long black headland to the west cut the golden
seas like a wedge of ebony. It was all real and yet unreal. Benjamin
went to work mechanically.

Presently Mary Stella came down to her father's boat. Braithwaite
followed slowly, pausing a moment to exchange some banter with saucy
Mosey Louis. Benjamin bent lower over his table; now and then he
caught the dear tones of Mary Stella's voice or her laughter at some
sally of Pete or Leon. He knew when she went up the road with
Braithwaite; he caught the last glimpse of her light dress as she
passed out of sight on the cliffs above, but he worked steadily on and
gave no sign.

It was late when they finished. The tired French Canadians went
quickly off to their beds in the fish-house loft. Benjamin stood by
the skids until all was quiet, then he walked down the cove to a rocky
point that jutted out into the water. He leaned against a huge boulder
and laid his head on his arm, looking up into the dark sky. The stars
shone calmly down on his misery; the throbbing sea stretched out
before him; its low, murmuring moan seemed to be the inarticulate
voice of his pain.

The air was close and oppressive; fitful flashes of heat lightning
shimmered here and there over the heavy banks of cloud on the horizon;
little wavelets sobbed at the base of the rocks.

When Benjamin lifted his head he saw Frank Braithwaite standing
between him and the luminous water. He took a step forward, and they
came face to face as Braithwaite turned with a start.

Benjamin clenched his hands and fought down a hideous temptation to
thrust his rival off the rock.

"I saw you today," he said in a low, intense tone. "What do you think
of yourself, coming down here to steal the girl I loved from me?
Weren't there enough girls where you came from to choose among? I hate
you. I'd kill you--"

"Selby, stop! You don't know what you are saying. If I have wronged
you, I swear I did it unintentionally. I loved Stella from the
first--who could help it? But I thought she was virtually bound to
you, and I did not try to win her away. You don't know what it cost me
to remain passive. I know that you have always distrusted me, but
hitherto you have had no reason to. But today I found that she was
free--that she did not care for you! And I found--or thought I
found--that there was a chance for me. I took it. I forgot everything
else then."

"So she loves you?" said Benjamin dully.

"Yes," said Braithwaite softly.