pon the polished surface of the
stone, or the short and slippery grass. There were moments when they felt
as if they stood upon an almost vertical slope, and if they attempted to
stop and take breath, the vast spaces stretching before them, the
boundless extent, the dazzling and metallic brilliancy of the sea, caused
them a sensation of dizziness and as of a floating motion. Though the sky
was low and cloudy, a heavy and storm-laden heat weighed upon them and
stimulated the action of their blood. Lucan walked first, with a sort of
feverish excitement, turning around from time to time to cast a glance at
Julia, who followed him closely, then looking up to see some
resting-point, some platform upon which they might breathe for a moment in
safety. But above him, as below, there was naught save the perpendicular
and sometimes overhanging cliff. Suddenly Julia called out to him in a
tone of anguish:

"Monsieur! monsieur! please, oh! please--my head is whirling!"

He walked rapidly back a few steps at the risk of tumbling down, and,
grasping her hand energetically:

"Come! come!" he said, with a smile, "what is the matter?--a brave person
like you!"

"It would require wings!" she said, faintly.

Lucan began at once to climb the path again, supporting and almost
dragging Julia, who had nearly fainted.

He had at last the gratification of setting his foot upon a projection of
the ground, a sort of narrow esplanade jutting from the rock. He succeeded
in drawing Julia upon it. But she sank at once in his arms, and her head
rested upon his chest. He could hear her arteries and her heart throbbing
with frightful force. Then, gradually, her agitation subsided. She lifted
her head gently, opened her long eyelashes, and looking at him with
rapturous eyes:

"I am so happy!" she murmured; "I wish I could die so!"

Lucan pushed her off from him the length of his arm, then, suddenly
seizing her again and clasping her tightly to his heart, he cast upon her
a troubled glance, and then another upon the abyss. She certainly thought
they were about to die. A slight tremor passed across her lips; she
smiled; her head half rolled back:

"With you?" she said--"what happiness!"

At the same moment, the sound of voices was heard a short distance above
them. Lucan recognized Clotilde's and the count's voices. His arm suddenly
relaxed and dropped from Julia's waist. He pointed out to her, without
speaking, but with an imperious gesture, t