ered.

"I wouldn't dare stand where you are; I should be drawn down. Good
heavens!"

As he watched her she became suddenly pale and giddy. Seeing this, he
sprang and seized her in his arms, drawing her back, shaking and
trembling in every limb.

"It was just in time," she said. "Another second and I was lost.
Suddenly a giddiness came over me, as if someone seized me and was
pulling me over the cliff. Take me away from this dreadful place."

There were tears in her voice and in her eyes. She continued to sob
until they were remote from the sea. Then she suddenly asked,
laughingly:

"Do you still imagine I am in danger that you continue to hold me?"

"It was an opportunity I could not miss. Sylvia----," he said, sinking
his voice to the sentimental key.

"Now, you must stop at once. Remember our compact. Once you become too
sentimental our friendship ends. Drop your arms by your side. That will
do. Now you may smile pleasantly and talk to me like a sensible man."

It was a repulse, but it sounded rather as an invitation to continue the
siege in a less impulsive manner. So did Desmond construe what she had
said, and his spirits reflected the satisfaction which the belief
afforded him. When she joined them at lunch Kathleen found the two as
full of spirits as if they had been children. Their laughter and jests
were an offence to many who were lunching in the same room as they. To
these simple country folk the manners and style of the new school, to
which Sylvia Jackson belonged, were something as yet strange and
disagreeable. But the new school pays no attention to other people, and
rejoices in causing a sensation and outraging old-fashioned ideas.

It was immediately after luncheon that Sylvia Jackson suggested:

"We will go and visit Denis Quirk, and turn his office upside down."

"I don't think you know Quirk," replied Desmond. "He's a martinet in
'The Mercury' office."

"Oh, nonsense!" she cried. "Denis Quirk and I are like brother and
sister."

She shot a quick glance at Kathleen to note the effect of this remark,
but Kathleen showed no sign of concern.

"You will come with us, Kathleen," she continued, "and take a lesson
from me on the taming of bears. I positively love wild animals of the
human sort; they afford a natural tamer like me such a fund of
pleasure."

"Oh, yes, I will come," Kathleen replied.

She was vaguely surprised at the welcome they received. Denis Quirk was
a new personality to