ice was still; I could only hear
my heart.

"'Now, Cousin Lorna, my good cousin,' he said, with ease and calmness;
'your voice is very sweet, no doubt, from all that I can see of you. But
I pray you keep it still, unless you would give to dusty death your very
best cousin and trusty guardian, Alan Brandir of Loch Awe.'

"'You my guardian!' I said, for the idea was too ludicrous; and
ludicrous things always strike me first, through some fault of nature.

"'I have in truth that honour, madam,' he answered, with a sweeping bow;
'unless I err in taking you for Mistress Lorna Doone.'

"'You have not mistaken me. My name is Lorna Doone.'

"He looked at me, with gravity, and was inclined to make some claim to
closer consideration upon the score of kinship; but I shrunk back, and
only said, 'Yes, my name is Lorna Doone.'

"'Then I am your faithful guardian, Alan Brandir of Loch Awe; called
Lord Alan Brandir, son of a worthy peer of Scotland. Now will you
confide in me?'

"'I confide in you!" I cried, looking at him with amazement; 'why, you
are not older than I am!'

"'Yes I am, three years at least. You, my ward, are not sixteen. I, your
worshipful guardian, am almost nineteen years of age.'

"Upon hearing this I looked at him, for that seemed then a venerable
age; but the more I looked the more I doubted, although he was dressed
quite like a man. He led me in a courtly manner, stepping at his tallest
to an open place beside the water; where the light came as in channel,
and was made the most of by glancing waves and fair white stones.

[Illustration: 172.jpg She led me in a courtly manner]

"'Now am I to your liking, cousin?' he asked, when I had gazed at him,
until I was almost ashamed, except at such a stripling. 'Does my Cousin
Lorna judge kindly of her guardian, and her nearest kinsman? In a word,
is our admiration mutual?'

"'Truly I know not,' I said; 'but you seem good-natured, and to have no
harm in you. Do they trust you with a sword?'

"For in my usage among men of stature and strong presence, this pretty
youth, so tricked and slender, seemed nothing but a doll to me. Although
he scared me in the wood, now that I saw him in good twilight, lo! he
was but little greater than my little self; and so tasselled and so
ruffled with a mint of bravery, and a green coat barred with red, and
a slim sword hanging under him, it was the utmost I could do to look at
him half-gravely.

"'I fear that my presence hat