no more for some minutes, and the splash of the oars in the
water was the only sound. Olivia's air continued sad, and her eyes were
downcast, as if she shrank from looking me in the face.

"Pardon me, doctor," said Tardif in our own dialect, which Olivia could
not understand, "I have made you sorry when you were having a little
gladness. Is your mother very ill?"

"There is no hope, Tardif," I answered, looking round at his honest and
handsome face, full of concern for me.

"May I speak to you as an old friend?" he asked. "You love mam'zelle,
and you are come to tell her so?"

"What makes you think that?" I said.

"I see it in your face," he answered, lowering his voice, though he knew
Olivia could not tell what we were saying. "Your marriage with
mademoiselle your cousin was broken off--why? Do you suppose I did not
guess? I knew it from the first-week you stayed with us. Nobody could
see mam'zelle as we see her, without loving her."

"The Sark folks say you are in love with her yourself, Tardif," I said,
almost against my will, and certainly without any intention beforehand
of giving expression to such a rumor.

His lips contracted and his face saddened, but he met my eyes frankly.

"It is true," he answered; "but what then? If it had only pleased God to
make me like you, or that she should be of my class, I would have done
my utmost to win her. But that is impossible! See, I am nothing else
than a servant in her eyes. I do not know how to be any thing else, and
I am content. She is as far above my reach as one of the white clouds up
yonder. To think of myself as any thing but her servant would be
irreligious."

"You are a good fellow, Tardif," I exclaimed.

"God is the judge, of that," he said, with a sigh. "Mam'zelle thinks of
me only as her servant. 'My good Tardif, do this, or do that.' I like
it. I do not know any happier moment than when I hold her little boots
in my hand and brush them. You see she is as helpless and tender as my
little wife was; but she is very much higher than my poor little wife.
Yes, I love her as I love the blue sky, and the white clouds and the
stars shining in the night. But it will be quite different between her
and you."

"I hope so," I thought to myself.

"You do not feel like a servant," he continued, his oars dipping a
little too deeply and setting the boat a-rocking. "By-and-by, when you
are married, she will look up to you and obey you. I do not understand
altogethe