of cliffs beneath us; the immense depth of its waves
could be judged of by keeping the eye fixed upon the tall, steeple-like
rocks which shot up here and there through the water a little way out to
sea: at one moment these would appear like lofty spires, and next they
would be almost entirely swallowed up.

Beside the fire, in an easy chair, sat my grey-haired old relation and
host, and, not far off, his wife. Hospitable, warm-hearted, and genial
both of them were. If marriages really are made in heaven, I could not
help thinking theirs must have been, so much did they seem each other's
counterpart.

Presently Cousin Maggie entered, smiling to me as she did so; her left
hand lingered fondly for a moment on her father's grey locks, then she
sat down unbidden to the piano. My own face was partially shaded by the
window curtain, so that I could study that of my fair cousin as she
played without appearing rude. Was she beautiful? that was the question
I asked myself, and was trying hard to answer. Every feature of her face
was faultless, her mouth and ears were small, she had a wealth of rich,
deep auburn hair, and eyes that seemed to have borrowed the noonday
tints of a summer sea, so bright, so blue were they. But was she
beautiful? I could not answer the question then.

On the strength of my blood relationship, distant though it was, for we
were really only third or fourth cousins, I was made a member of this
family from the first, and Maggie treated me as a brother. I was not
entirely pleased with the latter arrangement, because many days had not
passed ere I concluded it would be a pleasant pastime for me to make
love to Cousin Maggie. But weeks went by, and my love-making was still
postponed; it became a _sine die_ kind of a probability. Maggie was
constantly with me when out of doors--my companion in all my fishing and
shooting trips. But she carried not only a rod but even a rifle herself,
she could give me lessons in casting the fly--and did; she often shot
dead the seals that I had merely wounded, and her prowess in rowing
astonished me, and her daring in venturing so far to sea in our broad,
open boat often made me tremble for our safety.

A frequent visitor for the first two months of my stay at R---- was a
young and well-to-do farmer and fisher, who came in his boat from a
neighbouring island, always accompanied by his sister, and they usually
stayed a day or two. I was not long in perceiving that this Mr.