d mind every word that you say."

"I'm going by the cliffs on the sea road."

"That will keep you langer."

"Ay, but I'll no require to mind my words. I'll meet naebody on that
road to talk wi'."

"I would not say that much."

A suspicion at once had entered Margot's heart. "I wonder," she mused,
as she watched Christine out of sight--"I wonder if she is trysted wi'
Angus Ballister on the cliff road. Na, na, she would hae told me,
whether or no, she would hae told me."

The solitude of the sea, and of the lonely road, was good for
Christine. She was not weeping, but she had a bitter aching sense of
something lost. She thought of her love lying dead outside her heart's
shut door, and she could not help pitying both love and herself. "He
was like sunshine on my life," she sighed. "It is dark night now. All
is over. Good-by forever, Angus! Oh, Love, Love!" she cried aloud to
the sea. "Oh, you dear old troubler o' the warld! I shall never feel
young again. Weel, weel, Christine, I'll not hae ye going to meet
trouble, it isna worth the compliment. Angus may forget me, and find
some ither lass to love--weel, then, if it be so, let it be so. I'll
find the right kind o' strength for every hour o' need, and the
outcome is sure to be right. God is love. Surely that is a' I need.
I'll just leave my heartache here, the sea can carry it awa', and the
winds blow it far off"--and she began forthwith a tender little song,
that died down every few bars, but was always lifted again, until it
swelled out clear and strong, as she came in sight of the small, white
manse, standing bravely near the edge of a cliff rising sheerly seven
hundred feet above the ocean. The little old, old kirk, with its
lonely acres full of sailors' graves, was close to it, and Christine
saw that the door stood wide open, though it was yet early morning.

"It'll be a wedding, a stranger wedding," she thought. "Hame folk
wouldna be sae thoughtless, as to get wed in the morning--na, na, it
will be some stranger."

These speculations were interrupted by the Domine's calling her, and
as soon as she heard his voice, she saw him standing at the open door.
"Christine!" he cried. "Come in! Come in! I want you, lassie, very
much. I was just wishing for you."

"I am glad that I answered your wish, Sir. I would aye like to do
that, if it be His will."

"Come straight to my study, dear. You are a very godsend this
morning."

He went hurriedly into the house, an