sun's rim
had risen from out of the water. Grey had become mauve, and white
amber. It was wonderful! And by night she had leaned over the side
of the yacht, and looked up into a sky ablaze with trembling stars,
casting their golden reflections down upon the boundless waves which
rose and fell beneath--waves which were sometimes green, and sometimes
golden in the wonderful phosphoric light which touched them with a
weird splendour. It was like the opening of a new world to Adrea. All
that had gone before seemed harsh and artificial! It was the dawn of a
new life.

Paul had noticed the change. To him it had appeared chiefly as an
increased womanliness, a gentle softness of speech and mannerism very
charming and attractive. Those few days at sea together had been like
a dream to him. He had come on board as nearly broken-hearted as a
strong man could be, and fiercely anxious to reach his destination and
know the whole, cruel truth. In a few hours all had been changed. His
sorrows seemed numbed. He was no longer battling alone with his grief.
Adrea knew all, and as they sailed southwards together, the sense
of the present was strong enough to drive past and future from
his thoughts. The clouds cleared from his face, and his heart was
lightened. It was Adrea who had saved him from despair.

He thought of this as she stood by his side, and he answered her
question. Before their eyes, Cruta was rising up from the sea. The
grim castle was there, looking as old as the rocks on which it was
perched, the wide, open harbour, and the little fleet of fishing
smacks. The seabirds circled about their heads; every moment brought
the rocky little island more distinctly into view. Paul looked down
into Adrea's face gravely.

"It is our destination, Adrea," he said. "You must go now. There will
be a lot of surf crossing the bar, and I shall have enough to do
to run her in. Look behind! It is just as well we are going into
harbour!"

He pointed to the fast-gathering clouds coming up from the westward,
and she paused with her foot on the ladder. "We leave the storm behind
us," she said. "There is fair weather ahead!"

She went down into her cabin, and left Paul upon the bridge, with his
eyes fixed upon the castle. Fair weather ahead! How dared he hope
for it! The sun had finally disappeared now, but some part of the
afterglow still lingered in curious contrast to the lurid yellow and
black clouds hurrying on behind him. The old castl