y, eating his meals with such appetite,
and enjoying his rare idle time so heartily, that he had neither time
nor inclination for vagaries. He had always been older than his years,
schooled to feel that just good meals and a sure roof above him marked
him as one of the fortunate ones of the earth, and of late his work in
the big factory had been responsible enough, absorbing enough, and more
than gratifying enough to satisfy him with his prospects. He was liked
for himself, and he knew it, and he was already known for that strange
one-sightedness, that odd little twist of mechanical vision, that sure
knowledge of himself and his medium, that is genius. The joy of finding
himself, and that the world needed him, had been strong upon Wolf during
the last few months, and that Norma had come back to him seemed only a
reason for fresh dedication to his work, an augury that life was going
to be kind to him.

She was gone when he wakened the next morning, but he knew that the sea
had an irresistible fascination for her, and followed her quite as
surely as if she had left footprints on the clear and empty sands. He
found her with her back propped against a low wooden bulkhead, her
slender ankles crossed before her, her blue eyes fixed far out at sea.

She turned, and looked up at him from under the brim of her hat, and the
man's heart turned almost sick with the depth of sudden adoration that
shook him; so young, so friendly and simple and trusting was the ready
smile, so infinitely endearing the touch of the warm fingers she slipped
into his! He sat down beside her, and they dug their heels into the
sand, and talked in low tones. The sun shone down on them kindly, and
the waves curved and broke, and came rushing and slithering to their
feet, and slid churning and foaming noisily under the pier near by.
Norma buried her husband's big hand in sand, and sifted sand through her
slender fingers; sometimes she looked with her far-away look far out
across the gently rocking ocean, and sometimes she brought her blue eyes
gravely to his. And the new seriousness in them, the grave and noble
sweetness that he read there, made Wolf suddenly feel himself no longer
a boy, no longer free, but bound for ever to this exquisite and
bewildering child who was a woman, or woman who was a child, sacredly
bound to give her the best that there was in him of love and service and
protection.

She showed him a new Norma, here on the sunshiny sands, one