled as he appeared. The ascent to the brow of the hill was so
sharp that first you saw a hat in movement, then a head, then shoulders,
body, legs, and feet. She ran quickly down the road to meet him, and
took his arm.

"You couldn't catch the noon train?" she said. "Captain Wells stopped
at the door a little while ago to see what time we should be down to get
the deed, and luckily I told him that we might not be down until into
the evening. He said he 'd stay at home and wait till we came."

"Delia